Royal Champions

[dolfinmusic]

Wow!! You know what I find to be horrid, frustrating, distressing and so on??? Not being able to cruise. I was so lucky to take my first cruise back in 2003 (in my early 30's) and have been lucky enough to be able to continue to go on a cruise once a year. Not sure that it will last every year of my life but while I can cruise - I am thankful! I also trust myself to make my own decision when it comes to booking a cruise. My cruises are what I make of them!!! What did we do before the internet??

[Ocean Boy]

No need to attack me, my feelings about this may be shared with others. This is my opinion and you seem to be jumping from one persons opinion to the other. I have been cruising long before I found CC, and I enjoyed the website because I thought when fellow cruisers made suggestions or comments they were based on truth and not for other reasons. Now I really dont know.

 

Dorene

 

I absolutely didn't mean that as an attack. I really want to know why your opinion would change when you have your own personal experience to go by to judge the advice that you have received on this site. Of course, you don't have to tell me.

 

If I came across any other way to you I REALLY do apologize.

[Davey Interweb]

Further, I have no doubt a few great RCI posters will have a tiny perk or two that might have gone their way will go away. So, the jealous have sucessfully taken something from others. Congratulations.:mad:

 

jc

 

How are their perks going to "go away"? Royal Caribbean has already said they have no plans to change anything about the RC program.

 

Are you referring to having that status due to their level, and reciprocity, in Celebrity's Captain's Club?

 

Yessir. Anyone who has attained Elite status on Celebrity can automatically enroll in C&A as Diamond.

[LadyRose]

*gigglesnort* :p

[Charles4515]

And since RCL has decided to continue with the program, I ask all Royal Champions to keep us informed of any further invitations that you receive from RCL so that transparency will have a fighting chance.

 

If Royal Caribbean continues the program as they state they will, I doubt all those invited they will inform you of any invitations. Most likely the result of the abuse they received from some, is that many of them when they go in the future won't tell they went as Royal Champions.

[mikepmcm]

Wow,

 

I never realized that when a restaurant gives you an excellent meal that they really aren't trying to please you, but are only using you to spread false truths about something they aren't supposed to do, SERVE YOU!

 

By the way I got two Royal Caribbean hats on our last cruise for complaining about a missing OBC and then never did a review. Should I give the hats back?

[SomeBeach]

OK, OK!

 

sniff, sniff...I was given a key chain once for checking the Bingo balls!

 

There! I've come clean! I'm ashamed and I feel terrible. Please be easy on me.

 

Screen cleaner please! :p

[Ocean Boy]

Thanks Steve!:D

 

Does my cabin steward leaving pool towels in my cabin at my request when I was supposed to get them by the pool count?:confused:

[AdamKnows]

I ordered free room service while on the Mariner last week. This will be my last post on cruise critic. I feel like I betrayed all of you. :rolleyes:

[printingchick]

I LOVE this!!! I wish I had your wit! This is priceless..perfect...awesome!

 

Cheers!!!

 

 

PS: I got a Crown & Anchor hat on my second RCL cruise and a refrigerator magnet (which deactivated my SeaPass card!!!) from the M&M party. I never realized that I was being shamelessly bribed!!!

[sea-cruise]

If Royal Caribbean continues the program as they state they will, I doubt those invited they will inform you of any invitations. Most likely the result of the abuse they received from some, is that most of them when they go in the future won't tell they went as Royal Champions.

 

If I ever receive an invitation for something I will post it. I've already added a plea under my RC signature so I'm sure no one will bully me....

[ziggypup]

Sounds like a meltdown. I've had free perks from the cruise line, but I am not going to come on here and say that I had a wonderful time because I received a free perk. I'd be just as honest if I didn't get anything.

 

You have to take this website for what its worth and base your own opinions. If you are going to take everything posted on here as true, you are in for a rude awakening.

 

If you don't like what's on TV, then feel free to watch something else.

[dolfinmusic]

I have a little rubber keychain and some kind of memo/paper thingy that I got at the M & M!! Oh boy, better not even bring up the M & M's!!!! :eek: :D

 

Great post by the way!!! ;)

[aloha43]

I was reading a post on cruise critic the other day and a poster apparently inadvertantly let it slip that his cabin was upgraded for free by the cruise line.

 

His review of the cruise was favorable.

 

That is OUTRAGEOUS! How can we trust this poster when he has obviously been bribed by the cruise line with a valuable free upgrade--obviously in exchange for his favorable review.

 

(Yes...there was a bunch in this section that was deleted....I couldn't even read it all.)

I am outraged and I will not give up on this crusade no matter how obnoxious this thread gets. You are with us or against us. Our cause is holy. God is on our side.

 

Oh My!! :eek:

 

The meaning of that last paragraph? I'm not sure I want to know. :confused:

[PH8]

OK, OK!

 

sniff, sniff...I was given a key chain once for checking the Bingo balls!

 

There! I've come clean! I'm ashamed and I feel terrible. Please be easy on me.

Man,you got gypped.:eek::eek::eek:.I got a Royal Bingo Time T-shirt AND a free Drink of the day for checking those balls.......:p

[Charles4515]

If I ever receive an invitation for something I will post it. I've already added a plea under my RC signature so I'm sure no one will bully me....

 

I edited the post you quoted after I first wrote it. I don't want to imply that all Royal Champions will now hide any invitations. But I would not blame any who decide not to reveal them in the future.

[cruzendude]

Well this is certainly an interesting way to get your post count up;) Just to throw my two cents in;

 

I'm not jealous that I did not get invited to the super-secret RC club and that I was not present when they were passing out the ultra-elite homing device decoder rings;)

 

I'm also not suspicious or tempted to do a credit/background check whenever someone writes a positive or negative review about anything concerning RCI;)

 

I don't count my interactions with the posters on this board as "talking with my friends". I am sharing and receiving information with posters whose monikers and signatures do not sway me in any way, shape, or fashion (honestly I don't usually pay attention to the signatures). So subsequently I do not get my feelings hurt by the posters on this board.

 

And lastly I do not personalize my time spent on CC, which at the end of the day is simply a social media.

 

I do:

 

Gravitate to specific posters whose information has been helpful.

 

Answer questions that I have first hand knowledge of (and leave the unknown to the experts)

 

Get amused at some of the stories, responses, and opinions that I read on this board.

 

Follow my heart and my intuition when deciding what to do with my discretionary vacation income and who should receive it.

 

Just imagine if we were able to harness all of the passion and emotion that has ben poured into this topic over the past several days and create something really meaningful:rolleyes:

 

Well said...my feelings exactly!

 

I am still.......:rolleyes:

[CruisesOnMyMind]

Royal Champions have no criteria. Therefore you cannot attain the destination on your own rewards. This unbiased unattainable level cannot be obtain by anyone wishing to be there. It is a fictitious group of folks that designate you belonging or not.

[sleepless]

Royal Carribbean sent me a free brochure to try to get me to go on another cruise. I guess we shouldn't go.

[cruisingcowboy]

OK, OK!

 

sniff, sniff...I was given a key chain once for checking the Bingo balls!

 

There! I've come clean! I'm ashamed and I feel terrible. Please be easy on me.

 

 

Paul this simply won't cut it.

 

We need to know precisely who this Bingo person is and what financial relationship you have with him!

[jaxon41]

i would like to address the "jealousy" issue since it has been used for pages here to discredit folks objecting to a viral marketing program. The charge assumes that the title of Royal Champion on the CC message board carries such prestige and clout wherever it might be mentioned in the whole WIDE WORLD that legions of the rest of us are consumed with envy...trying to destroy what we are too inferior to ever possess.

 

Is that the point?

 

Let's remember this an an anonymous message Board on the Internet. Isn't there the TINIEST chance that a few of us "objectors" have a title or position in our real lives that might carry just the TINIEST prestige as well? Maybe...maybe even close to the knock-out title of being a Royal Champ for a cruise line corporation....

 

Could it be possible that some come here for unbiased information (we thought) and not with the wistful longing to be "important" on a website?

 

Perhaps not all of us would swoon over meeting CEO Goldberg or whatever his name is...because to us he is no more than a man with a good job providing a SERVICE we pay for!

 

Perhaps some of us are just content to be ourselves and rejoice in our own blessings and not feel we have to be a VIP on an Internet message Board to feel good about ourselves!

 

Could this be remotely possible?

 

How presumptious and how ridiculous for anyone to presume without knowing WHO WE ARE or our values or our individual achievements...that some special status on an Internet opinion Board would drive ANYTHING we might do.

 

Hazence,

Last night I really needed a feel good justice movie, so I watched the Dr. Robert Kearns story, Flash of Genius, about the man who invented the interrmittent windshield wiper, had his idea stolen by Ford, and fought them for 12 years. The movie opens with a scene of him on the first day of his university engineering class. What serendipity! He writes ETHICS on the board. He goes on to say -- (paraphrasing) The DeBakey heart pump was invented by an engineer -- he will save hundreds of lives -- the ovens at Auschwitz were invented by an engineer -- he killed millions.

 

As Barbara Streisand said to Robert Redford in my all time favorite, The Way We Were, "People ARE their principles."

[GXmanDC]

In the interest of full disclosure:

 

• Chi, the Casino Bartender on Freedom in Jan 2009 gave me a free drink
  
• Edsel, the Casino Bartender on Liberty in Jan 2008 gave me two free drinks
  
• RCI bought the whole ship free drinks for 2 hours during the Jan 2009 cruise.
  
• Atlantis Events gives a free bottle of wine, two gym bags and souviner dog tags to each passenger.
  

Now you all know.

Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa.

 

Oh, I also thanked a Royal Champion for his detailed review and great website. I was invited to the Delaware State Inaugural Ball this past January, but that had nothing to do with the Royal Champions.

[Aquahound]

Paul this simply won't cut it.

 

We need to know precisely who this Bingo person is and what financial relationship you have with him!

 

He was Bingo Matt on the Monarch...who later became CD Matt Baker on Enchantment. That little Scamming Brit gifted us with key chains, then high-tailed it for NCL!

 

Man,you got gypped.:eek::eek::eek:.I got a Royal Bingo Time T-shirt AND a free Drink of the day for checking those balls.......:p

 

How do you live with yourself? ;)

[TEXASMUNK]

I am a RC.

 

But, I have erred. I have replied, honestly to those posts of which I found interest. I promise, never again will I be honest.

 

The phrase, the phrase, what is it......? Oh yeah, "Get A Life!:)

[gospelle]

I have been on Cruise Critic for quite a while, although I don't post very much. I had a few hundred posts before they killed the whole site and started counting everyone from zero again. I post on another forum as well which is not cruise related (it's an airline forum).

 

There are a couple things that bug me about this which also happens on the other forum is that people who spend all day doing nothing but respond to every little thing and rack up the number of posts seem to be treated better than other posters by the admins.

 

Personally, I would rather hear from someone who rarely speaks than someone who can't shut up.

 

I have been suspect for a while about some of the people posting, usually in the ports of call sections as being fake tourists, and usually with low numbers of posts. Now with this debacle I feel I will hold suspect those who have more than 5000 posts as well.

 

I think providing information to RCI was a mistake as I'm sure you Admins realize now, and unfortunately I think you've done your site a great disservice which is too bad because there is a lot of good that comes from forums such as this.

 

I would add that I think the best course of action for the Admins and owners of this site (tripadvisor and expedia) should undertake some swift measures to create more transparency and develop policies that prevent fake tourists, fake posts, and users with an agenda.

 

Cruise Critic, please pay attention, because I've already started looking for alternative forums to get unbiased information. If you take measures to restore integrity to the site, I will likely stick around for years to come. But the more of this fake posting that I discover, and the more cliquey the site becomes, the less likley it is I'll stay.