Post Cruise survey : How do you answer this question?

[little britain]

During the waving napkin parade on Rhapsody the announcement came over the speakers about 'give them a 10'.......which I though was being a bit brazen about it.....

 

I still put that I hadn't been asked on the survey though  because I thought if I did it would be reflected against our table waiter who was fabulous and not on the MD who was making the announcement!

[atb]

On our last cruise, the waiter reminded us of the survey; and mentioned that food scores also belong to the wait staff.  If you don't like the preparation of the food, the waiter is responsible to get you something different.

I don't like that.  But that's how he explained it.

[Paramedic1]

You do realize that the ratings are also connected with ship assignments.  The better an employees rating the better ship assignment they get.  The better the ship, the higher the clientel, the better the tips.  That's why they're motivated to tell you to give them good ratings.  

[davekathy]

6 minutes ago, Paramedic1 said:

You do realize that the ratings are also connected with ship assignments.  The better an employees rating the better ship assignment they get.  The better the ship, the higher the clientel, the better the tips.  That's why they're motivated to tell you to give them good ratings.  

Lately we've been reminded on the last evening of the cruise to complete the survey when we return home. No mention of ratings. Both RC and Celebrity. 

Edited December 31, 2018 by davekathy

[HBE4]

2 hours 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.  

 

Depends.

 

If the staff said "Please give me a 10", I'd say "yes" to the question.

 

If the staff said "You will be sent a survey and if you have found our service satisfactory, hopefully you will rate us highly", I'd probably say "No" to the above question. Unless they mention that to me 4 or 5 times, then I'd answer "Yes".

 

It's one thing to give me a friendly reminder, its another to hound me.

 

 

 

[Junkhouse]

Many other establishments ask the same about if their employers “coached” you about their performance. Just be honest but also if you have a specific issue let them know so they can fix it. 

[island284]

On the last night of our November Adventure cruise a waiter in the Windjammer was going from table to table in the section we were sitting in clearly asking for “10’s”. We found this inappropriate because we were under the impression this was not the way things should be. We mentioned to the waiter it was our understanding the employees were not to do this. He sheepishly walked away and stopped going from table to table. And yes, we marked “yes” on the survey. One should not have to ask for high ratings. 

[steveru621]

I actually dodged the question and checked off other.

 

Our excellent dining room waiter/assistant did ask for 10's.  I felt they were being forced to ask for 10s by the head waiter.  Therefore I felt we should not call them out.

 

JMHO

[gatour]

I answer truthfully.

 

However the last few cruises, I have not been asked to give tens.

 

If they or the matre'd asked how service was, I don't count that as asking for tens.  Many times at on-shore restaurants the manager on duty will come around and ask how everthing was and I equate the questions about being the same

[MaiseyM]

4 hours 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.

 

That is my concern.  I am wondering if it's 'bad' to mention the survey to us and ask us to complete it or if it's something they are encouraged to do from upper management. But then, as you say, I worry that if I admit that someone mentioned the survey that my whole response is invalidated for that question.  It kind of feels not fair and just by RCI asking that question somewhat makes me question my response.  Doesn't that invalidate my answer? lol  It's cyclical.  

 

[MaiseyM]

3 hours ago, zdad59 said:

 

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.

 

 

 

Wow.  I never thought of that.  

[BillOh]

5 hours ago, suesnake2002 said:

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

 

To this point, I can say, not every dining staff.  I first saw it in 2016 on Oasis, they were over the top with the request for 10s.  I think in 2017 was when I first saw that question on the survey which lead me to believe word was getting back to corporate about the excessive asking for 10s and they were checking on that. 

[MaiseyM]

3 hours ago, atb said:

On our last cruise, the waiter reminded us of the survey; and mentioned that food scores also belong to the wait staff.  If you don't like the preparation of the food, the waiter is responsible to get you something different.

I don't like that.  But that's how he explained it.

 

 

Well that's frustrating.  I added that in my feedback in the area that was open to whatever you wanted to type.  I said that the service was amazing but the food was average.  I told them that they probably have to increase their food cost b/c you can just tell it's made with a specific budget in mind.  Lets face it, the guys in the kitchen probably know how to make amazing food, but if you have a smaller budget, you are going to taste the difference.  I trust that others in the suites or in the specialty restaurants are getting higher quality (i.e. $$$) food or more manpower behind their food, which results in better taste.  I believe you can only do so great when you're cooking for so many people in hte main dining room.  If you put more people behind the line and increase the food cost, the food will be better.   But I don't want something out of the dining staff control (food cost, number of employees assigned to the kitchen) to be downgraded for the quality of food.  It's not their fault.  So now it probably reflects badly on them b/c the food wasn't perfect.  That said, I don't expect perfect in a giant dinning room cooking for thousands every night. It's just unrealistic.  

[davekathy]

11 minutes ago, MaiseyM said:

 

That is my concern.  I am wondering if it's 'bad' to mention the survey to us and ask us to complete it or if it's something they are encouraged to do from upper management. But then, as you say, I worry that if I admit that someone mentioned the survey that my whole response is invalidated for that question.  It kind of feels not fair and just by RCI asking that question somewhat makes me question my response.  Doesn't that invalidate my answer? lol  It's cyclical.  

 

The question is "were you asked by any crew member onboard this voyage to provide a positive rating/reviews on this survey?"  Not were you asked/reminded to take/complete the survey. Two different questions. 

Edited December 31, 2018 by davekathy

[MaiseyM]

Now I'm thinking back to Oasis in 2014, I think.  The Windjammer had a 'ten' party.  They had big golden balloons floating around the windjammer .  The balloons were shaped in a number "1" and "0" and put side by side (10).  They made a big announcement asking for ten and asked all of us individually for a ten.  It was a little over the top, but I was happy to give a ten.  What I experienced on Harmony this year was much more subtle and not directly asking for a ten.

[BillOh]

3 hours ago, atb said:

On our last cruise, the waiter reminded us of the survey; and mentioned that food scores also belong to the wait staff.  If you don't like the preparation of the food, the waiter is responsible to get you something different.

I don't like that.  But that's how he explained it.

 

Our Waiter on Oasis 2016 and Adventure 2017 said exactly that.   On our 2017 Adventure cruise we had a great waiter and a the worst ever assistant waiter,  I made sure I added comments to that effect.

[BillOh]

1 minute ago, MaiseyM said:

Now I'm thinking back to Oasis in 2014, I think.  The Windjammer had a 'ten' party.  They had big golden balloons floating around the windjammer .  The balloons were shaped in a number "1" and "0" and put side by side (10).  They made a big announcement asking for ten and asked all of us individually for a ten.  It was a little over the top, but I was happy to give a ten.  What I experienced on Harmony this year was much more subtle and not directly asking for a ten.

I saw this also on Oasis, our only sailing was April 2016, so perhaps it was your March 2016 sailing you saw this.

[neckhardt]

I totally understand some companies obsession with the “anything other than a 10 is unacceptable” as they do want the customer to have an exceptional experience. Unfortunately, as others have pointed out it is unreasonable to penalize someone because people’s ratings are not determined in a consistent way.

 

only one time was the request for high marks really over the top. On DCL the waiter proclaimed on the first night that he strived to provide “excellent service”. I believe he repeated this at the beginning and possibly the end of every dinner service. I believe on the last night that “excellent service” was equated to a 10 on the survey.

 

The service was good and probably deserved a 10, but the daily reminders really turned us off.

[George C]

Need to answer truthfully, we were not asked to give a 10 but we did not eat in mdr we rarely eat in mdr or windjammer.

[SnorkelBoy]

7 hours 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. 

thats exactly how it was phrased on our recent cruise.

 

Dave

[robandana]

I look at things like this: waiters and room attendants are at sea 8 months at a time, away from family, friends, children, sick relatives etc. they can have a bad day and maybe mess up my order or maybe say the wrong thing or forget my ice....who cares...lets be real, these guys work their tails off and always smiling....1'm not sure I could put up with some of us....

I always give them a 10 because in my opinion the job they is awesome and if I have any issues I resolve them on the spot and they always make it right, and that deserves a 10 also. 

 

I think we have a tendency to compare everything on a ship to land based businesses and that just cant be...many more limitations at sea than on land...

 

Just my 2 cents

 

[Nanarrow]

If you give exceptional service I’ll be happy to give you a ten...if you ask for high ratings- I don’t consider that good service.

 

i answer truthfully. 

[grapau27]

On 12/31/2018 at 2:55 PM, 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 often eat in Giovanni's speciallity every night and they never ask although I always tip the waiters well and thank their manager when leaving.

Regarding the survey the survey then asks you to name names of anyone who asks you to score them high.

In the past I have always gave 10s but since the service doesn't always warrant that now I mark what i think is the real score.

Edited January 2, 2019 by grapau27