How important is customer service to you?

[jimmy627]

Is this something you think about when booking your dream vacation?

Have you had any good or bad events with customer service?

If so lets hear some of the stories .Good or bad.

[tef43]

Is this something you think about when booking your dream vacation?

No..

[palmtre2]

After our first cruise and armed with all the info I could find on these boards - I started booking thru an internet TA. Minimal customer service because I asked for and got what I wanted - upfront, for minimal cost!!!!

[finoky]

All I need is for them to book the cabin I request, send Carnival the payment, and mail me my docs.

[mstea]

:rolleyes: just read my post " my booking was canceled" that should answer for me.

[Bookbug53]

It may not be something people initially look for but they are happy to encounter it when needed. I have always booked with a 'middle man' for my cruises. It cost no more than direct and is sometimes less! Plus I get someone making all the arrangements, staying on hold when needed, checking prices (and getting credits for me!), checking out the two dozen different answers before finding the right one, and that chilled bottle waiting for me when I board! The cruise line pays her to work for me so I can cruise with them and it cost me no extra! What's not to like?

[jimmy627]

I'm sorry I was mostly thinking mostly about the cruise line customer service.Just in case there was something that needed to be addressed.Not the TA whom you booked thur.

There have been times when something happen on the cruise and the customer service from the cruise line acted as if all was fine.

[sunshine 229]

Customer service is something most people don't think about until they run into a problem then if it isn't good they end up thinking about it a lot!

 

I guess some people who are doing a special event like a wedding on their cruise or a big family reunion which requires co-ordination might need to be in touch with customer service from the beginning but most of us only contact them when we run into a problem.

 

My impression from reading these boards is that the cruise industry in general is not known for good customer service. It seems that once they have your money they have you and you have to fight hard to get any problems corrected. I too would be interested in knowing if any cruiseline has a reputation of giving better customer service than the others.I think it would be worth it to me to pay a little more to travel with a company which had a good reputation for dealing with those problems that are bound to occur every now and then in any travel related business. So far though my impression is that all the major cruise lines come up short in this area.

[moonlily]

I have to admit that I don't have super high expectations on indvidualized customer service on a large cruise ship. I just want things to go smoothly within reason if a problem occurs.

 

Thanks to the board I knew what to expect, so when a problem occurred with my sail and sign card I tried to relax and give the purser's desk the time they asked for to work it out. And it did.

 

I coordinate services at a 300 bed hospital on the night shift. I can just imagine trying to solve problems for a ship the size of the Glory.

 

For passengers and patients it's a "once in a Lifetime" type experience for them. For the staff its "just another day". This isn't an excuse for a lack of customer service, but sometimes people (customers) get too wound up and loose perspective of what has happened.

 

While I waited on line for a half an hour to resolve my sail and sign card problem the person ahead of me waited just as long to complain that "such and so" Cruise line let them in their room at 1:00 pm and didn't make them wait until 4:00 pm. What was the point of that? Looking for freebies? I also had to listen to this scmuck the entire time.

 

So, with just one cruise under my belt, I haven't had a lot of experience with customer service problems. But with any luck I'll get to try again soon!;)

[gumdrop38]

It's easy to handle things when all go well, but it takes a real professional to handle things when they don't...

 

I own my own SMALL business so to me customer service is very important to give my cleints...

 

**Keep in mind kind words don't cost you any money.

 

I love that show AIRLINE...(SOUTHWEST)...

but because of thier poor customer service represented on that show. I elected to book my airfare thru US AIRWAYS even though it was on the verge of bankrupcy at the time.lol

I watch and see SW allow some drunk packer fans on the flight ...then some poor guy who had a couple drinks but was CLEARLY not drunk because they needed his seat and did not want to $$ him money to give it up...they made him conviently take the next flight...and if he complained he would take next.

they told him he was drunk...

( I do not drink before flying...but I think that is poor customer service)

 

 

I dont requiring being fussed over but I do enjoy being treated with respect...

[folashade]

Is this something you think about when booking your dream vacation?

Have you had any good or bad events with customer service?

If so lets hear some of the stories .Good or bad.

 

I travel quite often for work so I always think about customer service. (Plus I worked in a hotel thru college). If I have to stand on line for a long time and it is simply because the hey the line is long then I have no problem. If the line is long and it is because the staff is chatting to each other on the phone on an obvious personal call then I have a problem. If my room is not ready and it is a reasonable delay I go with the flow. As long as an issue is resolved in a reasonable amount of time and the staff seem engaged then I'm fine. (dirty rooms are unacceptable however especially when first checking in) If the staff is personable and pleasant and resolves problems when they arise then I am 1. more likely to eat/stay/shop at the establishment again. Rude, surly, indifferent is a huge turnoff and I will not recommend them again.

 

I have not encountered a problems while on a ship. At a hotel - on several occasions.

[BlueJacketsFan1]

On our first cruise we did have a couple of small problems. We had arrange a hotel stay pre-cruise with Carnival, which included transfers to the hotel and to the pier. These transfers are sub-contracted by Carnival, to other companies. Our transfer to the hotel was not to be found at MIA, so we took a cab. Our transfer to the pier was 1 hour 45 minutes late getting to the hotel, apparent bus trouble. Once on the ship I had ordered a Honeymoon package in our room which included a bottle of wine. I had asked for non-alcoholic wine and was told to contact room service upon our arrival and the bottle would be changed out. It wasn't quite that easy, it took about 8 - 10 phone calls over 2 days to get it exchanged. Purser's desk is really not much help while on the ship. My TA asked me to write a letter and send it to her. She in turn wrote a letter to send with oursto Carnival. We received a letter from Carnival a few weeks later, and we were very happy with their return letter. It addressed each one of our concerns one by one. We were offered a free gift on our next cruise. Not sure what it is, but we will be finding out in October. Plus, a check for the cost of our cab fare to the hotel. Which was a real surprise to us. All we expected was a letter and nothing else. So we were very happy with the service we received.