How do the crew remember you?

[holiday-shrek]

3 hours ago, alfaeric said:

I'm can't be the only one who thinks is really funny how people find it unsettling that someone else remembers you.

I hate when they call me by name! It's not like they are friends or such....

[GUT2407]

17 minutes ago, holiday-shrek said:

I hate when they call me by name! It's not like they are friends or such....

What do you want them to address you as, if not your name,

[alfaeric]

25 minutes ago, holiday-shrek said:

I hate when they call me by name! It's not like they are friends or such....

Well, that's bad for you, as I really enjoy being remembered.  And since I don't have a title, then the only alternative is "hey, you" which would not be specific enough for me to reply.

 

Also, people who are not my friends also call me by my name.  It's how people address me, and indicate to me that they wish to converse with me and not someone else.

 

Again, if it really bothers you that much, you may consider trying a more by yourself vacation.

[SRF]

48 minutes ago, holiday-shrek said:

I think they just pretend to remember you!

 

Unless they can tell you WHEN the cruise they remember you was. 😄

 

And yes, we have had that happen.

[Iamcruzin]

5 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Is it much different than a wow band?

This does what the wow band does plus if you enter a venue they great you by name and ask if you are going to order what ever drink to added to your preferences, likes dislikes. It will also track your orders. It has a GPS built in so it knows if you are gambling or sleeping 

Edited August 1, 2019 by Iamcruzin

[holiday-shrek]

1 hour ago, GUT2407 said:

What do you want them to address you as, if not your name,

Sir or Mister

[Big_G]

I've had a few recognize me. Mostly bar staff 🤔 but the oddest one was one I didn't recognize at first. We were passing through the Schooner Bar on Adventure and heard someone repeatedly calling Mister Gregg. I finally turned around and it was a bartender from Freedom now supervisor on Adventure. I had walked right by him. Nice guy but he was a bit of complainer on Freedom. I was surprised he got promoted.

[xxHadleyxx]

I am continually amazed by this.  I used to think there must be some kind of passenger file or something---but then we had a waiter on RCI  whom we had had previously on a Disney sailing (4-5 yeasr prior) who recognized us, asked about our sailing companions on that prior cruise by name, etc.  We were stunned, and of course there would be no transer of profiel between those cruise lines!  I guess people who tend to be great at remembering others are more drawn to this kind of work?

[davekathy]

The same way we remember certain staff members. Excellent first impression,  friendly, good sense of humor. 

Edited August 1, 2019 by davekathy

[AmazedByCruising]

The ship's computer knows everything about you. Which bars, which drinks, which previous cruises, what times, which cruise mates, your shorexes, everything. It's rather easy to give the bartender a list of people, with pictures, that he "should remember", together with their favorite drink and maybe even notes from the previous cruise. I'd be surprised if someone didn't think of that at HQ. 

 

In reality however, a wine waiter who wasn't serving our table remembered us from a cruise 4 years earlier on another ship. One bartender actually hugged me after 2 years, and the computer probably doesn't have a field "likes hugging/dislikes hugging/could file a complaint". 

 

I think the crew working directly with passengers are simply extremely good at people skills. 

 

[iamcsm]

We had a waiter recognize our group on a recent cuise.  He had served us on a different ship about 3 years prior.  We had not seen him, but he came to our dining table half way through the cruise (the first time we saw him) and he was carrying a plate full of ranger cookies - our group had obsessed over these cookies on the cruise 3 years ago.  We were amazed he remembered us and the cookies.

[AmazedByCruising]

2 hours ago, holiday-shrek said:

I hate when they call me by name! It's not like they are friends or such....

1 hour ago, holiday-shrek said:

Sir or Mister

 

Would that be Mister Bucket or Mister Bouquet? 

 

 

[miaandmum]

i had cause to go to guest services on my last cruise and while chatting the member of guest services said to me - i can see youve never spent much onboard in previous cruises, just an occasional baileys! i wonder if waiters etc get their knowledge/memory from the info royal caribbean hold about us from previous cruises - ie good tippers, favourite drink etc.

[heatherb1958]

We were arriving to our cabin on Vision on embarkation day after lifeboat drill,  it was just aft of the aft lifts. I know that ship is not huge but the room steward all the way to the very aft started to wave to us. Our room steward told us we had been the guests of the other one but we could not remember when but did remember him. Every time we left our cabin the aft steward would always wave to us, was very sweet.

We have been called low maintenance by crew which is a compliment , they will always remember the nice guests, the rude guests , the ones that respect them , the ones that don’t but I think everyone in between fades from memory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HBE4]

2 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

This does what the wow band does plus if you enter a venue they great you by name and ask if you are going to order what ever drink to added to your preferences, likes dislikes. It will also track your orders. It has a GPS built in so it knows if you are gambling or sleeping 

 

Wow. I can hardly wait for the day when - after scanning my WOW band - a server will give me a free espresso after they see I only got 3 hours sleep after spending 7 hours in the casino.

 

Of course, if they suggest I go to the gym as they noticed I gained 8 pounds since the beginning of the cruise, I will immediately remove my auto-gratuities.   (I kid)

 

Biker is right.....any thread on any subject can be turned into a tipping thread.

[molsonschooner]

6 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

What do you want them to address you as, if not your name,

you would not want to know what I would call him

 

[dswallow]

On 7/31/2019 at 7:51 AM, Ocean Boy said:

The thought that RCI's IT department could pull something like that off is really funny.

 

I believe RCCL uses this software:

 

http://www.oracle.com/us/industries/hospitaility-cruise-2632769.pdf

 

 

Whether they actually make use of the feature to track information about cruisers' preferences and history and make it available to crew members in general, I don't know. But the capability is there.

 

[LUVINMYHUBS]

On 7/30/2019 at 11:28 PM, travelplus said:

This has been one of the biggest questions  I have been pondering. How do the crew remember you from one cruise to the next especially with running into thousands of passengers? I have had a Maitre D' remember my Father and I two years later. We could not believe he remembered us?  He made sure to check on us nightly and took the time to talk with us and made sure our meals were perfect! It made us feel like family! Another server in the Windjammer came by my table and said I remember your Father and you from a previous cruise!     The same happened at Guest Services.

 

I enjoy interacting with the crew and talking with them but I am utterly touched when someone remembers us after a few years and thousands of passengers later.

 

Now herein lies the mystery does Royal Caribbean use the computer software to state that this person was on the same cruise and to recognize them?  For instance the Waiter remembers that we like Lemonaird with Iced Tea at dinner do they add it to Passenger notes and go over it every evening?   Is there some training involved or some secrete  method because I know that I run into many people and remember some but after seeing so many  I do tend to forget.

 

Have you had someone come up to you on a cruise and remember you?  

As a server for years, I had no problem remembering certain (most, actually) customers and even sometimes what they drank if it was something unusual. It's a gift 🙂

 

[travelplus]

8 hours ago, dswallow said:

 

I believe RCCL uses this software:

 

http://www.oracle.com/us/industries/hospitaility-cruise-2632769.pdf

 

 

Whether they actually make use of the feature to track information about cruisers' preferences and history and make it available to crew members in general, I don't know. But the capability is there.

 

This is exactly what I was thinking. Back in the day when I was 11 WinRez a hotel booking software had free downloads for beta testing. I downloaded the software and when guest stayed at my house I would make up a reservation and bill. At 1 AM on their Final night they got their bill. 

 

How many 11 year olds out there in the world would beta test such a software? I also requested travel brochures, VHS travel planning videos from all the cruise lines and travel companies. 

 

In addition after school I would call up TWA Flight Information System before the voice recognition system and tracked flights. I was an early adopter of online bookings and online checin back when American gave bonus miles for checking in online. 

 

I must have been one of the first automated kiosk users at airoirts

For me it was like a kid in the candy store. 

 

I would love to get a hod of this Oracle Software and beta test it too. How do I get a hold of the SeaPass scanner with the cool ding sound? I would love to ding my guest on and off my ship lol. If the guest did not say goodnight they get the error sound with a Security message. 

 

I then need to find the PA system with those cool dings before the announcement and the General Alarm sound. 

 

Would be fun! 

[ducklite]

I know for a fact that the photo taken at embarkation is linked to your name, cabin #, and past voyages.  Your server, cabin steward, etc. all have this info and are required to memorize names with faces. 

 

All crew can sort by previous sailings, most frequent travelers, etc. and on most lines they are each supposed to learn and remember the names of another 10-20 passengers in order to make them feel remembered.  Bartenders can scan for people who they've served in the past who were good tippers and bring up their name and face and when they cruised so they can greet them like an old friend. 

 

The reality is that while there might be one or two people who do have exceptional memories, the cruise staff have a "cheat sheet" system to make them seem to remember people they served a drink from a random cruise 18 months earlier.

[BillOh]

On 7/30/2019 at 11:28 PM, travelplus said:

 

Have you had someone come up to you on a cruise and remember you?  

 

I have and in the one case, I bought a new camera in St Martin and brought it to dinner, the waiter saw it and mentioned he had the same camera and took a fairly nice picture of my wife and I.  we saw he a few years later on Freedom and I had the camera.  Also I think some crew members look for things to make one week/cruise seem a little different.  Off to read the replies. 

[BillOh]

23 hours ago, alfaeric said:

I'm can't be the only one who thinks is really funny how people find it unsettling that someone else remembers you.

 

How suspicious of a society have we become that having good manners for service industry now is a bad thing?  Heck, even if it was via a computer, that ALSO means that the person had to remember you from the previous even, among the thousands on board at the time.  

 

 

Very true, people are extra paranoid these days about privacy information and in some cases its warranted.  I work in the Medical Marijuana industry and I escort customer/patients into the dispensary.  Before I call them back (yes, I have access to PHI) I look at their information including their address and purchasing history.   I use that for legitimate purposes, the only time I've accidentally raised a customer's eye brow was when I was making casual confirmation I asked when the local festival in her town started. I got a. "How do you know where I live look".   I learned to avoid that pretty quick 

[BillOh]

11 hours ago, LUVINMYHUBS said:

As a server for years, I had no problem remembering certain (most, actually) customers and even sometimes what they drank if it was something unusual. It's a gift 🙂

 

What did Bobby Knight like to drink?

[LUVINMYHUBS]

On 8/2/2019 at 9:45 AM, BillOh said:

What did Bobby Knight like to drink?

lol...never served him, but he'd probably throw a drink if he didn't like it, so just as well 🙂

[rusty nut]

On 8/2/2019 at 7:55 AM, ducklite said:

I know for a fact that the photo taken at embarkation is linked to your name, cabin #, and past voyages.  Your server, cabin steward, etc. all have this info and are required to memorize names with faces. 

 

All crew can sort by previous sailings, most frequent travelers, etc. and on most lines they are each supposed to learn and remember the names of another 10-20 passengers in order to make them feel remembered.  Bartenders can scan for people who they've served in the past who were good tippers and bring up their name and face and when they cruised so they can greet them like an old friend. 

 

The reality is that while there might be one or two people who do have exceptional memories, the cruise staff have a "cheat sheet" system to make them seem to remember people they served a drink from a random cruise 18 months earlier.

Yes, this is it. It's technology driven, believe me. I've had crew that I'd never met address me by name and knew what my favorite drink was. The staff remembers a lot, also, but don't be fooled, it's almost all technology driven.