Hero Cards

[NW Pacific]

Have always filled some out for staff that I felt went out of their way for customer service.  Just off the Encore.  We did have a bar server in the Haven that was nice.  the last night of cruise, server asked if we would fill out a Hero Card for them.    I was presented a Hero card with their full name already filled in.  Have never ever had this happen before, anyone else have this experience.  I did fill it out, was very vague, nice, pleasant person. Because server was determined to get it back from me filled in.   

[BirdTravels]

You see it from time to time. Their performance is, in part, is evaluated on customer feedback. Number of cards, quality of cards, value of cards all are used by supervisors to reward (yes, use some of that Daily Service Charge) highly rated employees. 

 

If you are handed a card, you do not have to fill it out. 

 

For crew that I really want to recognize, I will fill out a card onboard, do a short write-up in my post-cruise survey, and send an email with a more complete review to the Heroes email. 

[julig22]

On a recent cruise, my steward would put her name card next to a hero card on my bed everyday towards the end of the cruise. I never even met the lady!

Gave her a small tip but that's all.

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

The interesting thing is that when one gets well up the scale of the Latitudes system then the more attentive people are..   If you don't believe me try to get hold of one of the notices the door staff print out at a restaurant to give to the server!!!   I have seen ours!!   A seater left it on the table, and got a flea in her ear by an Assistant Maître d' for doing so.

 

You may even have 2 printed out, one for the server and one for the assistant Maître d'.

 

If there is a problem, no matter how small, you can be certain of, at least, an Assistant Maître d' being at the table within minutes and have it sorted immediately, if not sooner.

 

The service we receive, as Ambassadors, is unbelievable.   We would need to write out 4-5 every night and then not cover anyone.

 

 

Not long ago we had the GM's Secretary treating us like royalty, i made sure the GM knew!!   But give her a Hero Card!!!

[hallux]

Considering the international nature of the staff, having the name pre-filled might be appreciated.  However - I'm not giving it back to them, I'll deposit it in the appropriate place.

[sailingships]

Usually the cabin steward will hand me his/her card. That way I have his/her full name for a Hero Card.  Other staff have a name tag. its up to the passenger whether or not they want to fill out a hero card or do the survey etc. Theres usually a box at one the end of Guest Services counter for the Hero Cards.

Edited October 24, 2023 by sailingships

[TrumpyNor]

2 hours ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

The interesting thing is that when one gets well up the scale of the Latitudes system then the more attentive people are..   If you don't believe me try to get hold of one of the notices the door staff print out at a restaurant to give to the server!!!   I have seen ours!!   A seater left it on the table, and got a flea in her ear by an Assistant Maître d' for doing so.

 

You may even have 2 printed out, one for the server and one for the assistant Maître d'.

 

If there is a problem, no matter how small, you can be certain of, at least, an Assistant Maître d' being at the table within minutes and have it sorted immediately, if not sooner.

 

The service we receive, as Ambassadors, is unbelievable.   We would need to write out 4-5 every night and then not cover anyone.

 

 

Not long ago we had the GM's Secretary treating us like royalty, i made sure the GM knew!!   But give her a Hero Card!!!

This has actually been our experience as well - all of it, allthough we "only" have Diamond status with close to 600 points (so slowly climbing towards Ambassador... 😉 ).

[gerry1.10]

10 hours ago, NW Pacific said:

Have always filled some out for staff that I felt went out of their way for customer service.  Just off the Encore.  We did have a bar server in the Haven that was nice.  the last night of cruise, server asked if we would fill out a Hero Card for them.    I was presented a Hero card with their full name already filled in.  Have never ever had this happen before, anyone else have this experience.  I did fill it out, was very vague, nice, pleasant person. Because server was determined to get it back from me filled in.   

Hi NW

 

Do you still remember who the officers are? Embarking this Sunday and would like to know the officers on board?

 

thanks 

gerry1.10

[mking8288]

When we feel crew member(s) "earned" a write-up on those Vacation Hero cards, we asked for their name & title (so that "credit" or recognition is not incorrectly assigned to someone else with similar name, i.e. spelling errors) and fill them out at our convenience, and drop it off at the box Guest Services (or email later) 

 

Lately, apparently ... some of the room attendant (steward) valued being given time off on a port day, as they - under the new/current system - otherwise, work thru the typical day, morning until late afternoon - while others in different departments, i.e. F&B - get more chances to go ashore for a few hours to shop and do their own things.  

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, gerry1.10 said:

Hi NW

 

Do you still remember who the officers are? Embarking this Sunday and would like to know the officers on board?

 

thanks 

gerry1.10

 

Post #59 has the officers last month. I know that some were not going to make the crossing next week. 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by BirdTravels

[RocketMan275]

2 hours ago, mking8288 said:

When we feel crew member(s) "earned" a write-up on those Vacation Hero cards, we asked for their name & title (so that "credit" or recognition is not incorrectly assigned to someone else with similar name, i.e. spelling errors) and fill them out at our convenience, and drop it off at the box Guest Services (or email later) 

We've started taking a picture of their nametag.

[vacation44]

58 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

We've started taking a picture of their nametag.

We took pictures too on our last cruise.   Made it much easier when the time came to fill out the cards.

[JGmf]

9 hours ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

The interesting thing is that when one gets well up the scale of the Latitudes system then the more attentive people are..   If you don't believe me try to get hold of one of the notices the door staff print out at a restaurant to give to the server!!!   I have seen ours!!   A seater left it on the table, and got a flea in her ear by an Assistant Maître d' for doing so.

 

I don't doubt that Ambassador or Diamond level passengers get more attention and service given their  relatively fewer numbers. 

 

I'm interested, however, in what kind of information they may have on the 'notices' they printed.  Maybe  "Doesn't like ice in their water"  or maybe "Make sure the food is extra hot"?  What kind of things?

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@JGmf

 

Sorry but as it was private correspondence that I shouldn't have seen I don't feel I should quote what was written BUT what  was written certainly wasn't anything like your suggestions.

[www3traveler]

4 hours ago, gerry1.10 said:

Hi NW

 

Do you still remember who the officers are? Embarking this Sunday and would like to know the officers on board?

 

thanks 

gerry1.10

Since this Sunday begins another cruise season, I would suspect that there will be a turn over of staff before in Seattle and in Los Angeles.

[gerry1.10]

33 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

Since this Sunday begins another cruise season, I would suspect that there will be a turn over of staff before in Seattle and in Los Angeles.

yes probably right. just wanted to know Chef Gomes and Guest Service mgr Belkys were still on when you left.

Thank you for your response though

 

[slakko]

After one incident last time, we realised just how valuable these cards are.  At lunch in Hudson's one of the staff spilled something on my wife  completely accidentally.  He looked like he had just been given a death sentence! His service otherwise had been great, and we wanted to make sure that was what was remembered. So my wife wrote him a positive comment card, and the 4 of us on that trip agreed we would identify one staff member each day that had been great to us for a comment. It makes such a difference to them and all it costs us is 2 minutes to write it.

[FlGoodShips]

12 hours ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

The interesting thing is that when one gets well up the scale of the Latitudes system then the more attentive people are..   If you don't believe me try to get hold of one of the notices the door staff print out at a restaurant to give to the server!!!   I have seen ours!!   A seater left it on the table, and got a flea in her ear by an Assistant Maître d' for doing so.

 

You may even have 2 printed out, one for the server and one for the assistant Maître d'.

 

If there is a problem, no matter how small, you can be certain of, at least, an Assistant Maître d' being at the table within minutes and have it sorted immediately, if not sooner.

 

The service we receive, as Ambassadors, is unbelievable.   We would need to write out 4-5 every night and then not cover anyone.

 

 

Not long ago we had the GM's Secretary treating us like royalty, i made sure the GM knew!!   But give her a Hero Card!!!

Brag much!!

You don't have to be "well up the scale in Latitudes" to be treated royally. We are ALWAYS treated with exceptional service.

Can't say enough about all crew members...outstanding, excellent, respectful, kind. 

We alway write hero cards. Last cruise I wrote more than 20. 

 

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@FlGoodShips

 

If you get the exceptional service that we do great for you.   It would be even better if everyone did.

 

When you are getting it sit quietly in moments when you are not eating or drinking and take a careful note of what is happening at tables near you and compare.

[Yesimapirate]

27 minutes ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

@FlGoodShips

 

If you get the exceptional service that we do great for you.   It would be even better if everyone did.

 

When you are getting it sit quietly in moments when you are not eating or drinking and take a careful note of what is happening at tables near you and compare.

It's pretty standard in the hospitality industry. They track things like how much you spend,  what you complain about,  any compensation you may have been given, etc.

 

Sad to say that in most cases, not everyone with the same status level will be treated the same.  A Platinum who buys suites may very well be treated better than one who travels more often but stays in inside or ocean view.  Most loyalty programs are now starting to have revenue revenue reflected aspects.

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@Yesimapirate

 

We must be very fortunate as all cruises except two have been Inside.

[Ellis1138]

I was Latitudes Bronze (lowest tier) in a Studio cabin (cheap) and the crew on the Escape treated me like royalty. I filled out something like 8 Hero Cards. I also take nametag pictures so I have the spelling and their position.

[FlGoodShips]

58 minutes ago, Ellis1138 said:

I was Latitudes Bronze (lowest tier) in a Studio cabin (cheap) and the crew on the Escape treated me like royalty. I filled out something like 8 Hero Cards. I also take nametag pictures so I have the spelling and their position.

Well said...Bravo for your comments.

I agree. Does not matter who you are or where you cabin is located...crew members are always so great and just want to make your cruise the best it can be. Thank you for your input.

Edited October 25, 2023 by FlGoodShips
Spelling

[Run14]

This has turned into a really interesting discussion, and I think that I have a few things that I can add.

 

In general, all staff do genuinely want to help you have a great vacation and there seem to be a lot of processes in place to incentivize that within NCL.  With that said, they want to make sure a few people are exceptionally well taken care of.  Everyone is valued, but they absolutely still maintain a VIP list.  Some examples that I've seen personally are

• Large shareholders (think 250,000+ shares)
• Travel Agents with exceptionally high numbers
• "Friend of X" where X is a C-level executive at NCL or NCLH
• Top-ish tiers of the Latitudes program

I've seen nightly visits during dinner from the GM (like nearly every night he happened to check-in), dinner with the GM at a reserved table at a show, drinks sent to the table from senior officers with hilarious notes, gifts to the room, and more.  In one amazing example, the GM found out a guest that he was taking care of had a champagne saber in the naughty/security room (very clearly labelled "KNIFE" despite being flat/dull, but understandable).  He had the saber liberated, brought it to dinner with a bottle of Veuve, and sabered the bottle to celebrate with the guest.  Picture taken, memories made, and a lifeline cruiser cemented.

 

Last thing - snapping picture of nametags has become something of a game for my wife and I.  We always try to fill out a bunch of hero cards because, like others have said, we've learned that they're really important.  Most staff members know what you're doing if they catch you, and they're generally quite happy about it IME.

[rugerdog]

On 10/23/2023 at 8:09 PM, NW Pacific said:

The last night of cruise, server asked if we would fill out a Hero Card for them.    I was presented a Hero card with their full name already filled in.  Have never ever had this happen before, anyone else have this experience.

 

How interesting!  I've always received the card at some point in my room, but I've never been solicited by staff directly.  That would really be off-putting to me.