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Does HAL have Champions?

AZjohn

By AZjohn,
in Holland America Line

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hammybee

hammybee

Posted
Posted

Community forum/bulletin board "seeding" is advertizing. Ad agencies subcontract with cheap independent ( think off shore and/or work from home) labor who join forums, establish personas and over time target content on behalf of their clients. Such content may be in the form of Rah-Rah reports, personal recommendations as well as negative posts/rumors targeting the competition.

 

Their purpose is to influence consumers ( or voters) to buy/support the product. They are paid professionals- guns for hire. And they are probably everywhere.

 

Consumers and voters give seeders the opportunity to influence, everytime we look to a forum for other people's opinions. Is the food good? Are the beds comfy? Was it too hot or cold? Is this a good deal? Was it really that bad? Was the crew friendly? Do they serve a " good pour"? The reality is, we tend to learn more about the responder than we do about the experience?

 

What did we do/how did we manage, before we became so willing to rely on the subjectiveness of strangers?

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jtl513

jtl513

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Posted
Their purpose is to influence consumers ( or voters) to buy/support the product. They are paid professionals- guns for hire. And they are probably everywhere.
Darn it Hammybee, do you always have to be so coldly logical? :D:D
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Krazy Kruizers

Krazy Kruizers

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KK you keep bringing up a time you saw a fellow CCer eating lunch in the Pinnacle with the Hotel Manager.

 

First off -- I do not keep bringing up that topic. It happened nearly 2 years ago -- I mentioned the incident twice within a couple of months -- have never mentioned it again!!

Is there a reason why you are bringing up that incident when I have dropped it long ago???

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CDRMark

CDRMark

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Posted
Snip...

What did we do/how did we manage, before we became so willing to rely on the subjectiveness of strangers?

You mean like:

Zagat

Fodor

or

Duncan Hines.......?

The only difference is the Internet, hmm?

Cheers

Mark

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Copper10-8 "Live from...." Rare

Copper10-8

Posted
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...........................

Oh, by the way: I must be on the short-list to be a HAL HO (loooove that name Usha:cool:) because I finally did get an upgrade - all the way from EE to E (two more cabins back and I would have been sleeping on the deck:eek:)

 

Lucky (or unlucky) for you, you're one of 'them':eek: now, Val

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Copper10-8 "Live from...." Rare

Copper10-8

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............... Why was this person treated to dinner by the captain, HM, or officer, etc.? These are perks!! .........................

 

Just so we're all on the same page, you're talking about being taken and/or treated to the Pinnacle Grill (or Tamarind on Eurodam) here, correct, Ma'am?

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HeatherInFlorida

HeatherInFlorida

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..............

Now we all will be "looking" at each other and wondering -- how did this person get such a great upgrade? Why was this person treated to dinner by the captain, HM, or officer, etc.? These are perks!! And Seattle certainly does know who all are getting special treatment on their ships.

 

And the questions can go on and on as we read people's reviews.

 

As I said -- very interesting.

 

 

.......... KK you keep bringing up a time you saw a fellow CCer eating lunch in the Pinnacle with the Hotel Manager. So What!!!! they are friends :) It is purely a friendship and there is nothing wrong with that. I keep in contact with many HAL crew and it is purely friendship nothing more. .........

 

KK made absolutely no mention above about someone having lunch in the Pinnacle with the HM. She was very clear and very generic ... she said we might wonder if we saw a passenger being treated by an HM or Captain, etc., in the Pinnacle.

 

I'm sure friendships are made between passengers and staff from time to time, but it's really quite rare when you consider the masses of people taking cruises these days. The group here is hardly a microcosm of the majority, but rather a pretty select few who have a much stronger devotion to cruising than most people.

 

No one begrudges anyone making friends with crew. Nonetheless, it is a perk to be treated to a Pinnacle dinner by Officers of HAL. You can't look at it any other way.

 

From what I read the Royal Champions are not actually paid to applaud RCI. They receive perks, upgrades, rewards from time to time ... maybe even special innaugual events. I didn't read it that carefully, but I saw nothing about them being actually paid.

 

But people are human and if they see another passenger seemingly getting special treatment by officers of HAL, they're going to wonder why. I don't think they're going to come to the conclusion that they're friends.

 

I think that was KK's point.

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Krazy Kruizers

Krazy Kruizers

Posted
Posted
Just so we're all on the same page, you're talking about being taken and/or treated to the Pinnacle Grill (or Tamarind on Eurodam) here, correct, Ma'am?

 

This happened nearly 1 1/2 years ago -- we did witness an event -- a question came up a couple of months later about lunch in the Pinnacle on Emarkation day -- and I answered it truthfully.

I know you have read what I wrote then as did a few other people here. The new people here have no idea what we are talking about.

So let's drop the subject. It hasn't been brought up in years until LAFFNVEGAS brought it up.

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Sleepladypalmdesert

Sleepladypalmdesert

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What did we do/how did we manage, before we became so willing to rely on the subjectiveness of strangers?

 

Well....I for one cannot imagine how different my 2 cruises would have been on HAL without the information I learned from this site. I went in with good information regarding where to park, excursion suggestions, food items not to miss, bringing our own wine, cabin choices, ...gosh it just goes on and on....lots of those subjective things that are confirmed over and over by others decreases the "subjectiveness of strangers" factor.

 

We may have managed without the great information we received on this site but blazing the same trail over and over rather than going in with some sort of "heads up" sure increased the fun of the trip for me.

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hulamoon

hulamoon

Posted
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I agree SleepLadypalmdesert,

 

Even if all of you are just figments of my imagination I have still learned a lot and am appreciative.:p

 

I have no idea how all of you keep track of cabins, measurements etc, but I do appreciate it. Certainly we would not have ended up in the right room! In some cases it is more helpful than ships services. I would not have tried HAL for a second time without all of your positive belief in the product because my first cruise on the line was a bit uneven.

 

Thank you!

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SDHALFAN

SDHALFAN

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Lucky (or unlucky) for you, you're one of 'them':eek: now, Val

 

Hey Copper:

 

Are you talking about the "Ho" word or the fact that I was finally "upgraded", and therefore probably a "Ho", or at least a "Dam good friend" (don't you just love Usha's posts?).

 

Actually the "upgrade" wasn't that bad since I had the best two cabin stewards on the ship and the fact that at the back of the ship it's generally pretty quiet, at least until those stern thrusters kick in - hey who needs an alarm clock anyway?

 

Valerie:D

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SDHALFAN

SDHALFAN

Posted
Posted
awhotreat.jpg

 

Okay, William Conrad was "outed" earlier but I'm pretty sure that I know the other face in this posting. Just can't think of who it is right now but does anyone else have a clue? I'm thinking of an Oater (Western's actor)

 

Valerie:)

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SDHALFAN

SDHALFAN

Posted
Posted
Oh Boy,

 

I guess that I am in trouble now. A couple of weeks ago, while on a cruise, I had lunch with the Events Manager; the Cruise Director and the Culinary Operations Manager, then a couple of days later with the Events Manager and the Beverage Manager.

 

Actually Amy is an old and dear friend and the others were simply at the same table to be with Amy - not me.

 

Valerie:D

 

Before I get into any more hot water I should point out that when I had lunch with "the staff/crew" it was in the Lido - no one ever invited me to have lunch in The Pinnacle Grill (sob;)).

 

Valerie:)

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Two@Sea

Two@Sea

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Okay, William Conrad was "outed" earlier but I'm pretty sure that I know the other face in this posting. Just can't think of who it is right now but does anyone else have a clue? I'm thinking of an Oater (Western's actor)

 

Valerie:)

 

A very young Kurt Russell?

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hulamoon

hulamoon

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Wasn't he the straight innocent cop on a 70's show? He doesn't look like Kurt to me. I don't think it was Dragnet, I assume he was a guest in the episode. Does pipedreams know? Where do you get these funny pictures anyway?

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