(Begin by reviewing the facts in the Spree Cruise Lines case from Chapter 2.)

Within several days after the cruise returned to New Orleans, Tara was able to learn more about what happened on the ship. Approximately 350 passengers made their own arrangements to fly home and disembarked from the ship in Cozumel, but the remainder stayed on board. The cruise line offered them a shipboard voucher of $100 per person, but there were still some extremely unhappy customers, and they shared their dissatisfaction openly on their blogs, Facebook profiles, and Twitter and FriendFeed accounts.

Marcie Smith, the senior vice president of sales and marketing, has asked Tara to draft a letter for her signature to be sent to all customers who were aboard that cruise, whether they disembarked or stayed aboard. Since research shows that many cruisers are repeat customers, upper management approved an offer of a 50 percent discount on another three- to five-day cruise, so that these passengers might give Spree Cruise Lines a second chance. The cruise line set up a special booking phone number to accommodate the return guests, 1-800-724-4000; the offer stipulated that new reservations must be made within the coming year to qualify for the discount The Assignment Draft the letter to go out to all the customers who were on the cruise, offering them the discount and explaining the terms of the offer. Then, make at least one additional recommendation to Marcie Smith about how to mitigate the damage and improve the company’s image in the social networking sphere.