Goldring Travel Blog – Making Waves

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The “Crazy” Cheerleaders Like TravelCat2 on Cruise Critic – Why You Can’t Blindly Trust What is Posted There

cruise critic, Regent Seven Seas

Last evening a woman, Jackie Ross (known as TravelCat2 on CruiseCritic.com‘s message boards felt compelled to engage in some personal attacks on Facebook after reading the above article. Spreading her comments over two different postings of the article she wrote:

Have you noticed how few people are reading your posts? And almost no one is “liking” them. Perhaps you will take the hint!

You have blasted Regent for years and years. Give all of us a break and stop talking about them. Yes – the Seven Seas Voyager is an older ship. I would recommend trying the Explorer but you would likely criticize them as well. What kind of TA are you? All of us have preferences, but few people (almost no TA’s) are as bombastic and critical as you are. I am thankful that you will likely be not be cruising Regent again. Regent is simply too good for the likes of you!

The reason I started writing articles was because I became so frustrated with people like Ms. Ross (TravelCat2) spewing inaccurate, misleading and even outright false information on CruiseCritic.com. It got so bad that the website suspended and then banned me because “I wasn’t there”; to which I would retort, “If the event complained of didn’t happen, or the information is wrong, then the poster that wrote about is wasn’t there either!”

It was also a point of frustration for me that somehow this small band of people that represent far less than one (1%) percent of the cruising public and who take a cruise once, maybe twice, a year somehow are unwittingly seen as providing “expert” or even accurate advice.

Long story short, after I was banned I decided to start what was a relatively new thing: A Blog. I would write honest, candid and opinionated articles where the truth matters, rather than some emotions (or, believe it or not, seemingly psychotic) based drivel ion CruiseCritic. And that is how Making Waves (formerly This Is My Yacht) was created.

Now with over 1,500 articles Making Waves is a resource that many people around the world use. My articles are distributed and found through a wide variety of social media such as subscribed emails, RSS feeds, visits to the Goldring Travel website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and, without limitation, organic searches on Google, Bing and other search engines. And my writings have garnered me a reputation for being candid, fair and honest. Quite frankly, they have created bit of credibility and stature in the travel industry; something that I work hard to earn and honor every day.

So with that I figured I would, in good faith, take TravelCat2’s attack (I mean comments) and do what I never do: Look at CruiseCritic to see what others are saying.

I said the L’Occitane bath amenities dries your hair. Mudhen, on August 13, 2017, commented that she didn’t like the L’Occitane shampoo either.
TravelCat2 (see above), on August 15, 2017, criticized the onion rings at the Patio Grill and Prime 7 (though she said the hamburgers and hot dogs are “great”…and you saw what I posted, so take it with a grain of salt.)
I noted the drawer space was limited. So did jssabs on August 17, 2017.
I criticized the staff. jssabs, who also just got off the Voyager wrote exactly what I did:

“I was disappointed with the level of service on Voyager. Service was very spotty in the Compass Rose and was not good at all on the pool deck. It appeared that there were just not enough wait staff or else they were poorly deployed.”

I cautioned you about using Regent Seven Seas “free air” as being a potential nightmare. On July 1, 2017 nigelc wrote:

“you can imagine my surprise when I received details of the flights Regent were planning to book for me. Rather than the direct Heathrow to Miami flight that I had expected…they expect me to fly to Newark, wait nearly five hours and then fly onto Miami – turning a simple 9 hr flight into a 17 hr marathon…. Hardly, the start to the 5 star experience promised by Regents marketing….Great having 6 star ships, but if getting to them is hell – what’s the point?” (Note: TravelCat2’s response was pay $350 for air deviation…but then you are still limited to certain of Regent’s contracted carriers other flights.)

I could go on and on and on. And this is the problem with CruiseCritic: There is some accurate information, but you cannot possible tell which is and which isn’t. Heck, Ms. Ross (TravelCat2) may think the Regent Seven Seas hot dogs and hamburgers are “great”, but you can decide if you want to rely on her opinion. Personally I prefer a top and bottom hamburger bun, actual lettuce, a meaty burger…and a hot dog that doesn’t look like this:

If you want to rely upon her opinions – focused solely on making Regent (her choice) wonderful in everyone’s eyes, go ahead. Possibly Ms. Ross’ complaints about my writings are not about them being inaccurate, but rather that Regent Seven Seas Cruises is being called out for the lower quality cruise product they are, while pitching they are Six Star Luxury.

As I wrote about Regent: Caveat Emptor! (Let the Buyer Beware!) If you want to stay in the same corporate family, book a cruise on Oceania Cruises. It can be a much as half the price of a Regent cruise and the cuisine and service is better. Book one of its newer ships (Marina or Riviera) and your accommodations will be better too.

Goldring Travel has only one objective: Providing honest and objective information and opinion. Why? We want you to be so confident with what we say that you book your travel with us.