Customer Service - Celebrity

[MMDown Under]

For me customer service in any service industry, such as the cruise industry, is first, second and third in level of importance.

 

Forget the ship's fancy facilities, a slight nod of the head in recognition, a friendly smile or a kind word will get me in every time!

 

Last year, we cruised on Rhapsody of the Seas, RCCL, where we found the level of customer service was superb, at all levels.

 

Researching cruising Celebrity, I have been surprised at the poor customer service, which many people have experienced, especially at the corporate level.

 

I am wondering what the problem is. Could it be low morale in relation to Celebrity's takeover by RCCL? Or something else?

 

Celebrity needs to look into its customer service policies, from the top down.

 

Maybe, just maybe, "the customer is always right" would be a good start!

[MoreCruisesNow]

Unfortunately, the customer is NOT always right....

 

And in today's "sense of entitlement" society, any business that really operated on that basis would quickly find itself out of business.

 

No matter how consumer friendly the business, when they are taken advantage enough, they respond by putting limits on their consumer friendliness.

 

That's unfortunately the way of the world in which honor and honest expectations seem rarer and rarer with each passing year.

 

Try sealing a deal with a hand-shake these days!

[ladyjane550]

I agree - sometimes when things don't go according to one's way, they always put the BLAME on someone else. Celebrity has always been very KIND to me whenever I had a question. Some people can find fault in everything. People need to think POSITIVE and Celebrity has a GREAT cruise product.

[MMDown Under]

I know, the customer is not always right, however, if a business has a policy of trying to solve a problem by starting with that principle, the outcome is usually a win win for both sides.

 

The customer is always right in that they can take their business elsewhere.

[YOW]

Unfortunately, the customer is NOT always right....

 

And in today's "sense of entitlement" society, any business that really operated on that basis would quickly find itself out of business.

 

No matter how consumer friendly the business, when they are taken advantage enough, they respond by putting limits on their consumer friendliness.

 

That's unfortunately the way of the world in which honor and honest expectations seem rarer and rarer with each passing year.

 

Try sealing a deal with a hand-shake these days!

 

Someone in the customer service business -- and I want to attribuite this to good ol' Herb at Southwest, but it may not have been him -- once said that, by making an exception, we create an expectation. What was once seen as 'above and beyond' service has often come to be expected by today's consumer, many of whom apparently have an inflated sense of entitlement.

 

We do seem to be in a period of extremes. Examples of stellar service can be found out there, as can instances of downright hostility towards the customer. Perhaps we just need to accept a certain degree of 'people doing their jobs' -- nothing more, nothing less -- and thus anything more would be a bonus.

 

And yes, the customer can always take his or her business elsewhere. This is a reminder to organisations to remember who they serve. There are also instances when I've asked a customer to take his business elsewhere, as the ways in which my staff were being treated were unacceptable. Perhaps it's just semantics, but I'd rather say "the customer has the right to choose" rather than "the customer is always right".

[MoreCruisesNow]

Amen, YOW.

 

I like the doing the job part especially. I know that when I'm approached in a reasonable manner, I will do anything I can do to help the person with a problem. I often use the "nice" technique myself, especially with bureau-crats - they love to help you if they think you are just not quite bright enough to understand their system!

 

:)

 

On the other hand, when I'm told by a customer that I WILL do this and I WILL do that and they will NEVER darken my door again - I simply think the sooner the better and follow the rules precisely!

[Abby Ruth]

For me customer service in any service industry, such as the cruise industry, is first, second and third in level of importance.

 

Forget the ship's fancy facilities, a slight nod of the head in recognition, a friendly smile or a kind word will get me in every time!

 

Last year, we cruised on Rhapsody of the Seas, RCCL, where we found the level of customer service was superb, at all levels.

 

Researching cruising Celebrity, I have been surprised at the poor customer service, which many people have experienced, especially at the corporate level.

 

I am wondering what the problem is. Could it be low morale in relation to Celebrity's takeover by RCCL? Or something else?

 

Celebrity needs to look into its customer service policies, from the top down.

 

Maybe, just maybe, "the customer is always right" would be a good start!

 

We're about to take our first Celebrity cruise which I booked directly with Celebrity. I was a little disappointed in the person I originally booked the cruise with because she promised to e-mail something to me and never did. I called and found out where to find it on the website from someone else, so problem solved. However, every time I've had occasion to call Celebrity, I've found each person I spoke to very helpful and very pleasant to deal with.

 

So it seems to me that there may be a bad apple or two in every bunch, but generally customer service at Celebrity is superb.

 

Can you be more specific about the problems you've had? Maybe I only presented them with simple problems or questions.

[MMDown Under]

I guess I need to clarify.

 

"The Customer is Always Right" is a common tonque in cheek expression in Australia, not to be taken literally, but used as a principle.

 

I have had absolutely no problems with Celebrity.

 

However, as I've been researching Celebrity before I book a cruise with them (common practice on my part), I was surprised at the number of genuine examples of poor customer service provided by Celebrity in CC Celebrity threads. I realise not as many people who receive excellent service tend to write, as those who receive poor levels of service. However, the number on CC threads was enough to cause me concern. You only have to imagine walking in those people's moccasins to know you wouldn't want that to happen to you, especially on holiday at great expense.

 

I wonder if Celebrity staff are rewarded for making tough customer service decisions at a local level, or whether all decisions are to be referred to be made in head office. Lack of common-sense decision making seems to be a common thread.

 

As I have learnt the hard way, persceptions, whether true or false, become reality.

[dkjretired]

For me customer service in any service industry, such as the cruise industry, is first, second and third in level of importance.

 

Forget the ship's fancy facilities, a slight nod of the head in recognition, a friendly smile or a kind word will get me in every time!

 

Last year, we cruised on Rhapsody of the Seas, RCCL, where we found the level of customer service was superb, at all levels.

 

Researching cruising Celebrity, I have been surprised at the poor customer service, which many people have experienced, especially at the corporate level.

 

I am wondering what the problem is. Could it be low morale in relation to Celebrity's takeover by RCCL? Or something else?

 

Celebrity needs to look into its customer service policies, from the top down.

 

Maybe, just maybe, "the customer is always right" would be a good start!

 

Probably does not have anything to do with the takeover since that was really quite a few years ago. Celebrity has been under RCCL for longer than they were on their own.

 

As bad as the service can be on land, the service at sea is totally opposite. I would love to ask two questions of the President, why are there so many complaints about customer service and why do they have perhaps the worst repeater program of all the major cruise lines...

 

I don't agree about the old adage the "customer is always right" because quite frankly with some of the people I have encountered on cruises they are not...

[librarycin]

As bad as the service can be on land, the service at sea is totally opposite.

 

I have done one Celebrity cruise and will be on my second in a month and a half (the same one as Abby Ruth, actually!). I also worked retail for many years, and I also am VERY big on good customer service.

 

I booked both my cruises through a travel agent, so I haven't spoken to the customer service people on land very much (only a couple of times with questions), but I didn't have any issues with their service. I found they were quite helpful. I have read on these boards that some people have not been happy with the service on land, though.

 

However, the customer service on the ship is phenomenal!!! The more you read on these boards, you should find that most people agree on this as well. I was absolutely astounded at the service I received on the ship. It was incredible! Every staff person I saw greeted me with a smile and hello. Any issues I had, they were so helpful and bent over backwards for me! And I came back gushing about the cruise and the amazing service!

[MoreCruisesNow]

And one more point to consider...

 

Not everything you read on CC is absolute reality.

 

Remember that usually we read here only one side of the story. There are many times, usually in reviews, where one person has a miserable time on a sailing and another person has the best cruise ever. Neither of their opinions is absolute reality.

 

So, I called up Celebrity and told them that I wanted a different dancing girl in my stateroom each evening of the cruise. They told me they couldn't do that. Lousy customer service! How dare they not supply dancing girls. They just don't know how to treat their customers and I'm taking my business elsewhere.

 

but when I report that on CC it becomes: I called Celebrity with a perfectly reasonable request and they told me it was impossible. Celebrity just has terrible customer service.

[YOW]

"The Customer is Always Right" is a common tonque in cheek expression in Australia, not to be taken literally, but used as a principle.

 

This is an adage here in North America as well. Its origins, I truly believe, are from an age when behaviour was more civil, lawsuits were not in frenzy, and information was less proliferated and not used flagrantly as leverage against people or organisations. Not that I'm one to say 'everything was better when' -- some things were, some weren't. We've made progress in some areas over the years, and in others we haven't. In theory I think it's great that we have access to more information, can make better decisions with this information, etc. In theory. In practice, well, things have shaken out a bit differently... IMHO.

 

MoreCruisesNow, you didn't get the dancing girls? We got the dancing girls, didn't even have to call customer service to request them. Pity. ;)

[MoreCruisesNow]

Now that really takes the cake.

 

You got the dancing girls and I didn't!!!

 

I'm sending an email to Dan Hanrahan right now.

 

Things like this didn't happen before he became president.

 

I think I'll email the Florida Attorney General - and they thought a fuel surcharge was bad.

 

I'd rather have no gas than no dancing girls.

 

and it would be quieter, too.

[Putterdude]

I have had good experience with X. The only issue I have ever had was once when my OBA was incorrectly charged and when I went to CS desk the CS person acknowledged the error. He said he would adjust the error and if I wanted to wait 10 mins he would give me an adjusted statement. As this was disemarkation day I said no I wouldn't wait and told him that I was sure that he would look after it. Well I guess in the pressure of the day he forgot.... so some weeks later I sent an email with all of the pertenent information to HO. Well within 24 hours there was a CS person in NY knocking himself out trying to cantact us and leaving several messages as we were away at the time. When we got home I got a hold of the CS person and the matter was cleared up in minutes.

[cruisinelsewhere]

I am looking forward to embarking on my 6th Celebrity cruise. I also formerly worked as a travel agent booking cruises with them. The worst customer service I have ever recieved was when my cruise was cancelled, I found out here on the boards, called and rebooked myself. Celebrity called me 10 days later to tell me the cruise was cancelled and wanted to see what they could do for me. Was that bad customer service? No just lax. On the other hand I had an issue with my Captain's Club level. I contacted Celebrity, they told me what I needed and I provided it. About 2 days later I recieved a phone call from a real live person...not email, snail mail or what not..from Celebrity to "congratulate me on reaching select level" (not that it is a big deal) but I thought that the customer service exceeded my expectations!

[MoreCruisesNow]

To call folks in customer service who only pass along information that they're given liars is really the limit in irresponsible comment.

 

I doubt that any of the $12 an hour customer service personnel really care enough to lie to anyone. It is true that they really often don't seem to get the information they need to keep customers happy, but they really, really, really do not deserve to be called names by you!

 

Celebrity customer service is really pretty typical - neither the best nor the worst. At least it's based in the USA - I called HP last week and that wasn't fun although she tried very hard (difficult to believe that we both really speak English!).

 

And many of the customer service agents will go much further than the extra mile to help a caller.

[c-legs]

And yes, the customer can always take his or her business elsewhere. This is a reminder to organisations to remember who they serve. There are also instances when I've asked a customer to take his business elsewhere, as the ways in which my staff were being treated were unacceptable. Perhaps it's just semantics, but I'd rather say "the customer has the right to choose" rather than "the customer is always right".

 

Good evening , In Ottawa.

 

WELL SAID !!

You've put it very well.

Thank you

Cheers

:D

[MetravelUtoo?]

Good evening , In Ottawa.

 

WELL SAID !!

You've put it very well.

Thank you

Cheers

:D

 

I've also helped those "clients" who "never will darken our door-step again" to acheive their goal...i.e. we just refuse them service. You should see the kind of back-pedaling they do....quite funny actually. When a situation gets to this point with a client, we usually have lots of "ammunition"...notes taken at the point of contact in which our staff was treated without respect (i.e. yelling, threats, name-calling, etc.). These same people are sometimes very prominent people in our community who ask "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" I love that one...I assure them I do and that I find their continued bad behavior unacceptable in our place of business.

 

Note - I usually try to do this privately but when an out of control client wants to face off in the lobby - I do it there. We've not seen any loss of business due to this...in fact our client base continues to grow. Why spend 90% of your energy on the 10% of clients who will never be pleased and are a consistent "PIA".

 

Therefore...I like the subsitution for the old saying "the customer is always right" with "the customer has the right to choose."

 

Thanks for letting me vent....

[hajekfam]

The biggest problems I have found with land customer service is when there is something major going wrong with cruise - sailing date change, itinerary change, etc. They seem to like to give you a definite answer - even though it may be wrong. Our 2005 transatlantic was a good example. Our cruise disappeared from Celebrity's website a couple of weeks before sail date. When those of us on the roll call called to find out why and what was happening, we were all told different reasons - sold out, inventory check, etc. Suddenly, the cruise appeared back on the website and showed the ship in Barcelona for two days and some of the ports missing. Again the roll call called and were given different things. Some of us were told that website was wrong, others were told that is the new itinerary. As it turned the website was partially correct - the ports were dropped but the cruise was delayed two days due to a drydock switch. And because the cruiseline was scrambling to find a new drydock spot and what to do with our cruise on such short notice (the scheduled drydock before our cruise had to be moved due to the riots in Marseille where the drydock was to occur, it did take them time to figure out what was actually going on with our cruise but instead of telling the customer service reps a response to questions, they left them in the dark.

Instead of customer service giving an adult answer such as "We don't know what is happening, but information will be available on such and such date", they give us what they think is happening but state it as fact.

It is not that land customer service reps are rude - they are always courteous and try to be helpful - it is just that sometimes their anwers are incorrect and you feel that you have been lied to. I would much prefer the customer service rep tell me they don't know the answer, but will either get back to me or I should be able to call back on a certain date and the info will be available.

Our mantra through this fiasco was "wait until we get on the ship" because ship customer service is totally different.

[emptynest1]

My two cents. I did not have any trouble with customer service both on board and on land. My luggage was destroyed on embarkation and left by the cabin door without explanation. On board customer service told me to buy a new suitcase when we got to Bermuda and give them the invoice, when I said I did not really want to shop, they sent someone off the ship to purchase a new bag and delivered it to my cabin, and sent the clothing that was soiled to the laundry. On my return home, the land based service was excellent. I even received a letter from the VP. The system worked well for me, but I wonder if it is because of how I approached the situation. No yelling or stomping of feet, just the facts and my question of how to handle the event, all in a very civilized tone.

I have to thank Celebrity for how well I was cared for.

[valandjerry]

Any vacation is what you make of it. I just returned from 11 days on the Constellation with my sister and brother in law who were first time cruisers, my brother in law set out with a bad attitude and nothing was going to change it, from not liking the food to not liking having to be back on the ship by a certain time, the rest of the time he spent sleeping in the stateroom or complaining that something hurt. I refused to let him ruin my vacation of which this was my seventh cruise and I have loved every one, the service and food was great and so were the excursions. I would not sail on any other line.

[Abby Ruth]

The system worked well for me, but I wonder if it is because of how I approached the situation. No yelling or stomping of feet, just the facts and my question of how to handle the event, all in a very civilized tone.

I have to thank Celebrity for how well I was cared for.

 

One thing I learned years ago from my father was that you never yell at someone who you want something from.

[Jade13]

We're about to take our first Celebrity cruise which I booked directly with Celebrity. I was a little disappointed in the person I originally booked the cruise with because she promised to e-mail something to me and never did. I called and found out where to find it on the website from someone else, so problem solved. However, every time I've had occasion to call Celebrity, I've found each person I spoke to very helpful and very pleasant to deal with.

 

So it seems to me that there may be a bad apple or two in every bunch, but generally customer service at Celebrity is superb.

 

Can you be more specific about the problems you've had? Maybe I only presented them with simple problems or questions.

 

Major problem I had was similar to your original experiance. We booked direct, person pleasant and gave e-mail address etc. and said to e-mail with any questions. She never responded. Later I was told she left the company and I could deal with whomever answered the phone. I found out they would not give me a new vacation planner because they would not get commission. These are Sales Reps and Celebrity needs a pre-cruise Guest Relations Department. I recently wrote a letter to the CEO and pretty much my major issue was the poor pre-cruise customer service experiance. Otherwise the cruise line has the makings of a great line. Adding to everything was the fact that whomever I spoke to refused to give a last name. Even the airlines give you an Id number, but I felt the Celebrity reps didn't want to take responsibility for anyhing they said or did. This is just not "Premium". I wrote the letter and I did not ask for anything. I thought I was doing the President a favor by giving my feedback.

 

Note that HAL has Personal Cruise Consultants and they give their first, last name, e-mail address and phone number. If you book through your own TA you can still call Ship Services with Questions, speak directly to the ship Coordinator or even to the Excursions department. They pre-cruise experiance between HAL and Celebrity is day and night. Forget which cruise line one prefers, and yes, Celebrity has things that I prefer over HAL, but customer service is not one of them.

 

If people don't put it in writing, it will never change.

[Jade13]

Probably does not have anything to do with the takeover since that was really quite a few years ago. Celebrity has been under RCCL for longer than they were on their own.

 

As bad as the service can be on land, the service at sea is totally opposite. I would love to ask two questions of the President, why are there so many complaints about customer service and why do they have perhaps the worst repeater program of all the major cruise lines...

 

I don't agree about the old adage the "customer is always right" because quite frankly with some of the people I have encountered on cruises they are not...

 

I also do not think the customer is always right.

 

I would like to ask the President the same questions you pose. Btw, how do you know they have the worst repeater record?

[diligaf51]

see my post under an example of excellent customer service. we were treated royally while bringing something somewhat minor to their attention.