"This might be YOUR vacation, but it's MY life"

[Aquahound]

What do you make of this, and what would you have done?

 

This is going to sound terribly insensitive, but I ran out of craps to give a long time ago. Me? I would have still completed the survey and I would have been honest. It does no justice whatsoever for future cruisers if I rate level 2 or 3 food as a 5, or say nothing at all.

 

As for the bit about their livelihood, that's where my can of PC springs a leak. That's between the company and the employee and as far as I'm concerned, is none of my business. I don't play this game of them serving me a 2 and then trying to lay a guilt trip on me to lie on their behalf. Nope. If their livelihood is really on the line, I would think they would make for darn sure to earn that 5.

[Haoie]

Is this a common thing in the MDR? [note my first RCI is next week, will see if I get this]

[Clarea]

Is this a common thing in the MDR? [note my first RCI is next week, will see if I get this]

We experience the spiel in the MDR almost every cruise.

[CP3o]

It's not just RCCL. Disney did the same thing when I was on the Wonder in April. Maybe it's something new to the industry.

 

Our servers were excellent but the head waiter kept mentioning the need for an exceptional rating to the point that he was the only one that we felt didn't deserve it. He wasn't as pleasant as the others. I appreciate all of their hard work and reward accordingly but I don't like to be constantly asked about it.

 

 

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I was just thinking DCL was really bad about this last time. I think if food slips more, begging for 5's will just be one more reason to avoid MDR. I don't think I had as much of it on MTD with RCCL or at all with NCL freestyle dining.

[thinfool]

Sounds to me like the fired exec's from Wells Fargo all went to work for RCL.

[mizLORInj]

Yup, we heard this on Anthem just last week in more than one restaurant. I have to wonder what's going on at RCI Corporate.

[jamesboat]

I used to develop and send surveys and analyze results for a living. If anyone tells me that I have to give a 5, I immediately respond that anyone who asks for a high score isn't deserving of one. That's usually the last time it's brought up.

 

The problem is that many people thing 3 = good, 4 = great 5 = once in a lifetime experience.

 

But corporate thinks 3 = fail, 4 = fail, 5 = pass

 

And fail = punishment, lost wages, or being fired.

[brady19]

Im a Customer Service Manager and I can say my company along with most anyone who deals heavily with customer interactions, relies heavily on surveys. It really is a shame, because management just wants to meet their CSAT objective and the results are not truly representative of the service given. I am of the opinion that if you give great service that customers will appreciate it. I personally refuse to push surveys. I find now a days customer service is severely lacking everywhere. My personal opinion is the out of touch mgmt along with a younger generation that has not been educated in how to handle customers. So they rely on surveys for information, quite a shame.

 

When I am asked for a survey I am always honest. When on the Anthem we dined in Chic one night and the service was so attentive but the food was horrible. They asked us for surveys I completed it honestly and wrote a comment that the service was excellent and the food was not good.

[dorts]

What exactly is this spiel? First time cruising next year but honestly think after one spiel I would have to tell them no more...

 

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[mac_tlc]

The problem is that many people thing 3 = good, 4 = great 5 = once in a lifetime experience.

 

But corporate thinks 3 = fail, 4 = fail, 5 = pass

 

And fail = punishment, lost wages, or being fired.

 

 

I think is exactly the way people look at the ratings, and unfortunately, how RCCL looks at it. If that is their true view, why not just have two grades -- pass or fail.

 

mac_tlc

[torpeedo]

We no longer complete any of their surveys. I don't work for RCI and my time is valuable. I feel it's their duty to provide the best food and service. When I did do surveys there was zero changes made so why should I waste my time. Just MHO.

[mizLORInj]

What exactly is this spiel? First time cruising next year but honestly think after one spiel I would have to tell them no more...

 

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Something like "we hope you enjoyed your dinner. When the cruise is over you will get a survey. It is very important that you rate dinner and service a [highest # I think it's a 5. . .] "

[brady19]

On the Anthem they asked us for the survey right there at the table and there was a box outside the dining room to put the survey into

[John&LaLa]

The problem is that many people thing 3 = good, 4 = great 5 = once in a lifetime experience.

 

But corporate thinks 3 = fail, 4 = fail, 5 = pass

 

And fail = punishment, lost wages, or being fired.

In many organizations, the top performers get a larger percentage of the bonus/tip pool.

 

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[krewzin]

This is going to sound terribly insensitive, but I ran out of craps to give a long time ago. Me? I would have still completed the survey and I would have been honest. It does no justice whatsoever for future cruisers if I rate level 2 or 3 food as a 5, or say nothing at all.

 

As for the bit about their livelihood, that's where my can of PC springs a leak. That's between the company and the employee and as far as I'm concerned, is none of my business. I don't play this game of them serving me a 2 and then trying to lay a guilt trip on me to lie on their behalf. Nope. If their livelihood is really on the line, I would think they would make for darn sure to earn that 5.

 

 

^This right here... well-put-well-said!

[molsonschooner]

I am another one who dislikes the pressure from the servers. I complete the surveys honestly. The servers we had on Oasis would not like to see what we had to say.

On a positive note, the server we had a few years ago on Freedom was awesome. On the first day he asked us to please tell him if something wasn't right so he would have a chance to make it right. On the second last night all he said was he hoped we were satisfied with the service he gave us. No pressure to give perfect scores. This mans name is Wesley, from Jamaica. he could look after us anytime.

[madiaka]

Something like "we hope you enjoyed your dinner. When the cruise is over you will get a survey. It is very important that you rate dinner and service a [highest # I think it's a 5. . .] "

 

 

This. And the irritating part is he said it at every meal. He would also ask if we received exceptional service and were we able to give them that rating. By the 4th night I just said "sure. Ok. Thanks" and smiled - which for most people would imply maybe I should stop telling her because I'm getting on her nerves. But, that didn't seem to work for him.

 

I'm not as direct with food service workers because they are working with my food. But, I was more than aggravated and would have told anyone else "that's enough. We heard you the first 3 times and don't need to hear it again".

 

 

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[LuCruise]

We had that on Allure too. Our main waiter kept reminding us to mark him high . We are happy to mark him well but was annoyed at him telling us. Other than that he was quite good.

 

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[cb at sea]

You tell them what they want to hear..then do what you want. This is NOT the end of their career or job...You don't have to like or dislike any part of your cruise...it's YOUR vacation...you don't even NEED to do the questionnaire !

Edited November 23, 2016 by cb at sea

[daisys dad]

We were on the anthem in June and I don't remember our waiter saying anything about it. He was great and went out of his way to make sure we all had a great meal , at the end of the cruise of course we gave him the highest marks we could on the survey, and if something was not quite right with the meal he did try to make it better and went out of his way too make it a great dining experience. No pressure from him to do a survey. I hope my experience was the normal and yours was the exception

[Gator83]

Reading another thread, I was reminded by what the assistant waiter said on my last cruise.

 

We did not find the food in the MDR on our last cruise to be all that great, and frequently left over. The crew would ask if they could bring us something else, and I just said no, we would grab a slice of pizza or something from the cafe.

 

One night, the assistant waiter came by and confirmed with us that we would be giving all 5s on the Guest Satisfaction survey - for service, food, etc. I told him of course we would give 5s for service, but we did not find the food to be "5" caliber. He said it didn't matter, we should give 5 for everything, and then write what we did not like in the comments. I told him that would not be my honest opinion, and he stressed that I needed to give 5s for everything, even the food. He then said, "This might be YOUR vacation, but it's MY life". It was really chilling, and I felt quite uncomfortable.

 

What do you make of this, and what would you have done? I am embarrassed to say that I did not complete the survey because of his words. I could not give all 5s for food that I found to be sub-par, but I did not want to affect this guy's livelihood.

 

 

 

I think he was very rude and I would have completed the survey with the score you wanted to give. I might have even asked to speak to his supervisor only to let Royal know you don't like that kind of " being forced to give a certain score". I just got off the Oasis and did the survey and rated the food very low.

[grab007]

I too have received the speech. I usually respond by asking "Are you asking me to be dishonest?" They of course say "No." If the discussion continues I will add that I take the surveys seriously and answer all questions with my honest opinion.

 

What's at question here is what RCI does with honest feedback. If they fire a waiter who receives a 4 maybe we, as consumers, should consider where we spend our vacation dollars. Simply firing waiters will not improve the quality of the food. Managing by fear is never a good policy.

[sellwingri]

One of the benefits of surveys to companies is getting honest feedback. Good companies then follow up with the customers who answered with low scores to find out why they were not satisfied. Unfortunately, Royal Caribbean is not a good company and doesn't care why you answered the way you did.

 

Soooo much potential information and they let it slip through their fingers. Too bad!

[John&LaLa]

One of the benefits of surveys to companies is getting honest feedback. Good companies then follow up with the customers who answered with low scores to find out why they were not satisfied. Unfortunately, Royal Caribbean is not a good company and doesn't care why you answered the way you did.

 

Soooo much potential information and they let it slip through their fingers. Too bad!

I left a poor rating on something, forget what it was, and got a phone call from Miami

 

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[NJporkroll]

WOW, freakin unreal!!!

 

 

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