Pandering for "Excellent" ratings on survey

[f1mauro]

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.

 

Funny. I remember this happening at Chop's the first night as well. Being told how great the service was by the waiter. Seemed out of place I guess because you don't experience this at land-based restaurants.

 

At Giovanni's Table, both times we dined, not a word was mentioned. The service was incredible, the manager Vince made sure he came around and struck up a lovely, genuine conversation with us and told us how happy he was that we chose to dine with them. Our waiter Vladmyr, on our first night, bent over backwards for us, made sure our wine and water was topped up after each sip, wiped crumbs from our table, gave us lovely entree reccomendations and checked back with us often even though the restaurant was running at full capacity! Not once did he stop us to "remind" us how great he was. I was so impressed, I went back up to my room to grab a WOW card and handed to him that evening. I honestly can't remember ever having experienced that type of attentive, professional service in any restaurant before, especially a busy one.

[BugsyCruiser]

Funny. I remember this happening at Chop's the first night as well. Being told how great the service was by the waiter. Seemed out of place I guess because you don't experience this at land-based restaurants.

 

At Giovanni's Table, both times we dined, not a word was mentioned. The service was incredible, the manager Vince made sure he came around and struck up a lovely, genuine conversation with us and told us how happy he was that we chose to dine with them. Our waiter Vladmyr, on our first night, bent over backwards for us, made sure our wine and water was topped up after each sip, wiped crumbs from our table, gave us lovely entree reccomendations and checked back with us often even though the restaurant was running at full capacity! Not once did he stop us to "remind" us how great he was. I was so impressed, I went back up to my room to grab a WOW card and handed to him that evening. I honestly can't remember ever having experienced that type of attentive, professional service in any restaurant before, especially a busy one.

 

I absolutely agree about Giovanni's! Two friends and I had lunch there and the food and service was excellent. No mention of the survey whatsoever

[BonTexasNY]

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.

 

Head Waiter traditionally makes one appearance to take my knife and fork and proceed to cut the lobster tail out of its shell while I sit there feeling like a 5 year old. I've learned to wave him/her away. I don't mean to seem ungrateful but seriously? Although they aren't in physical evidence they do have the responsibility of seeing your wait staff gives you that excellent rating they covet.

[Familygoboston]

I've even had the WJ host on Jewel mention it:eek: I agree with Paul- it's not enough to ruin a cruise, but it's annoying. If they want to initiate a conversation about it , it should be on the first day..."my goal is to earn an excellent rating from you on the last day, please let me know if there is ever anything not to your satisfaction or if there is anything I can do".

 

Sadly, because of the staffing level and amount of work these folks are required to do that's almost not possible. Most times if you seek something out of the ordinary it is almost impossible for them to comply, even if they want to. It's like the " calling you by your name" thing; most staff members ( other than your cabin steward) can only do it after seeing your name on their computer, because there are just far too many pax for each staff member. It's a disingenuous goal to put on the backs of already overworked people, and I frankly never feel like I'm getting personal service when the staff person says my name while looking at the computer screen.

[molsonschooner]

On our Oasis cruise last year the assistant waiter pleaded with us every night to give excellent ratings. This I found to be very annoying. I made note of this on the survey. For me, I have high expectations, so when they are met I feel the person is doing a good job. It's too bad that if I only rate them as doing a good job then their bosses feel they are failing.

[colmat]

We were on Indy last month and our waiter and assistant (who were both excellent) explained the difference between very good and excellent on the survey. Apparently excellent gets marked as plus 2 but very good gets marked as minus 5 :eek: - seemed a bit unfair when people have rated them as very good that R.C.I deems it as such a negative. We have never been asked about it before the last night and can understand that it would be annoying but can also see why it is so important to them with such a difference between the two scores.

[peteukmcr]

I too find this disconcerting as our last sailing on Mariner was the only time I really noticed the pressure from staff for us to score excellent on the comment cards.

 

The more someone pressures me to do something, human nature kicks in and I more likely not to do as asked, even if service is excellent.

[Aquahound]

For clarification, the top 2 categories are "Excellent," and "Good." There is no "Very Good" on the survey form.

[Daghis]

Right... the complete list of choices is (if I recall correctly):

• Excellent
  
• Good
  
• Fair
  
• Poor
  
• Did Not Use

[orville99]

We've virtually given up on filling out the surveys because of the pandering. Unless we had a really bad experience on the ship, we just toss the surveys in the trash. If we truly had excellent service from someone onboard, we give that person a WOW card.

[Wildcatfish]

Our family took notice that there was no pandering for an "excellent" rating by our Freedom 8/12 dining staff. Honestly, even they knew that their service was poor. On the next to last evening our waiter made a feeble attempt, but we both pretty much smiled and laughed because everyone knew they were not getting anywhere close to an excellent rating. Even the head waiter,(when he did show up) didn't even mention 'excellent' service.

 

Oddly enough we had the same head waiter last year(June 2011) who stopped by our table every night and gave us "the speech". Fortunately, our waiter and assistant waiter that year (June 2011) really were "excellent".

[Reader0108598]

I too find this disconcerting as our last sailing on Mariner was the only time I really noticed the pressure from staff for us to score excellent on the comment cards.

 

 

 

The more someone pressures me to do something, human nature kicks in and I more likely not to do as asked, even if service is excellent.

 

 

Totaly agree:(

[crusinmama06]

I remember that pandering on Freedom and Indy. And the service wasn't as good as Enchantment - where I had the "dream team" who didn't pander at all. ;)

 

And I know they didn't mention the surveys in Chops. It's funny how different ships deal with those surveys.

[P&C4/16/67]

We were on the EOS last month and it seemed the "excellant" rating was more important to our cabin attendant than the tip we left. We prepaid tips but DH almost gave the regular suggested amount on top of that. He was excellant, but he stressed how he would know what rating we gave him, like he didn't trust we would rate him excellant. We even gave him our WOW cards. Something must be going on with this. It appears as though some higher ups must be preasuring these people to do this. Almost the same with the waitstaff but not as hyper.

[orville99]

Our family took notice that there was no pandering for an "excellent" rating by our Freedom 8/12 dining staff. Honestly, even they knew that their service was poor. On the next to last evening our waiter made a feeble attempt, but we both pretty much smiled and laughed because everyone knew they were not getting anywhere close to an excellent rating. Even the head waiter,(when he did show up) didn't even mention 'excellent' service.

 

Oddly enough we had the same head waiter last year(June 2011) who stopped by our table every night and gave us "the speech". Fortunately, our waiter and assistant waiter that year (June 2011) really were "excellent".

 

Our MDR service was so bad on our 7/22 FOS cruise that as soon as we got back on land we called C&A and switched our NYE cruise from FOS to Jewel.:(

[cooncat_mom]

We're recently off the Explorer and about halfway through the cruise the dining room staff started "reminding" us to give them an excellent rating. While they certainly did give good service (OK, one night the server forgot we were there! :rolleyes: No problem; we just chilled till we caught their eye and they remembered us), to me an excellent would be a "Wow", or something out of the ordinary. The ratings are pretty subjective - let's face it, what one person thinks is OK another thinks is wonderful...or horrible!...and there is nothing wrong with very good service! When the point system was explained, I thought it was pretty unfair and quite frankly, will probably not put down ratings for them next time - but I will explain why in the comments section! :D:D

 

cruisinmama06 - I have to agree - the Enchantment was wonderful and our team was excellent too. They've had the best all-round crew of any cruise we've been on!

[Topo Gigio]

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.

 

Don't agree with you because because they are not assigned to one particular ship. They rotate thru the whole fleet.

[CruisesOnMyMind]

Don't agree with you because because they are not assigned to one particular ship. They rotate thru the whole fleet.

 

 

So what I hear you are saying is that every person working on the Monarch will be placed on RCCL ships elsewhere when it retires spring next year. None of them have to worry about losing their jobs?

[Merion_Mom]

So what I hear you are saying is that every person working on the Monarch will be placed on RCCL ships elsewhere when it retires spring next year. None of them have to worry about losing their jobs?

 

Topo Gigio makes it sound like there is a regular rotation. There is not. Workers can request new assignments, and RC can choose to honor those requests or not. Sometimes they are "asked" rather strongly to switch to another ship. But in general, RC has them work where they want to work.

 

I am sure that RC has given them no guarantee, but anyone who WANTS to keep working for RC probably can. There is always attrition on other ships, and RC would certainly rather fill those slots with experienced workers rather than newbies who need extensive training.

[SamFritz]

Can anyone with real knowledge of the system confirm that a "good" rating would result in discipline and perhaps termination or no contract renewal? The longer I sail the more exceptional service staff I experience, and the higher my expectations rise. By definition doesn't "excellent" mean something that is above or beyond the standard? At Royal, the standard is high, but some servers go beyond. Shouldn't an "excellent rating be reserved for them? But I don't want to hurt someone has met my and Royal's high standards. That's why I also usually don't bother with the evaluations anymore, especially with the WOW cards. I will give those cards to the truly excellent staff (along with some extra gratuity) and let my standard (recommended) tip serve as my comment on the good service of others.

[Aquahound]

Can anyone with real knowledge of the system confirm that a "good" rating would result in discipline and perhaps termination or no contract renewal? The longer I sail the more exceptional service staff I experience, and the higher my expectations rise. By definition doesn't "excellent" mean something that is above or beyond the standard? At Royal, the standard is high, but some servers go beyond. Shouldn't an "excellent rating be reserved for them? But I don't want to hurt someone has met my and Royal's high standards. That's why I also usually don't bother with the evaluations anymore, especially with the WOW cards. I will give those cards to the truly excellent staff (along with some extra gratuity) and let my standard (recommended) tip serve as my comment on the good service of others.

 

I don't know, Sam. It's one of those things on which you can't get a clear answer. A less than excellent rating for service could mean the Assistant Waiter wasn't great, or the Head Waiter was annoying, or the Hostesses couldn't find tables and paraded you back and forth a couple times, etc, etc. I would hope they wouldn't pin a less than excellent rating on the Waiter unless there was explanation in the comments section.

[CruisesOnMyMind]

I think RC needs to define what "excellent" is in their minds.

 

I know where I work we are told on our yearly reviews that in order to get an "excellent" you pretty much have to walk on water. Good is really just doing your job according to their standards.

 

Therefor when I see excellent as a rating, I look at it as being way up and beyond. Not just really good service which is suppose to be the norm.

 

Have I seen excellent service.........yes. Is RC putting too much pressure on their staff?...........yes I believe so. Are they hoping their cost cutting is going to be made up for by pressuring the staff into acting like over the top robots.

[erin_cruisers]

On our Freedom cruise last month, only our stateroom attendant mentioned the "excellent" rating on the cards. He only did it once, even though we were on a B2B, and it didn't really bother me, because he WAS excellent.

 

And we also write a lot on the comments section of the cards - what we liked, what we didnt like, what improvements they could make, etc, etc.

If they want our opinions, we sure are going to give them. ;)

 

Regarding the comments about being asked every night. I agree. After the first night, I would have held up my hand, and said "Enough. Ask me again, and it will go down a notch". :cool:

[klingoncruiser]

I have been hearing this for years. However..... I do reserve the right to mark less than excellent if it is needed. (Fortunately, it has been very rare when dealing with staff.)

[windjamming]

This practice has gotten a lot worse in recent years, in conjunction with what seems like a steady decline in service. Who knows why - perhaps the waiters are getting more people in their sections and have less time to actually provide excellent service.

 

I don't mind it too much as long as it's not blatant. They work hard. The one time it really irritated me was on the Navigator, when the waiter asked if he could "expect an excellent".