Post Cruise survey : How do you answer this question?

[MaiseyM]

Taking my post cruise survey.  I received this question   

 

• Were you asked by any of crew member onboard this voyage to provide positive ratings/ reviews on this survey?"

 

How do I answer this?  I answered yes, because truthfully, I was asked to give high ratings by dining room services.  That said, I am not going to put a 10 down if I don't feel it was a 10.  I'm wondering if it's OK for staff to ask us to give them high ratings.  I don't want them to get in trouble for looking for high ratings; I think we all want this in our jobs, right?  That said, the survey is at home and after the cruise; I don't feel pressured to give ratings that I don't really feel.  I am giving the dining room staff a 10 in service b/c I think they deserve it, regardless of them asking me to rate them high if they met the benchmark.   Any thoughts on this?   It's a double edged sword.  

[suesnake2002]

Every cruise dining staff asks for tens, and i always answer honest. 

[Clarea]

4 minutes ago, MaiseyM said:

Taking my post cruise survey.  I received this question   

 

• Were you asked by any of crew member onboard this voyage to provide positive ratings/ reviews on this survey?"

 

How do I answer this?  I answered yes, because truthfully, I was asked to give high ratings by dining room services.  That said, I am not going to put a 10 down if I don't feel it was a 10.  I'm wondering if it's OK for staff to ask us to give them high ratings.  I don't want them to get in trouble for looking for high ratings; I think we all want this in our jobs, right?  That said, the survey is at home and after the cruise; I don't feel pressured to give ratings that I don't really feel.  I am giving the dining room staff a 10 in service b/c I think they deserve it, regardless of them asking me to rate them high if they met the benchmark.   Any thoughts on this?   It's a double edged sword.  

 

We answer truthfully. 

 

Lately, I've noticed they have not asked specifically asked for high ratings.  They have just said that a survey is coming and it's important to them for us to respond. 

[JAMESCC]

I always answer no even though they always do just because I don't want to get anyone in trouble. They may sound dumb but that is what I do and why.

[Bradison]

What if the cruiseline is training them to do so?  Our waiter and head waiter wanted us to be aware of the survey and how important it is to them. Told us that high scores are their goal but never asked us for them.

They were clearly trained to do this and I see zero problem with it. 

[davekathy]

Truthfully. 

[MaiseyM]

12 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

We answer truthfully. 

 

Lately, I've noticed they have not asked specifically asked for high ratings.  They have just said that a survey is coming and it's important to them for us to respond. 

 

 

I changed my answer for this reason.  I recall them asking if we will do the survey and if we feel things were great, to rate high.  They didn't just come outright and say 'rate high,', rather, they asked us how everything was.  We said great, amazing... they said the survey will be coming out, if we feel it was great, please rate it accordingly.  So they alluded to requesting high ratings, but truthfully, didn't.  They just asked us to put our words to them about it being great to putting it identical on a survey.  Now, had I told them the dining room was awful, I'm not so sure they would tell me to put that on a survey.  lol  Because, really, who does that?  They would just try to fix whatever I deemed awful.   That all said, the service was outstanding.   

 

[BEENSAILING]

The waitstaff seem to be the ones to remind us about giving a high rating. We have had waiters who deserve great ratings....and others who don't. I take photos of waiters - and others - with name tags - so I can look at pictures with names when when I am doing the surveys so I do not forget who to give a shout out to. I do not answer yes on the survey as when I am doing my added comments I do not want whoever is reading to think I am doing it because I was asked.

[Tree_skier]

We had no one ask us about us about ratings at all.  Our staff was excellent and we would have been glad to give them 10's, that they didn't tackily ask us to makes it even better.

[zdad59]

46 minutes ago, Bradison said:

What if the cruiseline is training them to do so?  Our waiter and head waiter wanted us to be aware of the survey and how important it is to them. Told us that high scores are their goal but never asked us for them.

They were clearly trained to do this and I see zero problem with it. 

 

Stressing the importance of the review and that high ratings are there goal, while influencing the outcome some, does not directly tarnish the data.    If someone comes out and directly asks for a 10 or says anything other than a 10 is failure, that then directly taints the data.   In cases where that happens I will typically answer YES to the question in the OPs post, but I will also follow up with the head of that companies Quality program.   I spent a lot of years doing data analysis and understanding the influences and effects on raw data.    Directly asking for an outstanding rating, and still including that review in the data,  invalidates the whole data set.   

 

If RCL is using the questionnaire properly, they will exclude any review that answers YES to this question in their analysis, and in many cases they will find the source of who is directly asking for 10's and coach/discipline appropriately.

Edited December 31, 2018 by zdad59

[JAMESCC]

Is there possibly a money component to getting good ratings? I know car dealers have a ton of money riding on good ratings from customers by the the car companies. I had a HORRIBLE buying experience 3 years ago and gave the dealer a horrendous survey and boy were they pissed! 

[Sam Ting]

We always rate them a 10 regardless of how we really feel.   If the service sucked we just don’t go back.   I would never affect someone’s livelihood just because they were having a bad day or week. 

[BecciBoo]

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

 

We answer truthfully. 

 

Lately, I've noticed they have not asked specifically asked for high ratings.  They have just said that a survey is coming and it's important to them for us to respond. 

Ditto

[Bradison]

5 minutes ago, JAMESCC said:

Is there possibly a money component to getting good ratings? I know car dealers have a ton of money riding on good ratings from customers by the the car companies. I had a HORRIBLE buying experience 3 years ago and gave the dealer a horrendous survey and boy were they pissed! 

 

Most I have encountered have some financial component.  Based on the fact that our head waiter and waiter both brought it up twice I would guess there some dough on the line. 

[BecciBoo]

15 minutes ago, zdad59 said:

 

  

 

If RCL is using the questionnaire properly, they will exclude any review that answers YES to this question in their analysis, and in many cases they will find the source of who is directly asking for 10's and coach/discipline appropriately.

HOw do you know they are not coached to ask it just so??????  We have never had any service member ask for 10s unless we felt they deserve it.  They just stress that the answer is important to their reviews.

[Hoopster95]

For the first time in over a year, I was specifically asked for 10 on Allure a couple weeks ago by a specific venue. On the survey, I answered “yes” which the next page brought me a follow up question asking which venue/staff member made the request. The survey specifically wanted to know who/where the “10” came from if you answer yes.

 

My understanding last year was that RCL made a concerted effort to ensure 10’s were not being requested as much (or at all) as they were 3-4 years ago... it was getting nauseating. Remember the 5 minute “speech” in the MDR from your server last day 3-4 years ago about the survey?

[Bradison]

20 minutes ago, zdad59 said:

 

Stressing the importance of the review and that high ratings are there goal, while influencing the outcome some, does not directly tarnish the data.    If someone comes out and directly asks for a 10 or says anything other than a 10 is failure, that then directly taints the data.   In cases where that happens I will typically answer YES to the question in the OPs post, but I will also follow up with the head of that companies Quality program.   I spent a lot of years doing data analysis and understanding the influences and effects on raw data.    Directly asking for an outstanding rating, and still including that review in the data,  invalidates the whole data set.   

 

If RCL is using the questionnaire properly, they will exclude any review that answers YES to this question in their analysis, and in many cases they will find the source of who is directly asking for 10's and coach/discipline appropriately.

 I agree completely.  I have been involved in this process for my past employer and just getting valid responses with viable data was a huge challenge.  Encouraging cruisers to respond because they are trying to use the feedback to improve makes sense but encouraging high scores taints the data.  Adding a financial component only ups the risk of tainted data.  Our company sent out yearly surveys to regular customers and we had reps who would ask customers if they wanted the rep to fill out the survey for them.  And this was on a plan that used the surveys as a single metric in a multi-variable bonus program.

 

If RCI is paying them for 10's then the survey question about crew encouraging 10s is perfectly understandable and needed to maintain some integrity to the process. 

[queenfrostine22]

15 minutes ago, Sam Ting said:

We always rate them a 10 regardless of how we really feel.   If the service sucked we just don’t go back.   I would never affect someone’s livelihood just because they were having a bad day or week. 

 

We do the same. I have never had a truly BAD service or server. I always try to put myself in their shoes. They work ridiculous hours. They never slow down. They are away from family. They are kind to even the rudest of passengers. My petty complaints are nothing. I would not be able to do their job daily. 10's all around.

[MNfamilycruiser]

2 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

HOw do you know they are not coached to ask it just so??????  We have never had any service member ask for 10s unless we felt they deserve it.  They just stress that the answer is important to their reviews.

We don't know, but what would be the point to corporate to have a survey and coach employees to ask for 10's?  The survey would be meaningless and a waste of time and money.   If they were coached it would be by someone on the ship, not from corporate.  I doubt they were coached by anyone unless it was to change away from asking for 10s.  I used to work for Kohl's - the surveys were stressed endlessly - the employees didn't get anything out of it, but the individual store did.  We were told over and over again that if we got anything less than a 10 it counted against us - a 9 is the same as a 0 in their ranking system.  So of course employees started asking for 10s - until corporate came out with a new policy saying that was not allowed.  This tendency would be exaggerated if there was money on the line for the employee.

 

[Cigar King]

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

 

We answer truthfully. 

 

Lately, I've noticed they have not asked specifically asked for high ratings.  They have just said that a survey is coming and it's important to them for us to respond. 

 

This has been my recent experience as well.  Frankly, I don't care for the surveys, but, everyone is doing them now so I just deal.

[zdad59]

8 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

HOw do you know they are not coached to ask it just so??????  We have never had any service member ask for 10s unless we felt they deserve it.  They just stress that the answer is important to their reviews.

 

I don't know, that's why I used the word IF.      Also noted that being coached to stress the importance of the survey and asking for 10s is two different things.

[Goofyfanatic]

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

 

We answer truthfully. 

 

Lately, I've noticed they have not asked specifically asked for high ratings.  They have just said that a survey is coming and it's important to them for us to respond. 

Same here Bob. I was actually shocked on our last cruise that we were only reminded about the survey and not asked for the high ratings.

 

I once worked for a company where our comp was partially based on ratings and we were told to explain that to the clients...needless to say that I refused to do so...my choice but thankfully only a few times did it come back to bite me and the ratings were based on someone else down the line of the process. SMH

[zdad59]

12 minutes ago, MNfamilycruiser said:

.....what would be the point to corporate to have a survey and coach employees to ask for 10's?  The survey would be meaningless and a waste of time and money.   

 

 

Sadly, I have seen large corporations encourage employees to ask for 10 ratings, then using the claim of having the  "Highest Customer Satisfaction Rating" as advertising material.

[Bradison]

14 minutes ago, queenfrostine22 said:

 

We do the same. I have never had a truly BAD service or server. I always try to put myself in their shoes. They work ridiculous hours. They never slow down. They are away from family. They are kind to even the rudest of passengers. My petty complaints are nothing. I would not be able to do their job daily. 10's all around.

 

It is funny how knowing there is a financial impact changed my view.  Before my last job I would never give a 10 as I felt no one was perfect and there was always room for improvement.  With my last job we were judged on a scale of 1 to 5 and only 5s were considered acceptable.  Since then you have to suck pretty bad to get less than a perfect score from me.  My wife on the other hand...........let's just say I often have to hold her back.

[Scotty G]

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

 

We answer truthfully. 

 

Lately, I've noticed they have not asked specifically asked for high ratings.  They have just said that a survey is coming and it's important to them for us to respond. 

 

That has been our experience as well Bob. No one has asked specifically for high or 10 ratings! 

 

The Dining Room Manager usually asks that we do the survey for the good work the Waiters, Chefs et al have done. 

Edited December 31, 2018 by Scotty G