Cunard North America e-mail survey today- did anyone "pass"?

[ew101]

I just got a survey in my e-mail from Cunard.  I did not have my Builders yet so answered the income question honestly and it ended quickly.  There was apparently fine print on how to answer if you are retired.    My only comment to Simon is to not forget your steerage passengers.    

[57eric]

I got through it.  It was very tedious and includes questions like  "Which of the below best describes your feeling towards UK government advice on when it is safe to travel internationally again?".   There was also one about not having to take flights because of starting and ending in the UK.  At the beginning it was clear they had customized it for the US, but that didn't last.

[Lakesregion]

Such "surveys" where they are looking for certain results are called Pishing here in the states. Not a good look for Cunard. Beginning to appear that the children have taken over the fort and think Theme parks are in.

[bluemarble]

I was invited to take a Cunard survey on Monday. This is how the email introduced it.

 

"Please share your thoughts with us.

 

Dear Travel Enthusiast, we regularly carry out research to help us better understand what our guests are looking for from their vacations, so we can continue to provide you with the best possible experience.

As we value your opinion and greatly appreciate any feedback you share with us, we would like to invite you to complete our survey. It typically takes around 20 minutes to complete and covers a variety of topics."

 

 

I didn't get very far with this either. I did get past the question about my income and other questions about the types of vacations we take and how much we spend on them. However, I didn't get any further than this question.

 

"From the list of cruise lines below, please select all those that you have travelled with in the last 5 years.

Cunard

Princess Cruises

Seabourn

Silversea

Celebrity

Crystal Cruises

Holland America Line

Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Virgin Voyages

Viking Cruises

I don’t remember"

 

I could only answer "Cunard" for lines we've travelled with in the last 5 years. At that point I was told

 

"Thank you for sharing your opinions!

 

Thank you for participating in our survey today. Unfortunately, your profile does not correspond to the one we were looking for in this study.
Thanks again!"

[ew101]

38 minutes ago, kohl1957 said:

Here's my "survey" question: "How do you feel about waiting more than a month for a refund of a deposit paid back in December 2019 for a Cunard cruise (QM2 in November) that was cancelled over a month ago?"

 

One hopes that "Dead Chuffed" isn't one of the possible responses. 

If my storied brand was getting trashed on the leading enthusiast blog site, I would want a report from whoever is still left in my IT Department on my desk every morning:  Where fare collected = yes, and cruise cancelled = yes.  And have whoever is left in Revenue Assurance preparing refunds.    

 

The survey may have been targeted - well heeled passengers we could steal from say Viking by organizing a trip to the hippest places to see and be seen- a few years back Iceland.  

[Bell Boy]

Don't get me started on these silly questioners, I've have several (here in the UK)  the last few months.

 

The questions that have annoyed me are:

 

On a scale  0 -10 ............. ( 0 disagree)  ( 10 agree)               "Being called 'Sir or Madam' is too formal for me"

                                                                                                         " I would feel very uncomfortable at the Opera"

 

Unbelievable that they have the need to be  asking customers who book a 'Premium Cruise Line🤔 

 

 

                                                                              

 

[Host Hattie]

I haven't had a survey for ages, where do I go to complain ? !

[rsquare]

I just finished the Cunard survey and it got me thinking a little about the dilemma faced by Cunard, and those of us who love it.

 

As one who spent 30 years in the survey business, I thought it was reasonably well-done, other than the previously mentioned lack of consistency with whether US or UK residents are being addressed.

 

It was obvious that the main point of the survey was “given Covid, what do we have to do to get you back on our ships?”  And this is where the dilemma began to unfold.  The more safeguards they proposed, the more comfortable I felt about not picking up Covid while on a cruise or crossing.  But the more safeguards they proposed, the less attractive the cruise experience became, so I wound up telling them, in effect, “yes, everyone wearing masks on board would make me feel more confident about travelling, but everyone wearing masks on board would absolutely deter me from boarding in the first place.”

 

It was complicated even more by the fact that I told them, at one point in the survey, that I have a November 2022 TA booked with Cunard.  I’m afraid that makes me sound more confident than I really am.  The truth is, I can bail out of that crossing any time until my final payment is due in mid-July, and get my deposit back.  So that trip doesn’t so much represent a vote of confidence in cruising/crossing with Cunard, as an option which I may or may not take up given what’s happening with Covid in July, and given the need, or lack of need, for protective measures on board which will make the trip unpleasant.

 

These kinds of subtleties don’t come across very easily in a structured questionnaire with boxes to check.  Hopefully they are also talking to their customers, eg focus groups etc.

 

At any rate, I would up feeling rather sorry for those at Cunard charged with laying out the line’s pandemic strategy.  They somehow need to thread the needle between reassuring potential passengers without repelling them.  I’m not sure it can be done.

[Jack E Dawson]

6 hours ago, Lakesregion said:

Such "surveys" where they are looking for certain results are called Pishing here in the states. Not a good look for Cunard. Beginning to appear that the children have taken over the fort and think Theme parks are in.

Lakesregion,

Phishing is a cybercrime where a third party impersonates a legitimate institution and targets individuals, either by e-mail or telephone, in order to extract/steal confidential information such as credit card information, pin numbers or social security information for the purpose of theft. I don't think that is what this is.

Jack

[techteach]

Out of curiosity - do any of you follow Cunard on Facebook? I do not, and will not. But, I’m wondering what the discussion is like regarding the dress code.

[TheOldBear]

24 minutes ago, techteach said:

Out of curiosity - do any of you follow Cunard on Facebook? I do not, and will not. But, I’m wondering what the discussion is like regarding the dress code.

I occasional visit 'faceplant' and have seen Cunard postings there. So far, I have never noticed any dress code discussions.

[bluemarble]

27 minutes ago, techteach said:

Out of curiosity - do any of you follow Cunard on Facebook? I do not, and will not. But, I’m wondering what the discussion is like regarding the dress code.

 

I'm an occasional follower of Cunard's facebook page. I'm not a member of any facebook groups that discuss Cunard or the Cunard ships.

 

I haven't seen any mention of the dress code recently. What has been a hot topic lately is Cunard's new policy requiring passengers of all ages to be fully vaccinated. There have been some heated comments about that policy for sure.

[techteach]

Facebook is such a big deal today, and I wonder if our views here on cruise critic are less influential to the company. We probably have no way to know. Thanks @bluemarble for comments regarding vaccination.

[PORT ROYAL]

From this thread’s posts, one one thinks this survey is undertaken solely to justify an already made decision, by seeking data that could be manufactured to Carnival’s advantage.

 

[MarkBearSF]

23 hours ago, Lakesregion said:

Such "surveys" where they are looking for certain results are called Pishing here in the states. 

 

HA Inadvertent humor via damn spellcheck. I suspect you meant "phishing" (as in "fishing" - but spelled like the band Phish). I believe "pishing" is Yiddish for something else entirely.

Edited October 7, 2021 by MarkBearSF

[ew101]

I think Cunard needs a Brand Ambassador (along the lines of Maureen Ryan) who lets us in on the secrets and inside scoop.  Simon does OK but he has a lot of rules to follow as a top leader/officer of a listed major company.   The magazine is lovely but a bit corporate.  

 

A guess is Cunard makes a lot of their gross margin on the higher end cabins i.e. Grills.  I have a dear friend who says he and his wife both work at high powered jobs at the age of 66 so they can afford to go on high end vacations, and are big Viking fans.  (As I type this there are four Viking ads on my screen).  So Simon and team and probably trying to figure out where the $5000 a week passengers wish to go and what they want to see and do.  Given all the schedule flux, they can still move ships around.  An example of this was the big Alaska push on QE a few years back.  I'm not sure how that went.  The plan might have been to capture Silicon Valley high end passengers.  

 

I have seen cases where the top executives already know what the customers want- see Radio Shack, Circuit City, Sears, etc. and in those cases you don't want survey data around which could be embarrassing to leadership.     

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by ew101

[Lakesregion]

56 minutes ago, MarkBearSF said:

 

HA Inadvertent humor via damn spellcheck. I suspect you meant "phishing" (as in "fishing" - but spelled like the band Phish). I believe "pishing" is Yiddish for something else entirely.

Whatever. Cunard is running a survey that they already have the desired results and are seeking confirmation. Don all the time by US politics 

[Victoria2]

36 minutes ago, kohl1957 said:

 

FYI.. "Simon" (Simon Palethorpe) is no longer President of Cunard. He is now heading Haven, Britain's largest caravan (in US parlance, trailer) site company.  The latest President is Sture Myrmell from Carnival Australia. 

I was under the impression a Trailer park allowed year round residency i.e. permanent homes.

Haven Parks are purely for holidays and are extremely successful. I wish Mr Palethorpe well in his move.

[bluemarble]

27 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

I was under the impression a Trailer park allowed year round residency i.e. permanent homes.

Haven Parks are purely for holidays and are extremely successful. I wish Mr Palethorpe well in his move.

 

Perhaps "travel trailer" or "camping trailer" would be a more precise US equivalent to "caravan" in the UK. "Trailer" does have a broader meaning here including the permanent homes found in "trailer parks".

 

Edit to add: We tend to call a site where caravans stay overnight an "RV park". Of course "RV" encompasses all kinds of recreational vehicles, not just travel trailers towed behind cars.

Edited October 7, 2021 by bluemarble

[Victoria2]

28 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

 

Perhaps "travel trailer" or "camping trailer" would be a more precise US equivalent to "caravan" in the UK. "Trailer" does have a broader meaning here including the permanent homes found in "trailer parks".

 

Edit to add: We tend to call a site where caravans stay overnight an "RV park". Of course "RV" encompasses all kinds of recreational vehicles, not just travel trailers towed behind cars.

Thx for the clarification.

I know some connotations US trailer parks can have in the US and wanted to make sure no such implication was associated with Mr Palethorpe's move. 🙂

[Windsurfboy]

4 hours ago, ew101 said:

I think Cunard needs a Brand Ambassador (along the lines of Maureen Ryan) who lets us in on the secrets and inside scoop.  Simon does OK but he has a lot of rules to follow as a top leader/officer of a listed major company.   The magazine is lovely but a bit corporate.  

 

A guess is Cunard makes a lot of their gross margin on the higher end cabins i.e. Grills.  I have a dear friend who says he and his wife both work at high powered jobs at the age of 66 so they can afford to go on high end vacations, and are big Viking fans.  (As I type this there are four Viking ads on my screen).  So Simon and team and probably trying to figure out where the $5000 a week passengers wish to go and what they want to see and do.  Given all the schedule flux, they can still move ships around.  An example of this was the big Alaska push on QE a few years back.  I'm not sure how that went.  The plan might have been to capture Silicon Valley high end passengers.  

 

I have seen cases where the top executives already know what the customers want- see Radio Shack, Circuit City, Sears, etc. and in those cases you don't want survey data around which could be embarrassing to leadership.     

 

 

I'm not too sure Cunard can base itself around high end passengers given physical limitations of ship. Very different business to say airlines , where 50% to 60% of floor space given to premium passengers and that's where money is.  

 

On a Cunard ship , grills are only 10% of passengers and 20% of cabin space, price difference is less than on a plane. So Cunard cannot base a profitable strategy solely  around this small group must attract passengers to all cabins. 

 

"Upselling" extras , drinks and tours more where they must look

[ShipFan13]

I received one in my email. First question average salary I put between 50k-70k and it kicked me out.

 

So, I tried it again since it was sent to my parents email as well. First question what is your average salary well its well over 500k ok cool on to the next stage 😀 

 

Would I ever consider visiting a Disney Park (Well since I make 500k a year I guess I could put down my Forbes magazine long enough to go see Mickey. Then it asked if I would ever consider going on a number of different cruise lines I said yes all within the next 12 months. Then I got kicked out.. I guess I needed to say I was actually booked on a cruise within the next year to make it to the following stage.

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, ShipFan13 said:

I received one in my email. First question average salary I put between 50k-70k and it kicked me out.

 

So, I tried it again since it was sent to my parents email as well. First question what is your average salary well its well over 500k ok cool on to the next stage 😀 

 

Would I ever consider visiting a Disney Park (Well since I make 500k a year I guess I could put down my Forbes magazine long enough to go see Mickey. Then it asked if I would ever consider going on a number of different cruise lines I said yes all within the next 12 months. Then I got kicked out.. I guess I needed to say I was actually booked on a cruise within the next year to make it to the following stage.

Love it especially the humorous sarky bit

As one who never responds to income questions, I too would be unceremoniously kicked out, but I have visited both East and West Coast Disney's so  that might make  me an acceptable Cunard passenger of the future.

 

Will we see  Space Mountain on QM2 one wonders!😄  [JOKE]

 

[jwitt2]

I got two emails about the survey, responded to the second one. I refused to answer the salary question and was kicked out, saying I was not in the right demographic or some such statement. I follow several Cunard Facebook sites, so mentioned it on one of those. People were sympathetic, thought the email might be a hoax or said I should complain to Customer Services. We have booked a Princess Grill Suite to the Caribbean in February but I guess they don't know this. Life goes on...