Staff "demanding" good ratings?

[Winghunter]

We had a rather sad situation occur on our Allure sailing a few years ago. It absolutely wasn't the waiter's fault, and my foursome actually made very light of the situation. The Maitre D' did not and harshly spoke to the waiter in front of the cruisers about it. The waiter apologized profusely, and we all told him that he 'was not responsible for what occurred' and not to worry at all. I did speak to the Hotel Manager/Food and Beverage Director onboard, because of how the Maitr D' made way more of the situation than the situation deserved.

 

On our survey, I gave the waiter a 10 and in the comment section spelled out what happened. I did get a call from the home office, and throughout the conversation made sure they understood who I felt was the cause of the problem (believe me it was a very small issue, that the Maitre D' blew out of proportion) and they seemed to be very appreciative of our feelings.

 

My point is -- yes, sometimes you do get a call from the home office.

Paulette, That's good to know they do read at least some of the comments, maybe the Maître D' made a big deal to HQ and they looked at your cards to confirm or deny?

On Brilliance a few years ago we had a man walk into our cabin as we were getting ready for dinner, luckily my wife had stepped into the bathroom as we were both nude. The man was as shocked as me when our eyes met, hahaha. I pulled on shorts and went out to investigate, he was looking for his parents cabin (which was next door) and made a simple mistake. After dinner we alerted guest relations about what happened and how his key opened both their door and ours. They said that was impossible, I laughed and said well... It did. I even suggested that maybe the previous cruise had matching keys for the rooms and a computer glitch or something caused this, either way not a big deal just resolve it. They punched a few keys and said it was fixed and gave us new sea pass cards.

The next day I see the man in the hallway and we laughed about the previous day, I said try it again and low and behold it opens our door. this time we both head back down to resolve the issue. They again said it's impossible but would send maintenance up to look into and fix whatever was going on. We came back to the cabin a few hours later and our entire door handle is missing and the door is halfway open (slider was cracked open). I look around and nothing seems to be missing but my wallet is out along with cameras & etc. When I went back down to tell them this was BS and asked where my door handle is, they basically called me a liar. I told manager to come with me and I would show them, they declined and said someone will be up. Maint showed up and replaced the door handle and lock, said they were sorry but had to go get parts.

I would think when we wrote that on the card it would get a response, there were huge safety issues in play. We weren't looking for a freebee just not to be treated like we were making it up, heck we were laughing until the end.

[Queen of Oakville]

I haven't read all 8 pages, so forgive me if this is repetitive :D

 

Night 1 you get the speech that excellent service is to be expected. Final night you get the speech about how they delivered on that promise. Somewhere in between, the cruise director will give multiple announcements about how hard the staff works and how important that top rating is for them.

 

I will say that I have experienced this on all cruises with the exception of the two cruises on Celebrity.

 

Service was excellent. It was never promised, nor qualified, nor summarized, it was just delivered. There might have been a modest statement such as "I hope my service met with your expectations" but nothing more than that. On both X cruises, I never once hear the Cruise Director make any speeches about service either.

 

So if someone has not encountered this kind of pandering for ratings ... maybe their sailing experience is on X. It (along with auto-tips)makes for a much more pleasant final night experience.

[blueblock]

I am so used to "the speech" that I barely even notice it any more, but I cruised recently with some family members and they were kind of shocked. The only waiter who didn't get a 10 from me was the guy who insisted on bringing me dessert when I hadn't ordered dessert, even after I asked him to stop.

[Mitey]

Well I guess I have gotten many people fired.

To me...a rating of 10 means that there is no room for improvement.

I do take the time to write down names and comment on exceptional performance, but seldom have I had service that could not be improved upon. They would have to be a genie to anticipate everything and they don't have time to follow me around.

I am not complaining about the service, it's usually a solid 8 or a slight 9...which I think is pretty awesome.

If you just give 10 across the board, you are just to lazy too think it out and you don't get to complain about service...ever.

[DEIx15x8]

I've noticed this on recent cruises, but it seems to almost be an indication of the service quality in my experience. We've had many great wait staff lately and they rarely mention it. The most they'll usually say is what feels like a prewritten explanation that we'll be receiving a post cruise survey by email and which sections relate to dinning/food services and what falls under each. Nothing pushy and never anything more than saying which section they fall under.

 

I've had some average staff who have mentioned giving 10 on the last night. The worst staff I ever had though was very nice but not a great waiter (very slow and seemed to struggle with having multiple tables and remembering orders, yet there were still less tables in his section than those around us. The head waiter often even did half the job) and almost every night he would not tell us to rate him well on the survey (though it was implied), but would actually directly ask us on a scale of 1 to 10 how was the service tonight. It was the most awkward and uncomfortable thing I've experienced at a dinner service and everyone in our section seemed to agree and he did it every night. When questioned about it or not given a 10 he would give the speech about family and losing his job which just made it worse. Sometimes he would just give it while asking what score we would give him regardless. It really was a horrible experience. I have to believe that people hadn't been scoring him well for his speed and reliability and as a result they must have mentioned something to him or put him on probation because he did have fewer tables and the people above him were hovering around and covering for him much more often and seamlessly than normal.

 

Ironically that would be one of the few times I would not have given a 10 and because of the new survey time limit and us not going directly home I didn't have Internet access to even fill it out anyway.

[Cuizer2]

We experienced this on our Explorer repo about 18 months ago.

 

The one from New Jersey to Florida? This one ...

 

 

 

[Cuizer2]

Carnival has never asked me for any kind of rating points or scores---so it is not on every cruise line

 

This thread is on the Royal Caribbean forum for a reason.

 

Nonetheless, the first time I heard this speech was from the CD on the Carnival Pride in May 2004. So it does happen on Carnival also.

Edited March 23, 2016 by Cuizer2

[CSohio]

On our recent RCI cruise I was taken aback when what I thought would be a short thank you and farewell from our waiter on the last night became a rant that was basically- I know I do a good job so I expect the ratings you give to all be 10- I don't want any rating lower- or I will not get my money. But I have done a good job so I know I can expect 10's.There is no excuse for any lower number... so that is what I will expect.

 

My tablemates and I were aghast at this tone.. then I went to our cabin where the steward we had really loved knocked on our door and said when he came in.. it has been pleasure serving you and I know you liked what I did because you told me ( we had and given him an extra tip mid cruise). So, I know I can ask you to please give me a 10 for my rating. It is very , very important for me to have that... " and as he said it tears filled his eyes.

 

I have been on more than a dozen cruises and never had staff beg for or demand high ratings... is some reign of terror going on.. is there some contest being held with cash incentives ? I saw our tablemates the next am and asked them if they heard similar from their steward and they had and were equally uncomfortable. I realize that English is not thefirst language of most staff, but it all sounds either abrasive or pathetic to me...

 

Whatever is prompting this behavior needs to be done away with ...

 

Similar experience from our dining room waiter on our Oasis cruise last month.

[champagne123]

Okay, so I have read all of the "speech" stories from all of you, but only one person has said how they handle it. I have not been on RCCL in a few years, but have one coming up. I have never had an employee give me this speech on any cruise line. Sooooo....what does everyone say, once the speech/threat/demand starts? I don't want to be rude to the server, but nor do I want to hear it!! :confused:

[John&LaLa]

Okay, so I have read all of the "speech" stories from all of you, but only one person has said how they handle it. I have not been on RCCL in a few years, but have one coming up. I have never had an employee give me this speech on any cruise line. Sooooo....what does everyone say, once the speech/threat/demand starts? I don't want to be rude to the server, but nor do I want to hear it!! :confused:

 

I just smile and nod my head. Like I said earlier the only time I ever said something was when either the Head Waiter or Waiter gave the same speach. I can take it once. ;)

[wolfganghowell]

Once it starts, look them in the eye, smile and say "You have nothing to worry about."

 

A few cruises ago, we ate in the MDR the first night and then did WJ or specialty. Nothing wrong at all - just wanted to skip the whole routine. We were at lunch about 6 days in and I see our waiter making a beeline to us across the entire dining room. He was so concerned that we hadn't been back and wanted to make sure he had done nothing wrong. We assured him he was great and we would be back. Poor guy was so relieved. We've heard different versions of "it" - some a little long winded but at least no demands. We're pretty good about shutting it down before we go insane.

[Clarea]

Okay, so I have read all of the "speech" stories from all of you, but only one person has said how they handle it. I have not been on RCCL in a few years, but have one coming up. I have never had an employee give me this speech on any cruise line. Sooooo....what does everyone say, once the speech/threat/demand starts? I don't want to be rude to the server, but nor do I want to hear it!! :confused:

One technique is to leave before dessert on the last night.

[NightOne]

Bottom line is this- if they're acting like this, then it's more than likely a "top box" situation. When doing the surveys, keep this in mind. Look at it as 0-9=unsatisfactory and 10=satisfactory. If the service was abysmal from start to finish, rate it accordingly. If not, just don't be petty and give the 10, while saving the small elitist critiques for the comment sections. Don't let Royal's dumb process affect others. It's not that big of a deal.

 

I have posted this once already on this thread but no one seems to have paid attention to it. LOL

 

Royal is likely using the Net Promoter System (NPS). Here is some proof of that from 2013:

 

http://loyalty360.org/Content-Gallery/Daily-News/Customer-Loyalty-Opportunities-Abound-for-Royal-Ca

 

More Info on NPS:

 

https://www.netpromoter.com/know/

 

http://www.netpromotersystem.com/about/measuring-your-net-promoter-score.aspx

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_Promoter

[John&LaLa]

One technique is to leave before dessert on the last night.

 

:eek: Last night used to be Key Lime Pie

[Cuizer2]

Do you know why the Olympics' gymnastics scoring system changed from a ten being perfect to the new system where a perfect 17 is pretty much impossible? It is because of all the tens (seven of them) Nadia Comaneci received at the 1976 Summer Olympics games. Additional tens were awarded in the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics games.

 

Getting a perfect score was getting to easy. As a result it lost its meaning.

[Cuizer2]

:eek: Last night used to be Key Lime Pie

 

What color was it?

[Clarea]

:eek: Last night used to be Key Lime Pie

That would be tough for me.

[DrD]

Once at a management seminar I heard a talk on this.

 

Basically, only the highest rating on whatever scale you're using correlates to brand loyalty. studies show that anything below that means you're just as likely to go with another business next time.

 

Of course, no one has any idea if this will hold true if these ratings are coerced rather than honest. These business types are not real clear on how studies / statistics work.

 

I remember the guy at the talk (Fred Lee, "If Disney Ran Your Hospital") said the scale goes:

 

5: I will stay loyal and recommend you to my friends

4: It was ok, but I may go somewhere else

3: it sucked, but I don't want anyone to call so I'm not going to 1 or 2

 

So that's why only the highest score is any good.

[Cruzaholic41]

Carnival has never asked me for any kind of rating points or scores---so it is not on every cruise line

 

B.S. This crap started on Carnival. I still have memories of enduring "the speech" on Carnival after the waiter danced on my table.

[NightOne]

One technique is to leave before dessert on the last night.

 

This isn't directed at you Bob but just a statement to the "not wanting to hear the speech" / "I can't be bothered with this" crowd:

 

I think most people here know that the people who work on the cruise ships are mainly from Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America. They often leave their families behind to work contracts that are 4-6 months long in which they work 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week. They work hard. Everyone brings this up every time a tipping thread is created here on Cruise Critic. A majority of their pay relies on gratuities paid by passengers. It is a hard life especially compared to being on vacation as a passenger.

 

For people to WHINE about a short speech that a crew member gives about a survey is UTTERLY DISGRACEFUL.

 

The simple behavior here is easy: You politely listen, nod, and respond "Absolutely will do it", and smile.

 

You don't cut them off, threaten with bad scores, or any of this other drivel.

 

It consumes maybe 60 seconds of your time while you are enjoying the spoils of being on a cruise. Where is your humanity? Or do people not have that anymore?

 

If you don't like the labor practices of Royal then bring it up with their senior management.

[BamaGuy44]

I don't fill out those any more for any company where I suspect that a rating less than the best means bad. If you don't take customer feedback serious I won't waste my time with it.

 

I'm the same way. I hate to be like that, but my time has value. If they just want to use my honest feedback as an excuse to punish the staff, they get squat as far as a survey from me.

 

In all my cruises I can count the negative encounters with any staff member on one hand. Overall they do a fantastic job, I'm often amazed at how hard they work and manage to do it while maintaining a friendly attitude.

[FPerillo81]

Well I guess I have gotten many people fired.

To me...a rating of 10 means that there is no room for improvement.

I do take the time to write down names and comment on exceptional performance, but seldom have I had service that could not be improved upon. They would have to be a genie to anticipate everything and they don't have time to follow me around.

I am not complaining about the service, it's usually a solid 8 or a slight 9...which I think is pretty awesome.

If you just give 10 across the board, you are just to lazy too think it out and you don't get to complain about service...ever.

 

 

Knowing that they use the ridiculous system where only 10s and possibly 9s count, as stated in a previous comment, maybe you'll take that into consideration next time. There's no point in penalizing the staff over a policy that RCI has in place. I understand a "solid 8 or slight 9" might be true, but consider that it's very possible that it counts as a 0. It's too petty and elitist to overthink it now that we know this information

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[John&LaLa]

What color was it?

 

White ish. Very tasty. Moved it up to day 6 I think.

[John&LaLa]

That would be tough for me.

 

I figured. Do you remember when it was on the last night?

[BamaGuy44]

 

For people to WHINE about a short speech that a crew member gives about a survey is UTTERLY DISGRACEFUL.

 

The simple behavior here is easy: You politely listen, nod, and respond "Absolutely will do it", and smile.

 

You don't cut them off, threaten with bad scores, or any of this other drivel.

 

It consumes maybe 60 seconds of your time while you are enjoying the spoils of being on a cruise. Where is your humanity? Or do people not have that anymore?

 

If you don't like the labor practices of Royal then bring it up with their senior management.

 

It's all a matter of how they do it. If it's a simple explanation of how the high scores will help them out, that's one thing. When it veers into repeated begging or trying to make me feel guilty if I decide not to give 10s across the board, well that's just rude on their part and I have no problem telling them I'm not going to listen to it.

 

I've only had to do this once. A particular server told me anything less than full 10s I was basically getting her fired. I politely told her I'm happy with my service but I don't want to talk about scores any more. She dropped it.

 

I agree that threatening to give a lower score or rudely cutting them off is bad form. I do similar to Bob. I just smile and say "Not to worry, we are happy with the service." They don't have to give an awkward speech, and I don't have to listen to one. Win-win. Nothing disgraceful about that in my book.