A Matter Of Opinion.

How valid are opinions from people we don’t know? I’ve been compelled to write this week about the validity of opinions, more specifically opinions I encounter on a daily basis on the quality or otherwise of certain cruise lines/ships.

When discussing cruise options with clients I’ve often encountered many saying: “I was interested in xxxxxx (insert cruise line/ship here), but I read a bad review so I’ll give it a miss”

Now I understand no-one wants to read a bad review of their chosen holiday option, but before an instant decision is made surely there are many factors to be considered. Firstly I always mention the fact that you don’t know who is writing the review. People who write reviews will always have a point of reference with which to compare to, of course 99% of the time we don’t know what that is.

For example if Roman Abramovich the Russian multi-millionaire decided to ditch his £1 billion ‘mega-yacht’ for a last minute £499 Round Britain cruise with Princess Cruises, with all due respect to Princess he may be shall we say ‘slightly disappointed’. He may say the cabin was cramped or the food in the buffet restaurant was poor.

I suppose compared to the 6000 square feet of living space he is used to, and the personal chefs he has at his disposal I guess he would be right. But reading a review posted by Roman from London wouldn’t give us this insight. On the other hand Stig-of-the-Dump may feel he had died and gone to heaven given the same circumstances. A silly example I know but the point is valid.

Another thing to consider is the fact that some holiday makers (and we’ve all met them) are serial complainers. Everything is always too much trouble for them and nothing is ever good enough, and even if it is, saying so is not going to get them a free dinner in the speciality restaurant or a 20% discount voucher off their next cruise, is it?

I understand there is no escaping an outbreak of illness or freak weather conditions but these things are a matter of fact, not interpretation.

My last point before I get off my soapbox is that people seem to forget that when reading 1, 2, 3 or even 4 bad reviews of any given itinerary, there is always another 2000-3000 (depending on ship of course) people who didn’t have a bad word to say about it!

Why do we always believe bad press over no press, isn’t no news supposed to be good news?

Some reviews can of course be very helpful, if the negative points are outlined in the correct context and explained rationally, I just seem to think people read too much into it when reading things like the following;

“Ship was too big” – Compared to what?

“Buffet restaurant too busy” – A restaurant with a lot of diners in, at dinner time – surely not?

“Nothing to do” – If you mean you can’t sit in front of your On Demand TV all day in the privacy of your own living room – maybe true.

Anyway that’s enough of me ranting, I just think we should take with a pinch of salt a lot of the negative reviews we read, and to be fair any that are so gushing it makes you wonder if the writer actually works for the cruise line itself, and just give it a go.

I certainly wouldn’t let old Mr and Mrs Moanbag put me off booking a cruise holiday because they complained the Steak Tartare was cold – would you?!

Let me know what you think, do you take reviews to their word or like me believe that some are valid, some can be dismissed and some are written by people who are clearly 1 bar short of a full Kit Kat.

Bye for now.