Very annoying survey from RCL / Azamara / Celebrity

[jb008]

A quick cautionary note to forum members that I received a survey this morning from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. that I took the time to do the survey and right at the end they ask demographic questions and then notified me that my responses would not be included because sufficient responses from my category had already been received. Consider yourself warned that if you do the survey you may be wasting your time.

 

The survey came from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. <noreply@qemailserver.com> with the following message:

 

Dear Valued Guest,

 

We are inviting a select group of guests to participate in a survey. W e are always striving to improve our products and services and y our participation in this survey will help us to enhance the Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Azamara Club Cruises vacation experience.

 

This survey will take no more than 10 minutes to complete. We hope you'll make your opinion count as your feedback is very important to us.

[helby]

I agree with jb008 and got the same message that my response would not be used. I rarely do surveys and won't do so again for RCCL except if it's a specific cruise followup. I understand they want info from a broad demographic so perhaps they should get that info first. Some companies do that.

[munch1]

Same thing here

Complete waste of time :mad:

[2inManotick]

Ditto that! (n)

 

They should first qualify you before you complete the survey so you don't receive the "sufficient responses from my category had already been received" message at the end - which took, BTW, way longer than 10 minutes to complete! :mad:

[BBMacLaird]

Well, first, on behalf of my parent company, let me thank you for taking the time to fill out the survey. All of our companies appreciate your loyalty to our brands!

 

Second, I'm going to agree with you, this could have been handled better. I'm not involved with this particular survey but have overseen many many surveys over the course of my career. The demographic question should have been the first question asked of you; and if the answer given was not what we were looking for, a polite thank you at that point would have been in order.

Please accept a macro-apology on behalf of all of us.

[screen-gem]

@Bonnie,

Some related feedback re customer surveys.

 

Since returning from B2B voyages on Journey last week, I've received repeated e-mails (3) from Qualtrics.com. That's the same company that RCCL has contracted to administer the survey cited by the OP (which we also received). In this case, we were apparently "handpicked to provide valuable feedback about vacations". Since I didn't respond to the first solicitation, they keep sending me reminders to complete the survey.

 

The e-mails come from this address:

-> Vacation Industry Reasearch <noreply@qemailserver.com>

 

That's not a typo. They misspelled the word research when they created the e-mail account for this particular campaign. Sad!

 

I am quite certain that this "Reasearch" survey was catalysed by Azamara/RCCL, since the address being used is a special account I created specifically when subscribing to the AZ Insider newsletter. No one else has that address.

 

The lack of attention to proper speeling and proofreading suggests that RCCL/Azamara may wish to retain someone other than Qualtrics to handle customer surveys. Such sloppiness reflects badly on you, the client.

 

Here's the text of the recent survey I received. You'll have to read read the first sentence carefully to see what I mean about proofreading, a task that is apparently not a priority at Qualtrics:(

 

From: Vacation Industry Reasearch

Hello,

As an experienced traveler, you have been been handpicked to provide valuable feedback about vacations. Your opinions will be used to help leading companies in the travel industry shape future vacation offerings.

 

Thank you for agreeing to share your comments and opinions with us. This survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.

[marinaro44]

The lack of attention to proper speeling and proofreading suggests that RCCL/Azamara may wish to retain someone other than Qualtrics to handle customer surveys. Such sloppiness reflects badly on you, the client.

Few things worse than improper "speeling.";)

[jb008]

Well, first, on behalf of my parent company, let me thank you for taking the time to fill out the survey. All of our companies appreciate your loyalty to our brands!

 

Second, I'm going to agree with you, this could have been handled better. I'm not involved with this particular survey but have overseen many many surveys over the course of my career. The demographic question should have been the first question asked of you; and if the answer given was not what we were looking for, a polite thank you at that point would have been in order.

Please accept a macro-apology on behalf of all of us.

 

Thanks for the follow up (and apology regarding the survey) Bonnie! Good to know there are insiders keeping an eye on the boards and can hopefully make sure these observations and experiences are "heard". Thanks again!

[bobndee]

I find it interesting that AZ is polling only a certain demographic. Are they only interested in what certain people think? Are they trying to target their attention to certain people that they want on their ships?

 

Perhaps they would be better off polling all of their current customers about what draws them to AZ so they can keep them happy. ;)

[munch1]

I find it interesting that AZ is polling only a certain demographic. Are they only interested in what certain people think? Are they trying to target their attention to certain people that they want on their ships?

 

Perhaps they would be better off polling all of their current customers about what draws them to AZ so they can keep them happy. ;)

We are Az cruisers since 2010

Beginning to think they wanted a certain income ($$$$$$$$$) & age group to see what their preferances are

Edited March 16, 2017 by munch1
Correction

[nordski]

I find it interesting that AZ is polling only a certain demographic. Are they only interested in what certain people think? Are they trying to target their attention to certain people that they want on their ships?

 

Perhaps they would be better off polling all of their current customers about what draws them to AZ so they can keep them happy. ;)

 

I wasn't asked to participate, but from the initial posts I think it's probable that they were trying NOT to to garner information from only a certain demographic. By "they", of course, I mean RCCL who conducted the survey on behalf of the three brands.

 

As far as polling current customers, all those who complete a cruise are offered a rather comprehensive online survey to allow them to identify areas where the experience excelled, satisfied, or fell short. As well, during the cruise you receive an interim questionnaire for plaudits or concerns.

 

In a recent tweet, Larry Pimentel expressed some pride in the responses to this year's surveys and also in the number of cruisers choosing to return. So, while I agree with your point, I think that he is indeed concerned about whether the customers are happy.

[nordski]

We are Az cruisers since 2010

Beginning to think they wanted a certain income ($$$$$$$$$) & age group to see what their preferances are

 

You may be correct, but I wouldn't necessarily infer that from a survey for the RCCL brands.

[jb008]

I wasn't asked to participate, but from the initial posts I think it's probable that they were trying NOT to to garner information from only a certain demographic. By "they", of course, I mean RCCL who conducted the survey on behalf of the three brands.

 

As far as polling current customers, all those who complete a cruise are offered a rather comprehensive online survey to allow them to identify areas where the experience excelled, satisfied, or fell short. As well, during the cruise you receive an interim questionnaire for plaudits or concerns.

 

In a recent tweet, Larry Pimentel expressed some pride in the responses to this year's surveys and also in the number of cruisers choosing to return. So, while I agree with your point, I think that he is indeed concerned about whether the customers are happy.

 

I should add that this was not a post-sail survey. I received (and promptly completed!) the survey from my X cruise last month. This was definitely a competitive intelligence/market research type of survey.

[nordski]

I should add that this was not a post-sail survey. I received (and promptly completed!) the survey from my X cruise last month. This was definitely a competitive intelligence/market research type of survey.

 

Perhaps the "competitive intelligence" aspect explains why I wasn't included. :)