Royal Caribbean bans complaining couple for life

[RobJohnson]

Are you one of those people who complains about every little thing that goes wrong on a cruise? Better be careful, or you just might find yourself banned from your favorite ships.

That's the takeaway from a fascinating story today at expertcruiser.com about a Cleveland couple that apparently complained just a little too much about their frequent trips with Royal Caribbean. The site says the fed-up line recently told them not to come back. Ever.   

The site says that while Brenda and Gerald Moran liked sailing on Royal Caribbean, they had a habit of documenting all sorts of problems big and small that occurred during their cruises, from a birthday greeting delivered to the wrong cabin to a toilet malfunction that spilled sewage into their bathroom. And they weren't shy about talking about the problems in online cruise forums.

At first, Royal Caribbean tried to make nice by offering the couple a discount on a future cruise and other perks. But after the Morans kept posting at online site cruisecritic.com about their complaints -- and the compensation that they were getting out of Royal Caribbean by complaining -- the line changed its tune, says expertcruiser.com. The site says the Morans received a phone call from a Royal Caribbean executive and then an official letter informing them they were banned from the line forever.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/cruiselog/2008/05/report-royal-ca.html?csp=34?se=yahoorefer

 

[jinxmchue]

from a birthday greeting delivered to the wrong cabin to a toilet malfunction that spilled sewage into their bathroom

Yeah, gee...  Imagine complaining about incompetence and health hazards!

[Bluesuiter-Retired]

Why would anyone want to go on one of those cruises anyway?

I don't think a month goes by anymore that something isn't going right with any of them.  One ship has a very nasty track record of passengers getting sick, then you have others were people are going over board in one form or fashion.

[DixieBelle]

Found out a little more on another site -

For the past 3 years, they took two cruises a year with Royal Caribbean, but according to the cruise line, they complained about almost all of them. Finally, after stirring up too much controversy on a popular cruise site, the company banned the Morans for life.

Last September, Brenda and Gerald got stuck with a stinky, sewage soaked stateroom on their 14- night Alaskan cruise. The cruise line refused to move them into another room, but offered a 20% discount on their next cruise. They felt this was fair compensation and decided to book their next cruise on Royal Caribbean.

After the cruise, Brenda logged on to Cruise Critic and posted a review of her trip as well as a few comments on their forums, says MSNBC. A few weeks later she got a call from Royal Caribbean offering her an additional $500 credit for her trouble. Brenda was happy with this offer and again posted the details to Cruise Critic. This is apparently when everything went wrong.

Some board members felt the Morans had complained their way to an unfair discount and posted their displeasure. They felt that the Morans were teaching others how to “scam” Royal Caribbean. Some went so far as to contact Royal Caribbean’s president and chief executive, Adam Goldstein to complain about the Morans getting any compensation at all.

A few weeks later the Morans received a phone call from a man named Sebastian who identified himself as Bill Weeks’ boss. Sebastian was unhappy that Brenda had posted a negative review and had shared the compensation information on Cruise Critic’s boards. He asked Brenda to take down her review “at once.” Brenda refused and cited her right to free speech.

The following day the Morans received another phone call from Sebastian stating the couple was banned forever from the cruise line.

The Morans received a $500 check along with a letter explaining that they were, indeed, banned. Royal Carribbean's spokesperson told MSNBC

Some customers deserve to be fired! Sounds like they were professional complainers (granted the sewage and other problems were legit) who took pride in being a pain in the butt and getting something extra out the company. Clearly, they weren't bothered enough to stop using the cruise line! They kept lining back up at the trough. No sympathies here.

[Willow]

if the cruise line offered compensation and the couple accepted it then the complaining should have ceased. That's mho!

[RightCoast]

He asked Brenda to take down her review “at once.” Brenda refused and cited her right to free speech.

The following day the Morans received another phone call from Sebastian stating the couple was banned forever from the cruise line.

Another DUmmie gets burned by the whole free-speech-not-applying-to-private-industry thing.