Hello, my name is Dave of Friends of Dave Tours in Warnemünde. I want to thank you for posting this blog post. I can not say whether or not SPB is paying these shills as Cruise Critic or not, but I do find many things about the recent behavior of both the Cruise Critic moderators and these supposed "fans" of SPB very curious.
I would like to say that when I began my tourism business back in 2009, I had already been a member of CC for several years. I wrote them and asked specific questions about what I could and could not say now that I was no longer "just a cruiser". The response was "We encourage professionals to offer advice and answer questions, but at no time can you promote yourself or conduct any kind of customer service." Seemed fair enough.
Within 2 weeks my account was suspended and I lost my connection to hundreds of posts over the years. When I enquired what I had done wrong, Laura, the moderator, said that I had posted answers to questions in a roll call that I was clearly not a cruiser in. When I responded that I was not aware that I could not post in roll calls, and also pointed out that I had just asked her a few weeks ago for guidelines (and no where did she tell me to stay out of roll calls) it fell on deaf ears. Despite my apology, and my honest approach, I was banned as a personal user.
I mention this because there are times when Cruise Critic is overly zealous about their rules. I was truly sad and sorry to have had my CC name blocked, but that was the verdict. I accepted their decision.
Jump forward a few years. I have become a very well respected and well rated guide here in Warnemünde at both Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor. My name is well known because I work very hard and provide a hell of a tour. My 60 excellent ratings at Trip Advisor all carry nice compliments and I have worked very hard to make my guests feel welcome and to provide them with a great day. Other than sending a "Welcome Home" email that thanks my new friends for having spent their port day with me and including a link to Trip Advisor, I do not solicit reviews. I find that crass.
What has happened this season on Cruise Critic is genuinely and sadly puzzling. I have stayed away from Cruise Critic for the most part as a user and only go there occasionally into my river cruise roll calls (under a new name of course). However, my partners in St Petersburg - Alla Tours - as well as friends at TJ Tours, Alex's Tours and Anastasia have all noticed, read, copied and complained about these shills working at CC. Some have sent me screen shots of where the same person posted the exact same BLATANTLY phony review in multiple threads. These posts are only deleted after they have done damage and after someone writes to complain. I believe I saw your own post deleted this weekend ( I loved the allegory about the red flags!) ... which is terrible because now that the members themselves are noticing this bias towards SPB, and the fact that Cruise Critic has done nothing to ban SPB from their site leads me to wonder just what is going on there? I have asked them and am awaiting an answer.
Those of us that work hard and play by the rules are being shafted and I am sorry that the spirit of Cruise Critic is being sullied by the unethical behavior of a few. I am very thankful to see your post here and to see someone independent calling attention to this matter. I wrote CC on the weekend and then posted a copy of my letter to my own blog here at Travelblog.org - I deleted it moments later as I did not want to become the target of these "SPB fans" who are obviously unscrupulous and dishonest. (I did leave my blog where I expose her "tour bundling" practice which is tourism gluttony at it's worst) Where they actually come from and who is behind them I can not say. I can only put 2 and 2 together - like many of you.
I would like to say, however, despite what is happening with SPB, I personally have had amazing times on my 75 cruises because of info I found at CC. My own reviews there are 100%!h(MISSING)onest, user driven, and unsolicited. I hope that a few bad apples won't spoil the whole barrel, because quite frankly I always liked that barrel.
Have a nice day.
Your friend in travel,
Dave
If you would like to read my comments about bundling you can see them here:
http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Mecklenburg-Vorpommern/Warnemunde/blog-705510.html
[Edited: 2012 Apr 10 14:48 - Friends of Dave Tours:224539 ]
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