Backlash for USA TODAY & Royal Caribbean Name that Ship Contest

Other posts by MountainMama

Back in January, soon after CajunMama wrote a post about the ship-naming contest being held by Royal Caribbean International, in conjunction with USA TODAY, my brain started whirling with ideas. The mission: Come up with TWO complementary names for the majestic “Project Genesis” cruise ships that RCI is currently building and set to launch in 2009 and 2010.

According to the Official Rules, “the entry form will require entrants to submit one (1) unique name suggestion for each of the two ships (for a total of two names). Both suggested names should share the same theme (for example “Freedom of the Seas” and “Liberty of the Seas”).

Contest entrants were told to “best encapsulate the universe of experiences a Royal Caribbean cruise provides its guests, rather than ones that focus solely on the sheer size of the ships.”

Yesterday, John Wilson of Minnesota, was named one of the first of six finalists in the contest. The judges liked his entry, “Mosaic of the Seas.” Indeed, I dig it, too, and thought of it myself!

While names like “Eminence of the Seas” might feel more grand, “Mosaic of the Seas,” in John’s words, “captured the variety of experiences possible in and off (the) ship, not to mention the international (flavor of) the crew and fellow travelers.”

HOWEVER, John’s other entry was “Coronation of the Seas.” Do you sense a theme between Mosaic and Coronation? Um, I don’t.

In fact, John’s winning entry was reported simply as “Mosaic of the Seas” — no pair of names on the finalist announcement home page.

I hopped on the comments section of Gene Sloan’s Cruise Log, where the finalist announcement was made. “Hey, Gene,” I asked, “what’s up with only listing a single name. I thought the contest was being judged in part by how complementary (and clever) our PAIRS of names were.”

Gene wrote back:

A few of you have asked why the judges only picked one of Wilson’s names, not both (readers were allowed to submit two names). I’m told that in reviewing all the submissions, the judges found that a significant number of entries didn’t match up well with an overall theme, and so they decided to look at the names individually versus in pairs.

This, of course, is good news for you, readers. Instead of just one of you becoming the Grand Prize winner, Royal Caribbean will now have to award two Grand Prize winners.

First of all, readers weren’t “allowed” to submit two complementary names, we were REQUIRED to do so.

Second, out of 91,000 entries, you’re telling me that the esteemed judges couldn’t find a lousy 6 pairs that sounded good together?

Third, the Official Rules stated that the plan always called for two Grand Prize Winners: “From these six Finalists, the Submissions receiving the two (2) highest overall scores will be deemed potential grand prize winners…”

Cruise Log readers are going nuts in the comments section and on the forum, angry that RCI and USA TODAY seemingly changed the rules in the middle of judging the contest.

While many of us worked very hard to come up with PAIRS of names, it appears now that whoever submitted a great single name first, might just be named a finalist. That blows.

I think poster “brendajv” summarized many entrants’ feelings best:

I am quite disappointed that the rules were changed midstream. The contest rules stated that an entry consisted of two names which were to be related in some way. Yet the judges chose to ignore those rules and choose only one name. If they liked Mosaic so well, they should have chosen the BEST PAIR which included Mosaic. Instead, they changed the rules!

Whether or not they award two grand prizes is irrelevant. A lot of entrants spent a lot of time and effort coming up with two related names just as the rules required. Some names were discarded because they couldn’t find a related second name. The judges’ action is simply not fair to those who followed the rules.

I am very disappointed in Royal Caribbean for the way this contest has been run. Would I sail on the Mosaic? Frankly, the name of the ship plays no part in my selection of a cruise. Am I happy for Mr. Wilson? Sure. Have I lost respect for Royal Caribbean? Quite definitely.

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March 15, 2008 | Filed Under The Cookie Jar 

Comments

8 Responses to “Backlash for USA TODAY & Royal Caribbean Name that Ship Contest”

  1. Lia M. says:
    March 28, 2008 at

    Oh, GIVE ME A BREAK! Royal Carribean AND USA Today!!!! I too was one of those entrants who wasted my time trying to find two complementary names for their stupid ships (and were much more interesting than the boring ones so far)! If the rules were as they are now, I would EASILY have found two random names that didn’t need to match, but their rules stated OTHERWISE!!! Shame on all the judges for being lazy (and BORING)! AND, if the name was used TWICE, it would be ELIMINATED…NOT SO. Stop the B.S. you just make up your own rules as long as you now got all the publicity you were aiming for, since it does mention on the rules that no one name is necessarily going to be chosen for the actual ship name anyway. However, I am boycotting RCL and going with CARNIVAL..or anyone else but them, and I take at least one cruise a year!!!!

  2. Phil says:
    March 31, 2008 at

    Hey – it’s their contest and their money, so get real! Nobody made you enter, so stop griping about they way they decide to run things.

    P.

  3. Sonya says:
    April 4, 2008 at

    I also submitted names for the ships (Escapade of the Seas and Serenity of the Seas) and am QUITE disappointed in USA TODAY and RCI for changing the contest rules!!!!! I am also quite upset that all the so-called FINALISTS are men and to be honest, the names that have so far been chosen are not up to par to say the least! I am disappointed in RCI and I have not much respect for them as well!

  4. laverne harvey says:
    April 11, 2008 at

    I submitted Emergence of the seas and Origin of the seas based on the Genesis theme. Why are all the winners middle aged males of one race?..something sounds real fishy and also how many allures of the seas do you need?

    I believ this was rigged

  5. Bob says:
    April 16, 2008 at

    If it was rigged, I’m just curious how many cruises these finalists completed on Royal Caribbean. Are they Crown and Anchor Society members?

  6. Yannick Haas says:
    April 16, 2008 at

    I did not know that RCL changed the rules, but I thought my 2 names that I selected matched perfectly; Shangrila of the Seas & Utopia of the Seas which both describe a Paradise on earth.. I love RCL and do not wish to cruise with anyone else and although I was not selected, it will not stop me from sailing the Genesis ships or any other..

  7. Michelle says:
    April 20, 2008 at

    It makes no sense to me that the final winner has 2 names that were already picked? Why is he even a fianlist? I thought it was the person that got the name in first??? What did they do just pick names out of a hat?

  8. B.D. says:
    April 20, 2008 at

    The submissions chosen as finalists are completely off course and are horrible choices. The judges seem like they didn’t even give any thought to the actual meaning of some of these words. “Oasis” means “a fresh or green area in an arid region.” Does the middle of an ocean qualify as an arid region? How about “mosaic”: “a surface decoration made by inlaying small pieces of variously colored material to form pictures or patterns.” Does that remotely describe a first-class luxury ship? These names are sorry. Even Carnival has better-named ships than this.

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