Jinjin

You mustn't be such a stranger to FT --- and post more! 2 posts a year ..... what have we done wrong!

I think you may have misunderstood. Looking at your past posts you've had legitimate complaints in the past .... and apart from your trip to Windy Ridge ATL (did that use to be Picket Suites ...... I use to go there a lot ....) when you agreed to have your lock changed ... you seem to be well balanced in your approach to resolving issues.

No one has said the OP didn't have a legitimate complaint. No one has said he shouldn't complain. No one has questioned his account. It is simply the degree / proporionality with which complaints are produced and the change in society where increasingly every complaint even when reasonably well addressed at the time should then receive requests for "compensation". The trend for this and the trend of using the internet to publicise grievances has led to a new risk - and that is one of a perception of blackmail. In other words - many business feel that they must resist what they see as "give me compo or I'll damage your reputation" trend. It is the proportionality aspect that has evoked comment here - not whether the OP was reasonable to complain. The line has been named on two influential forums.

I will declare my interest in the issue because I started and owned the second largest by revenue satisfaction consultancy in Europe. We never quite made it to number 1 .... but the others started several decades earlier than us .... There is a 95%+ chance that the PC you are currently using is from a manufacturer who has been one of our clients. I have personally worked with the CEO and owner of a cruise line (apart from other businesses in the hospitality industries) because he was obsessed with customer satisfaction and knew of our work and wanted to replicate it in his own business. We effectively became the "voice of the customer" and helped.

It's important that companies work hard to manage and fullfill the reasonable expectations of their customers and most companies do this well in the majority of situations. They also make mistakes which they try to resolve.

But they also have a responsibility not to feed what is a growing trend for customers to use the internet to coerce what they (in this case the cruise company) might legitimately feel has been an issue that they have resolved equitably. We have not heard their side. To simply pay compensation to avoid disgruntled customers from bad mouthing them and posting their names in an adverse way on several forums is something they will and should positively try not to feed because if they do they will make the situation worst and in the end all other honourable customers will pick up the tab and pay more for their products services ...... and cruises. I am not suggesting that this is the case here, I'm merely pointing out the motivations from the other side.

So far as your own plans for cruises are concerned, as long as you approach your cruise with common sense, and humour and recognise - as with most things - you take the promise with a pinch of salt and accept that you largely get what you pay for - you'll have a good time.