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"Royal Champions" Saga Ignites War of Words
Hey look. Here's a huge can of worms. Let's open it. I wouldn't normally think this would be such a hot topic, but it seems that frequent cruisers have some extremely strong opinions on the recent "Royal Champions" kerfuffle, while the companies involved remain defiant that they didn't do anything wrong.
A detailed summary of the back story can be found in the links below, but the gist of it is that community website Cruise Critic (which is ultimately owned by Expedia) contacted between 50 and 75 enthusiastic and prolific message-board posters on behalf of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, who "engaged" these Royal Champions with the same kind of access usually reserved for the traditional, clearly-identified media, namely, free pre-inaugural cruises and sneak-peeks of new products and services. Unlike members of the traditional media, however, the Royal Champions were under no obligation to identify their involvement with the company as they posted their (mostly positive) reviews on message boards.
