Cross posted: Do you note poor service on comment cards?

[flagger]

I asked this on the X boards and the answers have been interesting so I figured I would ask it here as well:

 

I was reading recent reviews which mention poor service by dining staff and/or stateroom attendants and many of them stated that they did not say anything or note anything on the comment cards because they would not want someone punished or to lose their jobs. This struck me as interesting.

 

Why would anyone want someone who provided poor service to continue to do so to other passengers? There are some people who are not cut out for certain lines of work and there is no way management can know unless people report poor service. You are not responsible for someone losing their jobs, the person providing poor service is. I have noted good service and poor service and will continue to do so. I feel those that don't are doing their fellow cruisers a disservice as well as management who could institute more training or perhaps separate the wheat from the chaff.

[Cruzaholic41]

Yes. In fact, that's the place it should be noted, or to the cruise lines themselves.

 

As we all know, CC is not the place to voice complaints unless you wear teflon.

[willysgrandma]

If people don't mention it, then the cruise line can't do anything to correct it. We mention people by name bad AND good so that those that need to have behavior corrected get it and those that provide great service are recongnized.

 

All cruise lines have rewards programs for their staff and mentioning who is good and who is bad helps the cruise line to ensure that they are providing the best service.

 

Your comments may help the next person sailing to get better service if you are honest with your observations. I'm sure the lines can pull the nitpicky comments from true complaints.

[logan1_2000]

we make note of poor service, as well as service that stands out as exceeding expectations. we try not to nitpick, and we discuss our responses together while filling out the comment card--an activity we do concurrent with final night packing to get the luggage in the hall. we also dont try to measure an RCI cruise as if we were on Crystal or Oceania or Regent, either, and after 6 RCI cruises we do have a certain level of expectation of what level of service RCI can and should provide.

[Lynnees]

Yes, we definitely note poor service. We also note outstanding service. That is the point of the survey.

 

We have never had poor service ( I lie - we did once and it caused an injury to me, so I more than noted it on the survery) but we've had slow service. Slow - I try to see why we are having slow service and if I don't feel it's the fault of the person I don't report it.

 

M

[GSuitesailing]

We do give brief and honest comments both positive and negative if need be on the comment card provided. It is our pleasure to acknowledge people who do their jobs so well and feel we must mention if something or someone is not, though it is rare. I also feel if they really are interested in our comments, and it seems like they are, they should provide more than a few lines on the card to give them.

[cruzeluver]

So far I have been very lucky and have not experienced what I would consider poor service.

 

If I did, I would certainly include it on the comment card. However, I would also make sure I was very specific. Generic comments like "bad service", "crew was rude" etc. are useless. They would need to know who provided the poor service and waht exactly was poor about it.

[DonnaK]

Absolutely! We praise outstanding service, and make sure to mention anything about the cruise that disappointed us or didn't met reasonable expectations. We are specific and concise in our comments, and site specific examples if applicable.

 

Thankfully, most of our experiences while cruising have been positive ones, so our comment cards reflect that.

[Janet524]

The comment cards are an important tool for the cruise lines to get feedback in order to make improvements or changes as necessary. In general, we have had good to outstanding service from wait and cabin staff. However, in those rare instances where service or conditions were lacking we brought the situation to the attention of an individual who was in a position to take action, and definitely made note of it on the comment card. We try to do it in a constructive way - not by trashing someone or something - and assuming it was corrected during the cruise make note of it and of who handled the situation. Also, we do not let one negative experience taint our overal view of the experience. In 30+ cruises, there have only been 3 instances that pop to my mind. Pretty good, IMHO.

[early 30's couple]

If I may offer some complaint advise?

 

Be very clear what you are complaining about. If your server doesn't take good care of you because the poor guy/gal is running around like crazy, then make sure that you write that the problems you experienced were because of the passenger to staff ratio.

 

Otherwise, you risk getting someone who is really good at their job in trouble because the company has cut staff down to save money.

 

Believe me, for middle management its always nice to blame an individual employee instead of admitting your business decision to cut your budget by reducing staff is causing customer satisfaction to drop.

[moakie]

We had such poor service in regards to a problem that Customer Relations caused that they made sure we didn't get a comment card.

 

Whadda ya think of that?

[wrp96]

If I get poor service, I try to complain immediately to either their supervisor or guest relations, that way it can be taken care of while I'm onboard the ship. Then I'll mention the problem on the comment card AND how it was resolved.

 

If you don't mention it on the comment cards, they don't know to improve.

 

BUT if you did get good service, make sure to mention that as well as they do get rewarded for good comments in the same way they get punished for bad comments.

 

And if you don't get a comment card in your room, go to guest relations and ask for one.

[TahoeBob]

 

Your comments may help the next person sailing to get better service if you are honest with your observations. I'm sure the lines can pull the nitpicky comments from true complaints.

I use to work the comment cards at a major Hotel & casino here at Lake Tahoe, when you read enough cards you know the ones that are legit complaints and the ones that are just pissed off.

 

Example of a legit complaint would be

At 6:13 in the high limit slots on 1-1-2007 the coctail waitress Jane from yreka was very rude to me. she told me to get my own dam drink.

 

A comment card that does not carry any weight would say

 

My coctail waitress Jane was rude to me.

 

reading cards was a lot of fun some people really complain about the most stupid things.

 

The one that takes the cake was about a Adult topless dance show in the lounge, one man complained that one of the dancers boobs were to big. We really had a good laugh at his expence.

[john & Gerrie nj]

thant way it can't "get lost"

Sea Ya Soon

[jd10367]

We cruised in Sept to the Med on Voyager. Our head waiter never came over to introduce himself, only stopped by the table on the 2nd formal night to cut the lobster out of the tail for me. Its not as though he was ill or anything either. He was kissing up to the larger tables JUST FINE. We went to lunch in the dining room on our sea day and had the BEST waiter and assistant waiter( not our reg waitress either). We went to the desk before the end of the cruise reduced the amount of tip for the head waiter, didn't give him anything in the dining room the last night in the envelope,wrote about him on the comment card. Then wrote on the comment what a wonderful waiter XXX and XXX were and went and gave them an extra tip the last night at dinner.

[MGoodyear]

I have to admit, I am not big on comment cards, but, I always fill 1 out when on a cruise. Anyone in the top or bottom 10% of my cruising experience gets mentioned by name

[TiggerTwo]

Tell it like it is! The comment card is one of the only places that will actually make a difference. Personally, I love to say great things about the staff and make sure to use their names so they get credit. However, if someone isn't doing the job, it isn't fair to fellow cruisers not to let RCI know they have a problem.

[wolfganghowell]

I can't remember which cruise employee said this to me but its stuck. Mentioning them by name on comment cards can help influence them getting promoted and getting financial bonuses. Conversely, mentioning poor service by name would most likely get people demoted, get them the "talking to" and possibly not getting their contract renewed. We've been fortunate to never have to leave a negative comment about an employee but I have been happy to praise people by name who have been outstanding - and I hope that somehow it has helped them in the company.

[curley23]

I use to work the comment cards at a major Hotel & casino here at Lake Tahoe, when you read enough cards you know the ones that are legit complaints and the ones that are just pissed off.

 

Example of a legit complaint would be

At 6:13 in the high limit slots on 1-1-2007 the coctail waitress Jane from yreka was very rude to me. she told me to get my own dam drink.

 

A comment card that does not carry any weight would say

 

My coctail waitress Jane was rude to me.

 

reading cards was a lot of fun some people really complain about the most stupid things.

 

The one that takes the cake was about a Adult topless dance show in the lounge, one man complained that one of the dancers boobs were to big. We really had a good laugh at his expence.

 

I know exactly what you mean. As a former regional mgr for a major hotel chain, we used to go thru the comment cards all the time, you get to know who really had a legit gripe, and you can pick out someone who would never be satisfied. Sometimes it was actually fun to call these people and catch them off guard. I guess that is why I like reading some of these threads, too, and you can figure out who should not be complaining.

[katiel53]

When we have a problem, we try to get it solved immediately, thus not waiting to the end to put the problem on the comment card. For example, we had a problem with an assistant waiter not bringing us drinks, (ie iced tea, coffee) even though we asked for them a couple of nights. When the head waiter came over on the second night, we told him and things changed. I know the assistant was new, and once he was told what to do, we had no more trouble.

 

We have also had a waiter who I felt went beyond what he needed to do on our last cruise. My father has a rosary that he has had for over 30-40 years. He keeps it in a little pouch in his pocket. He didn't notice he lost it and when we went to the dining room 2 nights later, the waiter asked my dad where his rosary was. My father thought it was a strange question as did the rest of us. My dad looked in his pocket and it was gone.

 

The waiter told my dad he found it at my father's place (chair) in the dining room and saved it for him for 2 nights until he could ask my dad. He said if he turned it in to lost and found, my father might not get it back. I don't think he meant that someone would take it, but that my father might not notice it until he left the ship.

 

I nominated him for the Commodore Club. We feel it is important to mention good service as well as specifics of poor service. When doing poor service, we do say, date, time and employee name and what happened. We do basically the same for good service.

 

We have had far more good service than poor service. We are looking forward to our next cruise.

[TEXASMUNK]

Purser's desk was so bad, they made sure we did not get a comment card!!!

 

LOL, they are laying all over the palce by the purser's desk!

 

I can see it now, in the dark of night, they hold a staff meeting and decide....."no comment card for MOAKIE" Meeting adjourned!!!!

[Havana Daydreamin]

I would usually talk to a superviser or to the director of whatever service that I had issue with. (I have done this on two occasions...one for poor service another for exceptional service.)

 

I would also note something brief on a comment card with the addition of the name of whoever I had visited with.

[Merion_Mom]

We do give brief and honest comments both positive and negative if need be on the comment card provided. It is our pleasure to acknowledge people who do their jobs so well and feel we must mention if something or someone is not, though it is rare. I also feel if they really are interested in our comments, and it seems like they are, they should provide more than a few lines on the card to give them.

I agree that there is not nearly enough space for the comments I want to write.

 

 

I can't remember which cruise employee said this to me but its stuck. Mentioning them by name on comment cards can help influence them getting promoted and getting financial bonuses. Conversely, mentioning poor service by name would most likely get people demoted, get them the "talking to" and possibly not getting their contract renewed. We've been fortunate to never have to leave a negative comment about an employee but I have been happy to praise people by name who have been outstanding - and I hope that somehow it has helped them in the company.

And some instantly meaningful and tangible rewards: extra time off and/or time off the ship in port.

[mochuck]

I know exactly what you mean. As a former regional mgr for a major hotel chain, we used to go thru the comment cards all the time, you get to know who really had a legit gripe, and you can pick out someone who would never be satisfied. Sometimes it was actually fun to call these people and catch them off guard. I guess that is why I like reading some of these threads, too, and you can figure out who should not be complaining.

I agree totally. Some of the reviews on Tripadvisor make me laugh out loud. People will give a hotel rating of 1.0 because they didn't like the view from their room and other trivial issues. Thats why you should read the reviews and not just the ratings.

[TahoeBob]

I agree totally. Some of the reviews on Tripadvisor make me laugh out loud. People will give a hotel rating of 1.0 because they didn't like the view from their room and other trivial issues. Thats why you should read the reviews and not just the ratings.

Its like the review I read on Trip advisor for Anaheim , they gave there hotel a very low rating because it was not as nice as the Disney Grand California. I have stayed at this hotel in Anaheim and it is a budget hotel at the price of $60.00 per night. The Grand California is over $300.00 per night. It is the same thing here when people compair RCI to one of the high end cruise lines.