Royal Champions Vereses the rest of us

[critterchick]

These people were picked because they were very pro RCL to start off with. I am really surprised that anyone thinks that now that they are part of a focus group that they would be more or less biased. They were already biased .... that's why they were picked.

 

It seems to me that most of the people who are upset about not being chosen as Royal Champions are just as “biased,” as you call it, as anybody who was chosen.:)

[Cuizer2]

I think all Royal Champions should put it in their signature. That should be compulsory.

Why? It is the poster's choice to include as little or as much information about them as they see fit.

[Wilda]

Hey, Ocean Boy I have always been meaning to ask what part of Rhode Island you are from? I am on the east bay side, Tiverton:)

 

 

South Shore. As for the East Bay, I'd have to pack an overnight bag to get to the part of the State!:D

 

Both of you are on the water....I'm up in Smithfield, the frozen tundra:D

 

Anyhoo, the RC program is insignificant to me. I don't normally consider associations or group inclusion when planning a vacation. There are plenty of "clubs" out there that I will not be invited to participate in; I'm fine with being an outsider. As you can see by my cruise history I have 3 cruises each on both RCI and Princess so my status is pretty low on the totem pole;)

[English_in_Spain]

Why? It is the poster's choice to include as little or as much information about them as they see fit.

 

Because I want to know if the person giving the opinion is a Royal Champion in the same way that sometimes in magazines and newspapers what appears to be an article is in fact an advertisement has to have the word 'advertisement' above it.

[Ocean Boy]

Because I want to know if the person giving the opinion is a Royal Champion in the same way that sometimes in magazines and newspapers what appears to be an article is in fact an advertisement has to have the word 'advertisement' above it.

 

And should TA's be required to but that in their signature? Should tour operators be required to put that in their signature? How about Diamond level folks? Obviously they have experience with RCI. How about people who have never sailed RCI but still, somehow, have an opinion? What about folks who have some sort of connection with all inclusive land resorts?

 

There are all kinds of people posting here with various backgrounds. No one is required to tell you anything about themselves that they don't feel like telling you. Why should someone who is an R.C. be singled out?

[Cuizer2]

Because I want to know if the person giving the opinion is a Royal Champion in the same way that sometimes in magazines and newspapers what appears to be an article is in fact an advertisement has to have the word 'advertisement' above it.

 

Well, just because you want to know does not mean the person has to provide the information.

[Schplinky]

I think all Royal Champions should put it in their signature. That should be compulsory.

 

Compulsory by whom? Cruise Critic and RCL are separate companies. On CC, I'm just your average poster. It's RCL that calls me a champion. For all any of us knows, it's Carnival staff that write the negative reviews of RCL, or Bahamas tourism officials who write nice port reviews, or Bacardi staff who chat up the cocktails. Good luck asking people to include in their signatures anything.

 

Because I want to know if the person giving the opinion is a Royal Champion in the same way that sometimes in magazines and newspapers what appears to be an article is in fact an advertisement has to have the word 'advertisement' above it.

 

 

You've sort of gone off the deep end. While few on this thread have said exactly what they're jealous of (and that seems to be the motivation behind most of the posts), the few who have said what being a Champion is have either grossly over-stated it or lied. When I sail RCL, I pay for my cruises. There is no Champions discount. I am not greeted at the gang-plank and hugged. There is no private party for Champions that you do not know about. There is no VIP cuddle with the Captain. There are no regular communications with the line and really, my "affiliation" has not affected my posting.

 

This thread was started by a poster who is bitter over the fact that some of the Champions got a pre-inaugural cruise about 2 or 3 years ago (the same person starts this thread over and over, it seems). It was a 2-day promo cruise. Going on that free cruise costs me about $700 in air and hotel. The point of the OP was that those cabins (about a dozen were Champions on my sailing) should have gone to Diamond PLus people as a show of appreciation.

 

That position ignores the fact that pre-inaugural cruises are promotional events that are meant to create buzz about a ship. By identifying some people who chat incessantly about cruises, I presume that is what the strategy was. We answered questions online after the cruise and folks posted what they liked and what they did not. I don't think anyone felt compelled to say they liked something they didn't and most reported candidly (the good and the bad) about their experiences.

 

What is ironic to me is that the person who started this thread (with the title and the aim of making it an us/them situation) would still not have qualified for this cruise had those 12 cabins been available. Not even all the Diamond Pluses could be accommodated and based on the threads online at the time, the OP was actually at least a dozen cruises away from being invited.

 

There are some people who count how many gifts they got in life to make sure others didn't get more than them. I'd rather be someone who is happy when something nice happens for anyone.

[MrPete]

Relying on data mining software and human expertise in word-of-mouth analysis, they measured awareness, identifying emergent qualitative themes of discussion on blogs, travel forums, usernets to gain a better understanding of how consumers discuss Royal Caribbean cruises.

 

So, it's really all about inviting people who don't run anti spyware software? :D

[Schplinky]

I doubt it's anti-spy. More likely, it's a machine that trawls throw the posts and associates positive (or correct) key phrases with particular posters. Posters who post in mostly negative OR positive tones would be easy for most internet crawlers to identify cheaply. Large companies use this a lot to scan large numbers of resumes for key qualifications.

[BillOh]

Because I want to know if the person giving the opinion is a Royal Champion in the same way.

 

 

When reading posts or reviews, I let the words speak for themselves and evaluate it for its merit. Its only after a post that I sometimes check the signature to look for perspective.

[Schplinky]

For those of you upset at being excluded, I have added a new club to my signature. I invite anyone who wants to join to do so. There will be annual meetings at the pool bar of an RCL ship and I will buy you a drink (all other travel-related expenses are your responsibility - just like with Royal Champions). Better hurry though, you have to join by April to be considered a founding member.

[hmsdos]

Its a marketing program that is likely on the tip of a wave of new marketing we will see in years to come, not just from RCCL but in other areas of our lives as well. I saw an email in the past couple days with some stats and projected stats related to computers...and the changing dynamics of life with them. So as goes the new world of computers, RCCL is tapping into that realm to market their product.

 

 

Think you have hit it.... Seems there has been a marked change in marketing focus at RCCL.... seems that "before" we were Diamond + "those" got invited to lots of events.... now don't know that any/many got invited to the pre-inagural of the Independence.... the NY "reveal" was limited, I think with Royal Champions included, frequent cruisers not, and now the Mariner on the West Coast.... seems that has been focused on "geography" with "select" others invited to the 2 night pre-inagural.... or did others get invited? Anyway.... seems to be much more "targeted" to who Marketing wants vs any perceived "earned" opportunities.... That, along with the major reduction of "benefits" for the frequent cruiser.... seems to me a major marketing shift. So.... to those who have been invited to be RC's.... I say.... "congratulations".... please represent "us" well :D

[Elizanessie]

... now don't know that any/many got invited to the pre-inagural of the Independence...

 

The Independence Pre-Inaugurals were in the UK and at that time I dont believe there were any RCs on this side of the pond. So Dplus members were amongst those who were invited. :)

[crusinmama06]

Try Disney and you'll be amazed at the professionalism of the wait staff. The service is outstanding, they know their menu and are proud of the product the serve.

 

I have. As much as you have. And I completely disagree. ;)

 

You must have had the luck of the draw and had some fabulous servers. While I must have gotten the bottom of the Disney barrel compared to my most recent Indy and Freedom servers. I remember the name of every Royal Caribbean server...even the ones from 11 years ago. They made THAT much of an impression on me.

 

The only thing I remember about my Disney Wonder servers is being told NO :eek: when asked if I could split an adult entree with the kids (a pasta plate) on two seperate nights. And waiting forever for our drink orders on Magic, every night.

 

Sorry I wasn't wowed by the Disney "magic". I am not a RC. I love Walt Disney World. But we continue to see a higher value in Royal Caribbean.

 

And that is my unbiased, not paid for, opinion. :p

[negc]

Because I want to know if the person giving the opinion is a Royal Champion in the same way that sometimes in magazines and newspapers what appears to be an article is in fact an advertisement has to have the word 'advertisement' above it.

 

You make a number of totally unfounded assumptions when you equate an opinion posted by an RC, TA, or a C&A member of whatever level, to an advertisement in magazine or newspaper. None of the people you mention have made any agreement with CC or with any cruiseline to promote a particular issue or point of view. If they have, almost everyone has violated that agreement at one time or another since most, at one time or another, has been quite critical of decisions made by the various lines. Are you going to believe them when they post a negative opinion but disregard any positive post that they make? Every opinion expressed on these boards belongs to the poster and him or her alone as far as I have been able to determine and if you are a regular reader of these boards you quickly learn which ones post trustworthy information and which ones regularly post misinformation or have a particular axe to grind. By your standards everyone who posts negative opinions should also make a full disclosure of their history and background so that we can determine whether or not their post reflects a personal bias and should be dismissed solely on that fact alone. Every opinion then becomes subject to an "ad hominem" attack and the validity of that opinion is basically irrelevant.

My advice to you is to read the posts carefully and come to your own conclusions whether or not to believe them. If you can't make that judgment based on the context and content of the posts themselves, no amount of disclaimers will help.:rolleyes:

[nanfromatlanta]

For those of you upset at being excluded, I have added a new club to my signature. I invite anyone who wants to join to do so. There will be annual meetings at the pool bar of an RCL ship and I will buy you a drink (all other travel-related expenses are your responsibility - just like with Royal Champions). Better hurry though, you have to join by April to be considered a founding member.

 

You can count me in. I am not upset about not being a Royal Champion, however, I look forward to cruising with you one of these days. ;)

[cruisePRN]

I think there's a lot of misunderstanding here. I don't think jealousy is part of the equation but getting slighted might be. People who speak with their dollars and have 50-60-75-100+ plus cruises should get rewarded before people who have cruised once, twice three times etc. The RC folks didn't do anything to upset people but RCL did. It is my perception that RCL shows little loyalty to to most frequent cruisers. With stock trading at $5.64 they need to keep their bread and butter customers happy. That's my opinion and I'm allowed to have it :D in a free country at least until we become a socialized one :D

[MrPete]

I have. As much as you have. And I completely disagree.

 

Sorry I wasn't wowed by the Disney "magic". I am not a RC. I love Walt Disney World. But we continue to see a higher value in Royal Caribbean.

 

My experience on Disney was the complete opposite. I have never seen such service on ANY other line (to date), or really anywhere, whether they be assigned to me, or simply randomly interacted with one.

 

But it's pricey and the food/selections just weren't up to par.

[Happy ks]

So, it's really all about inviting people who don't run anti spyware software? :D

 

Actually, the Royal Champions who were chosen from CC, Royal Caribbean chose us, contacted Laura, who then emailed us to get permission to give out our email addresses and phone numbers. There are probably some CC'rs out there who declined the invite.

 

Just like what RCI did on all the other cruise related message boards on the web, CC isn't the only message board with Royal Champions.

 

Just as I don't care to put my cruise history, nor my future cruises, I will not put any affiliation on my signature. Heck, I don't even have a signature, I like my anonymity.

[cruisinMike]

For those of you upset at being excluded, I have added a new club to my signature. I invite anyone who wants to join to do so. There will be annual meetings at the pool bar of an RCL ship and I will buy you a drink (all other travel-related expenses are your responsibility - just like with Royal Champions). Better hurry though, you have to join by April to be considered a founding member.

 

That should really help quell the perceived we or haves vs. them or have nots. Yes there is natural human emotion from those that may feel qualified but left out. I'm sure you may have felt some sort of ostracism at some time in you life. Regardless if you feel these folks are justified or not, their feelings are just as real. I really don't think the salt you offered heals the wounds. Honestly, I think there is some overreaction to this also, but I still hope you reconsider adding to the mentality of us vs. them.

 

Hopefully, from my previous posts you should be able to conclude that I am quite indifferent to this marketing ploy. As a matter of fact, I make it a practice to not even accept a friends requests (or like on other public sites) just to keep an independent view and not be perceived to be in a "club". That's a personal choice I make but, as I said, I'm quite indifferent to others and their choices.

[crusinmama06]

My experience on Disney was the complete opposite. I have never seen such service on ANY other line (to date), or really anywhere, whether they be assigned to me, or simply randomly interacted with one.

 

So I am told by others. :D

 

But I sailed both ships. Tried them twice. Plan to do them again when the new ships come out (hopefully they do something with the pools and get rid of those floating lobster tanks).

 

And I REALLY hope I am wowed by them. I really want to like them. I swear I do....lol. :D

[Schplinky]

I think there's a lot of misunderstanding here. I don't think jealousy is part of the equation but getting slighted might be. People who speak with their dollars and have 50-60-75-100+ plus cruises should get rewarded before people who have cruised once, twice three times etc. The RC folks didn't do anything to upset people but RCL did. It is my perception that RCL shows little loyalty to to most frequent cruisers. With stock trading at $5.64 they need to keep their bread and butter customers happy. That's my opinion and I'm allowed to have it :D in a free country at least until we become a socialized one :D

 

I agree that a rewards program should be based on discrete criteria. RCL is always touted as having the best reward program so yours is an interesting perception to me. Certainly, I think all those free cocktails that Diamond and up are drinking nightly are not found on other lines. Nonetheless you're perceptiosn are yours.

 

That should really help quell the perceived we or haves vs. them or have nots. Yes there is natural human emotion from those that may feel qualified but left out. I'm sure you may have felt some sort of ostracism at some time in you life. Regardless if you feel these folks are justified or not, their feelings are just as real. I really don't think the salt you offered heals the wounds. Honestly, I think there is some overreaction to this also, but I still hope you reconsider adding to the mentality of us vs. them.

 

Hopefully, from my previous posts you should be able to conclude that I am quite indifferent to this marketing ploy. As a matter of fact, I make it a practice to not even accept a friends requests (or like on other public sites) just to keep an independent view and not be perceived to be in a "club". That's a personal choice I make but, as I said, I'm quite indifferent to others and their choices.

 

It's really not meant to be salt so much as a signal that I hope to move on to posts by people who love cruising and are not mired in what they didn't get. I'm tired fo this thread because there are some who relentless post that Rcs are getting all this stuff but they dont say what this "stufff" is because if they did, they would look silly. There are folks talking about rewards and the RC program isn't a reward program.

 

In any event, I wish you all well but it's time to unsubscribe from this one.

[cruisinMike]

I agree that a rewards program should be based on discrete criteria. RCL is always touted as having the best reward program so yours is an interesting perception to me. Certainly, I think all those free cocktails that Diamond and up are drinking nightly are not found on other lines. Nonetheless you're perceptiosn are yours.

 

 

 

It's really not meant to be salt so much as a signal that I hope to move on to posts by people who love cruising and are not mired in what they didn't get. I'm tired fo this thread because there are some who relentless post that Rcs are getting all this stuff but they dont say what this "stufff" is because if they did, they would look silly. There are folks talking about rewards and the RC program isn't a reward program.

 

In any event, I wish you all well but it's time to unsubscribe from this one.

 

;) Had to smile at this. It's not really meant to be salt [but]......

 

Ok, have a great day but....... ;)

[geegee1]

This marketing champaign has negative impact on my family.

The program rewards people who have hours to spend on the internet, I have to work during the day. Our last cruise was on NCL and was great, my kids shocked when I told them we were going on another cruise line. I now tell everyone not to be loyal to one cruise line since the dollars I have spent don't seem to matter.

 

My issues are:

 

One what is the secret about the "Royal Champion " program why was I told one thing in an email and another posted on the internet.

 

Why is Royal rewarding people for postings not dollars spent?

 

One is one cruiser more important than another?

 

I know I will get flack from the Royal Champions, but my interest is how other RCCL cruisers feel about not being a champion.

 

how can this have a negative impact on your family? you should only be loyal to your family, friends, country and wallet. being loyal to a big corporation is crazy.

[Toddcan]

My jaw dropped to the floor when I read this thread. I did not even know that a "royal champion" program existed.

 

I just spent my entire lunch hour reading through this thread, and some of the posts of people in this thread on other topics. It was a very interesting read.

 

I've come to respect a lot of opinions on this board, and a lot of people have been very helpful to me in the past. But, sadly, I must admit that now, after reading this thread, whenever I see a "RC" or "Royal Champion" in the signature, I will now take a different look at their opinions. Perhaps it's the cynic in me. Perhaps this is a human flaw that I have that makes me think that people are naturally greedy and will change their behaviour when a reward is on the line. I'm sure there are psych studies that prove this to be true, but that's not my point...

 

A lot of forums on the internet are just people sharing ideas with other people.. for the fun of it, and because it feels good to help people with your knowledge and experience. This I get. This I understand. And, this I LOVE about CC.. or so I thought. NOW.. as soon as I know that there are people being rewarded in some way because of their opinions and helpfulness, it now puts their opinions in a different light. I'm not keen enough to detect tone and intent in an internet posting, so I will from now on, struggle to see the "real picture" in future RC posters only because of that human flaw that I have. This saddens me because I want to believe that this opinion is driven by nothing other than their desire to help me. I believe a lot of that will still be there... but now I am forced to look at these opinions differently. I guess that's the downside of this program. You can argue blue in the face that my thought process is flawed, but it's how I see it. A few other people seem to feel the same way. I have NOTHING agaisnt RCs, and I congratulate them for having this recognition, but I gotta say, your posts now will mean less to me, and that upsets me.

 

I know.. the rewards are not great. (No group hugs with the captain.) And it sounds like some of the newer RCs have not yet received a perk or benefit, but it will probably come in one way or another, at one time or another.

 

Sheesh I tend to ramble... :cool: