Cruise Critic Fosters, and is the Home of, Irresponsible Gossip, “Windstar Purchases Half of Seabourn’s Cruise Ship Fleet”

Today Cruise Critic, one of the most irresponsible sources for alleged cruise information on the internet, posted an attention grabbing headline that is just plan false and intended unfairly stir and inflame innocent people.

Now, let me show you why Eric Goldring is one of the top travel agents out there:  I find the truth and let you know about it.  And then you rely upon me to assure you that the rumor you heard is not true and the ridiculous claims you read on Cruise Critic are fabrications.  (Trust me, I do this pretty much every day!)

So Cruise Critic post the headline “Windstar Purchases Half of Seabourn’s Cruise Ship Fleet”.  It is just not true. Windstar purchased three smaller older ships while Seabourn announced it was building a fourth Odyssey-class ship thereby reducing its capacity by a mere 8% or less…not now, but in over a year. 

Let’s first do the math:  Seabourn has 1,974 berths and will retain that number until April 2014.  Seabourn then retains 1,766 berths until the Spring of 2015.  But Seabourn is also building a new ship which will have around 450 or so berths, so when that happens Seabourn will have (or will be about to) have 1,800 berths or slightly more.

So, while Seabourn sold three ships, it is never reducing its berths below 1,800 if everything goes according to plan and will have four essentially brand new ships.

Now, let’s ask the question: Why would Cruise Critic make it sound like Seabourn was cutting its capacity in half?

Let me see.  Can it be that hard?  Could it be to sell advertising while prostituting the very basis for its alleged existence?  Why yes.  Yes it is.

I recall quite vividly Cruise Critic’s comments regarding the Carnival Triumph ordeal and how it was so quick to blast the cruise line…inaccurately I might add, “’I can’t think of a worse way they could have handled it, whether as a maritime issue or as a PR issue,’ said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor-in-chief of CruiseCritic.com” as quoted by The Huffington Post.

It is time to call Cruise Critic what it is:  A rag that prostitutes itself for the almighty marketing dollar by exploiting the fears and emotions of people just trying to enjoy going on a cruise. 

Oh, but if you want to get together with other people that read Cruise Critic, it will also give you the opportunity to do that…and to buy Cruise Critic gear so you can recognize each other. 

Just as its sister entity TripAdvisor has been ordered by regulators to eliminate any reference to be being a “trusted” source,  any notion that Cruise Critic is trusted needs to be…buried at sea.