Princess, are you listening?

[CDay]

I do feel for the crew, I have seen them treated terribly by some passengers. I wonder if these folks act the same way at a land based resort?

 

I agree with xdudex who said Princess's service has been in the gray area. It seems, no matter what the Princess suggestion for things like dress code are, there will always be those who want to push the envelope.

 

Princess should empower their employees and not have them in constant fear of being sent home over a complaint by a sanctimonious blowhard. Princess should reward employees who do enforce the “so called rules”.

 

Yes, you are paying for your cruise, but you are a guest of Princess. Princess lets you know ahead of time what they expect in terms of dress when in the MDR on formal night. If Princess would stick by their guns and absolutely refuse to let people in, who were inappropriately dressed, I feel there would be less complaining. If someone starts to huff and puff, let them. A standard answer of “This is the required dress code for the evening. If you care not to abide, you are welcome to dine at one of the specialty restaurants or Horizon Court”. End Of Story. No reporting of the Maitre’d or Head Waiter. At this point Princess would reward the employee for excellent service.

 

Have someone stationed at the pool and when chair hogs arrive, let them be told there is no saving of chairs. If they complain, they can be told, if they don’t like the policy’s of Princess, they are free to disembark at the next port. Should they be total boors, they get disembarked at the next port. Why is society cow-towing to all this me, me, me?

 

Have some backbone Princess. I don’t appreciate crying babies at the adults only pool, nor should I be the one to have to ask them to leave. An employee, without fear of retribution, should do that.

[PrincessLuver]

Costco does not really follow a practice that the customer is always right, neither do a bunch of other very successful companies. What they do follow is to understand the customers they want to attract. They define service offerings that appeal to those customers. They work to execute those service offerings very well. They work to correct situations where they fail to execute in providing those services.

 

If you think Costco has the view that customers are always right try going to customer service and complain that they need to carry a wider selection, or need smaller package sizes or anything else that is outside of what they have defined their services to be. I doubt you will see your request honored.

 

Many of the companies that have high customer satisfaction ratings do so because they have very targeted customers, define their services for those customers, and are perfectly willing for customers outside of that targeted group to go away. they have very high ratings among their customers because those that are not satisfied by their services tend not to remain as their customers. Harley Davidson, Apple and many other of the cult brands fall into this model, as does Costco.

 

Costco does follow a form of principle of "the customer is always right." My family loves Costco because you can take almost anything back at anytime without question, without a receipt and they refund it immediately.

 

“If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.” – Ray Kroc.

 

Ray Kroc, is of course the man behind the massive success a little fast-food chain known as McDonald’s! He knew to emphasize the importance of ‘putting the customer first’. As you know he built one of the most successful businesses in the world which was built on this philosophy, and still operates by it.

 

Putting the customer first, in simple terms, means that a business puts the needs and requirements of a customer ahead of anything and everything else.

 

Such a business strives to build healthy relationships with their consumers by identifying their needs and providing the best-possible experience to its customers.

 

These organizations pay special attention and emphasis on putting the customer’s priorities ahead of anything else, and end up providing a personalized customer experience.

 

They also acknowledge and thank their customers for their business from time to time, through various different methods and avenues.

 

Organizations that ‘put the customer first’ are commonly referred to as customer-oriented, customer-driven or customer-focused businesses. They are oriented towards serving the client’s needs, and measure customer-satisfaction levels in order to determine the success of their business.

 

Companies such as:

 

Trader Joe's

Wachovia

Chick-fil-A

Costco Wholesale

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Progressive

Walgreens

Mini USA

Harrah’s Entertainment

Sharp Electronics

Wegmans

Fairmont Hotels

Nordstrom

Petsmart

Four Seasons

Apple

Samsung

Google

FedEx

 

are just a few examples of customer-centric business models. These businesses strive to identify what their customers want, and do their utmost to fulfill their needs, wants and requirements with the products and services that they offer.

 

These businesses also excel in customer-care and after-sales service!

 

For these organizations, being putting the customers first isn’t a strategy, it’s a culture!

 

I think Princess is definitely in this category too. It has nothing to do with your age as a customer, new versus older generation, the times are "a-changing, etc"

 

It is all about a BASIC business practice that has always got the best results and will continue to do so. As long as Princess goes with the concept of "customer satisfaction is most important, then they are always going to have a lot of customers. :)

[swedish weave]

I do feel for the crew, I have seen them treated terribly by some passengers. I wonder if these folks act the same way at a land based resort?

 

I agree with xdudex who said Princess's service has been in the gray area. It seems, no matter what the Princess suggestion for things like dress code are, there will always be those who want to push the envelope.

 

Princess should empower their employees and not have them in constant fear of being sent home over a complaint by a sanctimonious blowhard. Princess should reward employees who do enforce the “so called rules”.

 

Yes, you are paying for your cruise, but you are a guest of Princess. Princess lets you know ahead of time what they expect in terms of dress when in the MDR on formal night. If Princess would stick by their guns and absolutely refuse to let people in, who were inappropriately dressed, I feel there would be less complaining. If someone starts to huff and puff, let them. A standard answer of “This is the required dress code for the evening. If you care not to abide, you are welcome to dine at one of the specialty restaurants or Horizon Court”. End Of Story. No reporting of the Maitre’d or Head Waiter. At this point Princess would reward the employee for excellent service.

 

Have someone stationed at the pool and when chair hogs arrive, let them be told there is no saving of chairs. If they complain, they can be told, if they don’t like the policy’s of Princess, they are free to disembark at the next port. Should they be total boors, they get disembarked at the next port. Why is society cow-towing to all this me, me, me?

 

Have some backbone Princess. I don’t appreciate crying babies at the adults only pool, nor should I be the one to have to ask them to leave. An employee, without fear of retribution, should do that.

 

The application of the "suggested" dress code is not necessarily confrontational as you imply. The waitstaff will openly tell you what is accepted and there is no argument or reporting.

 

Perhaps your experiences have been different than mine.

 

I respect the crew and their choices and decisions.

[Putterdude]

I think Princess Luver has set out some terrific examples and made some excellent points. In the main I think Princess and indeed likely whole cruise line industry is customer focused. Yes, Princess does screw up from time to time and there seems to be a lack of an avenue to resolve these issues...which maybe Princess could focus on, maybe a Passenger Ombudsman, or something akin to that, the poorly trained CSR department just doesn't seem to make the grade . However, far to often the complaints we read about in the forum are from people who are being unreasonable or expect something for nothing....that is the business no one wants to keep nor should they.

[KruzeKrazy!]

PrincessLuver - your list may generally be a good one but I was VP of Marketing at one of the companies on your list and I can say they were much more company- than customer-focused.

[RDC1]

Costco does follow a form of principle of "the customer is always right." My family loves Costco because you can take almost anything back at anytime without question, without a receipt and they refund it immediately.

 

“If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.” – Ray Kroc.

 

Ray Kroc, is of course the man behind the massive success a little fast-food chain known as McDonald’s! He knew to emphasize the importance of ‘putting the customer first’. As you know he built one of the most successful businesses in the world which was built on this philosophy, and still operates by it.

 

Putting the customer first, in simple terms, means that a business puts the needs and requirements of a customer ahead of anything and everything else.

 

Such a business strives to build healthy relationships with their consumers by identifying their needs and providing the best-possible experience to its customers.

 

These organizations pay special attention and emphasis on putting the customer’s priorities ahead of anything else, and end up providing a personalized customer experience.

 

They also acknowledge and thank their customers for their business from time to time, through various different methods and avenues.

 

Organizations that ‘put the customer first’ are commonly referred to as customer-oriented, customer-driven or customer-focused businesses. They are oriented towards serving the client’s needs, and measure customer-satisfaction levels in order to determine the success of their business.

 

Companies such as:

 

Trader Joe's

Wachovia

Chick-fil-A

Costco Wholesale

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Progressive

Walgreens

Mini USA

Harrah’s Entertainment

Sharp Electronics

Wegmans

Fairmont Hotels

Nordstrom

Petsmart

Four Seasons

Apple

Samsung

Google

FedEx

 

are just a few examples of customer-centric business models. These businesses strive to identify what their customers want, and do their utmost to fulfill their needs, wants and requirements with the products and services that they offer.

 

These businesses also excel in customer-care and after-sales service!

 

For these organizations, being putting the customers first isn’t a strategy, it’s a culture!

 

I think Princess is definitely in this category too. It has nothing to do with your age as a customer, new versus older generation, the times are "a-changing, etc"

 

It is all about a BASIC business practice that has always got the best results and will continue to do so. As long as Princess goes with the concept of "customer satisfaction is most important, then they are always going to have a lot of customers. :)

 

No that is not a customer is always right implementation. That is proper execution of a well defined, well publicized return policy.

 

Next time you go to Costco tell them that you want them two split a package of two bottles of ketchup because you only want one and see if they will. If they had a customer is always right they would split the package and charge you half. But I am certain they will not.

 

A customer is always right is a process where the company will deviate from their procedures to meet a customers requirements. Costco does what they do very well, but they will not deviate from they normal practices even if a customer requests it.

 

You are confusing well defined corporate practices and implementations with the customer is always right. Some of the ones on your list, Apple for example, especially under Jobs, was anything but a customer is always right. Under Jobs Apple operated under the we know what the customer needs better then they do and we will provide what we think the customer needs. They followed that to the degree that they locked the OS to prevent the customer from making and changes. In the most part Jobs was correct.

[Myrtle Ave. Mayhem]

Excellent post and discussion. In order to pay for my cruise travel addiction I get to work in the transportation hospitality profession as a train attendant on long haul passenger trains out of Los Angeles. Think flight attendant meets stateroom steward. When I fly or cruise my first sympathies go to the hard working crew. In my 24 years at this job I've seen a change in the attitude from the general traveling public. It used to be that demanding mean spirited passengers were the Corporate Go Getter types traveling on business or celebrities (actually, most celebs are well behaved), but these days that snobby entitled behavior can come from a college student or the Little Old Lady From Pasadena. Snarling, yelling, & tisking of the tongue will get you nowhere. A smile or a simple "please", & I'll do cartwheels down the aisle to find you that extra pillow or space for your bag.

[BruceMuzz]

Costco does follow a form of principle of "the customer is always right." My family loves Costco because you can take almost anything back at anytime without question, without a receipt and they refund it immediately.

 

“If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.” – Ray Kroc.

 

Ray Kroc, is of course the man behind the massive success a little fast-food chain known as McDonald’s! He knew to emphasize the importance of ‘putting the customer first’. As you know he built one of the most successful businesses in the world which was built on this philosophy, and still operates by it.

 

Putting the customer first, in simple terms, means that a business puts the needs and requirements of a customer ahead of anything and everything else.

 

Such a business strives to build healthy relationships with their consumers by identifying their needs and providing the best-possible experience to its customers.

 

These organizations pay special attention and emphasis on putting the customer’s priorities ahead of anything else, and end up providing a personalized customer experience.

 

They also acknowledge and thank their customers for their business from time to time, through various different methods and avenues.

 

Organizations that ‘put the customer first’ are commonly referred to as customer-oriented, customer-driven or customer-focused businesses. They are oriented towards serving the client’s needs, and measure customer-satisfaction levels in order to determine the success of their business.

 

Companies such as:

 

Trader Joe's

Wachovia

Chick-fil-A

Costco Wholesale

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Progressive

Walgreens

Mini USA

Harrah’s Entertainment

Sharp Electronics

Wegmans

Fairmont Hotels

Nordstrom

Petsmart

Four Seasons

Apple

Samsung

Google

FedEx

 

are just a few examples of customer-centric business models. These businesses strive to identify what their customers want, and do their utmost to fulfill their needs, wants and requirements with the products and services that they offer.

 

These businesses also excel in customer-care and after-sales service!

 

For these organizations, being putting the customers first isn’t a strategy, it’s a culture!

 

I think Princess is definitely in this category too. It has nothing to do with your age as a customer, new versus older generation, the times are "a-changing, etc"

 

It is all about a BASIC business practice that has always got the best results and will continue to do so. As long as Princess goes with the concept of "customer satisfaction is most important, then they are always going to have a lot of customers. :)

 

You forgot to mention all the cruise lines famous for putting Guest Satisfaction as their number one goal:

 

Royal Viking Line

Royal Cruise Line

Home Lines

American Hawaii Cruise Line

Aloha Pacific Line

American President Line

Golden Bear Line

United States Line

Sitmar Cruise Line

Renaissance Cruises

 

They have another thing in common - they are all no longer in business.

[Myrtle Ave. Mayhem]

You forgot to mention all the cruise lines famous for putting Guest Satisfaction as their number one goal:

 

Royal Viking Line

Royal Cruise Line

Home Lines

American Hawaii Cruise Line

Aloha Pacific Line

American President Line

Golden Bear Line

United States Line

Sitmar Cruise Line

Renaissance Cruises

 

They have another thing in common - they are all no longer in business.

 

You sure know your cruise line history. I often wonder what Royal Viking Line, Home Lines, or Sitmar would be like in today's cruise world/market.

[shredie]

You forgot to mention all the cruise lines famous for putting Guest Satisfaction as their number one goal:

 

 

I'm curious. Do you thing guest satisfaction should be no one's goal at all? I know you know everything about cruising and every cruise line, but wouldn't there inevitably come a point when poor customer service would affect the number of people wanting to cruise? I can't believe there is an unlimited supply of first-time cruisers who would not at least hear about the poor service on any given line and thus be discouraged from going. However, if a low price is the only goal, as you have indicated before, I guess the ships won't go out of business until every person alive has done the first "newbie" cruise and has spent all the money he has to spend.

[pablo222]

Costco does follow a form of principle of "the customer is always right." My family loves Costco because you can take almost anything back at anytime without question, without a receipt and they refund it immediately.

 

You can no longer return most digital cameras and electronics after 90 days.

 

I knew a woman -- she would buy a digital camera. After 9-12 months,

a better one would become available. She would return the first camera to

costco for a full refund, and buy the newer one.

 

I guess the customer is always right -- until the company decides they're not, and changes the return policy.

[golfb4cruzing]

The only 100% company I know of, no questions ever, is L.L.Bean. They are an awesome company. Their store is fun to visit as well.

[RDC1]

I'm curious. Do you thing guest satisfaction should be no one's goal at all? I know you know everything about cruising and every cruise line, but wouldn't there inevitably come a point when poor customer service would affect the number of people wanting to cruise? I can't believe there is an unlimited supply of first-time cruisers who would not at least hear about the poor service on any given line and thus be discouraged from going. However, if a low price is the only goal, as you have indicated before, I guess the ships won't go out of business until every person alive has done the first "newbie" cruise and has spent all the money he has to spend.

 

Guest satisfaction is not the same as the customer is always right. Some of the highest ranked companies when it comes to customer satisfaction are perfectly willing to tell a customer no. That is because those companies have a well designed program, that appeals to a number of customers and they do it quite well. If they fail to execute the program as designed they respond and fix it. However, they also know that they are not all things to all people. If a customer complains about something that is outside of their program they are perfectly willing to tell the customer no, that they do not provide that service. Many of the highest ranked companies are well thought off by their customers, but also are hated by many of their non-customers. For example Apple computer is loved by its customers. If you buy Apple you tend to buy almost exclusively from Apple (for those things they provide). On the other hand there are many people that will not buy anything from Apple. They do not show up in Apple's customer satisfaction reports, because they are not Apple's customers.

 

Good customer service companies, know what they are, know what they do well, they execute, they correct failures to execute, they do not try and be what they are not. Customers that want something else are happily referred elsewhere.

[Colo Cruiser]

the only 100% company i know of, no questions ever, is l.l.bean. They are an awesome company. Their store is fun to visit as well.

 

 

rei

[shredie]

Guest satisfaction is not the same as the customer is always right.

 

Obviously. My question has to do with Brucemuzz (the guy who is an expert on everything) and the post he made suggesting that a focus on guest satisfaction put some cruise lines out of business.

[bhopal21]

Guest satisfaction is not the same as the customer is always right. Some of the highest ranked companies when it comes to customer satisfaction are perfectly willing to tell a customer no.

 

Good customer service companies, know what they are, know what they do well, they execute, they correct failures to execute, they do not try and be what they are not. Customers that want something else are happily referred elsewhere.

 

After having run my own business for 30+ years I could not agree more.

 

You can never please all of your customers as that is simply not possible and the sooner you realize that the better.

 

Treat everyone fairly and when you make a mistake (as you invariably will) step forward and offer to make it right and if that is not acceptable refer your customer to some other provider.

 

Mike:)

[PrincessLuver]

The only 100% company I know of, no questions ever, is L.L.Bean. They are an awesome company. Their store is fun to visit as well.

 

Yep.....I forgot to add them to the list.....but I am sure they are soon to go out of business because obviously the best corporate policy some people believe on this board is that it does not matter how you treat the customer...good or bad....thanks for their mention....:)

[New Me]

Costco does not really follow a practice that the customer is always right, neither do a bunch of other very successful companies. What they do follow is to understand the customers they want to attract. They define service offerings that appeal to those customers. They work to execute those service offerings very well. They work to correct situations where they fail to execute in providing those services.

 

If you think Costco has the view that customers are always right try going to customer service and complain that they need to carry a wider selection, or need smaller package sizes or anything else that is outside of what they have defined their services to be. I doubt you will see your request honored.

 

Many of the companies that have high customer satisfaction ratings do so because they have very targeted customers, define their services for those customers, and are perfectly willing for customers outside of that targeted group to go away. they have very high ratings among their customers because those that are not satisfied by their services tend not to remain as their customers. Harley Davidson, Apple and many other of the cult brands fall into this model, as does Costco.

 

There isn't a "10 items or less" check-out counter at Costco! Also they frequently do a change-up on departments...moving everything around keeps you wandering through other departments. 'You just might see something you have to have that you didn't know you needed when you arrived.':D

[aaerobear]

Of all the companies listed, how many will give you a monetary "reward" other than a refund when you return something? A hotel may give you a voucher for a future stay (princess will do the same at times) Most of the listed companies take the returned product and simply give you a refund.

 

The "trick" of a voucher is that you have to spend more money and return to the merchant (hotels, airlines, cruiselines)to use your voucher. Hence they get their money back and it costs them nothing.

 

I stood in the elite line on a Princess cruise earlier this year to change some money. I was number three in line. Just as I was about to be helped a passenger in a wheelchair rolled up and started to complain that he had been waiting for over 15 minutes to be waited on and that he was not going to be treated this way by incompetent uncaring imbeciles. He demanded to see the PSM. Well I had seen him and his wife roll up just as I was stepping up to the counter, so I knew he was lying through his teeth. I turned to him and said. "You sir are a blatant liar and have just arrived at the desk, get back in line and wait your turn. Try to learn some manners while you wait!!" He was about to respond when his wife rolled the chair away and disappeared.

 

I felt good after that and got a very big smile from the folks behind the desk.

[bhopal21]

Of all the companies listed, how many will give you a monetary "reward" other than a refund when you return something? A hotel may give you a voucher for a future stay (princess will do the same at times) Most of the listed companies take the returned product and simply give you a refund.

 

The "trick" of a voucher is that you have to spend more money and return to the merchant (hotels, airlines, cruiselines)to use your voucher. Hence they get their money back and it costs them nothing.

 

I stood in the elite line on a Princess cruise earlier this year to change some money. I was number three in line. Just as I was about to be helped a passenger in a wheelchair rolled up and started to complain that he had been waiting for over 15 minutes to be waited on and that he was not going to be treated this way by incompetent uncaring imbeciles. He demanded to see the PSM. Well I had seen him and his wife roll up just as I was stepping up to the counter, so I knew he was lying through his teeth. I turned to him and said. "You sir are a blatant liar and have just arrived at the desk, get back in line and wait your turn. Try to learn some manners while you wait!!" He was about to respond when his wife rolled the chair away and disappeared.

 

I felt good after that and got a very big smile from the folks behind the desk.

 

Bravo, simply Bravo!!

 

Mike:)

[swedish weave]

I'm curious. Do you thing guest satisfaction should be no one's goal at all? I know you know everything about cruising and every cruise line, but wouldn't there inevitably come a point when poor customer service would affect the number of people wanting to cruise? I can't believe there is an unlimited supply of first-time cruisers who would not at least hear about the poor service on any given line and thus be discouraged from going. However, if a low price is the only goal, as you have indicated before, I guess the ships won't go out of business until every person alive has done the first "newbie" cruise and has spent all the money he has to spend.

 

The information Bruce Muzz posts is based on his knowledge of the industry. I selected one of the items on his list and did a quick search of the history. Royal Viking was the line, and I will attach an excerpt of the Wiki info on it.

 

Quote

As the 1980s progressed it became clear that the luxury cruise lines such as Royal Viking could not survive without the support of a larger company, with the operating costs of a handful of luxury ships being too high to be truly profitable.[7] Royal Viking Line was acquired by Kloster Cruises in 1984, but its operations were initially kept separate from those of Norwegian Cruise Line.[6] End of quote

 

You may want to do the same for the other lines on his list in order to enhance your appreciation of Bruce's posts.

Edited September 15, 2014 by swedish weave

[shredie]

The information Bruce Muzz posts is based on his knowledge of the industry. I selected one of the items on his list and did a quick search of the history. Royal Viking was the line, and I will attach an excerpt of the Wiki info on it.

 

...

 

You may want to do the same for the other lines on his list in order to enhance your appreciation of Bruce's posts.

 

That is interesting information about the Royal Viking, but that's not the question I was asking the expert. (I'm assuming he didn't look up the Wiki as you did before he posted.)

Edited September 15, 2014 by shredie

[BruceMuzz]

I'm curious. Do you thing guest satisfaction should be no one's goal at all? I know you know everything about cruising and every cruise line, but wouldn't there inevitably come a point when poor customer service would affect the number of people wanting to cruise? I can't believe there is an unlimited supply of first-time cruisers who would not at least hear about the poor service on any given line and thus be discouraged from going. However, if a low price is the only goal, as you have indicated before, I guess the ships won't go out of business until every person alive has done the first "newbie" cruise and has spent all the money he has to spend.

 

Although it is very sad, and not the way I want to see it, you are probably pretty close to the truth. I personally believe that guest satisfaction should be #1 in every hospitality operation. But looking at the dismal state of affairs in the USA when I visit every 5 years or so, the situation there is going from very bad to completely unacceptable.

The international cruise lines are challenged only to provide a very mediocre service standard to well exceed nearly everything I experience in America.

 

The cruise lines are now carefully watching the 500 million or so Chinese Middle Class members who want (and can afford) (and can get passports) to take a cruise.

The cruise industry has only around 13 million beds per year.

Those 500 million Chinese first-timers with big disposable incomes and no serious expectations on a cruise look very inviting. If only half of them actually took a cruise only once, they would fill every cruise ship on earth for nearly 20 years.

That's probably the way it is going to go.

[BruceMuzz]

That is interesting information about the Royal Viking, but that's not the question I was asking the expert. (I'm assuming he didn't look up the Wiki as you did before he posted.)

 

I managed Royal Viking Ships for many years and stayed with them until the bitter end. Knut Kloster (CEO) vowed that he would refuse to compromise on quality (and price) even if it killed him.

It didn't kill him. It killed his company.

Knut was very bitter, and blamed American cruisers looking for the cheapest cruise for killing his company.

[BruceMuzz]

It may help to know that many years ago at NCL, a very enterprising new VP wanted to make an impression on the cruise industry.

He came up with a "menu" of the most common cruise passenger complaints.

In an effort to increase guest satisfaction by speeding up the reconciliation process, he defined a dollar value for each inconvenience the passenger might possibly suffer.

When a guest approached the front desk with his/her issues. the front desk clerk aded up the amounts and gave an instant refund on the spot.

 

This worked great for a few weeks - until the confidential memo with "menu" was leaked to the public.

Shortly afterward, we had passengers who had not even visited their staterooms yet at the front desk, with a litany of complaints and a sub-total of the money that was owed to them.

That program lasted about 2 more weeks, then was jettisoned along with the VP who started it.

 

Sadly, too many of the traveling public simply cannot be trusted.