(Multiple) crew asking for "good reviews"

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

On our most recent Reflection sailing I noticed something a little different. In the past, it's not uncommon to have the occasional crew member mention the after cruise survey/ratings. On our sailing, we had no less than 4 people make such a request (three servers and our butler). They must be under more pressure than in the past, as I've never seen it with such emphasis. I mean, I already make a point to give the cruise lines good feedback, and mention by name anyone who stood out. I'm just not sure that, on the last sea day of our cruise, that I want to hear 4 people point blank ask me. It starts to come across as a little desperate.

 

When we were onboard this last February I don't think anyone asked.

 

Thoughts?

 

(BTW - in the post cruise survey I mentioned them all, as I was going to do anyway, and gave them high marks)

 

Tom

[Bead Pirate]

I always shut this down by telling them they are doing a fantastic job and that i will be happy to give them a "1"... 🙂

 

[LMaxwell]

I hate the speech. I despise the speech. I am in a management role in an industry filled with 1-9= 0, 10=passing grade surveys and think they are like shooting yourself in both feet. Not good for the client. Not good for the employee. Surveys are used to withhold bonuses and figure out how much more a company can cut out before clients complain. If you give 10's for service, food, or entertainment that's really an 8...you didn't do anyone any favors at all. 

 

I saw a recent post on social media of bar tenders on a Celebrity ship holding up signs saying "Give us 10's" and while the post had universal likes, I decided not to post because I think that behavior is tacky and degrading. 

 

There should be a printed paragraph in a daily paper simply explaining that they strive for excellence and that there will be a survey after the cruise with an opportunity to highlight any stand out staff members by name for recognition.  They need to end the speech and arm twisting if they aren't going to abandon these bogus surveys anyway.  

[PTC DAWG]

I don’t mind it myself..these folks work long hours away from home and family..

[Mark_T]

1 minute ago, PTC DAWG said:

I don’t mind it myself..these folks work long hours away from home and family..

I certainly don't mind giving them 10's, I just intensely dislike the management policies that force them to have to ask...

 

[39august]

I just wish we could GET  a survey. Have asked at GS while on board, have called CC, nothing has worked so far. We have gotten no survey for the last 4-5 cruises we have taken. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

12 minutes ago, 39august said:

I just wish we could GET  a survey. Have asked at GS while on board, have called CC, nothing has worked so far. We have gotten no survey for the last 4-5 cruises we have taken. 

 

Ours was a 7+7 (B2B). I received the survey for the first leg, but was going to wait until both were over and tackle them at the same time. Upon getting the survey for the second leg, the first review had "timed out" ... apparently they only give you one week to reply !

 

Tom

[Peteymil]

26 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

I certainly don't mind giving them 10's, I just intensely dislike the management policies that force them to have to ask...

 

I agree with you 100%.

[davekathy]

1 minute ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Ours was a 7+7 (B2B). I received the survey for the first leg, but was going to wait until both were over and tackle them at the same time. Upon getting the survey for the second leg, the first review had "timed out" ... apparently they only give you one week to reply !

 

Tom

True. Celebrity will also give you ~15 minutes complementary internet minutes if you're on a B2B cruise to fill out the survey for the first leg. I've always used our CC internet minutes to do the survey. 

[AdoraBelle]

34 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

I certainly don't mind giving them 10's, I just intensely dislike the management policies that force them to have to ask...

 

 

Yep. Makes both the crew and the passengers uncomfortable. Lose/lose. 

[MISTER 67]

We always give 10s but they shouldn't be soliciting good reviews, leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Same with going out to restaurants and they have suggestive tips on the bill, we were at a place last night that had 20, 25 and 30% for the suggestive tips which I thought was a bit much, this was not a fancy fine dining establishment, it was a franchise place with decent service, 99% of the time we leave 20% which we feel is a pretty good tip. We also give our waiters and cabin stewards on the ships cash gratuities in addition to the automatic gratuities that are posted your cruise account.

Edited December 21, 2022 by MISTER 67

[CNSfromHI]

During our Silhouette cruise in early September, we only experienced one staff member ask us (more than once) to leave a positive review for him post-cruise: the butler for our suite.

 

While neither my wife nor I were particularly impressed with his attentiveness, we were both cruise noobs, and low maintenance in general, so we wanted to give him a positive review by name afterward. This is what he led us to expect; something asking about him/his performance specifically.

 

Instead, the survey each of us received was generic, i.e., it asked about general experiences in various areas. Ultimately, we each left glowing reviews in the "anything else" (or whatever it was called) box at survey's end to mention him by name, and a few others, who stood out to us.

 

On our next cruise, I intend to pay more attention and note those staff members whose service warrants attention.

 

cjr

[Mike981]

My wife and I are not a fan. It's another item that they are now doing that is just irritating.

[NutsAboutGolf]

I believe part of the reason for their speech is you have to learn their name

[LGW59]

All one has to say is sure I’ll take care of it. No harm no foul.

[wrk2cruise]

I've stopped filling out the surveys.   It's managements job to monitor and rate their employees.  I have many Celebrity sailings under my belt and have to say they have never addressed any general issues for improvements (process, not personal) I have suggested.

 

Any issues I wish to point out I now do the the "Attention to detail".   Mostly to point out crew who are making my cruise exceptional.

Edited December 21, 2022 by wrk2cruise

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Personally, I think the surveys are too generic to be useful.  I write notes to the hotel director about people that I feel to be outstanding employees while on board.  Once when the two waitresses in Bacio were being literally run off their feet and an officer came to help them I specifically told him how lucky he was to have them working for him.  When I had a problem getting the points for my double points cruise and had correspondence with the president's office about that, I started out by praising by name those who had made my cruise special.  I think that's more meaningful for the employees than a generic survey.

[LMaxwell]

4 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

Personally, I think the surveys are too generic to be useful.  I write notes to the hotel director about people that I feel to be outstanding employees while on board.  Once when the two waitresses in Bacio were being literally run off their feet and an officer came to help them I specifically told him how lucky he was to have them working for him.  When I had a problem getting the points for my double points cruise and had correspondence with the president's office about that, I started out by praising by name those who had made my cruise special.  I think that's more meaningful for the employees than a generic survey.

1-10 surveys are not designed to reward individuals. you are correct.  the survey is designed to measure group performance and how much a company can cut before it negatively impacts grades.  

 

Companies know that guests never want to harm those providing face to face interaction and service, yet they tie performance bonuses to these surveys which makes it a punitive measure if staff do not get 10's. So now you have the odd situation of staff asking for 10's so they get full pay, and guests who now feel a sense of obligation not to harm this persons pay, versus being open and honest about areas where the company has failed to meet expectations. 

 

If I rate something an 8; the company should look at what they can do to improve. Unfortunately all that happens is it costs some hard working person his or her fair share of money. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

7 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

1-10 surveys are not designed to reward individuals. you are correct.  the survey is designed to measure group performance and how much a company can cut before it negatively impacts grades.  

 

Companies know that guests never want to harm those providing face to face interaction and service, yet they tie performance bonuses to these surveys which makes it a punitive measure if staff do not get 10's. So now you have the odd situation of staff asking for 10's so they get full pay, and guests who now feel a sense of obligation not to harm this persons pay, versus being open and honest about areas where the company has failed to meet expectations. 

 

If I rate something an 8; the company should look at what they can do to improve. Unfortunately all that happens is it costs some hard working person his or her fair share of money. 

 

I pretty much agree with this.  I did have an unique experiences when we were pulling into a port, crew members who jobs aren't mentioned in the survey.  "How was the MDR crew?"  That's easy.  Here's an example that isn't so easy, I was on the running deck taking pix off the side as we were pulling into port and a crew member arranging the loungers asked if I wanted him to take my photo.  He proceeded to talk about his family back home and asked that I mention him in the survey, pointed to his name tag and said his last name.  In that case, you need to write them into the comments and say they were a "X out of 10"

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Ii wish there was question on what you thought of the company policy was on different perspective of the cruise

The employee can do be doing the best he can with the companies policy

who do you rate the employee or the company?🤔😁

[NutsAboutGolf]

12 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Ii wish there was question on what you thought of the company policy was on different perspective of the cruise

The employee can do be doing the best he can with the companies policy

who do you rate the employee or the company?🤔😁

 

Yeah, RCL pax are in an uproar about them eliminating stateroom turndown service...Don't think any amount survey complaints will get them to bring it back

Edited December 21, 2022 by NutsAboutGolf

[LMaxwell]

18 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Yeah, RCL pax are in an uproar about them eliminating stateroom turndown service...Don't think any amount survey complaints will get them to bring it back

The surveys could say 0.0; until it impacts the bottom line nothings coming back anywhere.  If rooms are empty on 7000 passenger ships and those that go deprive the company of gratuity money to pay employees, then you may see a change 

 

[Ben100014]

51 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

I've stopped filling out the surveys.   It's managements job to monitor and rate their employees.  I have many Celebrity sailings under my belt and have to say they have never addressed any general issues for improvements (process, not personal) I have suggested.

 

Any issues I wish to point out I now do the the "Attention to detail".   Mostly to point out crew who are making my cruise exceptional.

Agree and disagree. Management has to monitor their employees, but they cannot hover over them while they are providing service and must rely on surveys in order to gauge how well they are doing their jobs on a customer-facing level. Surveys are essential for this. They are non-obtrusive and take 5 minutes to fill out waiting for a flight home. It is unfortunate that they have not addressed your suggestions, but they recieve, quite literally, thousands a month and probably have to parse through and search for patterns to improve on. Single data points are not really useful from a holistic standpoint. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 minute ago, LMaxwell said:

The surveys could say 0.0; until it impacts the bottom line nothings coming back anywhere.  If rooms are empty on 7000 passenger ships and those that go deprive the company of gratuity money to pay employees, then you may see a change 

 

 

Or a "fill the ship" casino offer like was the case with the Millie in the PR and the Sol in the Mexican Riviera 

[LMaxwell]

3 minutes ago, Ben100014 said:

Management has to monitor their employees, but they cannot hover over them while they are providing service and must rely on surveys in order to gauge how well they are doing their jobs on a customer-facing level. Surveys are essential for this. 

If the employees are asking for 10's, the survey is useless as a management gauge.