Royal Champions

[Catnip]

Odd, not one of you fussed when the first group of RCs was chosen, the part of the group that actually got invited on the 2 day cruise if they paid their way to NYC or Florida. Why didnt any of you object to the program then or question it.

 

Speaking only for myself, it's because I didn't know of the secret group back then. I actually only found out about it a few days ago.

[phoenix1181]

This is a good example of one of the points I'm trying to make.

 

Rather than address any specific issue, the tactic is to discredit the poster ("usual suspect".) Days ago I was told ny newness made me suspect; today, it is inferred I am part of a long standing band of discontents. LOL! Kill the messenger!

 

Only a "small group" may be posting...but LOTS more are reading. In some way, they are MUCH more important than any of us. Wonder what THEY think? Do they feel like CHUMPS too? Do they see the posting patterns I contend show infection?

 

I don't know. But I know that "avoidance" in a debate usually means that one has no rebuttal.

 

I've been reading this for days and I'll tell you what I think............ The RC's are wasting their time effort and energy trying to explain themselves to a group of jealous people who apparently don't have the skill or ability to read a post, review, or article and disregard the junk!

 

The majority of posts, and all the reviews, are subjective. What I love, others will hate and what others think is okay, I find unacceptable. Unless you're getting information from someone you know well, and who knows you as well, it all has to be taken with a grain of salt...............

 

I think you should all just agree to disagree and move on!

[hazence]

This topic will die down as all topics do. What will be interesting is if the general public will start reading posts WITH AN AWARENESS OF THE POSTING PATTERNS that this viral infection has caused. Will readers say..."Oh, someone has posted a negative comment concerning RCCL! Hm-m-m-m...let's see if a Royal Champ shows up to try to diiscredit the poster by accusing him of nefarious intentions. Hm-m-m-m let;s see if there's a plie-on of other posters who are "trying out" to get named in the next wave of Champs."

 

It will be kind of fun to see how this all plays out on the Internet. RCCL's great experiment in "subtly influencing the Champs...to influence other posters (us CHUMPS)

 

Then will come the day when some new Champs will be named, maybe free cruises handed out. I think there will be a good deal of scrutiny and interest now in the whole dynamic of JUST WHAT IS RCCL doing...how are they "shaping" this Board?

 

Hazence, Charter Member Royal Chumps

[megr1125]

for those who are not part of the rc program and are still feeling left out of those free two night cruise offers, would you really want it now that you know what you know and have seen what has gone on?

 

nope!

[Charles4515]

The majority of posts, and all the reviews, are subjective. What I love, others will hate and what others think is okay, I find unacceptable. Unless you're getting information from someone you know well, and who knows you as well, it all has to be taken with a grain of salt...............

 

 

Not just a majority. I always take any single post or review as subjective. Even from those who I know well. When I read posts or reviews I look at the trends that you can glean from reading a bunch of them. And nicely, now, I have my own experience of having been on over thirty cruises on multiple cruise lines to draw on for interpreting what people say about cruise lines in posts and reviews.

[Catnip]

 

I feel viralated!

 

 

Good one!!!!!!! ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!! Now THAT is funny! :D :D :D

[SCUBADOO414]

I'm sorry, what is a Royal Champion???

[hazence]

I've been reading this for days and I'll tell you what I think............ The RC's are wasting their time effort and energy trying to explain themselves to a group of jealous people who apparently don't have the skill or ability to read a post, review, or article and disregard the junk!

 

HMMM...Are you saying that I do not possess the skill to "read, review and post."

 

Why is it "jealous" to question the effect of a "viral marketing program"...AS DESCRIBED BY THE LOYALTY MANAGER at RCCL...on the Internet posting dynamic of an opinion Board like this?

 

Are these kinds of words and comments supposed to hurt or embarrass a poster who is criticizing RCCL to the express purpose of silencing that poster or driving him away? Now, that would be contrary to an open, free discussion Board, wouldn't it?

 

Why are you referencing personal "qualities" about a poster ..."jealous" ...

"don't have the skill or ability to read a post, review, or article and disregard the junk! "...why are you debating in THOSE PERSONAL TERMS...instead explaining how we are wrong on the issue of viral marketing?

 

Interesting....

[setsail]

This entire thread is pathetic. If you want to be outraged by something then read this.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Insurance-giant-AIG-to-pay-apf-14643226.html

 

 

 

People are getting upset over nothing more than some posters receiving a two night cruise when there are more important things happening in this world. This is nothing but petty jealously. Of course it's the usual suspects that are throwing the darts. Doesn't surprise me that they only come out when they can cause more controversy. You people should find something more constructive to do with your time.:rolleyes:

 

To the Royal Champions, why respond to this crap? You are only feeding the sharks with more chum. Ignore them and let them fight among themselves. After reading this, it seems that only a very small group has an issue with the program and again look at the posters and take it for what it's worth.

 

Yes it is pathetic.

 

Along with thinking,

 

Posters with 1 or 5000 post influence the rest of us.

 

Posters that have been here several years influence all.

 

Posters with a lot of cruises influence all.

 

Posters that are d or d+ can influence all.

 

Posters with an RC have the power to change everyones mind.

 

Its just stupid and the longer CC YES CC lets this go on the LESS influence it will have as a top place to get cruising advice. It will be the nation of WHINERS.

[benicehavefun]

Is it only people that belong to this RC group that behave in this way? Are there non-RC people who also behave in this way? Are there instances of RC's being attacked for saying something negative? <==== I will answer that one yes. Have RCs been attacked by non-RCs for saying something negative<=== I'll answer that one again....yes.

 

You need to get over this fantasy that all the flaming occurs only by RC members. It isn't the RC folks and everyone else around here. We are all one big group of posters from many different walks of life. Period. There are no more ways to say it. Read what you want. Believe what you want.

 

I'll be in the Caribbean next week where it is warm.

 

OB<===== is very happy. :)

 

Yes, we chumps totally know and believe that non-RC posters attack and flame others for any negative RCL comments. But, as an earlier poster points out, this program encourages other "wannabe RC's" to do exactly that. So even if they're not an RC, the RC program "influences them without them knowing they're being influenced" to "post frequently and positively" so they can make the cut and be in the next round of RC's.

 

just another rc-royal chump (I didn't used caps as we're obviously not worthy of such status)

[cruisePRN]

 

It will be kind of fun to see how this all plays out on the Internet. RCCL's great experiment in "subtly influencing the Champs...to influence other posters (us CHUMPS)

 

 

 

Hazence, Charter Member Royal Chumps

 

It played out for me with my reservation for the Panama Canal next Jan on Princess so RCL's tactic has backfired. I am cruising with RCL to Alaska in May but now I look at other cruise lines first.

[Ocean Boy]

It played out for me with my reservation for the Panama Canal next Jan on Princess so RCL's tactic has backfired. I am cruising with RCL to Alaska in May but now I look at other cruise lines first.

 

I don't understand how your trip on Princess is a backfire. If your research brought you to choose Princess then wasn't the purpose of these boards realized? The whole point of the boards and posts are so that we can make decisions about cruises that are right for us as individuals.

 

If you change your Alaska cruise from RCI to another line because you do further research and determine another cruise might be a better fit for you that is great. If you settle on an alternate cruise that is less to your liking simply because you are upset about something that RCI corporate did that is certainly your right. I, however, am not sure that I would make that same decision.

 

We all use many products that we enjoy without getting so wrapped up in the "business" of the corporation behind those products. For some reason, when it comes to cruising, we seem to have more difficulty separating the product from the corporation. I'm sure there must be some sort of psychology behind that but I'm not so much in a philisophical mood this morning as to try to delve into it.

[hazence]

Yes it is pathetic.

 

Along with thinking,

 

Posters with 1 or 5000 post influence the rest of us.

 

Posters that have been here several years influence all.

 

Posters with a lot of cruises influence all.

 

Posters that are d or d+ can influence all.

 

Posters with an RC have the power to change everyones mind.

 

Its just stupid and the longer CC YES CC lets this go on the LESS influence it will have as a top place to get cruising advice. It will be the nation of WHINERS.

 

 

Posterswith a lot of cruises SHOULD influence us. I'd be a real CHUMP if I didn't value their experience. I especially look for Posters who have experience on many lines. They have a broader picture. Many of the ChAMPS fit into these categories.

 

Once again, it is the concept of viral marketing that concerns me. An elite group is established with no information on the criteria (till now.) Initially free cruises were given to this group. People across the Board perk up and think.."What is the CONCEPT HERE?"

 

Now there is a mysterious ELITE group on this Board. They report back to us special invitations, emails etc.

 

NOW, the Loyalty Ambassador for RCCL speaks at a Marketing seminar. She says that the Royal Champion program was the result of a study of posters they paid for. She explains its intent was to "subtly influence a small group of posters" (The Champs) (with gifts and status) so THAT THEY WOULD INFLUENCE the rest of us...now called "The Chumps." We are the sheep who will blindly follow the Champs I guess.

 

She stated posts here and elsewhere are carefully monitored to see this is all working as RCCL wants. She says it's going great.

 

Then,oops, a Marketing Blog who heard her talk posts a glowing review of how this RCCL program is working and suddenly, we see the real Oz behind the smoke and mirror machine of the Royal Champ program.

 

Now.if there were no CHUMPS for the CHAMPS to influence...they would not be getting the perks. So please do not deny the CHUMPS a chance to express ourselves. You got the party invites and (in some cases) free cruises only because I come here to be "influenced."

[Arizona Laura]

Exactly what part of this did Cruisecritic.com create? CC's involvement ended when they forwarded RCI's request for contact with some CC members to the CC members. This was done this way to keep CC member's e-mail addresses confidential.

Cruisecritic.com has nothing to do with the RC program.[/quote] Here is the claim that CC has nothing to do with the RC program.

 

If that is the case again I ask of you why does CC continue to contact designated members more than the initial time on behalf of Royal Caribbean? CC is well aware of the RC program and are in essence a go-between for RCCL regarding the RC program.

 

In the statements below why all the in-depth explanation and time line about RCs/RC program seemingly in a self defense manner? Is all this information first hand or just put together from what CC has been told by RC's? I do not understand why the statements did not end after #2.

 

Are any employees of Cruise Critic Royal Champions?

 

Does Cruise Critic accept advertising dollars from Royal Caribbean directly or indirectly? Does CC's contacting some of their designated members on behalf of Royal Caribbean and therefore playing a role in whether the RC program is successful or not influence or enhance a financial relationship with RCCL?

 

Is this practice to contact designated CC members on behalf of RCCL actually using CC members for rewards, perks, or financial gain for CC or any of their employees?

I do apologize if any question has been answered elsewhere on this thread. I still happen to think their are some unanswered questions here.

 

And again I will say I judge posters by their posts not their titles. We do not know if any CC post is truthful, unbiased or the actual intent of any CC poster..RC or not.

 

Laura

 

I'd like to thank Cecilia for attempting to calm down the Royal Caribbean forum. Now, since I was aware of this program from the very beginning and somewhat involved, I will happy to share what I know to be the facts:

 

1. I was contacted by Royal Caribbean in early 2007 and was asked to send them emails of certain members who they were interested in contacting. Of course, since I will NOT share your email addresses, they had no choice but to ask me to contact these members with the information about this program. was told that Buzz Metrics, a subsidiary of Neilsen Ratings System, had earmarked about 50 people on the internet whose existing participating had been positive and enthusiastic about their cruises on Royal Caribbean. Of the 50, 40 were Cruise Critic members which makes sense since our community is so large.

 

2. I have to tell you I was VERY surprised at some of the posters on the listing; most of them were known to me. Some had many posts, some did not. But, most importantly I thought that the majority of them were NOT what I would call cheerleaders. As a matter of fact, I've found most of their posts before, and still, to be very HONEST, and sometimes downright critical, of the cruise line. This is only my opinion.

 

3. Most of those on the listing heard nothing for months. Finally, an invitation was sent to with an invitation to ONE of two pre-inaugural sailings on Liberty of the Seas. You had a choice of either Miami or New York and you had to pay your own way to get there. It is important to keep in mind that on these sailings were many travel agents, vendor firms and of course the media. The cruise line hosted all of these groups, including the 30 or so who could make it.

 

4. Cruise lines hosting various groups on board pre-inaugural sailings is pretty standard nowadays. They do this in the hopes that they will enjoy themselves and return and convince their friends, family and clients to sail with them.

 

5. I was on board the Liberty of the Seas pre-inaugural in NYC. I was very happy to meet those Cruise Critic members who were on board, as well as posters from other websites and bloggers and website creators. It was on board that the name "Royal Champions" was announced to all. I won't say we didn't have a wonderflul time; obviously the ship was gorgeous -- we did enjoy the 2 day sailing. There were many seminars and meetings on board to attend if so inclined; this is standard on any pre-iinaugural.

 

6. Many months went by. No communication to any of the Royal Champions came from RCI. All was quiet until RCI invited those in the NY area to attend an event where they would announce some of the neighborhoods on Oasis of the Seas. Not many of the RC's went, about 10 I'd say; I did attend as did our Managing Editor -- we brought 'Bennie the Bear' with us. I cannot remember the exact date but it was held at the Nokia theatre.

 

7. After the Nokia event -- nothing. No communications, no invites, no promises of anything at all. As a matter of fact, many would write to me and ask "is the program still running?". We really had no info to share.

 

8. About three months ago RCI asked for us to contact an additional group of members. No one heard anything for months until they were asked to verify their contact info. Then, again, nothing.

 

That's the entire story as I know it.

 

So, you may ask: why should or shouldn't you put any validity in what a Royal Champion has to say? The truth of the matter is -- only you can decide. Without determining how positive or negative a poster is, you certainly have to admit they are full of information about the cruise line, can offer up facts like nobody's business, share bits of minutia that some would say borders on the insane, post live from their vacations, and spend a great deal of time doing all the above. The choice is yours.

 

Some may also ask: why does Cruise Critic allow this? Essentially, you are all anonymous to us. The phenomena behind social media and user generated reviews is fascinating to us. There are many reasons why people come to a community like ours -- more often than not you are here because you like to cruise. The majority of different "groups" here identify themselves - such as Travel Agents, business owners and yes, even Royal Champions. We can certainly make it a "guideline" to identify yourself if that appeases those of you that are critical of brand influeners; but that would be extremely difficult to enforce across all the different types of groups.

 

My final note to you all: keep this discussion civil. Do not direct your posts toward any individual member. Do not direct your postings toward them as a group either. Instead, stick to the issue of the marketing focus behind this group and others like it. Know that they aren't being paid to post, but have been invited to an event or two to share their opinions about what they have seen. You are all free to "call it what you wish", those who look at it negatively will probably not change their opinion due to my post. I only wanted to set the record straight from our perspective.

 

Laura

[Lyncruiser]

The RCCL board has lost all credibility for me. I'm a Diamond RCCL cruiser and I'm done -- both with this board and with the cruiseline.

[CruiseTherapy]

OMGoodness: I thought this was a CRUISE critic board, didn't know it was a POSTER critic board nor a philosphy expounding center.

I agree with the person who said, "the longer you respond to this childishness, the more gratification you will give these backbiters". So cease and desist. I am no longer interested in all this rubbish.

[Charles4515]

We all use many products that we enjoy without getting so wrapped up in the "business" of the corporation behind those products. For some reason, when it comes to cruising, we seem to have more difficulty separating the product from the corporation. I'm sure there must be some sort of psychology behind that but I'm not so much in a philisophical mood this morning as to try to delve into it.

 

One thing I could never understand was the many posts on this forum and others from people who identify with one cruise line and either won't cruise on another, or who feel they are betraying a cruise line if they book another cruise line. Cruise lines are a business, not family or friends. Their interest is to return money to their investors, to be loyal to their investors. By doing that they have to market us a product we want to buy since cruises are not a necessity, they are discretionary. And that marketing is going to influence us one way or another.

[SAAdds1]

Kathleen - I think it was poor form for the cruise line to poach from the CC pool of 10,000+ posters when as another poster said they could have just gone to the D+ members who they already knew if they wanted to give away free cruises. Perhaps some of them may very well have been CC members. The decision made by the cruise line's agent working this marketing scheme on its behalf may have resulted in flattery for CC Management for getting the job done and impressing the cruise line, but in lessons learned clearly there were lines crossed as CC became part of the scheme.

 

I guess it all comes down to what is the purpose for this particular group of people.

It seems to me (and this is only my opinion) that the purpose was to be a positive influence for a cruise line. And, posting on a cruise message board is a good way to influence. So, it was important to recruit the members not from their own list (who might not be able to influence someone not on RCCL's ship), but to recruit the members from a group who could influence someone who was not on a RCCL ship.

As I already mentioned, that's my take on this.

[Charles4515]

[

Does Cruise Critic accept advertising dollars from Royal Caribbean directly or indirectly? ]

 

You never noticed the ads? Do you have an ad blocker on? Cruise Critic has never hid that it is a commercial web site. How do you think they pay for the bandwidth to support these forums will all the posts they get every day? It costs money. The alternative to ads would be a membership fee. I doubt that a membership fee model would be successful for this type of forum.

[SAAdds1]

"The key to success in viral marketing is to subtly influence the influencers without them overtly realizing they are being influenced," Royal Caribbean's manager for loyalty marketing, Rachel Hannock, told the audience, according to a blog on loyalty marketing written by the Customer Insight Group."

 

I find it hard to believe that not one RC is offended by RCL's manipulation of them.

 

Aren't you the least bit frightened that you fell prey to a ploy without ever catching on?

 

Read the above quote several times.... really read it.

Understand what has happened here. Substitute Philip Morris for RCL if that helps.

 

You have been played, my friends.

 

I cannot believe that Ms. Hannock would say something like that in an arena where it can be quoted. Some people just don't know when to keep their mouth shut.

[cruzendude]

The RCCL board has lost all credibility for me. I'm a Diamond RCCL cruiser and I'm done -- both with this board and with the cruiseline.

 

See ya! :p Though I do see your green light is still on!

[cecelia0613]

This entire thread is pathetic. If you want to be outraged by something then read this.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Insurance-giant-AIG-to-pay-apf-14643226.html

 

 

 

People are getting upset over nothing more than some posters receiving a two night cruise when there are more important things happening in this world. This is nothing but petty jealously. Of course it's the usual suspects that are throwing the darts. Doesn't surprise me that they only come out when they can cause more controversy. You people should find something more constructive to do with your time.:rolleyes:

 

To the Royal Champions, why respond to this crap? You are only feeding the sharks with more chum. Ignore them and let them fight among themselves. After reading this, it seems that only a very small group has an issue with the program and again look at the posters and take it for what it's worth.

 

There are bigger things in this world to worry about than the RC program. Who really cares? I know I don't.

 

Thanks Jumbiecruiser for pointing this out!

[cassieroll]

So, I'm fairly "new" here. When I first arrived, I noticed the RC'ers had sort of a status about them. I was honestly under the impression they were RC'ers because CC designated them so. I'd have to go back and search but in the threads I read, that was my understanding from what was posted. Not a big deal to me, just the way the board was run. I do have to say though, I thought a few times about what I had to do to become a RC so I could get a free cruise. LOL

 

I understand why the royal chumps (LOL that is awesome!) feel betrayed. They posted here with these people for many years and now feel it wasn't totally honest. I'm not that invovled with this and it does sort of feel as if the carpet was pulled out from under me.

 

I did wonder, however, after reading this long thread, if somewhere, someone wasn't writing a paper on how a bulletin board community reacts in a situation such as this. Have we all become someone's research rat and we'll be studied, analyzed and published? LOL

[Got2Cruise]

Since this board does not cost anything to join, I don't think anyone has the right to question how the owners of the board do business. Maybe because I have been posting from the time it was an AOL board, I realize that ALL the posts should be taken with a grain of salt. If you felt this place was "sacred", well, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you.:D At least the RC put the title in their siggy. Who is to say that posters who respond to other posts are who they say they are?

[Ocean Boy]

One thing I could never understand was the many posts on this forum and others from people who identify with one cruise line and either won't cruise on another, or who feel they are betraying a cruise line if they book another cruise line. Cruise lines are a business, not family or friends. Their interest is to return money to their investors, to be loyal to their investors. By doing that they have to market us a product we want to buy since cruises are not a necessity, they are discretionary. And that marketing is going to influence us one way or another.

 

I completely agree with you. For me it is all about the product not the company. However, as I have stated on other thread folks, including myself, don't always seem to be able to separate the two. I often say that I really like RCI. What I really mean is that I really like RCI's product. I have also in the past said that I am well aware that to RCI we are all just Crown & Anchor numbers that happen to have credit cards attached to them. The notion of loyalty between a company and customer is actually rediculous. For the company it is all about business and bottom line. For the customer it is mis-directed emotion for the product. Right now I would not care to sail on any RCI ship smaller than the Radiance class. If they sold off all of their larger ships I would be out of here. Am I going to be "loyal" to a company that does not have a product that I enjoy? No. If I call RCI and say I'm a little tight on money right now how about showing me some "loyalty" and give me 50% off a cruise so that I can afford to go are they likely to do it? Of course not.

 

This whole notion about the great infuence of the RCs is over the top. Even if I could talk someone into trying RCI the most it will do is get one cruise out of that person. They will then decide on their own if RCI is a good fit for them or not. It is repeat customers that make, or break, a business. If RCI wants a newbie to become a repeater they had better provide a good cruise exerience for them. If they want me to continue cruising with them they had better keep providing, as they have done so far, a good cruise experience for me. As I have stated before, I get way too little time off to spend my vacation doing something that I no longer enjoy.