(Multiple) crew asking for "good reviews"

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

21 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

I've stopped filling out the surveys.   It's managements job to monitor and rate their employees.  I have many Celebrity sailings under my belt and have to say they have never addressed any general issues for improvements (process, not personal) I have suggested.

 

Any issues I wish to point out I now do the the "Attention to detail".   Mostly to point out crew who are making my cruise exceptional.

 

I was amazed, about 10 years ago, upon getting a reply on a CC thread following an NCL sailing - a reply from Kevin Sheehan (then CEO). I thought that was a nice touch! 

Tom

[DirtyDawg]

38 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Ii wish there was question on what you thought of the company policy was on different perspective of the cruise

The employee can do be doing the best he can with the companies policy

who do you rate the employee or the company?🤔😁

I don't mind giving the crew a 10 if they deserved a good grade. I'd just love a question on the survey about the idiots who designed these surveys and the HR buffoons who interpret them. They'd get a zero, zip, zilch from me!

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by DirtyDawg

[Ben100014]

17 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

If the employees are asking for 10's, the survey is useless as a management gauge. 

Guests are not obligated to give them 10s. If anything but a 10 is considered a fail, that's poor management.

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 minute ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

I was amazed, about 10 years ago, upon getting a reply on a CC thread following an NCL sailing - a reply from Kevin Sheehan (then CEO). I thought that was a nice touch! 

Tom

 

It's really odd with X, sometimes to get things done you have to email the CEO and you'll receive a reply from her exec team.  The CEO Exec team:

 

-Found my lost luggage when regular X lost and found couldn't...The regular X lost and found dept emailed me a day later that they still haven't found it...lol

 

-Refunded my S.O.'s fare after her flight was delayed causing her to miss embarkation.  Once we determined she would miss embarkation, I called the call center to ask if she could get on any other port, told to board and ask guest relations which I do (waited in line over an hour) they tell me she can't get on any other port and they can't refund her on board, would need to contact shoreside which I skipped and reached out the exec team

 

-Select dining on a 12 night, I always book select dining yet half of my bookings would "magically" convert to late dining.  Called the call center, they told me to talk to the M'D once on board and to keep my fingers crossed.  Emailed the exec team with a screen shot of the Select dining at booking, received a call within an hour stated we once again had select.  Coincidently, no other bookings have changed from select

 

-Received clarification with "bubble excursions".  Was on the 5th Edge sailing since the restart, in Cozumel for example, it was already reported that both Carnival and RCL were letting folks off without bubble excursions...From the exec team, gist was X was the first (big) cruise line to resume sailings in the Caribbean with the Millie in St Maarten and also wanted to be first out of an US port.  To do that, they had to skip test sailings and therefore had stricter port rules than other cruise lines

[Baron Barracuda]

Life was much simpler in the days before prepaid grats when our end of cruise envelopes reflected how happy we were with the service.

[RichYak]

36 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Life was much simpler in the days before prepaid grats when our end of cruise envelopes reflected how happy we were with the service.

They still do. 

[LMaxwell]

3 hours ago, Ben100014 said:

Guests are not obligated to give them 10s. If anything but a 10 is considered a fail, that's poor management.

These things aren't up to management; at least not at any level directly connected with the guest facing employees.  When employees ask guests for 10 it creates an emotional bond where the customer links the result to the pay of the employee and feel guilty giving less. 

[SusieAV8R]

6 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Ours was a 7+7 (B2B). I received the survey for the first leg, but was going to wait until both were over and tackle them at the same time. Upon getting the survey for the second leg, the first review had "timed out" ... apparently they only give you one week to reply !

 

Tom

In some instances, our survey timed out in a matter of DAYS!  Two-three years BEFORE covid shut the world &  cruise industry down, DH and I were constantly "beseeched" by servers, maitre d's & cabin staff to give them 10s on the 'exit" survey.  I am seeing the  "same old, same old" post covid....no increase IMHO.

[BlerkOne]

9 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

On our most recent Reflection sailing I noticed something a little different. In the past, it's not uncommon to have the occasional crew member mention the after cruise survey/ratings. On our sailing, we had no less than 4 people make such a request (three servers and our butler). They must be under more pressure than in the past, as I've never seen it with such emphasis. I mean, I already make a point to give the cruise lines good feedback, and mention by name anyone who stood out. I'm just not sure that, on the last sea day of our cruise, that I want to hear 4 people point blank ask me. It starts to come across as a little desperate.

 

When we were onboard this last February I don't think anyone asked.

 

Thoughts?

 

(BTW - in the post cruise survey I mentioned them all, as I was going to do anyway, and gave them high marks)

 

Tom

On my recent Reflection cruise I received the speech several times from my head waiter (and only from him). Then the last night of the cruise, I found out it was his last cruise and he was retiring. What the hell difference would it make? I gave them the 10s and accidentally (really) forgot to mention their names in the comment section - oops. I did remember to name the cabin steward - perhaps because he didn't ask for anything.

[Germancruiser]

I am not sure, but i suppose staffmembers are asking for  good rates, only do so, when they get the feeling that the passenger- us- is very satisfied with their service. Otherwise it would be pathetic- I give a 10 out of 10 when it is earned and well deserved- otherwise i do not. Very easy.

In the dinning rooms there is always - well almost always anyway- the request to give a 10 out of 10 - "because it is very important for us".

When the service is impecable it´s a 10 - when the food is medicore ( happend also) it get´s a five- thats all there is to it.

[LB_NJ]

10 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

On our most recent Reflection sailing I noticed something a little different. In the past, it's not uncommon to have the occasional crew member mention the after cruise survey/ratings. On our sailing, we had no less than 4 people make such a request (three servers and our butler). They must be under more pressure than in the past, as I've never seen it with such emphasis. I mean, I already make a point to give the cruise lines good feedback, and mention by name anyone who stood out. I'm just not sure that, on the last sea day of our cruise, that I want to hear 4 people point blank ask me. It starts to come across as a little desperate.

 

 

I remember being asked for years to give good reviews.  I usually give good reviews however on Royal I thought the food went downhill and said so in the review.  If you don't give an honest review service/food quality will continue to decline.

[BlerkOne]

3 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

 

When the service is impecable it´s a 10 - when the food is medicore ( happend also) it get´s a five- thats all there is to it.

The head waiter made it a point to point out that they didn't cook the food, they only served the food and not to hold that against them.

[Honolulu Blue]

12 hours ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Life was much simpler in the days before prepaid grats when our end of cruise envelopes reflected how happy we were with the service.

We obviously disagree (which is fine), but this is one of the things I don't miss about the "good old days" of cruising.

Edited December 22, 2022 by Honolulu Blue

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

9 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

I am not sure, but i suppose staffmembers are asking for  good rates, only do so, when they get the feeling that the passenger- us- is very satisfied with their service. Otherwise it would be pathetic- I give a 10 out of 10 when it is earned and well deserved- otherwise i do not. Very easy.

In the dinning rooms there is always - well almost always anyway- the request to give a 10 out of 10 - "because it is very important for us".

When the service is impecable it´s a 10 - when the food is medicore ( happend also) it get´s a five- thats all there is to it.

 

I was thinking that as well - as we had, over two weeks, developed good rapport with these people. In my business, and many others, there are review systems in place where an initial screening process will divert people either to a comments section (back to us/whoever) if their experience is less than "5-star", and on to Google if they pass the smell test and are likely to award those coveted 5-stars! 

 

Tom

[Moby Jones]

I shut them down quickly and tell them I know how it all works. I then ask them how many complaints have I made. When they look puzzled and (usually) say "none". I ask them why they're worried then. 

I always mention staff by name who've been good in the post cruise survey as I know it genuinely helps. 

I've sailed on Celebrity and Azamara this year. No one on the latter mentioned the survey! Except the Maitre D in Prime C when I beckoned him over to say how pleased we were with the outstanding service we'd received from his team. He then told us we should feel free to mention it there. Which we were already planning to do. 

[cdn_tbird]

We have a bit of a unique solution to staff asking for 10s. When we first started cruising, a couple of days before the end of the cruise, DW would write a nice note for each crew member that we wanted to recognize and drop it off at Guest Services, these days you can do it online which makes it easier. We'll usually do it while having our nightcap on the balcony. These get redirected to the appropriate dept onboard and we know that it gets to the crew right away. So instead of being asked for 10s we get a thank you for the kind words. Win/Win in our eyes.

[Shiba_Lover]

These surveys should be geared more towards constructive feedback.  When I worked in management and had to rank and review employees - I always told them to look at feedback as " opportunity for improvement" - and really, any feedback I received that was just a complaint - I sort of ignored.  I did however look at "here's an issue and how it could have been handled better" as that was constructive and something I could coach for the employee's learning.  I wish the surveys were really geared towards that.  Because really, we all have a different idea of what is a 5 vs what is a 10.  We all go in with different expectations.  If one person expects the waiter to just take the order and drop off the item vs someone who expects the waiter to check on them every 5 minutes - the score will be vastly different.

[wrk2cruise]

Given how they say the survey is used they should scrap the 10 point system and go to a 3 point system.

 

Unsatisfactory

Satisfactory

Excellent.

[lynncarol]

I can't recall if it was Celebrity of RC (been on both the last year) but one of the survey questions was something to the effect "Did any of the crew ask you to provide a 10 on their ratings".  I didn't know how to answer this, as several of them did, but I was afraid this response would get them in trouble.  I ended up skipping that question

[davekathy]

12 minutes ago, lynncarol said:

I can't recall if it was Celebrity of RC (been on both the last year) but one of the survey questions was something to the effect "Did any of the crew ask you to provide a 10 on their ratings".  I didn't know how to answer this, as several of them did, but I was afraid this response would get them in trouble.  I ended up skipping that question

I answer all the questions honestly. 

[dlh015]

While I understand the many viewpoints of the surveys expressed here, I, as in all things, just answer honestly. I don't, and don't intend to, try to second-guess the underlying strategy of them.

 

I write down the names of those who made my cruise more enjoyable...and put them in my remarks...as well as tip them individually. (Yes, I still prepay grats and if they put my tip into the general pool, that's fine by me as it's theirs to do with as they please once it leaves my hand...) 

[phoenix_dream]

On 12/21/2022 at 12:38 PM, Mark_T said:

I certainly don't mind giving them 10's, I just intensely dislike the management policies that force them to have to ask...

 

Exactly the point!  I always give 10's unless there were serious issues that weren't resolved (which has not happened in years and years).  But I absolutely hate them asking for the good ratings.  Don't get me wrong - I don't fault the staff.  They are driven to do this by the way they are managed.  It's awkward and uncomfortable and IMHO unnecessary.  

[BlerkOne]

32 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

 Don't get me wrong - I don't fault the staff.  They are driven to do this by the way they are managed.  It's awkward and uncomfortable and IMHO unnecessary.  

Yes. Clearly they are being driven by someone higher in the food chain.

[Cruising89143]

59 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Exactly the point!  I always give 10's unless there were serious issues that weren't resolved (which has not happened in years and years).  But I absolutely hate them asking for the good ratings.  Don't get me wrong - I don't fault the staff.  They are driven to do this by the way they are managed.  It's awkward and uncomfortable and IMHO unnecessary.  

This! I lost count on our recent Solstice cruise. The waiter in Luminae, our butler, several bartenders and the list goes on and on. This is clearly coming from somewhere higher in the management chain. I feel sorry for the crew having to do this. If Celebrity really wants the truth then they need to allow for honest feedback without making the crew pay for it. 

[NMTraveller]

I will not give a 10 for someone that asks for a 10.  Someone that deserves a 10 will not ask.

 

This reminds me of a below average car dealership that I used to take my car to.  It is not a good practice for a luxury line.  This is a shady and dishonest practice.

 

I also note on the form that crew members were begging for a 10.

 

Edited December 22, 2022 by NMTraveller