Last week I found a really interesting article in the paper about the reviews site, Trip Advisor.  The site is used by millions of people to view and write reviews on hotels, holidays, restaurants etc. and is one of the first places people go to after choosing a holiday they might be keen to book.  Here at cruise we also have a brilliant website where people post their reviews and pictures of their holidays and it is a fantastic tool for people who may be interested in a certain cruise line but don’t know too much about them.  When I speak to customers I always say go and have a look at the reviews and see what you think and if it’s the right cruise line for you but I also advise them that bear in mind that one man’s treasure is another man’s trash.  Reviews are brilliant but we must always remember that we all have different tastes and likes and to ultimately make a decision based on what works for you.  So it really interested me to find that Trip Advisor may not always be as genuine as you may think.  Trip advisor has 100 million reviews on the site and around 230 million visitors each month but the trouble it seems is how reliable are the reviews and are they being written by your typical Mr Smith down the Road or are they being written by the manager of a rival establishment or by an owner Talking up their own business???

  Trip advisors rules make it quite clear that reviews written by ownership or management are not permitted and they also state that individuals affiliated with a prop[erty may not review other properties in the same city or within a ten mile radius.  I think the article really highlights the fact that things may not always be what they seem and don’t just dismiss something immediately as you may be missing out on a holiday of your dreams just because Mr Smith didn’t like the arrangement of Towels in his bathroom so wrote a bad review.

Here at cruise all our reviews on our website are completely unedited and unbiased.  We have no particular affiliation with any one cruise line as we are an independent agent so what you see with us is what you get.  Also if you write a review on our website as a thank you we will send you out a Berlitz guide which is a cruising book worth  £17 in the shops.  Just send me an email to say you have written one and I will send one out to you.