Comments on Customer Service

[apollobeach]

My Partner and I carefully observe the condition and how well maintained each ship we travel on is. The first impression we have of all cruise ships, upon boarding, is it clean and well maintained? Secondly, we feel customer service is extremely important. There will always be issues that arise; how does the staff handle these situations?

We would appreciate your observations and comments on the level of customer service you have experienced and the condition of various ships you have traveled on.

[greg_atlanta]

:confused:

 

you get what you pay for

[Bloom9]

I have not had any issues with the ships I've sailed on all have been clean and well maintained, given most have been fairly new ships. one thing to consider is the green sheet report http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionGreenSheetRpt.aspx

 

if a ship has a consistent low score thats a red flag that sanitation is not important to the captain and crew in my opinion.

 

As far as service, Disney has set the bar high, RCCL has done well, Celebrity was a mixed bag, I did have a dining room issue that ticked me off but other than that the service was on par. Princess was good as well. Everyone has different service standards that they expect, I personally am in the service business so I think my expectations are a bit different.

[shiftynj]

You can see the list of ships I've been aboard in my signature. In my experience they were all clean and well-maintained except the Norwegian Wind, which was dirty and I agree with you that it is a reflection of what the rest of your experience will be like. The service on that cruise was spotty and indifferent, and I was basically run over with a luggage cart in the stateroom corridor, yielding a nice bruise which they were not especially sorry about. Ocean liner historians write about what they call a "happy ship" ... the overall morale of the crew has a huge impact on EVERYTHING aboard and you get that distinct sense within five minutes of crossing the gangway. It's not necessarily a new vs. old thing either. Our last cruise was on the Black Watch which is ancient by today's standards and -- other than a mildew smell in the bathrooms along our stretch of corridor which they tried valiantly but in vain to correct -- the ship was very clean and everybody was friendly and helpful.

 

One thing I've been consistently disappointed with on cruises is the food. It's never been awful, it's never been great. I have been on a wide range of lines and it is pretty much just very vanilla banquet food. I think this is largely just because we're very spoiled where I live (just outside NYC) to be surrounded by tons of independent restaurants, all cuisines and many of them very affordable, that cook fresh food to order and that's just what I'm lucky enough to be used to. I have tried to adjust my expectations to match the logistics of turning out 1,200 or more meals all at once and realize that -- for what you're getting -- it's still a very good bargain. But hearing how great the food is on this line or that line, my experience has been it's pretty much just food.

[Kenito]

Okay... with the exception of minor things, I have always had positive experiences while on board.

 

My concern these days is the "customer service" before the cruise. The reservation process has suffered dramatically in my view. I have to keep reminding myself that soon I won't have to deal with them.... :( Everything eventually works out, and I remain a Carnival fan... but, it can be frustrating.

[PROCRUISE]

Perhaps we have just been lucky, but we've never been on a ship that was not neat and clean and with excellent service. The room stewards and MDR staff have been exceptional. The over all staff is sometimes more noticeably outgoing on some ships and as previously mentioned, you'll tune into that shortly after boarding. Food is subjective, but we don't think one should have to go to a specialty restaurant, on any ship, to get a really good meal. That only happened to us on NCL but perhaps things have improved with them. One thing we find very important: if you expect excellent service and passenger care, it should be returned with equal respect toward the staff. Enjoy your cruise!