Does Anyone From Carnival Management Read this Board?

[joyus]

Most every review of the Vista mentions that the ship is understaffed and long lines. It seems to be the same complaint since her first sailing! I'm surprised that Carnival management has not fixed this problem by now. Do they read these boards or the reviews?

[seannyice81]

CCL Staff probably do take glances here, but they are not identified. That said, I'm sure they rely more on the actual review part of the website and feedback from email surveys.

[BuckeyeCruiseGuy]

CCL Staff probably do take glances here, but they are not identified. That said, I'm sure they rely more on the actual review part of the website and feedback from email surveys.

 

 

CCLMischelle doesn't post much, but according to her account she was on the board today.

 

boards.cruisecritic.com/member.php?u=9693

 

Edited March 5, 2017 by BuckeyeCruiseGuy

[joyus]

So, do you think these complaints are brought to the attention of anyone who can make a difference at Carnival? I was hoping that by now this problem would be resolved.

[Banditswife]

We were on a flight with folks who had just gotten off the VISTA. They had similar complaints & thought the ship was too big. But I agree that cruise critic is not the place where CCL will take notice, the customer surveys are. But with people complaining on here, others will not sail Vista due to bad reviews, so hitting them in the pocketbook might make them listen.

[DebJ14]

We were on a flight with folks who had just gotten off the VISTA. They had similar complaints & thought the ship was too big. But I agree that cruise critic is not the place where CCL will take notice, the customer surveys are. But with people complaining on here, others will not sail Vista due to bad reviews, so hitting them in the pocketbook might make them listen.

 

 

Good luck getting a survey. I have not gotten one on any Carnival cruise since they started sending them by email. They manage to send me e-mails about everything else under the sun. I would guess that is about 12 cruises without receiving a survey. If I have something that is important to complain about I do it on the ship and try to get it taken care of then and there. It won't do much good to sit and stew on the cruise and complain after I am hpome. I have also taken to writing letters to supervisors onboard and leaving them at guest services for those who deserve praise for going above and beyond. I have been told by staff members that they are very helpful,

[mariefisher]

Joyous, I was wondering the same thing. Seems kind of crazy after all these months to still hear the same complaints.

[Doug910]

Most every review of the Vista mentions that the ship is understaffed and long lines. It seems to be the same complaint since her first sailing! I'm surprised that Carnival management has not fixed this problem by now. Do they read these boards or the reviews?

 

 

...Sailed on the Vista for the Repo from NY to Miami in November. The only lines we encounted the whole 10 days were at the Mongolian Grill for lunch. I was actually able to walk right up to the Omelet Station most mornings. The staffing seemed adequate. Didn't notice any difference. The only negative I experienced on the Vista was the set up in the Main Showroom. I get the idea of a dual purpose room (showroom/disco) but this was just a total fail.

...Regarding the email survey after the cruise... I receive one after almost every cruise. I didn't receive one after our recent Glory cruise, but that was the first one that I didn't get in a while.

[glrounds]

Most every review of the Vista mentions that the ship is understaffed and long lines. It seems to be the same complaint since her first sailing! I'm surprised that Carnival management has not fixed this problem by now. Do they read these boards or the reviews?

 

I would imagine Carnival management reads these boards religiously. I sure would. But, surely you must understand, just because guests think the ship is understaffed doesn't necessarily mean that it is or if it is that Carnival is or can do anything about it. Extra staff means extra costs. If they can get by with their business plan they'll more than likely do it.

[chengkp75]

Not only does "extra" staff mean more cost, where are you going to put them? Are there empty crew cabins? I doubt that.

[louanne93]

I know the bartenders at Achlemy on the Miracle do! They knew all about CC and who the top bartender was!

[BoDidly]

It's a well known fact that Carnival doesn't like CC. That's why I feel they take post here quite a bit above a grain of salt.

 

Do they read here, yes and more often than most posters here think. Over the years if you will bother to read back in the forums you can see where CC.s and Carnivals relations have deteriorated. . CC has been the first to post about problems with Carnival faster than the media can even receive the information. In fact quite a few media /staff reads these forums for information.. CC , a thorn in Carnivals side..

[Davey Wavey]

Like every other company, Carnival probably doesn't like any media they cannot control. Good PR departments will try to at least establish a presence to tell their side. That is a losing proposition on CC. It would just turn into a public stoning no matter what they said or did.

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

It's a well known fact that Carnival doesn't like CC. That's why I feel they take post here quite a bit above a grain of salt.

 

Do they read here, yes and more often than most posters here think. Over the years if you will bother to read back in the forums you can see where CC.s and Carnivals relations have deteriorated. . CC has been the first to post about problems with Carnival faster than the media can even receive the information. In fact quite a few media /staff reads these forums for information.. CC , a thorn in Carnivals side..

 

Three to four million passengers travel Carnival during any given year. Maybe, if stretched, the Carnival board at CC has less than a thousand members who comment regularly, and many of these are anti-Carnival out of the gate. Even if we give CC the doubt and say that they have 100,000 members who comment and write reviews each year (and I'm sure that there weren't more than 10,000 reviews, really) that is still less than 2% of all Carnival cruisers. I wouldn't, if I were Carnival, even think that was representative of their passenger base. Until Carnival doesn't fill their ships and prices are significantly lowered to be nothing more than "give away" fares I'll continue to believe that CCers have their own personal agendas that aren't in anyway related to how the majority of passengers think and feel.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Sweet Dutch Girl

[jimbo5544]

Three to four million passengers travel Carnival during any given year. Maybe, if stretched, the Carnival board at CC has less than a thousand members who comment regularly, and many of these are anti-Carnival out of the gate. Even if we give CC the doubt and say that they have 100,000 members who comment and write reviews each year (and I'm sure that there weren't more than 10,000 reviews, really) that is still less than 2% of all Carnival cruisers. I wouldn't, if I were Carnival, even think that was representative of their passenger base. Until Carnival doesn't fill their ships and prices are significantly lowered to be nothing more than "give away" fares I'll continue to believe that CCers have their own personal agendas that aren't in anyway related to how the majority of passengers think and feel.

 

 

It is not

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[poz222]

Yes, they read CC, especially the PR, media departments as well as promotions and loyalty... during crisis events they do monitor threads that pertain to the issue more carefully as they can get a feel for public perception, what is being rumored or leaked and hope they can get ahead of any stories.... They do however keep a much closer eye on their FB feed and many of the FB sailing specific groups... especially very active ones.... not that any of what they read specifically on CC makes its way into actual policy, but it gives them an insight into issues. Many times you will see Heald referring to CC issues, stories and complaints that are no doubt pointed out to him by PR staff...

[TomCruise48]

There is a good example of Carnival taking quick action to solve a problem first exposed on this board. This involved purchases of Carnival Gift Cards from Amazon that had zero balance when the purchaser attempted to use them. Evidently a scammer was able to guess the number sequence and fraudulently apply them. JH cited this post on his page almost immediately and promised that Carnival would start requiring the use of the scratch off PIN on the card within a month. The PIN requirement was actually instituted within a couple of weeks. I have not seen any posts of anyone having a similar problem since the PIN requirement went into effect.

[skywalkr2]

any customer service company monitors customers discussions of their brand. They would be foolish not to.

[MalleyCat]

I would imagine Carnival management reads these boards religiously. I sure would. But, surely you must understand, just because guests think the ship is understaffed doesn't necessarily mean that it is or if it is that Carnival is or can do anything about it. Extra staff means extra costs. If they can get by with their business plan they'll more than likely do it.

 

 

I work in HR and one of the most frequent concerns I get is that my organization is understaffed. In all reality, we're overstaffed. When clients have to wait to talk or meet with someone they are in my office as soon as they can get there to complain. Unfortunately, their attitude has rubbed off on several employees who now also feel we're understaffed. Staffing based on actual need is a science and not an easy thing. I have faith in CCL that they know what they're doing.

[joyus]

I work in HR and one of the most frequent concerns I get is that my organization is understaffed. In all reality, we're overstaffed. When clients have to wait to talk or meet with someone they are in my office as soon as they can get there to complain. Unfortunately, their attitude has rubbed off on several employees who now also feel we're understaffed. Staffing based on actual need is a science and not an easy thing. I have faith in CCL that they know what they're doing.

 

I would hope that CCL know what they're doing, however, this is one complaint I've not read on any other ship. My hope is that someone is monitoring the crew to passenger ratio (which I would think so since they've been in business for so long), and not adding staff based on the expense. We're sailing the Vista on March 19th and to tell you the truth all the posts about not enough staff, small public areas, then add Spring break on top of that...well, I know we'll need to have a lot of patience.

[jimbo5544]

I would hope that CCL know what they're doing, however, this is one complaint I've not read on any other ship. My hope is that someone is monitoring the crew to passenger ratio (which I would think so since they've been in business for so long), and not adding staff based on the expense. We're sailing the Vista on March 19th and to tell you the truth all the posts about not enough staff, small public areas, then add Spring break on top of that...well, I know we'll need to have a lot of patience.

There is nothing wrong with the Vista, they are not changing anything of substance on the Horizon. Relax and go enjoy a cruise.

[joyus]

There is nothing wrong with the Vista, they are not changing anything of substance on the Horizon. Relax and go enjoy a cruise.

 

 

Again, hopefully Carnival will add more staff at least for a full ship as our cruise is showing.

[jimbo5544]

Again, hopefully Carnival will add more staff at least for a full ship as our cruise is showing.

 

 

... I am not privy to staffing documents....how many people are they understaffed by? Where did you see this?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Kanyon71]

The more people you add to a cruise ship the longer lines at certain things will be. In essence it's not just the number of staff you have but how big the area to support said activity is along with the duplication of these things.

 

On many cruises I have heard people complaining about the length of the line at the buffet when I walked to the other side where they had the same food there was no line. :)

 

As stated it's a science to get that right formula and it will take time for CCL to figure out that exact formula get staff trained and into the places that need them.

[Shipbound]

Sure they read these boards but I still don't understand how guests write how to smuggle booze on the cruise ships and not get caught.

 

Gary