HAL survey

[Been There, Planning That]

We've been home for two weeks from three weeks on the Rotterdam and today I rec'd a form letter from Shawn Davidson, saying that they'd taken note of both my positive comments and suggestions for improving embarkation and "all appropriate senior management aware for their information and benefit." I'd also made note of our negative experience in the Pinnacle Grill. Both an email address and phone number were given should I want further discussion. Since our next cruise is on Princess I won't bother to phone.

We're fickle cruisers, not loyal to any one line.

Ruth

[3rdGenCunarder]

It's been a while since I've had crew members beg for 10s. That may go back to the days of paper surveys in the cabin. I don't think I've ever had a response to a HAL survey. But my comments have generally been positive or requests for things they may or may not do (like bring back the Neptunes or the librarian). On our last survey I remembered to thank them for banning balcony smoking and I made sure to mention (by name) how good our MDR waiters were. So there really wasn't anything to answer.

 

OTOH, United sent me a survey about our flight home, and I let them know about the flight attendant from hell. I did get a response to that. Standard "be assured that isn't how we usually operate..." But at least I know they read it. Whether "someone will speak to the individual involved" or not is anyone's guess.

 

On surveys in general, I HATE the "how did this meet your expectations?" question. I've been on HAL a bunch of times. I know the product and know what to expect. Do they exceed my expectations? Not really--they're as good as I expect/hope they will be. If I give that a 6 or 7, to me that means I got what I expected, not more, not less. If my expectations were low, they'd get a 10. if my expectations were high, they'd get a 2 or 3. So that question is more about MY mindset than the service I receive.

[AZNative2000]

I would not consider a "9" to be a negarive..... it means that there is always room for improvement.

 

Unfortunately, this is not the mindset of the human resources departments of some companies (not just HAL).

 

I have seen"please give me a 9" badges on bank tellers. And one company where I once worked demanded that we ask each client "what can I do to get a ten from you?"! To me, it made us all look cheap and resulting daily "huddles" with management, with the whole crew present, where everyone's numbers were discussed only added to the bad morale.

 

I think I will be sticking to the comment cards. Or, perhaps, commenting on what the 1-10 part of the survey truly is ... a lose-lose situation.

 

Cheers!

[Been There, Planning That]

And I don't care for the 'would you recommend HAL to friends?' I explained I gave a 5 and that I'd simply tell friends what we like about HAL and each of the three lines we frequently cruise. HAL is a great line for us, but friends have varying needs and interests.

 

AZNATIVE I agree that demanding nines and tens makes any survey meaningless.

[hrhdhd]

I just took a survey from the Pandora store in San Juan. They asked how likely I'd be to visit that location in the next 30 days. Not having another cruise scheduled, I replied, "Not at all likely." Then I got a secondary question asking why I wouldn't be visiting.

 

Some flexibility in survey flow would be useful.

 

I stopped answering the HAL surveys when it was stated that they were looking only for 9s. That was also during the paper surveys, which I grew tired of completing on my last day on the ship. I'd rather have been enjoying my vacation.

[slidergirl]

I just took a survey from the Pandora store in San Juan. They asked how likely I'd be to visit that location in the next 30 days. Not having another cruise scheduled, I replied, "Not at all likely." Then I got a secondary question asking why I wouldn't be visiting.

 

Some flexibility in survey flow would be useful.

 

I stopped answering the HAL surveys when it was stated that they were looking only for 9s. That was also during the paper surveys, which I grew tired of completing on my last day on the ship. I'd rather have been enjoying my vacation.

 

Like the ugly "update" to CC - a survey is only as good as the person designing and implementing it... ;) It is even more true with the electronic surveys - the "if/then/else" is sometimes not thought through enough for different types of responses.

The hotels I have worked in looked very hard at all surveys. One rooms manager was nicknamed "the Bus Driver" because he would track down the employee of a less-than-satisfactory encounter (there are ways to track who did what - check in/out, etc.) and throw him/her "under the bus" when upper management looked for blame. Another hotel would send an employee a written Performance Coaching paper if they knew that employee was responsible for a less then 8 score (out of 10).

[3rdGenCunarder]

In the old days at HAL, the Hotel Manager and his Department Heads read all the paper comment cards at the end of the cruise. Photocopies were made of the best - and worst ones, and employees were praised or counselled accordingly. This was nearly instant feedback that allowed the ship management to make rapid corrections for problems that popped up.

 

Then HAL decided that there were too many man hours required for this exercise.

They installed a very powerful online computer system/program that calculates the ratings as they come in - in real time. Unfortunately those real time numbers are often delayed, as many passengers do not go home immediately after the cruise, and many find more pressing issues to handle once they do get home. People rarely want to sit in front of a computer for very long, filling out online forms, the day after their vacation.

 

As to who reads the comments on these forms, they are first scanned by the computer program to identify key words; positive and negative. The program tracks these key words, using the frequency of their use to track performance of the ship and department.

If a comment card submission has a large number of very positive or very negative words, then somebody might have a look to see what the problem was, or what was so wonderful.

 

Then we have those "personalized" responses.

 

But - spoiler alert - those "personalized" responses you have received are generated and signed, with a human name, by a computer program that is designed to produce realistic responses that appear to be created by an actual person.

 

Very positive and very negative comments are flagged by the system and automatically forwarded to the appropriate department head on the ship - for some sort of action. Unfortunately, this process takes time. By the time a manager on the ship actually has a chance to act on identified problems, one, two, or three new cruises have come and gone. It is very old news that may or not still be relevant. Any crew involved in any challenges may or may not still be onboard the ship.

 

On very rare occasions, an actual Human from the Head Office looks at a few of the comments.

 

So when you receive those personal responses from the cruise line, and get that warm fuzzy feeling, think again.

 

I don't doubt that many of the response emails are "form letters" of some sort.

 

We're often told that it's important to mention crew BY NAME when we do the surveys. So is there some sort of name recognition built into the question about crew members who were special? Or is it better to do the little cards on the ship?

[Charlie1422]

I completed the HAL survey from our cruise on NA last October and was pleasantly surprised that it was responded to and that my concerns were being brought to the attention of upper management. Whether that actually happened or not, it was nice to know that at least it was read.

 

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[Charlie1422]

It was read - but not by a human.

A computer program identified your concerns, responded to you addressing those concerns, promised to have upper management take care of it, made you happy, and signed a human name at the bottom of the email or letter.

I choose not to be as jaded as you.

 

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[hrhdhd]

It was read - but not by a human.

A computer program identified your concerns, responded to you addressing those concerns, promised to have upper management take care of it, made you happy, and signed a human name at the bottom of the email or letter.

 

Reminds me of Citibank, which used to send out any and all correspondence signed by "S. Larson." There was, of course, no such person, and anyone who called in asking to speak to this non-person was just sent to the next available representative. Great article on the WSJ's site, behind the paywall.

[Sopwith]

I think it's fairly obvious that HAL doesn't care about what individual customers say in their surveys, or on this forum, for that matter. If they did, things wouldn't be as they are.

 

What HAL cares about is how many customers buy the next cruise. They also realize what the airlines realize: the dominant factor for the majority of people in selecting a cruise is the price. Most people want cheap cruises, so this is what HAL tries to provide. It is apparent to long time cruisers that HAL has adjusted their business model to appeal to that price-sensitive segment of the market.

 

So when it comes to surveys, what matters is the collective response, and how the majority response relates to future buying patterns. In particular, I would guess that HAL attempts to discern from the surveys what they can get away with in terms of cost reduction and what they can't.

 

In the final analysis, as long as people continue to buy cheap HAL cruises they'll keep doing what they're doing. Just remember that when you fill out a survey they're really trying to figure out which costs they can cut next without affecting their sales too much.

[RichardQ]

What about surveys if they don't ask every customer? 6 cruises on HAL in 2015 and 2016. Only after the first we recieved a survey. Mentioned this several times not only on the ship but also customer service. Still waiting...

 

 

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