This is not a joke!

I just finished reading a passenger review of a Sojourn April 2016 sailing titled "Avoid at all costs". You must read it to understand why I thought it was a joke.

Marshebowles10 COMPLAINED about:

no lines at embarkation

no photographers

open seating with no lines

attentive bar service

no tipping

free shuttles in port

the cabins were too big

the lack of chair hogs

no fitflops or baseball hats in the MDR

What makes me say the review was not a hoax is that this person had previously written two other reviews on other lines and they were positive.

It just goes to prove that you cannot please everyone all of the time

I didn't read it but maybe the person was being sarcastic or wanted to use a title that would catch people's eye??

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I've just read it and it sounds very tongue in cheek to me :)

I read it several weeks ago. I thought it was stupid and silly. I wouldn't waste my time reading it. It's completely useless. But perhaps that was the intention.

'course it's a joke.

Of course it was tongue in cheek. And kudos to the reviewer for his/her sense of humor.

i agree with wipro this board needs a bit of humor! Between ringing of hands on holding arms and smoking it needs some humor.

Now the smoking has been sorted we need to move onto the quality of the Champagne :D - such first world problems we are all suffering from!

I read that review and took it as the writers sense of humour. I thought they were intending it to mean Seabourn was great because it has no lines etc.

That's what I thought too.

I think you are all missing the fact that the reviewer rated the cruise/ship ar 1 of 5 stars. This affects the ships rating against other ships and cruise lines and is not fair in my opinion. The review should have been removed as the rating may be misinterpreted by new Seabourn cruisers. So it's more than just someone writing a "funny" review.

I think you are all missing the fact that the reviewer rated the cruise/ship ar 1 of 5 stars. This affects the ships rating against other ships and cruise lines and is not fair in my opinion. The review should have been removed as the rating may be misinterpreted by new Seabourn cruisers. So it's more than just someone writing a "funny" review.

That was well spotted Sunprince. I just read the review and it is so over the top it makes you think it is "tongue-in-cheek". However to then give a one star rating that will skew the overall favourable percentage mark down on Sojourn.

Unless this person did mean it as a joke and they got confused and thought one star meant excellent.

I also don't understand why the review has so many helpful votes as it is so odd.

Julie

So what I don't understand is why CC even posted this obviously tongue in cheek review. There is a time lag from when a review is written and submitted to when it actually shows up just to give the "powers that be" at CC the time to screen bogus reviews. Clearly it needs to be removed. Fun is fun but when a joke affects a cruise line's rating -- something many cruisers and potential cruisers utilize to make a decision of which ship to cruise -- the humor disappears.

I can't find this review. Maybe it has been taken off? Anyway, my previous comment would have been 'a bit silly, but amusing and obviously a joke'. However, if there was a probably accidental mistake in giving out the star rating that is very sad and annoying.

A similar thing often happens to me when my wife tastes the wine first: She says, "It's awful, he won't like it, please don't pour him any. One Star."

This means it's excellent and she wants to hoard it for herself.

It was entirely a joke. "No lines here. It's awful. Please, everyone, stay away!"

Well as a joke it may have unintended consequences. The one star rating would impact the ship's overall rating on CC. But it would appear it has been removed.

I can still see it.

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=536787

I am sure it's a joke, having read his review of a Celebrity cruise, the very things he complained about on Seabourn, no lines, sunbed hogs etc he also complains about on Celebrity including long waits to be seated at dinner, extra costs for wine and smaller cabins and it sounds more believable to me. I just think he wants to keep Seabourn all for himself, but then why post a review!

Seems likely that the full magnitude of a one-star rating on an internet forum is not occurring to the reviewer ... just like it's not occurring to me.

Well as a joke it may have unintended consequences. The one star rating would impact the ship's overall rating on CC. But it would appear it has been removed.

I don't understand why anyone cares about the overall rating on CC. The only rating that matters to me is my own opinion.

It hasn't been take off.

I agree the only opinion that matters is your own, but you can't have an opinion of a cruise line that you haven't sailed. So it's natural to seek the opinions of those who have first-hand experience. In that regard, CC ratings are a data point which could be useful to those considering Seabourn vs other luxury lines.

The tongue-in-cheek review which gave SB a slew of 1* ratings was clever and fun to read. However, those 1* ratings will be a drag on the overall score for SB when CC does their annual compilation. Sure it won't matter to those who already know that SB is great, but lower scores could certainly make a difference to somebody considering Seabourn for the very first time.

Sure it won't matter to those who already know that SB is great, but lower scores could certainly make a difference to somebody considering Seabourn for the very first time.

Part of me thinks "no loss... we can keep Seabourn for ourselves" and part of me thinks "oh no, without new Seabourn cruisers on Cruise Critic where are we all going to troll for new $400 referral bonus candidates?!" :D:eek::p

Part of me thinks "no loss... we can keep Seabourn for ourselves" and part of me thinks "oh no, without new Seabourn cruisers on Cruise Critic where are we all going to troll for new $400 referral bonus candidates?!" :D:eek::p

Silly me: I was worried about Seabourn losing future cruisers. How wise of you, Jenidallas, to recognize what is truly important!

So I'll sum it up, 1 star rating, titled "avoid at all costs" by a poster with zero forum posts and 3 reviews who is an "elite" Princess and RCCL cruiser. I would have thought they would have known better as an "elite" cruiser or at least have Indicated at the end of their review that it was tongue in cheek and they had a fantastic Seabourn cruise and would do so again.

Also many new cruise line passengers use CC to evaluate lines and ships, for those that have experience in the line the rating is less valuable as they have direct experience. That is not to neseaarily the case for the former.