Too much emphasis on our opinions???

[98Charlie]

One kind of funny thing in the dining room this time for us was that our wait staff said excellent after everything we ordered, said etc. I think it was supposed to be like subliminal messages for when we filled out our questionaire. They were wonderful so the subliminal message must have worked for us, lol. They got all excellents from us. :p

We encountered a similar situation on the Celebrity Century. When asked how our food was we replied, "Wonderful!" or something to that effect. His response was that it must be excellent or he is not serving us properly. Naturally, as with almost every staff member we have encountered, his service was indeed excellent and that's what we put on his evaluation.

 

Charlie

[Nrknits]

We just got off the Island and I noticed two things,

1. You hear the word excellent - alot. You ask how are you to day? Excellent. I'd like a table for 4 - I have an excellent table for you!. Subconsciously excellent is creeping into your vocabulary.

2. There is no "very good" on the end of the cruise survey. Only excellent, good, fair and poor. So, if someone was better than "good", but not quite "excellent", I think they're hoping you'll score up rather than down.

A little psychology.

[WeBeGone]

I'm always puzzled by cruisers who have things broken/burned out/not right, and they fume about it all cruise, complaining to everyone but saying nothing to anyone who can do anything about it, then vent on the comment card and on these message boards. :confused:

 

I want to just scream. For goodness sake, doesn't anyone take any responsibility any more?

 

If a door needs fixing, or light bulb replacing,etc, etc, ask, speak up, write a note. Cabin stewards and waiters aren't mind readers and the Purser doesn't know if something's amiss in your cabin. I would have written a special comment card how pleased I was that the steward had taken care of the door. (Of course he wouldn't have had to read it on the card. If I wanted it fixed I would have asked him right away.)

[mountainhouse]

We took the gally tour on the Grand, and saw a number of signs up that said, "EXCELLENT!" I think Princess is simply doing what most of what.... being completely customer focused. At my job, I'm told what the goals are, and our VP quite plainly says, if you don't like it, this is not the place for you.

 

For goodness sake, doesn't anyone take any responsibility any more?

 

No, they don't.

[donna5]

I think someone is going around and giving inspirational talks to waitstaff. I have been encountering this a lot lately here in Grand Junction. I wonder if they ever say you have made a bad choice.

[alwalaska]

On our Golden cruise last May, our waiter indicated gently to us that if we were anything above satisfied with the service we received during the cruise, we should indicate that the service was "excellent" - since upper management reads anything less than excellent (I don't remember the categories - but something along the lines of excellent-very good-good-acceptable-poor) as poor service. This means that the offending service person has to meet with management and explain their actions.

 

Whether or not this is true (it wouldn't surprise me), I find it a bit ridiculous. I realize the cruise industry really keys on service, but if my waiter hadn't let me know, I would have filled in everything as "very good" - instead, since I was quite satisfied with the service and I didn't want anyone to get in "trouble", I put everything as "excellent". Kinda defeats the purpose of honesty in the evaluations???

 

Anyone else have any experiences like this?

 

I work in the training industry and we have evals on a 9 point scale. Anything under 8 is considered unsatisfactory even though 5 is satisfied on the scale. I feel awkard pointing out to my students that the scale titles are not reflective of what management reads them as, but I know other instructors who do explain it. Until I started receiving evals, I rarely gave perfect scores for anything, becuase rarely is something perfect. I now have a different attitude.

 

Ann

[bubbadog]

i wouldnt want a bad report on any of my rooms and if it was in my power to get maintenance to help me out i would ,he /she was only trying to be nice jeez:p

[hotmike98]

I was told when I recently purchase a new car that when the manufacturer rep called in a few days, any comment below excellent would be viwed as negative by the hierarchy. Seems the viewpoint that everything must be classified as "excellent" is being drilled into the lingo as the only acceptable rating. I agree this kind of dimishes the point of the evaluation.

[derf5585]

read the comment card, had maintenance fix the door

 

About the same thing as reading your kids diary?

[MGilly]

On first entering our cabin on a Royal Caribbean ship a couple of years ago, we opened one of the mirror cabinets and discovered some empty beer bottles and beer cans. We asked the cabin steward if maybe it was a new kind of modern art and smiled. He immediately apologized and cleaned it out. A couple of days later, we were at dinner, and a bottle of wine was delivered to us, compliments of the purser's desk. We went to the purser's desk later that evening, and they explained that the wine was to apologize for any inconvenience caused by the items left in our cabinet. We were stunned that they went so far to make sure we were happy! If nothing else, it shows that the cabin stewards and the purser's desk DO communicate with each other!

[peterv]

Well, I have heard everything now. So if the management thinks that marks less than excellent are poor, then there is something definitely wrong with the system.

 

Sad to say, while enjoying every cruise I have been on, the service I experienced has been satisfactory. I have never given anyone an Excellent rating, as they simply have performed to the level I expected. My cabin was cleaned, and my meals were served, nothing more, nothing less.

 

Sorry, a mark of Excellent means something to me, and I do not give it out lightly. The fact that a bunch of management weenies think of it differently is of no concern of mine, and they are the ones that need a reality check, badly.

 

Cheers,

Peter

[spongerob]

A bit like every sports figure being referred to as a "superstar", isn't it?