Too Much Complaining = No More Cruising for Cleveland Couple

I found a very intersting article on ExpertCruiser.com's website titled "Banned from Royal Caribbean for complaining too much." The article discusses a couple who were faithful clients to Royal Caribbean, averaging two cruises per year for the past three years, but said that they often filed many complaints with the cruise line during each cruise. I found this article to be of particular interest becuase the banned couple live right here in Cleveland, Ohio! Crazy, right?! There's even a clip from Channel 3 News interviewing the couple that's included with the online article.

Apparently the couple submitted formal complaints to the cruise line about everything from the woman's birthday greeting being delivered to the wrong stateroom, to her husband being locked out of their stateroom and stuck on the balcony for three hours because of a latch jam in their door. Royal Caribbean tried to work with the couple, offering discounts and onboard credits in an attempt to keep the couple's business, until the cruise line eventually decided they no longer wanted the couple's business at all.

After each cruise, the unhappy couple would post reviews of their cruise experience on cruisecritic.com, including all of their complaints about the cruise as well as all of the compensation packages and incentives that they were offered each time. Seeing this, some board members felt that this couple complained their way to unfair discounts and believed that they were teaching others how to scam the cruise line.

A few weeks later, according to the article, "Royal Caribbean abruptly notified the couple that they were no longer welcome on any Royal Caribbean International ships, including the company's subsidiaries Celebrity and Azamara. Ever."

What a wild story! I've never heard of a cruise line banning customers for traveling with them before. Do you agree with Royal Caribbean for excercising their right to ban this couple from all of their cruises? How would you have handled this situation if you were the Public Relations practitioner for Royal Caribbean?

To view the complete article, check out http://expertcruiser.com/advice/royal-caribbean-says-get-out-of-here-to-couple/