Do RCI ever respond to public feedback?

[kingcole]

When someone comments on a hotel experience on Trip Advisor, invariably, most hotels will respond. It’s clearly often a cut and paste reply, but often there is a genine acknowledgment of what was written.

 

Reading these boards and the reviews on CC there seems to be a common theme to the ‘misses’ and was wondering if there has been any feedback as to how the cruise line would be addressing them.

 

The common moans are (in no particular order):-

 

Loss of functionailty of the website

Lack of transparency with pricing, especially drinks packages

Decreasing quality standards in the MDR

Lack of late night dancing or eating, apart from..

Poor quality pizza

Unhappy about paying for Burgers

No enforcement of the unattended towels at pool

Charges for towels from the pool

Undertainty about the changes and implementation of the Casino Royal rewards program

Defacing of pictures in the elevators and lack or repair

 

I’m sure there are many more. In a lot of cases, I’m sure the answer isn’t always going to be what the cruiser wants to hear, but in gneral, the internet is providing excellent feedback to the cruise line and it would be good to know it was at least being acknowledged.

[molly361]

They will respond on Twitter or FB

 

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[Merion_Mom]

When someone comments on a hotel experience on Trip Advisor, invariably, most hotels will respond. It’s clearly often a cut and paste reply, but often there is a genine acknowledgment of what was written.

 

Reading these boards and the reviews on CC there seems to be a common theme to the ‘misses’ and was wondering if there has been any feedback as to how the cruise line would be addressing them.

 

The common moans are (in no particular order):-

 

Loss of functionailty of the website

Lack of transparency with pricing, especially drinks packages

Decreasing quality standards in the MDR

Lack of late night dancing or eating, apart from..

Poor quality pizza

Unhappy about paying for Burgers

No enforcement of the unattended towels at pool

Charges for towels from the pool

Undertainty about the changes and implementation of the Casino Royal rewards program

Defacing of pictures in the elevators and lack or repair

 

I’m sure there are many more. In a lot of cases, I’m sure the answer isn’t always going to be what the cruiser wants to hear, but in gneral, the internet is providing excellent feedback to the cruise line and it would be good to know it was at least being acknowledged.

 

RC responds on Facebook and Twitter

[leisuretraveler223]

When someone comments on a hotel experience on Trip Advisor, invariably, most hotels will respond.

 

This is a vast exaggeration. SOME hotels will respond, just as SOME restaurants will. But to say "invariably, most" is just plain inaccurate.

[Thorben-Hendrik]

RCI just does not care.....we will just have to live with that!:rolleyes:

[StolidCruiser]

RCI just does not care about Cruise Critic posters like me.....we will just have to live with that!:rolleyes:

 

Fixed that for you.

[kknorr0320]

I know everyone complains about their website functionality but recently I bought a cruise through another site and when I logged in to my Royal account to add it, the reservation was already there. So maybe they are improving things?

 

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[John&LaLa]

Fixed that for you.

Should have said Royal doesn't care about Cruise Critic in general.

 

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[CruisingNole]

This is a vast exaggeration. SOME hotels will respond, just as SOME restaurants will. But to say "invariably, most" is just plain inaccurate.

 

If you're a top 10 hotel or restaurant on Trip Adviser, you better believe they monitor and promptly answer reviews. Otherwise, they wouldn't be in the top 10. Monitoring online reputation websites is a standard cost of doing business nowadays.

[CruisingNole]

Should have said Royal doesn't care about Cruise Critic in general.

 

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Makes sense. This website is comprised of maybe 1% of all cruisers. Monitoring something like Facebook would give you a much greater representation of the general population that provide valuable feedback that you can actually do something with, vs people moaning and complaining on this website because they cruise in the off season, at dirt cheap fares, and Royal forgot to give them a bathrobe.

[PhoenixCruiser]

Makes sense. This website is comprised of maybe 1% of all cruisers.

 

Source?

 

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[Merion_Mom]

Makes sense. This website is comprised of maybe 1% of all cruisers. Monitoring something like Facebook would give you a much greater representation of the general population that provide valuable feedback that you can actually do something with, vs people moaning and complaining on this website because they cruise in the off season, at dirt cheap fares, and Royal forgot to give them a bathrobe.

 

Source?

 

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78.4% of all statistics are made up on the spot. :D :D :D

[CruisingNole]

Source?

 

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Well, look at the number of people that regularly post here and keep in mind tens of thousands (if not more) of people board an RC ship EVERY WEEK.

 

I make it a point to ask everyone I make small talk with on a cruise if they use this website and I've yet to find anyone, other than the handful of people at the meet and mingle parties. Think about how many people are on an Oasis class ship roll call vs how many people are on the ship. It's a tiny, tiny percent.

 

The reality if that most travelers are simply not savvy, either by ignorance or choice. They don't take the time to read reviews, find out how to get good deals, etc. They just find a trip and time that's convenient for them, and they book it. They don't check the website daily for price drops. Quite frankly, very few people have that kind of time on their hands. And many that do, it simply isn't worth it for them.

[So_Tweetie]

I've been able to reach them on Twitter each time I try, they respond within 10 minutes usually. I can't speak on why they aren't more proactive about fixing things like website issues, where people are literally TRYING to give them money and can't.

[CruisingNole]

I've been able to reach them on Twitter each time I try, they respond within 10 minutes usually. They also must monitor Instagram as they've seen my pictures and asked to use them - then posted them on their own page a few days later. In my experience they are more responsive to negative feedback than positive, which is probably a good approach. I can't speak on why they aren't more proactive about fixing things like website issues, where people are literally TRYING to give them money and can't.

 

Bingo. Want a company response? Take to FB or Twitter. A big corporation will reply within minutes and will resolve your issue. Phone call or email? Good luck. The beauty of social media is that the whole world can see if crappy customer service is provided. It really forces big businesses to remain accountable for their actions, or lack thereof.

[RDC1]

Makes sense. This website is comprised of maybe 1% of all cruisers. Monitoring something like Facebook would give you a much greater representation of the general population that provide valuable feedback that you can actually do something with, vs people moaning and complaining on this website because they cruise in the off season, at dirt cheap fares, and Royal forgot to give them a bathrobe.

 

 

CC is closer to 6-7% since it has 1.7 million members, compared to the annual cruising public of 25 million.

[So_Tweetie]

Bingo. Want a company response? Take to FB or Twitter. A big corporation will reply within minutes and will resolve your issue. Phone call or email? Good luck. The beauty of social media is that the whole world can see if crappy customer service is provided. It really forces big businesses to remain accountable for their actions, or lack thereof.

 

Agreed. What I found strange with RCI is that they wanted to take my issue to direct messages on Twitter when the solution would have been helpful to everyone who was experiencing the same problem, and I saw many others posting about it. I felt that if they had helped me to resolve it on the public forum it would stop them from continuing to see the same question. However after posting about the website problem/solution here, it sounds like what worked for me might not work for everyone.

 

 

(I had to edit my initial post because it was NCL not RCI who used my pic)

[SamTimeDining]

Defacing of pictures in the elevators

 

 

LOL, what? Please explain....

[T-2]

I've never felt that RCI didn't care about us, they actually let us have a party onboard where we can meet each other, all the parties we attended were outstanding until our last, we didn't go after that one as there was a man organizing everyone to Protest what he felt slighted about. It was very uncomfortable. The ship had senior officers visiting with us all and did not deserve to be verbally attacked. But every other party had been fantastic, we just never risked it again.

The same for these forums, so many fantastic fellow cruisers sharing experience and insights. I always try to give back. I wish we could find a better name, critic sounds like we are fault finding, maybe we could come up with a better image. I also use tripadvisor a Lot and that has a much friendlier label, we're all helping together and sharing.

RCI is my Favorite line- I admit to being Diamond and have sailed over 40 cruises on 9 different cruise lines, no one stands higher than RCI for us, and while things have changed in the last 30 years, I am also appreciative of all the new innovations, their relentless efforts to keep this affordable and the wonderful staff we have met. Our next sail is the Symphony, when we were on the Empress- I could never have imagined where RCI would take me, and now we bring our grandson- lets hope cruising continues to be something we can all find the memories of incredible experiences on vacation. I don't have FB or Twitter, but I've always felt valued, even when glitches happen in a technology advanced world. And for those who need to contact them, its nice knowing they have the option to twitter. I'm impressed.

[bonsai3s]

I've never felt that RCI didn't care about us, they actually let us have a party onboard where we can meet each other, all the parties we attended were outstanding until our last, we didn't go after that one as there was a man organizing everyone to Protest what he felt slighted about. It was very uncomfortable. The ship had senior officers visiting with us all and did not deserve to be verbally attacked. But every other party had been fantastic, we just never risked it again.

The same for these forums, so many fantastic fellow cruisers sharing experience and insights. I always try to give back. I wish we could find a better name, critic sounds like we are fault finding, maybe we could come up with a better image. I also use tripadvisor a Lot and that has a much friendlier label, we're all helping together and sharing.

RCI is my Favorite line- I admit to being Diamond and have sailed over 40 cruises on 9 different cruise lines, no one stands higher than RCI for us, and while things have changed in the last 30 years, I am also appreciative of all the new innovations, their relentless efforts to keep this affordable and the wonderful staff we have met. Our next sail is the Symphony, when we were on the Empress- I could never have imagined where RCI would take me, and now we bring our grandson- lets hope cruising continues to be something we can all find the memories of incredible experiences on vacation. I don't have FB or Twitter, but I've always felt valued, even when glitches happen in a technology advanced world. And for those who need to contact them, its nice knowing they have the option to twitter. I'm impressed.

 

Bravo...well said. :)

[So_Tweetie]

I've never felt that RCI didn't care about us, they actually let us have a party onboard where we can meet each other, all the parties we attended were outstanding until our last, we didn't go after that one as there was a man organizing everyone to Protest what he felt slighted about. It was very uncomfortable. The ship had senior officers visiting with us all and did not deserve to be verbally attacked. But every other party had been fantastic, we just never risked it again.

The same for these forums, so many fantastic fellow cruisers sharing experience and insights. I always try to give back. I wish we could find a better name, critic sounds like we are fault finding, maybe we could come up with a better image. I also use tripadvisor a Lot and that has a much friendlier label, we're all helping together and sharing.

RCI is my Favorite line- I admit to being Diamond and have sailed over 40 cruises on 9 different cruise lines, no one stands higher than RCI for us, and while things have changed in the last 30 years, I am also appreciative of all the new innovations, their relentless efforts to keep this affordable and the wonderful staff we have met. Our next sail is the Symphony, when we were on the Empress- I could never have imagined where RCI would take me, and now we bring our grandson- lets hope cruising continues to be something we can all find the memories of incredible experiences on vacation. I don't have FB or Twitter, but I've always felt valued, even when glitches happen in a technology advanced world. And for those who need to contact them, its nice knowing they have the option to twitter. I'm impressed.

 

 

Just want to clarify, I was BLOWN AWAY by the onboard experience with Royal Caribbean. I tend to cruise with Princess but have done two trips on RCI and aside from issues with accessing my reservation online, I have no complaints. I think they're doing a great job and feel that I've been heard each time I need assistance.

[CruisingNole]

Agreed. What I found strange with RCI is that they wanted to take my issue to direct messages on Twitter

 

Part of my job involves social media marketing / management and what you described is a best practice. As a business, you want to publicly acknowledge a complaint / question, which lets the public know you are listening. This makes you look good. Afterwards, you try to take the conversation to direct message. That way, in case the conversation turns ugly (some people are literally impossible to please), you don't get slammed publicly.

 

Ideally, if the question is one that is frequently asked (as you described), it should then be added to the FAQ on the website, or maybe even a post on social should be made to address the issue.

[John&LaLa]

CC is closer to 6-7% since it has 1.7 million members, compared to the annual cruising public of 25 million.

You are not taking into account that some folks only cruise on a couple of lines, and some only Royal.

 

 

 

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[CruisingNole]

CC is closer to 6-7% since it has 1.7 million members, compared to the annual cruising public of 25 million.

 

80+ percent of adults that have internet access are on FB. No clue how many of them are cruisers, but considering the RCI FB page has 4.5 million likes (and that's just ONE cruise line), I'd say the cruise critic audience of 1.7 million members (with probably, at best, half of them active users) is nothing more than a blip on the radar in comparison.

[PhoenixCruiser]

78.4% of all statistics are made up on the spot. :D :D :D

 

This is awesome :cool: