"This might be YOUR vacation, but it's MY life"

[LMaxwell]

 

I'd rather RCL charge another $100 a day (or more) and for them to provide restaurant grade food. Yes we can pay for specialty dining and we did for all but the one night we were caught unaware but even this doesn't really work on ships with only three options and more so given the up-sell options aren't good enough.

 

 

They probably spend $10-13 per person, per day, for food. Your price could up $100 for the week, not day, and they could put that towards significantly better food served in the MDR and other complimentary venues.

[brfan]

It baffles me how anyone would actually believe that load of crap. Not only does it not make sense, it's just not possible.

 

Personally I think it isn't the individual crew that would be fired (they may lose days off or promotional opportunities, etc), but if the overall ship rating (based on the total survey results) is down, then it is senior management that will be worried about keeping their jobs, being demoted or moved to a lesser desirable ship. It's my guess it is senior management that puts pressure on the crew to get the 10's to save their jobs. I also would image that if the ship rating is low then life for crew wouldn't be all that happy with the pressure put on them by their bosses.

[The_Big_M]

My last RCL cruise a few months ago this never came up.

 

However, I'm just back from a Celebrity cruise - and had a staff member there request the same thing - twice - on the last days! From earlier discussions too, he hadn't come across from RCL and worked at Celebrity for years, so not sure where he picked it up from. Said that we should give 10 to reflect our experience, as well as name staff, and 9 or below is a bad rating.

 

Unfortunately the Celebrity survey didn't ask about this, and is actually focussed on just getting good feedback (no comments permitted) so doesn't address it.

[RaiderDuck]

Just got off the Empress last week. The survey specifically asked if we had been asked by any RCCL personnel to give them good scores; we truthfully said No.

 

 

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[Z'Loth]

Never sailed on Royal Caribbean, but for years, I was subject to Customer Satisfaction surveys as part of my job in a customer-facing IT role.

 

The biggest problem I have is that they are asking the customer for a subjective opinion to form an objective judgement. Unfortunately, people's opinion of a top score varies. In the context of this thread, I'm happy if the hot food is hot, the cold food is cold, and the server gave enjoyable service. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but how MANY plates of food do they have to serve up in the Master Dining Room? During both dinner shifts? I think a lot more than most restaurants.

 

The other issue I have is the score range. I prefer the ten point range because it gives the customer plenty of wiggle room. Five points does give that option, so I'm left with selecting four or five. Yes, a four is considered a fail? Great....

 

I have received surveys with low scores. Thankfully, I've had managers who have looked beyond the numbers and dug deeper into what happened. Sometimes, I have received all ones and the comment was that I "was fantastic in resolving my issues, and patiently assisted me in answering my questions." In other cases, I was working an escalated case, but received a poor score, with the customer's comments "the score is for the first agent", and that I did a wonderful job. And, yes, in a couple of cases, I got a low score because of a known issue or defect. Did I make mistakes? Yes, I did, and I learned from them. Nobody's perfect.

 

And, no, I would NOT ask you to fill out all fives. I would ask for feedback so that I can improve.

 

So, what would I do if I was asked to give all top scores? Ignore the request, put in my honest scores, put in the comments that requests for all top scores are ignored, and that you give honest feedback. Print it out, put on a cover letter, then mail it to the CEO with a return receipt requested. That means that somebody has to sign for it, which means it gets attention.

[ExpatBride]

I would've rated it honestly and fairly. I'm a vegetarian and most cruiselines have a lot of room for improvement on their vegetarian offerings, there's no way I'd rate a 5 for food. Even HAL, which has a special vegetarian/vegan menu didn't get a top rating because one night they served me leftover soup from the night before that had clearly been made with chicken stock and the vegetarian/vegan menu items were for the most part carb heavy and short on protein.

[grapau27]

We have just got off Independence and every crew member was very helpful and no one mentioned surveys or scores.

 

44 cruises and counting.

[Philly Steve]

Such surveys and mentions by staff are so common in every service industry now. Heck, I heard it over the weekend when I bought a new phone.

 

We listen, politely, then fill the survey out with an honest response.

[ccotting]

I have enjoyed reading many of the comments in this thread about the pressure of rating at the highest level so the staff is not penalized. Since the cruising industry has made it mandatory for automatic tipping to avoid some travelers not rewarding hard working staff, I have found the quality of service to have gone downhill. I hope that my pre-paid gratuities are given to staff at the level stated in my cruise contract. I do believe in giving extra money for consistent and good service when I cruise. On my last trip, I was lectured by the maître d' and the waiter at Chops that I should give the wait staff a 5 and make a comment that the quality of my very cold dinner on the comment card. I guess maybe I would have done that if only I didn't have to get up after ten minutes sitting with a plate of cold dinner in front of me to gain their attention to correct the problem. I spoke to Diamond Club concierge the next day about this pressured conversation and frankly he didn't care. I hope RCCL reads these comments so those quality wait staff are rewarded fairly and customers don't have to be intimidated.

 

kek17

 

Just off Vision in April and our post cruise survey specifically asked if anyone approached you about the survey

 

None of our key staff players did which I appreciated and everyone was helpful and gave good service.

 

The food though was not as good as our previous cruise and you could tell by the menu selections that additional economies were being made.

[grapau27]

I have enjoyed reading many of the comments in this thread about the pressure of rating at the highest level so the staff is not penalized. Since the cruising industry has made it mandatory for automatic tipping to avoid some travelers not rewarding hard working staff, I have found the quality of service to have gone downhill. I hope that my pre-paid gratuities are given to staff at the level stated in my cruise contract. I do believe in giving extra money for consistent and good service when I cruise. On my last trip, I was lectured by the maître d' and the waiter at Chops that I should give the wait staff a 5 and make a comment that the quality of my very cold dinner on the comment card. I guess maybe I would have done that if only I didn't have to get up after ten minutes sitting with a plate of cold dinner in front of me to gain their attention to correct the problem. I spoke to Diamond Club concierge the next day about this pressured conversation and frankly he didn't care. I hope RCCL reads these comments so those quality wait staff are rewarded fairly and customers don't have to be intimidated.

 

kek17

Your comments prompted me to post.

We have just got off Independence and although no one mentioned the survey in general they were very good and i gave 10s.

My post is regards to the Diamond consierge who was pleasant but she didn't get back to us on an issue about the MTD restaurant.

The first night my wife literally had to fast walk to keep up with the waiter who took us to our table.When we got there he didn't pull the chair back for my wife he just rushed off.

The wine waiter was incredibly slow and everyone was complaining.

The garlic butter in the escargot was oily and food average.

The Diamond consierge listened and asked for our cabin number so we thought she was going to look into it and would get back to us but she did not.

The final 2 nights we dined in Giovanni's and the service and food was on a different level and much better.

 

 

44 cruises and counting.

[BagsByKriss]

We just got off Adventure of the Seas and only had one mention of the survey from our waiter. It was on the last day and was simply to let us know that we'd receive an email for the survey and to fill it out based on how we felt the service was.

 

Now, my husband has been in customer service for as long as he's worked, and he has had to deal with customer surveys for probably 15 years now. Unfortunately, at each job if he didn't have the highest scores on ALL the surveys, it cost him in some way. Most of the time, you'd think that wouldn't be an issue but honestly, there are people who are just NEVER going to be happy with your service no matter how amazing you are. There are those people who feel that a 3 (on a scale of 1-5) is GOOD so they give all 3's even when they feel they got REALLY good service - depending on the industry, this can mean an employee loses his bonus for the month or missing out on an amazing incentive because they got ONE bad survey in 6 months. I've seen my husband loose his monthly bonus because while HIS parts on the survey were all top marks, the person gave the finance guy a 3 because they felt that it took too long to go through the finance part of buying a new car.

 

For these reasons, when I recieve good service, I always give top marks on surveys. If there was an issue and it was taken care of by the staff, I give top marks and make a note in the comments of the issue and that I feel the employee(s) handled it to my satisfaction (and since that's the case, they do still deserve the top marks in my opinion)

 

If I receive BAD service, I typically ask to speak to a manager and then simply don't fill out a survey because you never know what has happened that led to that bad experience. For example, on my birthday we went out to dinner and got HORRIBLE service. As in, our appetizer never came out...and neither did our soups and salads. So when they showed up with our meals, we said something about it and asked to speak to a manager. It was apparently a HUGE issue that night at the restaurance. Other friends who were there told us they had part of their meals comped because of errors. In our case, they gave us our ENTIRE meal free AND gave each of us a free dessert as well! Thankfully, there was no survey from that restaurant BUT, they did go above and beyond in my opinion. They didn't have to give us FIVE free meals and FIVE free desserts because there was a screw up with the person in the kitchen doing the appetizers and soups/salads (they could have just comped us for those items) Had there been a survey, I simply just wouldn't have filled it out.

[Jem 12]

Your comments prompted me to post.

We have just got off Independence and although no one mentioned the survey in general they were very good and i gave 10s.

My post is regards to the Diamond consierge who was pleasant but she didn't get back to us on an issue about the MTD restaurant.

The first night my wife literally had to fast walk to keep up with the waiter who took us to our table.When we got there he didn't pull the chair back for my wife he just rushed off.

The wine waiter was incredibly slow and everyone was complaining.

The garlic butter in the escargot was oily and food average.

The Diamond consierge listened and asked for our cabin number so we thought she was going to look into it and would get back to us but she did not.

The final 2 nights we dined in Giovanni's and the service and food was on a different level and much better.

 

 

44 cruises and counting.

 

 

We only met Jackie the Diamond concierge once in the lounge on Formal night, she ironed out a kink in our transfer arrangements with a minimum of fuss, we thought she was brilliant and everyone spoke highly of her. I understand she has been promoted to suite concierge.

Why didn't you speak to maitre D in restaurant?

My husband loved the escargot he had it every night, different strokes for different folks I guess. [emoji3]

 

 

 

 

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[grapau27]

We only met Jackie the Diamond concierge once in the lounge on Formal night, she ironed out a kink in our transfer arrangements with a minimum of fuss, we thought she was brilliant and everyone spoke highly of her. I understand she has been promoted to suite concierge.

Why didn't you speak to maitre D in restaurant?

My husband loved the escargot he had it every night, different strokes for different folks I guess. [emoji3]

 

 

 

 

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I spoke to the maitreD on the way out he said he would sort it.

We sometimes have 2 each escargots instead of a desert and have had them many times so know when the garlic is not right.

Patricia was our Diamond consierge on this cruise and while she was doing her rounds of the tables she asked if we had any questions so we told her and when she asked for our cabin number i thought she was going to do something about it.

We are Diamond+ now after this cruise so might use the CL in future.

 

44 cruises and counting.

[kmorg1234]

We no longer complete any of their surveys. I don't work for RCI and my time is valuable. I feel it's their duty to provide the best food and service. When I did do surveys there was zero changes made so why should I waste my time. Just MHO.

 

This. Every time I purchase something, go somewhere, etc, I get asked to fill out a survey. I don't have enough time in my life to fill out surveys every time I experience something! And I agree- I never perceive any changes being made in response to the surveys, so why should I waste my time? Especially if the surveys are not being used in the way the questions are worded: anything but a 5 is a fail? Not right. So if I actually have a strong opinion about something, good or bad, I will let them know.

[richstowe]

Frankly this thread is chilling . RC brass are scary .

Just off Vision in April and our post cruise survey specifically asked if anyone approached you about the survey

 

None of our key staff players did which I appreciated and everyone was helpful and gave good service.

 

The food though was not as good as our previous cruise and you could tell by the menu selections that additional economies were being made.

I'm wondering if anyone got in trouble by your honest answer that you had not been approached about the survey . Given this nuttiness , not mentioning the survey to people may be cause for reprimand . :eek:

[LMaxwell]

Your comments prompted me to post.

We have just got off Independence and although no one mentioned the survey in general they were very good and i gave 10s.

.

 

Why would you give 10's for mediocre service? 10 means perfect, no room to improve. If you rate the current service as perfect, why would anyone at the company change anything about it? 10 is all about the attention to details you noted.

[grapau27]

Good point but i had prepaid my tips and didn't want anyone to suffer by me not giving 10s.I mentioned to the maitreD at the time and for me that was the right action and not to give a bad review or request gratuitys back.

 

44 cruises and counting.

[davekathy]

Why would you give 10's for mediocre service? 10 means perfect, no room to improve. If you rate the current service as perfect, why would anyone at the company change anything about it? 10 is all about the attention to details you noted.

 

Agree.

[grapau27]

Why would you give 10's for mediocre service? 10 means perfect, no room to improve. If you rate the current service as perfect, why would anyone at the company change anything about it? 10 is all about the attention to details you noted.

So if i gave 5 RC would keep my prepaid gratuitys and the crew would lose out?

The survey is unfair but my tips are for crew not company

 

 

44 cruises and counting.

[ckfred]

I have been told by waiters in the MDR that scores don't mean as much as the comments. So, I've been asked to take the time to write comments about service, food, etc.

 

No one has ever said what score I should give or what comments I should write. But, I appreciate the fact that someone at corporate does read the comments, rather than simply tally up the scores.

 

But, I am puzzled as to why a waiter would talk up the scores for the food. If the food is mediocre, but the service is outstanding, that will reflect well on the waiters, as well as the people who hire and train the wait staff, while reflecting poorly on the chefs on board, those who are responsible for buying food for the kitchens, and the chefs at corporate who help plan the menus and outline procedures.

[davekathy]

So if i gave 5 RC would keep my prepaid gratuitys and the crew would lose out?

The survey is unfair but my tips are for crew not company

 

 

44 cruises and counting.

 

Inquiring minds want to know who within RC has advised you that any score less than a 10 would result in that specific person you rated badly on the PCS will not receive their gratuities?

[trotters2203]

I rarely complete surveys any longer because:-

 

1) I realised that soon afterwards I began to receive junk email because my details had been passed on

2) The surveys rarely asked the questions I wanted to answer

3) Any rating less than perfect can have an adverse effect on people who don't deserve it, for example waiters who have to deliver poor quality food.

[like2cruise99]

The very first cruise we took the waiter was explaining to us if we don't like the food and mark the food lower that was a reflection on him the waiter. He said if the food wasn't good it was his job to know and to get us food we liked or was good. He might have been the best waiter we had. If someone didn't like their food he could tell and he would ask if he could bring you this or this to eat. He knew what we ordered and what we liked so he recommended those types of food to us.

[LMaxwell]

So if i gave 5 RC would keep my prepaid gratuitys and the crew would lose out?

The survey is unfair but my tips are for crew not company

 

 

44 cruises and counting.

 

Unfortunately, when you prepay or allow gratuity charges to your account it is distributed however the company sees fit, not you or what you may intend. This is a general statement decoupled from any survey. However you succumbed to guilt in rating mediocre service as being excellent and unable to be improved on, so it won't be. This is a disservice to yourself and other guests in the long run

[grapau27]

Inquiring minds want to know who within RC has advised you that any score less than a 10 would result in that specific person you rated badly on the PCS will not receive their gratuities?

How many more times do you need to read posts in threads that tell you anything less than 10 is a bad score?

 

44 cruises and counting.