cheezwiz

Lovely pictures! Thank you so much for posting & letting us know!

You are a beautiful couple. Many good wishes for your happy future together.

Don't forget to post a picture of the big day when it comes!

I think most of us agree that the rating system is flawed, and that it may not get the cruiseline what they're looking for with respect to customers' perspectives. However, my opinion of the validity of the survey or my indignation over having to provide a less than 100% honest score does not trump the career path or the continued employment of a server who's provided good service for me all week. Maybe others are OK with being provided great service and their server facing the consequences of getting an 8 or a 9 on the survey. I'm not.

 

Rich

That was very well put. Thank you.

ETA: While we can disagree about the conclusion, I certainly appreciate someone who can sum up the problem in a nutshell and state his position in a compelling & thoughtful manner, in 4 lines no less!)

Where did this sentiment come from that anything less than a perfect 10 results in money being taken away? :confused:

Apparently that info was included in one of the server's "speeches" on a recent cruise & reported by a poster in this thread and earlier, IIRC.

I was just saying that knowing the scale that they use more than likely considers 0-9 a fail and 10 a pass, then it's not disingenuous to just give the 10. If RCI actually accepted 0-9 as it's meant to be taken, then it makes sense to grade accordingly. As I've said three times now, with this method, the same one used at my job, it's basically a yes or a no at its core. The customers don't know that, but in discussions with my employer's customers using a throwaway username on forums, most have said they'd have given the top score if they knew this, unless the service was extremely poor. With this knowledge, most of us here in this thread would give the ten and move on instead of overthinking everything, while using the comment section for the criticism they'd normally score down for. The ones who wouldn't are the ones who probably make 15 nearly invalid visits to guest services per cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

So, because I decline to play this nonsensical game, I'm likely to be making 15 "nearly invalid" visits to guest services per cruise?

Now THAT is nonsense.

(I won't even ask what "nearly invalid" is supposed to mean.)

The benefit to the passengers is probably the same as for any company that surveys its customers. The company can improve in areas that consistently get low ratings, to hopefully improve those areas for future passengers. Similarly, the company can do more to retain high-performing employees, and eliminate lower-performing employees, which should tend to improve service for passengers.

My understanding is that they use the survey as a means of rating the crewmembers. For example, a waiter who scores high will tend to get more tables, and therefore make more money. Conversely, one who scores low will get tables taken away.

Thanks for the answers. I would have said the same thing, except that the entire system seems to be working against those objectives if it is now functioning as it has been described. Leaves a customer who want to give real feedback either frustrated or reaching for the notepaper and a stamp.

OK, so 200 posts in, nobody has said WHY they bother filling in the survey. So, how about it? What is the point of bothering with it? Any benefit to the passengers of the system as it is currently set up?

Royal cut the staffing on the ships, making it much harder for the crew to provide superior service. The food is not what it once was, so it doesn't really lay the foundation for a superior dining room experience anymore. Having made those changes, Royal decides that "10" is the only acceptable rating, and lays that on the shoulders of the crew. The crew then has to do whatever they can to elicit phony fabulous ratings, or suffer some sort of penalty.

What sense does it make? Exactly none.

The surveys and their results are a sham. Just say no.

LOL! No, just pointing out the irony. :D I should have used the cheeky grin on that post.

Oh, good! I'm glad all's well.

Sorry you stopped cruising because of the 'primitive, barbaric, and terrorizing' conditions these employees are forced to work under....oh wait, NO you didn't.

Got up on the wrong side of the bed today, Big G?

I got the speech from our MDR waiter and cabin attendant. I smiled and said ok, sure. Then I skipped the survey entirely. It's not my job to evaluate their employees for them. If I've got something to say, I do it the old-fashioned way, with a letter and a stamp.

This annoys me almost as much as being handed the Wow envelope. If I want to show some additional appreciation, I know how to do it without any props - and I do it when I consider it appropriate.

Tip of the hat to the OP for both thinking ahead AND for considering the ethics of the situation. As others have said, there is NO ethical problem, but how nice to see that such questions still cross peoples' minds.

Have a wonderful cruise.

Ha totally! But they had the signs up saying the ship is full anyway

Then they'll just have to put you in the Master's cabin :)

Wacky update: they opened up the rooms at 1 and ours has a bunch of stuff in it and the TV blasting! :0

Oh my gosh, you're kidding! Please keep us posted on what happens next!

Sorry, I just don't see it happening. After all, even if you paid in full for a cruise and didn't go and lost all your money, they still wouldn't give you any points for that cruise.

That happened to me, and I'm in striking distance of Diamond now. I'd be there if we'd gone :( But I try not to think about that!

It's possible that if the OP has a good outcome, he may be asked not to mention it online, so if he doesn't, we should not blame him :)

OP, this is not specific to Allure, but here's a thread on specialty kids menus.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2259913

Hope it's at least some help.

With all respect.....I am not judging. Are you sure you want an 11 year old off on her own? There have been some terrible things happen on cruise ships and YES everywhere else in the world, before anyone says anything. To answer your question though, yes, she can have her own card to use herself.

You do bring up a good point - back around 2004 we realized that we were a little too relaxed on letting our son go off on his own and wound up tightening the boundaries. But, I bet this parent has already considered this , especially since this young lady is a longtime cruiser. Many parents now seem to allow brief trips to a specific place and an immediate return. At least that is what I'm seeing with younger parents in my family, now that ships are SO much bigger.

They could also just agree to implement his Diamond status 2 days into the following cruise. Not the usual policy, but might be a decent solution.

^ we finally have the winner for the thread. Think of all the sailings that get cancelled - all those people would ask for the same consideration - I would have made level x if RCI didn't cancel my cruise.:rolleyes:

Yes, I think this is pretty likely. Everything is public now. Even so, I find their paltry offer of consideration to the customers pretty irksome. I'm really sorry for those affected by this.

A plan B might be a good idea for a important occasion, such as a honeymoon. Beyond that, travel insurance, arrive the day before if flying and two credit cards in case something goes sideways. As for a cancellation such as the Empress Debacle? I have no idea what I'd do, but I'd sure be mighty huffy about the sorry excuse for customer relations that Royal is exhibiting at present.

Paulette3028,

You make an excellent point about the phrasing.

I know, I said I was nice at first then I started demanding. Sorry I guess I wasn't clear in my reply

I think most of us do our best to deal with these matters politely, but sometimes it's tough. Lord knows, I've been pushed over the edge sometimes! I hope that knowing that some folks on this board feel for you eases the sting of the situation a little bit.

I truly believe that Royal could do better for cruisers than what they seem to be offering and I am a stockholder. It just doesn't seem fair.

So am I. Thinking about sending in a letter.

Below is a post you made previously in this thread

 

 

 

I know that the situation I have explained came about somewhat differently, but I don't see why the same logic shouldn't apply.

 

I wish there was a private message feature on CC, but there is not.

Perhaps OP is using the word "demand" as a term of art, rather than as a description of his tone when dealing with them?

Thanks, I will try, don't have much hope though, will probably end up having to upgrade from JS to GS on next sailing if they say no. Or canceling all the JSs out of spite.

 

Had the sail dates all lined up perfectly to reach eat tier but oh well.

I wish you good luck with this. I'd be really irritated if I were in your shoes. I don't have a dog in this fight, but it seems to me Royal is not offering much for people being so inconvenienced by the short notice of these cancellations. Given that RCL's net profit for 2015 was in excess of $665 million, they could have done better than this.