Pandering for "Excellent" ratings on survey

[Daghis]

We just returned home from a 4-night sailing on the Monarch of the Seas. It was a very pleasant cruise, although it was a bit of a transition to go from the Freedom of the Seas on the prior week.

 

One thing that was a bit disconcerting was the number of times that we were basically instructed to give high ratings on the survey that you get at the end of the cruise, and this started on the first night. One time, after dinner, the waiter asked how his service was. I responded "very good", and he went on to explain that I needed to say "excellent" on the survey. A different waiter later in the cruise, and even the head waiter, repeated the same message.

 

We also received this instruction, although more subtly, from our cabin steward. His simply said that he hoped we would be able to choose "excellent" on the survey.

 

All in all, I felt that I was able to give honest "excellent" ratings for the quality of service we received in the main dining room, but I felt very uncomfortable that they were trying to train us how to answer the surveys during the four nights of the cruise. I did comment on this in the free-form section of the survey.

[Morecruisesplz]

It's sort of like rates on eBay -- anything less than 5 stars (or excellent) is considered failure. I'm surprised if you have cruised with Royal you have not run into this before. Just consider it a request and grade honestly.

[Scotty G]

We just returned home from a 4-night sailing on the Monarch of the Seas. It was a very pleasant cruise, although it was a bit of a transition to go from the Freedom of the Seas on the prior week.

 

One thing that was a bit disconcerting was the number of times that we were basically instructed to give high ratings on the survey that you get at the end of the cruise, and this started on the first night. One time, after dinner, the waiter asked how his service was. I responded "very good", and he went on to explain that I needed to say "excellent" on the survey. A different waiter later in the cruise, and even the head waiter, repeated the same message.

 

We also received this instruction, although more subtly, from our cabin steward. His simply said that he hoped we would be able to choose "excellent" on the survey.

 

All in all, I felt that I was able to give honest "excellent" ratings for the quality of service we received in the main dining room, but I felt very uncomfortable that they were trying to train us how to answer the surveys during the four nights of the cruise. I did comment on this in the free-form section of the survey.

We have experienced this several times on RCL since our first cruise on Song of America. I don't get too worried about it. If there is ever a problem we address it in the comments as well. This has NEVER spoiled our cruise. The Monarch crew is excellent 99% of the time so they don't really need to do this ;)

[CruisesOnMyMind]

We just returned home from a 4-night sailing on the Monarch of the Seas. It was a very pleasant cruise, although it was a bit of a transition to go from the Freedom of the Seas on the prior week.

 

One thing that was a bit disconcerting was the number of times that we were basically instructed to give high ratings on the survey that you get at the end of the cruise, and this started on the first night. One time, after dinner, the waiter asked how his service was. I responded "very good", and he went on to explain that I needed to say "excellent" on the survey. A different waiter later in the cruise, and even the head waiter, repeated the same message.

 

We also received this instruction, although more subtly, from our cabin steward. His simply said that he hoped we would be able to choose "excellent" on the survey.

 

All in all, I felt that I was able to give honest "excellent" ratings for the quality of service we received in the main dining room, but I felt very uncomfortable that they were trying to train us how to answer the surveys during the four nights of the cruise. I did comment on this in the free-form section of the survey.

 

I think in this instance incase you did not know, you need to be able to read between the lines. This ship will be going out of service spring of next year, so these people are really worried about thier next positions. Only the cream of the crop get referred to other ships. So I can see how they are really just about begging to retain a job................heck I would too if it were me.

[Scotty G]

I think in this instance incase you did not know, you need to be able to read between the lines. This ship will be going out of service spring of next year, so these people are really worried about thier next positions. Only the cream of the crop get referred to other ships. So I can see how they are really just about begging to retain a job................heck I would too if it were me.

 

Excellent point!!!

[cruise orlando]

I have in the past recieved EXCELENT service. I feel it would be an insult to the servers and cabin stewards who were truly EXCELENT to rate service that was only good as excelent. On my last cruise I simply did not turn in the survey.

I had no desire to see these good hard working people punished because they were not as good as the very best

[BonTexasNY]

We just returned home from a 4-night sailing on the Monarch of the Seas. It was a very pleasant cruise, although it was a bit of a transition to go from the Freedom of the Seas on the prior week.

 

One thing that was a bit disconcerting was the number of times that we were basically instructed to give high ratings on the survey that you get at the end of the cruise, and this started on the first night. One time, after dinner, the waiter asked how his service was. I responded "very good", and he went on to explain that I needed to say "excellent" on the survey. A different waiter later in the cruise, and even the head waiter, repeated the same message.

 

We also received this instruction, although more subtly, from our cabin steward. His simply said that he hoped we would be able to choose "excellent" on the survey.

 

All in all, I felt that I was able to give honest "excellent" ratings for the quality of service we received in the main dining room, but I felt very uncomfortable that they were trying to train us how to answer the surveys during the four nights of the cruise. I did comment on this in the free-form section of the survey.

 

I totally agree. This has been happening more frequently with each passing cruise. As it was told to me by our waiter, they get special perks; better areas to work from depending on how many "excellents" they get. Luckily, we've always received excellent service but I would prefer not to be told repeatedly how to choose.

 

This is not the first thread I have seen about this issue. I know it will happen again on our upcoming Mariner cruise and this time I too will make a note of it on our survey.. after giving an excellent rating :p

[sdear]

The world has gone "survey " crazy....and alot of people's jobs depend on it.

 

The sad thing about surveys...they are very subjective.....and some people think giving someone a "very good" is good enough..when actually it can hurt them.

 

Heck..there are even surveys in health care now which affect how hospitals get reimbursed.

[OCruisers]

We have experienced this several times on RCL since our first cruise on Song of America.

 

Hear you! Our first RCCL cruise was in the mid 80's and even then they were saying they needed the Excellence rating.

 

We've never had our waiters and cabin stewards actually ask us for an Excellence rating on any other cruise lines.

 

~~~~~~

[luvscruising2007]

On many surveys today they give you the opporutunity for various ratings. And in reality many times the rating should only be good or average. Unfotunately, the people who compile the results really only look at the top and lowest rate. In some instances they don't even count anything that is not at one extreme or the other.

My feeling is that most of the crew on RC ships does a great job. But they are human and may not be perfect everyday. It is sad that they put so much emphasis on something so subjective.

[ctcruiser1721]

My policy is to just be honest. In truth, there have been some cruises I didn't hand them in. More because of logistical reasons - didn't get the survey till late at night and too tired to fill out or filled it out and didn't see the box to drop it in at GS.

[OCruisers]

On many surveys today they give you the opporutunity for various ratings. And in reality many times the rating should only be good or average. Unfotunately, the people who compile the results really only look at the top and lowest rate. In some instances they don't even count anything that is not at one extreme or the other.

My feeling is that most of the crew on RC ships does a great job. But they are human and may not be perfect everyday. It is sad that they put so much emphasis on something so subjective.

 

Agree with what you said!

 

~~~~~

[Iluvcruising2]

If they get anything less than excellent, they may lose their jobs.

 

Unless we were really unhappy with some incident, we would give the excellent rating.

 

As for truly exceptional service, reward the service provider with the Crown & Anchor Royal Wow card. We do that when we are very happy with the service.

[Iluvcruising2]

On many surveys today they give you the opporutunity for various ratings. And in reality many times the rating should only be good or average. Unfotunately, the people who compile the results really only look at the top and lowest rate. In some instances they don't even count anything that is not at one extreme or the other.

My feeling is that most of the crew on RC ships does a great job. But they are human and may not be perfect everyday. It is sad that they put so much emphasis on something so subjective.

 

 

The truth is that there is a long line of people waitin for these jobs. They pay very well, relative to what they can earn in their home countries.

[Merion_Mom]

I think in this instance incase you did not know, you need to be able to read between the lines. This ship will be going out of service spring of next year, so these people are really worried about thier next positions. Only the cream of the crop get referred to other ships. So I can see how they are really just about begging to retain a job................heck I would too if it were me.

 

This happened to us LAST year on the Monarch. We spoke to the head waiter, and told him that we wanted a different waiter. For one night the HW waited on us. Then the HW spoke to him, and he stopped it.

[kc320]

I agree...it isn't limited to just the Monarch...I sailed both Monarch & Jewel last year & had the same thing happen...please rate us Excellent...sorry I really...REALLY dislike being told how to fill out a survey form.. 99.9% of the time the service IS excellent...and if it isn't I try to see what can be done to correct it...but if it doesn't improve I see no reason to rate something better than it was...if you want an excellent rating...give me excellent service...and that does NOT include trying to sell me a cookbook at dinner...different topic I know...:eek:

[north29]

As I see it, how do you legitimately say, what is the difference between Very good, an excellent service, I always get Very/super good service but not above or below what is expected, on occasion when I need something out of the ordinary or special services, I felt that that because of that extra service the rating should be Excellent.

Surveys are very subjective and and open to interpretation by cruisers or even restaurant surveys or any survey.

I ordered something off Amazon, and in the package was a note asking for us to go online and say how good and prompt their service was and that nothing but a excellent rating was important.

[f1mauro]

Yup. Got this same speech on the Oasis from our waiter as well. Him and his assistant waiter both gave us outstanding service the 3 nights we were able to dine there. Then on the last evening as we were heading out he pulled me aside and gave me the whole spiel and pretty much told me to make sure I fill out the cards properly and mark them excellent. I was kind of amused by this because I had read about this happening on the forums before I sailed.

 

The head waiter made only one appearance the whole week when he saw our waiter uncorking a bottle of wine for our table he approached him and grabbed the bottle from him to pour for us and introduce himself. I found this odd as he never came back to top up our glasses.:confused: In fact, he never made another appearance all week.

[CruisesOnMyMind]

This happened to us LAST year on the Monarch. We spoke to the head waiter, and told him that we wanted a different waiter. For one night the HW waited on us. Then the HW spoke to him, and he stopped it.

 

I don’t blame you one bit for speaking with the HW. That would have made me feel very uncomfortable.

Geez, next they’ll be taking a napkin and wiping the sides of your mouth………or holding it while you blow your nose! :eek::rolleyes:

Have to get those excellent remarks somehow.

[CruisesOnMyMind]

Yup. Got this same speech on the Oasis from our waiter as well. Him and his assistant waiter both gave us outstanding service the 3 nights we were able to dine there. Then on the last evening as we were heading out he pulled me aside and gave me the whole spiel and pretty much told me to make sure I fill out the cards properly and mark them excellent. I was kind of amused by this because I had read about this happening on the forums before I sailed.

 

The head waiter made only one appearance the whole week when he saw our waiter uncorking a bottle of wine for our table he approached him and grabbed the bottle from him to pour for us and introduce himself. I found this odd as he never came back to top up our glasses.:confused: In fact, he never made another appearance all week.

 

I really think this behavior has to stop. I too will put a note to that effect on my comment card.

 

Off topic.......I lived in Stoney Creek many many years. My family is still there.

[Lionesss]

Having recently sailed the Freedom twice in the last two years, western route the only place we recall being asked to rate something "excellent" was in Grand Cayman the sting-ray/snorkel excursion . ???? What's with that we wondered. Well it did not get an excellent rating due to the disorganization on the boat and numerous harassment to buy the video, and or pictures. Also we commented on the lack of appropriate busing to this excursion. We did however tip the guides, because they are just worker bees, not the killer bees that make the profit.

If only GC was organized with their transportation.

Safe travels

Sue and crew

[vickiw0318]

The pandering bothers me too.

 

I seem to remember that there is a "meet expectations" choice on the survey. After many RCI cruises where I have received excellent service, that level of service is what I have come to expect. With my way of thinking, if I were to check that choice, I would be giving praise to those who served me. However, I do know the rules and I do select excellent. If someone goes over and above, then I make special note about him/her on the card. That seems to me to be the only way to recognize the exceptional ones. (I have never been given the WOW cards for whatever reason.)

[Aquahound]

We just returned home from a 4-night sailing on the Monarch of the Seas. It was a very pleasant cruise, although it was a bit of a transition to go from the Freedom of the Seas on the prior week.

 

One thing that was a bit disconcerting was the number of times that we were basically instructed to give high ratings on the survey that you get at the end of the cruise, and this started on the first night. One time, after dinner, the waiter asked how his service was. I responded "very good", and he went on to explain that I needed to say "excellent" on the survey. A different waiter later in the cruise, and even the head waiter, repeated the same message.

 

We also received this instruction, although more subtly, from our cabin steward. His simply said that he hoped we would be able to choose "excellent" on the survey.

 

All in all, I felt that I was able to give honest "excellent" ratings for the quality of service we received in the main dining room, but I felt very uncomfortable that they were trying to train us how to answer the surveys during the four nights of the cruise. I did comment on this in the free-form section of the survey.

 

Great timing on this post.....well, for me at least. I just got off Oasis yesterday. Our MTD waiter pandered for an excellent rating every night for the last 4 nights of the cruise. On one of the nights, we weren't even sitting in his section, but he still made his way over to us to give us the speech. I've heard this speech many times before and I've never been bothered by it, but this was annoying.

 

I did comment about it in the survey.

[nbsjcruiser]

It's sort of like rates on eBay -- anything less than 5 stars (or excellent) is considered failure. I'm surprised if you have cruised with Royal you have not run into this before. Just consider it a request and grade honestly.

 

That's our take on it. We've seen it several times. Doesn't affect how I rate the service.

[BugsyCruiser]

I was with Aquahound on Oasis last week and agree that while I understand why they must do it, that it got pretty annoying. The waiter at Chops Grille made it point to tell myself and two friends I was dining with about the survey EVERY time he came to our table. I did complain to the manager about that... you want to tell me about the survey that's fine but do it at the very end of the meal! I know that anything less than excellent is considered failure by RCCL, which kind of drives me nuts because when we say service is good, we do mean it was good. Good to RCCL means it was bad.

 

Hopefully RCCL can figure out a better way about telling us about the survey instead of being reminded about it every day, and at least a few times a day. One exception was when I dined at Izumi.... there was absolutely no mention of the survey. That was refreshing.