Banned from Royal Caribbean for complaining too much
Cleveland residents Brenda and Gerald Moran are experienced cruisers and big fans of Royal Caribbean. They were so happy with the cruise line they averaged two cruises a year for the past three years. They even bought the company’s stock.
Still, the Morans encountered problems on each cruise — everything from a plumbing problem to being locked out of their cabins — which they itemized and detailed in correspondence to the cruise line. Royal Caribbean worked with the couple to solve problems and offered discounts and onboard credits to keep the couple’s business.
Until it decided it no longer wanted the Moran’s business.
Last November, Royal Caribbean abruptly notified the couple that they were no longer welcome on any Royal Caribbean International ship, including the company’s subsidiaries Celebrity and Azamara. Ever.
What on earth did they do to get lifetime ban? They complained, and they complained loudly.
The cruise critics
Feisty Brenda Moran is certainly one not to hold back her opinion. Over the course of three years sailing on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, she documented many problems during her cruises that ran the gamut from her birthday greeting being delivered to the wrong stateroom to her husband being locked out on the balcony for three hours because the door latch jammed.
Last September, during a 14-night Alaska and Northwest sailing onboard Radiance of the Seas, the Moran’s stateroom had a plumbing problem that ended up with sewage all over the bathroom that overflowed onto the room’s carpet. Even with cleaning, the room wasn’t acceptable. The Morans asked repeatedly to be moved to another stateroom, but was told the ship was full.
The couple did the best they could to cope. “We had to keep the balcony door open in 40-degree weather the entire cruise just so we could breathe and not smell the horrible odors,” says Brenda.
Then on the last night the couple received a letter from the ship’s hotel director apologizing for the inconvenience and offered the couple a 20 percent discount on their next cruise. The Morans felt that was fair compensation and went and booked their next cruise with the line.
When Brenda returned home she wrote her usual post-cruise review on Cruise Critic and posted notes on their forums that started vigorous feedback from fellow cruisers.
Two weeks after returning home, the Morans received a phone call from Bill Weeks, an executive assistant in customer service. Weeks apologized for the couple’s treatment and offered an additional $500 to their 20 percent discount, the Morans were very happy with the offer. Again, Brenda posted her experience with Weeks on Cruise Critic’s forums.
Some board members felt the Morans had complained their way to an unfair discount and posted their displeasure. They felt that the Morans were teaching others how to “scam” Royal Caribbean. Some went so far as to contact Royal Caribbean’s president and chief executive, Adam Goldstein to complain about the Morans getting any compensation at all.
A few weeks later the Morans received a phone call from a man named Sebastian who identified himself as Bill Weeks’ boss. Sebastian was unhappy that Brenda had posted a negative review and had shared the compensation information on Cruise Critic’s boards. He asked Brenda to take down her review “at once.” Brenda refused and cited her right to free speech.
The following day the Morans received another phone call from Sebastian stating the couple was banned forever from the cruise line. The Morans were stunned. They didn’t believe it was true until an official letter was delivered citing the ban. It also contained a $500 check — their additional promised cruise credit.
Royal Caribbean speaks
I contacted Michael Sheehan, Royal Caribbean’s associate vice president of corporate communications, to get the cruise line’s side of the story. Sheehan says since 2004, the Morans sailed six voyages with two of the company’s lines. “On all but one of those sailing the Morans felt there were a variety of service failures they experienced,” he said. “In a small number of cases we agreed and compensated them appropriately. In most cases, however, we disagreed. Having concluded that we are unable to meet the expectations of the Morans, we have told them that they would be best served by sailing with another company.”
Cruising the message boards
Royal Caribbean is certainly entitled to ban whomever from their ships. Nevertheless, to ban someone for posting their cruise experience on an Internet message board raises serious questions about the lengths the company is going to keep negative reviews from public consumption. When I asked Sheehan if Royal Caribbean has an official policy on asking negative posts to be removed from Internet forums, he denied there was a policy.
Still, Internet postings are on the mind of Royal Caribbean’s top executives. In an e-mail obtained by Tripso, one Celebrity executive cites Cruise Critic’s message boards. “They love finding fault with Azamara even when things go great,” the executive complains. “How do we get over that?”
It appears that one step the company is taking to “get over that” is to intimidate posters of negative reviews and in some cases even going so far as to contact the publishers. Paul Motter, editor of Cruise Mates, was contacted by a Royal Caribbean staffer last November to have a negative review removed or at least amended.
In the e-mail, the staffer tells him the issue with the customer was resolved and asks if he can “make changes” to the posting. Motter did not take down or amend the review.
I spoke with Laura Sterling, Cruise Critic’s chief board moderator. Sterling says in her 13 years of moderating she’s never been approached by a cruise line to remove a review. She adds, “It is our policy to not entertain requests to remove negative reviews, at the request of cruise lines or anyone else.”
I asked other cruise lines about their rules and most said they have no policy at all towards Internet posts. A Carnival spokesperson, Jennifer de la Cruz, says the line has never banned someone for posting negative reviews. But the company pays attention to online discussions. “As a company we do like to maintain a feel for what’s being discussed online,” she says. “The message boards are a great source of consumer feedback.”
Indeed, Internet feedback is a hot commodity. Last year, Carnival started its own online community with message boards along with cruise director, John Heald’s popular blog. Just two weeks ago, Royal Caribbean launched its own online community called RoyalConnect with message boards for past cruisers of the line.
So, what does all this mean for you? Simply put, when you post a cruise review on a Web site, your post is likely being read by someone at the cruise line. Most cruise lines welcome feedback, even Royal Caribbean.
But if you go too far don’t be surprised if you end up with an e-mail or phone call from the cruise line.
As for the Morans, it appears there was a light at the end of walking Royal Caribbean’s plank. They’ve discovered “Freestyle Cruising” on Norwegian Cruise Line. “They are so much better than Royal Caribbean,” says Brenda.
Sound off! Do you have a comment, an idea, a complaint or a problem for Anita to solve? Send her an e-mail and you might find yourself in her next column.
You may also be interested in these articles
Comments
58 Responses to “Banned from Royal Caribbean for complaining too much”
I really don’t have a problem with Royal Caribbean banning passengers but I also have no problem with the Moran’s invoking their freedom of speech rights. If someone complained or spoke poorly about repeated visits to my house I would stop inviting them. The Moran’s have the right to complain and Royal Caribbean also has the right to tell them not to come back.
I have followed Brenda’s comments about Royal Caribbean on Cruise Critic for years. And I will tell you that I agree with Royal Caribbean’s actions in her case. Even BEFORE her cruises, she had outlined what she does to complain and get better accommodation onboard - in other words she goes into the cruises expecting to find fault AND expecting to demand compensation. I am happy that she has found a cruiseline that meets her needs and glad I won’t encounter her on my future cruises.
It is interesting t hat RCL took action after other “members” of Cruise Critic complained that it appeared the Morans were systematically “scamming” the line.
When I was working in a business hotel many years ago, we had the couple from Hell show up for their annual weekly visit. Within one HOUR of their arrival, they had EIGHT complaints that they wanted to have resolved. In the first day, they contacted the front desk or the general manager 20 times. Over the course of the week, we ended up comping a day or two and upgraded them AT NO CHARGE to a suite.
After three of these visits, we decided that the people would be happier at another property and we would no longer accept the people as customers. When they called, they were surprised about the decision as “they had enjoyed their visits SO much.”
Let’s be blunt. Customers like the Morans are extremely unprofitable and affect the ability of the carriers to service their other customers. Let’s wait to see what the Morans will be posting about Norwegian.
I believe I saw a post of hers that said they had just returned from the Norwegian Jewel and were very pleased with the experience. I am happy that Norwegian fits their needs.
I have followed Brenda’s posts for a couple of years on Royal Caribbean and now on NCL. Royal’s loss is not NCL’s gain, unfortunately. I’m not surprised the Moran’s are banned from Royal. Hopefully they have learned something from all of this and will be better passengers. It’s not fun to sail with them ….
The Morans should be able to state their opinion without being banned. If you read the story they had a sewage problem and a locked door, if that was me I’d be complaining too. Hey maybe they do complain a lot but that shouldn’t lead to them being banned. Also, isn’t it ironic that all the Cruise Critic posters are coming here to bash the Morans? Makes me wonder about them not the Morans.
C’mon, this woman always bragged about bringing “equipment” like black lights on board to find fault and complain before she even boards.
Yes, we all have freedom speech and it is RCL’s initiative to ask for them to modify a review, the Moran’s were not required to comply. I applaud RCL for banning them, I expect NCL to get there eventually.
One side of the story that you will not hear is from the employees having to listen to this woman’s endless ranting and belittling of crew members, which was overheard on several occasions. Sure you can be angry about conditions, but that does not give you the right to be nasty and treat people as sub-human slaves to your whims.
We all know people like this, they are not worth the trouble, I feel bad for all service people they encounter.
With Freedom of Speech comes responsibility. What does not come with Freedom of Speech is Freedom from Repercussions.
It seems that while the Morans have taken many, many RCL cruises, they have ALWAYS posted negatives after each cruise and have ended up receiving some sort of compensation. Given that RCL banned them, I would be surprised if they EVER post anything negative about NCL, but instead complain discreetly in order to reap some benefits.
All I can say is three cheers to RCL for doing the right thing. This woman can be found on may interent sites not just cruise sites sharing how to scam companies. From black lights taken to hotels to get free rooms to plotting pre cruise on how to get the next future cruise credit. She did not get banned for the review but rather a long history of questionable complaints.
Cruise Critic may have never removed a review but they have removed 100s of posts on the message board that questioned the actions and behavior of Ms. Moran.
The Morans must be one piece of work if disinterested parties were contacting RCL about them! Who would want to vacation with them? I, for one, prefer to be surrounded by happy people.
Sure, you can get a string of bad experiences. It has happened to me. I am firmly on the side of informing the manager of both the good and the bad if it warrants comment. But fishing for perks is…unseemly.
Sorry folks but I know the history of Brenda Moran and it isn’t pretty. She has now cruised on Carnival, Princess, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. She had issues on all of those cruise lines. None of them could meet her expectations. One must remember that when posting on the world wide web that some people make a name for themselves. Ms. Moran has done just that and her opinion is one that many have learned to talk with a grain of salt. Also on her last cruise with RCCL, many passengers that post on one of the largest cruise boards witnessed her actions and could not believe that a person could act this way in public.
She will soon grow tired of NCL when they refuse to give in to her demands. She has also posted on one cruise board how she and her husband take a black light into the hotels to check the bedding. When you are always looking for something for nothing, eventually a business knows that they are losing anyway. In this case Royal Caribbean did a smart thing.
5 stars for Tripso allowing good and bad, Cruisecritic.com is controlled by a bunch of moderators who regularly delete posts and ban users - I would guess millions of posts have been removed and thousands have been banned from posting over the years. Brenda continues to post regularly without repercussion even though she rarely makes sense, interjects into threads without adding value and certainly has plenty of ideas on how to scam companies…
It would make an interesting article to actual contact cruise critic and ask about the millions of removed posts and thousands of banned users.
David, Brenda was banned on Cruise Critic when she was using the name “TheAwesome1″. For some reason Laura Sterling has allowed her to come back to Cruise Critic. Many of the members of that board have scratched their head on that one.
By the way, if anyone wants to see what we are all talking about, I invite you to take a look at the following threads on Cruise Critic. Brenda’s screen name if MACOP. You can also look at her posting history by clicking on her screen name. Also if you want to know why I am posting all of this information, it’s because the truth needs to be told.
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=771831&highlight=macop
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=773507&highlight=macop
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=620537&highlight=MACOP
I think the final straw was when she claimed to have been contacted personally by the president of RCI about her problems on the Radiance and he said that contact never took place. Many of us have followed her rants on cruise message boards and have been onboard ships with her. Some kept track of cruises she had booked to ensure they did not book that same cruise.
One other thing about Brenda is how many famous people she is on a first name basis with and how often she refers to that relationship in her posts.
I am glad you are all finding this story interesting. Keep posting!
Best,
Anita
Do you guys want the truth? The truth is many of the comments on this thread and the ones on Cruise Critic are by EMPLOYEES OF ROYAL CARIBBEAN. You guys will go to great lengths to do ANYTHING to protect the company. They are paid TROLLS of the Internet.
Not an employee at all. You may want to back up those comments. No one is paying me for anything. Again, we know the person in question. No need for any of us to make up anything.
Here are more links to back up our comments.
Celebrity Cruise Line
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=263784&highlight=MACOP
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=263786&highlight=MACOP
I’m a member of both Cruise Critic and Cruisemates (and several other cruise-related sites). I’ve read the review Ms. Moran wrote and I thought it was a balanced review (good and bad things). I have written reviews that have been much harsher when appropriate and I’ve never been contacted by a cruise line (Royal Caribbean nor Celebrity). But then I’ve never asked for any compensation from a cruise line for things that happened on a cruise. It seems that there must be more to this story than we are aware of.
I’m definitely not an employee of a cruiseline, I don’t even work in the travel industry. And I am not blind to the faults of the cruiseline, I have friends that were on this sailing that are frequent Royal Caribbean cruisers and in their review of the sailing they posted about many issues with this cruise. But my friend’s review is still up AND they are still able to cruise Royal Caribbean.
I wonder who tellingthetruth works for. Interesting that most everyone else used their real first name. Wonder if tellingthe truth has a stake in this article and wants to smear anyone that doesn’t agree with it?
For the record, I’m retired from an Air Force base in Ohio and have never had any cruise related job(s) ever.
My wife and I recently went on our first cruise–it was with Royal Carribean. How terrible!!!!! It was on Monarch of the Seas. The room was so beaten up and dirty, if it had been a hotel on land we would have gone directly to the office to get our money back and gone to a different hotel. We were stuck on this cruise ship. Evidently, RC is not telling people that some of their ships are so old and in disrepair (we were told by one of the ship’s employees that the ship is getting moved in the next year to Florida to be used for a while then sold!). Although all the empoyees were very kind in dealing with our situation, the experience ruined our whole trip (which was to celebrate a milestone wedding anniversary). The second room they gave us had issues with methane gas smells coming from the bathroom. When the cruise ended I contacted the home offices of RC (as I had been instructed to do by the staff onboard) only to be given offers of compensation that were rediculous. Finally, after my perseverance, they upped their offer–but still not what one would consider just. We will never go with RC again. So unjust!
There is now a thread posted on the Cruise Critic Royal Caribbean board. The host is now threatening to ban any posters that are not careful with their comments about the article. Once again Cruise Critic is protecting this woman. Good going Laura Sterling and company.
If you look around at SEVERAL internet sites(cruise boards,opinion boards,etc),you will see Ms Moran complains about everything from cruises to hotels to airlines(and more)………FREE is the most common word for her.Figures if she complains ,she will receive compensation.
I,for one,am glad RCCL did what they did(take back her compensation).Bottom line is she really is out for any freebie she can get her hand on.
For the record,RCCL is NOT the first cruiseline she has been banned from.What does that tell you?
I also do not work for RCCL(but would love to!!)
Sorry John,your cruise sucked…….the older ships are not as “sparkly” as the newer ones.Still I have no problem cruising any of them…Maybe you should had researched it more before you went.
Scott—-Im willing to bet it wont be long till that thread gets poofed.No one is allowed to say anything negative about MACOP,dont you know?
Where to start?…………..
Brenda Moran bragged in a Cruise Critic post that she would take her black light on her Celebrity cruise and look for nasty stains on her bedsheets in the hope of finding them and demanding and upgrade. After she posted this a number of Cruise Critic members wrote to Celebrity and told them that this was her intention and to be on their guard at being scammed. She was easily identified by the cruise line as she had posted her real name on Cruise Critic and also her cabin number (9201, can we ever forget?). Upon boarding Celebrity Summit her black light was confiscated from her. She had nothing good to say about that cruise or the unfriendly staff (can you blame them for being unfriendly?). She also brags at being a mystery shopper and you can find them all over the net under theawesome1 and MacGyver. She tests out anything she can find useful to her (obviously the black light is one) and then tells us all about it so she can earn a few $$$ from the review website.
She would boast about her DIAMOND pin on the Royal Caribbean board and how important she was and how the staff polished it for her. When Royal Caribbean finally gave her the heave-ho she put all of her RCCL freebies including her DIAMOND pin up for sale on e-Bay. And get this. She then posts on Cruise Critic that she’s seen these items for sale! Talk about cheap. That post was pulled for self-promotion reasons.
OK, we’ll talk about cheap. She also bragged that she’d go down to the buffet and bring a tray of juices back to her cabin and put them in the refrigerator so she wouldn’t have to pay for mixers.
The sad thing is that she has such a negative impact on other passengers on the cruise she is doing. How about getting her “onboard cronies” together and invading the Guest Relations because the ship was being diverted because of a hurricane and she doesn’t like the change of port? She was asked to cool it or else.
And then there are continual postings about those hurricanes and how the people who live in their path chose to live where they did, so what’s the problem. Aside from her having to pay a higher insurance premiums because of it. Nice! (rolleyes)
You couldn’t make this stuff up. Funny thing is she is posting about NCL now in the same glorious terms as she did with Celebrity. Celebrity were the very best and Princess did her bad and were rubbish. Then RCCL was great and they banned her. Now it’s NCL and we all wonder how long it will take for her to upset them. She’s running out of cruise lines.
So you see, you really have only a little bit of the story. I’d say you really need to see this woman in action to really understand how it is and it sure isn’t pretty! If I owned a business, any business and was as familiar with MACOP Moran as RCCL and Celebrity became I would ban her too. Absolutely no question.
Oh and if she ever tells you she was a cop, she wasn’t. She was an Auxiliary Police Officer. Big difference. Walter Mitty and all that stuff.
And no, I don’t work for the cruise line. Just a member of the public sick of her scamming, boasting and unintelligible ramblings on message boards.
Hello Everyone,
I am a little unnerved by all the negative comments about the Morans.
I spoke with Brenda and Gerry Moran on numerous occasions they were extremely pleasant, cordial and very informed. Additionally, I spoke with their travel agent who stated they are “dream customers” easy to deal with and follow recommendations and advice.
Reading some of the comments here is sad because it appears some have personal conflicts with the couple. There is another story here that has nothing to do with cruising.
Best,
Anita
Anita, sorry that you see it that way but you are not familiar with what many of the members of the cruise boards read from this person. There have been eye witness reports from other cruisers who have seen this woman in action on the ship. If you choose not to believe any of the comments made then that is your choice but remember, there is always two sides to a story. Do you really believe that a company like Royal Caribbean would tell someone to take their business elsewhere over a review? Get serious. I am simply sick of this woman telling lies on different boards and making a company look bad simply because they refuse to meet her demands.
I find it interesting that so many people from Cruise Critic are “angry” about this woman - not what happened, but actually angry about her! Why do you keep posting there?
Sorry Anita,but it seems she suckered you in.Trust me,it is nothing personal with me.I have never met her,but I have read on CC and other boards of her rants about this and that and how she was later compensated.The last time with RCCL really was over the top.She smeared their name all over the internet.
Her review was ok………but it was the slander later that was NOT COOL at all…….
People are just sick and tired of her comments.Looks like she got in touch with you so someone would agree with her.
FUNNY thing ,on CC,under her profile she has RCCL listed as her favorite cruiseline…HUH??????? Banned and yet her favorite……
Whatever..
I’m not sure I understand the above posting. I think Anita’s piece was very balanced!
Hi All,
Wasn’t suckered at all. But, I am beginning to see an even bigger issue and it’s ugly,
Best,
Anita
Well Anita, at 12.48pm you did ask us to keep posting ;-)
I agree with Kathy. It looks like Brenda has suckered you in. Remember there are two sides to every story. If her gripe is that she has been banned by Royal Caribbean and can’t understand it then I think a lot of people are here to tell you they understand fully.
As for the TA, she’s dropping them now because she can get a better deal with Casinos at Sea. Ask them again in about three months and see if you get the same answer (not that I’d expect ANY travel agent to tell you the true story in any case).
Anita, then maybe you should follow this thread. I am done here. It’s obvious that you want to only believe one side of the story. Go right ahead. Just goes to show that PT Barnum was right. There is one born every minute.
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=777698#post14708591
I edited Anita’s story. I can tell you that she made every effort to ensure it was a balanced piece.
This is the type of story that, in the hands of a lesser journalist, could have easily morphed into a snarky blog posting with no response from RCCL. I think Anita was remarkably even-handed, considering the incendiary subject matter.
Given all that’s been written here, I wonder if a sequel is in order …
Christopher, a think a sequel is a must and I’ve got an idea for a name. “The Phantom Menace”.
The story was as balanced as possible - good writing. I am sure the cruise line has many more details about Brenda that they have no need to release.
The fact that so many have been rubbed wrong by Brenda speaks volumes to why she was banned.
Read what Brenda has written, draw your own conclusions.
I don’t understand the griping - she went to RCL and printed their side of the story and as I read it, I came away with a negative impression of the Morans. If I came away feeling that way after reading everything Anita wrote, how could anyone say it was slanted towards the Morans (and i have NEVER heard of them before)?!
<<<<<>>>>>>>
This is not why they got banned from RCI … that’s all we’re trying to say. You wrote a story … based on one-sided facts. RCI is quite correct is their silent response as to the real reasons. They have nothing to gain by reporting all the junk. The Morans, on the other hand, seem to be gaining quite a bit of notority. I’m sure that’s all they want. Unfortunately, they will come out the losers in all of this.
Please just read their (her?) posts all over the internet. They are filled with half-truths, gross exaggerations and downright mis-information.
AND, I agree with Editor Christopher. A sequel would make quite an interesting story.
Please reread this - Anita makes it clear that RCL says they did not ban the Morans becauseof the posts on CC”
“I contacted Michael Sheehan, Royal Caribbean’s associate vice president of corporate communications, to get the cruise line’s side of the story. Sheehan says since 2004, the Morans sailed six voyages with two of the company’s lines. “On all but one of those sailing the Morans felt there were a variety of service failures they experienced,” he said. “In a small number of cases we agreed and compensated them appropriately. In most cases, however, we disagreed. Having concluded that we are unable to meet the expectations of the Morans, we have told them that they would be best served by sailing with another company.” ”
She then states essentially that “if” RCL banned the Morans for posting negative reviews, that’s not right and then CONFIRMS that RCL has no policy of banning for negative reviews:
“Cruising the message boards
Royal Caribbean is certainly entitled to ban whomever from their ships. Nevertheless, to ban someone for posting their cruise experience on an Internet message board raises serious questions about the lengths the company is going to keep negative reviews from public consumption. When I asked Sheehan if Royal Caribbean has an official policy on asking negative posts to be removed from Internet forums, he denied there was a policy. ”
Please, when you re-read this it is clear that Anita is not saying she was banned for posting negaitve reviews or for airing “dirty laundry”. What is clear, is that as a Journalist is supposed to do, she has asked questions and printed all the various party’s responses. what you conclude is up to you. My immeidate conclusion was that Ms. Moran is a scammer - I can not understand how you could come to the opposite conclusion. And then to accuse Anita of being biased when she never even prints her own conclusion(s) whatever that may be! The closest she gets to making a conclusion is:
“But if you go too far don’t be surprised if you end up with an e-mail or phone call from the cruise line.”
She doesn’t post - “don’t be surprised if you are banned”.
The throwaway line about NCL is simply a throwaway line.
l
Hi Everyone,
You better believe they’ll be a sequel, I have over 124 e-mails as of 5:57 PM EST — I am averaging one per minute now. Seems this story has released the beast within the message board community. FWIW, I don’t agree with the public flogging of the Morans.
As for the article, everybody has a right to their opinion, but I stand by the story and all the facts in it.
Best,
Anita
I’d like to know why now,after so many months(this took place last fall) why it is coming to light ??
Seems to me someone is looking for more attention and perhaps something else??
Anita, what you’ve done (unknowingly) is out a scammer. The attention you’re seeing is people saying they’ve had enough. The members at CC and other boards know her well enough from her posts and stories, not many more get to see it too.
If there is nothing to hide at RCL, why did one treat problem passengers RCL did? Didn’t RCL have a responsibility to have a clean and workable room with everything working?? If the Morans are looking something to pick on (or trying to scam RCL), why RCL didn’t document everything before the Morans show up at their staterooms?
Morans may be picky, but RCL actions speak louder about their company and their executive officers. remember travel industry is a service industry. Without the passengers en masse, RCL may not be around for long.
Maybe some cruisers are jealous of all the freebies the Morans got???
Thank you Anita for your neutral reporting and Chris Elliott for the secondary checks and balances.
This is one of her recent posts on Cruise Critic:
Now to be proud of me, Sears sends an email on VIP night for Sears cardholders. A picture of a gal in shirt, shorts & sandals with 50% off all WOMAN’S dresses, sportswear & intimate. So I copied it & took it with me. In the store has 20% off dresses, so I got 4 to try on, liked 2 & to cashier we go & she rings it up a good $40 more than my calculator. So I hand the ad I received for 50% off. She calls her Manager who comes to tell me prices ae as advertised in the department & I show him the email from Sears at 50% off. I get my cell & tell him I will phone the Attorney General on false advertising and my $20 dresses appeared!!!!!
_____________________________________________________________
This is the kind of stuff that she does and then brags publicly. I don’t know her and have never met her, however she can most times be intollerable to listen to her babbling. She is sneaky and very calculating. She got what she deserves, and I think her poor husband is just along for the ride.
Here is another one of her idiotic ramblings:
0% APR is NO interest you still make monthly payments with nothing additional, but ads read $16-$24 a month which I took as interest. But it is the car payments $333.40 for 5 years = $20K car. But we never make payments, we pay in full for for the best in what we want. Luckily we pay cash for cars so we get upgraded to Ultimate package with heated seats, sunroof, 8 CD changer, heated mirrors & windshields, etc.
_______________________________________________________________
Do you see the pattern here yet? She loves attention - negative or positive and in the end all of us as consumers are paying for people like her. Good for Royal Carribean. I hope that NCL follows suit real soon!!!!
If there is nothing to hide at RCL, why did one treat problem passengers RCL did? Didn’t RCL have a responsibility to have a clean and workable room with everything working?? If the Morans are looking something to pick on (or trying to scam RCL), why RCL didn’t document everything before the Morans show up at their staterooms?
Morans may be picky, but RCL actions speak louder about their company and their executive officers. remember travel industry is a service industry. Without the passengers en masse, RCL may not be around for long.
Maybe some cruisers are jealous of all the freebies the Morans got???
Thank you Anita for your neutral reporting and Chris Elliott for the secondary checks and balances.
LAMO. Hey Brenda. Nice of you to show up and post. Have anything else to say?
Where’s my decoder ring? Honestly, NO ONE is jealous of the Morans. If anything, they are to be pitied, especially the husband.
OK the passengers are tools. Who cares what you think of them? RCCL fired them as customers. Happens all the time for various reasons. I have fired clients as well.
This is really a NON issue.
From what I have been reading about these people, they are scam artists. The woman claims to be a police officer and multiple people that know her have disagreed. There is obviously something wrong with this woman. She seems to have pushed one too many buttons. I can not believe how many people she has ticked off on the many sites that I have visited. You really need to do a sequel, maybe get to the bottom of why they were really banned from more than one cruiseline. I for one will be waiting for your next article, standing on line behind all these other people that have written before me. You have picked a hot topic!! Good luck to you
“Anita” (wink wink)–
You are a sly one—or so you think
You know, this post was not really about Cruise Critic, it was (on the surface) about complaints and possible repercussions, but the secondary theme is about the power and danger of posting on line.
For those who have taken their Cruise Critic bashing over here - why? Why bother? If you have points to make about the Morans, I think that makes sense. I’ve never warmed to Cruise Critic - mostly for the very reasons you all raise, I don’t go there and it’s not really part of my world. What I don’t understand is why so many people who do purport to post there regularly are so negative about it? Why do you keep going back?
If you wish to comment onthe article, please do so. But please remember, it’s the article we need to comment on…
Perhaps it’s because Mrs. Moran has been a frequent poster on Cruise Critic, writing nearly unintelligible posts, giving out misinformation and writing glowing reviews on the one hand while totally bashing a cruiseline on the other. People who have read her posts for years have her number and are sick and tired of being punished for calling her on all of the above. Her unsympathetic attitude toward people living in hurricane prone areas drew a lot of comments.
That isn’t the only place though where she has pulled her scams. If you Google her under her known screen names (not sure I can post those here), you will find numerous other online sites where she’s been shot down for trying to pull a fast one on people.
Hi All,
It seems someone is using my name to post comments on these forums. We know who is doing this because we can match IPs.
Best,
Anita
Here is another site where the Morons post as TheAwesomeOne…her first name on CC before being banned and returning as Macop…It seems Hyundai and Saturn love her too!!
http://www.autostalk.com/hyundai/37k-had-get-new-rear-237813-2.html
In college, I worked front desk in a hotel. I dealt with all kinds of people, but the worst to handle were a family of Hassidic Jews from Brooklyn. They would come once a year in the spring for a vacation. They wanted everything right now, for free and it better be tax exempt, too! After two years of being abused, we eventually refused to rent to them.
First of all, the family arrived with no reservation on a peak weekend. There were 10 children. 10. KIDS. ALL BOYS. All between the ages of 10-20. They wanted just one room for the kids. We told them they could only put 4 people in a room for fire safety reasons.
The wife screamed, yelled, threatened to sue for “discrimination” We offered a suite. They didn’t want the suite since it would cost more. Our manager appeared and offered them a 20% discount on two connecting rooms for the kids. They didn’t like the discount. They whined. Then out comes the tax exempt card. They were only NY Tax exempt, not the state they were visiting. Again, we were told we were “Anti-Semantic” and other hatefilled words. They were shouting, rude and completely out of the line. The manager took over their check in and said he could not honor the tax exempt. The wife seemed to shut up when she was dealing with him and not us “lowly” employees.
Then the complaints started. Let’s see if I can remember them all:
1. There was BACON at breakfast. Well, of course there was…they are not the only people in the hotel. But, apparently the mere sight of it caused the wife to become ill.
2. They wanted us to “close” the pool so that the boys could swim. (They do not swim mixed) We refused. Again, we were called evil.
3. The lifeguard was female and was wearing a bathing suit and shorts. Somehow, even though they were not using the pool, this was an affront to them.
4. The refrigerators in the rooms didn’t get cold enough. (This one may have been legit but after all of the other drama-queen complaints we frankly didn’t care)
5. A blind man was in the lobby waiting for a taxi. He had an assist-dog with him. The wife called the police to the hotel to report that we were “violating health code” by allowing service animals in the building.
6. They tried to cook on a hotplate in the room and set off the smoke detector and sprinkler. Somehow, this was our fault.
7. One of the kids bought a soda from a machine. Somehow, the front desk was responsible for it being the “wrong” kind of soda.
8. We did not ever offer shuttle service to area attractions. The wife insisted we did on the phone. She threw one of her fits in the lobby. The manager paid for a cab for them just to get her out of our sight.
9. Housekeeping never did a good enough job.
10. A party nearby checked in late on their Sabbath with a large amount of luggage. The sound of the bellcart and the people walking in the hall (an elderly couple, not a bachelor party) was “disturbing” and “disrepectful.”
Now, although we were so awful the first time around, they came back (after conning corporate out of comping two of the rooms and giving them 50% on the third). The second time, it was just a repeat of the first. After that, the manager said to them, “We cannot accomodate your needs here any longer and feel you will be better served by a different hotel.”
Too bad he didn’t do it after the first fiasco!
Mindy Posted:
Please reread this - Anita makes it clear that RCL says they did not ban the Morans becauseof the posts on CC…
…
“Royal Caribbean is certainly entitled to ban whomever from their ships. Nevertheless, to ban someone for posting their cruise experience on an Internet message board raises serious questions about the lengths the company is going to keep negative reviews from public consumption. ”
…
Please, when you re-read this it is clear that Anita is not saying she was banned for posting negaitve reviews or for airing “dirty laundry”.
–
I’m sorry, but the juxtaposition of those quoted sentences is a direct insinuation that Royal Caribbean banned the Morans for their Internet postings.
If you don’t see that, look closer.
“raises serious questions about the lengths the company is going”
Which company? In context, the answer is Royal Caribbean.
I don’t think Anita is off the hook for trying to plant the idea that Royal Caribbean banned the Morans from their cruise line for negative Internet postings.
Now if you’re going to take the position that “the company” really refers to a hypothetical company and not the one being discussed throughout the article, then explain this line:
“It appears that one step the company is taking to “get over that” is to intimidate posters of negative reviews…”
Same syntax, “the company” a couple paragraphs down. Again, this doesn’t refer to some unknown, hypothetical cruise line - it refers to Royal Caribbean. How do we know? By reading the rest of the paragraph.
“It appears that one step the company is taking to “get over that” is to intimidate posters of negative reviews and in some cases even going so far as to contact the publishers. Paul Motter, editor of Cruise Mates, was contacted by a Royal Caribbean staffer last November to have a negative review removed or at least amended.”
So don’t hand me the line that Anita didn’t say that Royal Caribbean banned the Morans from their cruise line on the basis of their negative posts. She did.
Care for another example?
George Washington, our first President, was not as perfect as one might imagine. The man was a wife-beating alcoholic with the habit of wearing women’s clothing during Autumn festivals - unseemly behavior, especially for a US President.
Oh, but I didn’t say that Washington wore dresses!
Please.