Mine Own Future Cruise Questionnaire

Mine Own Future Cruise Questionnaire

Dear Royal Caribbean Cruise Line/Celebrity Cruise Line:

I would like to you take a few minutes to consider and answer the following questions regarding what you think is important to cruise customers and cruising experience, and how that will impact potential customers decision making. The questionnaire is relatively short, and I have simplified the choices to expedite the process. This should only take a few minutes to finish. Please answer each and every question.

What has a greater impact on your customers decision to book a Future Cruise on board:

_ An Ipad in Future Cruise Office ..... _ an experienced and skilled Captain

_ A nice chair in Future Cruise Office ..... _a clean and well maintained stateroom

_No waiting in Future Cruise Office ..... _a friendly helpful Guest Relations staff

_Tea and coffee while you wait in FCO .... _good food and staff in the MDR

_a beverage package ..... _an optimally maintained engine room

_free Wi-Fi .... _a clean, attractive well-maintained ship

_On Board Credit ..... _reasonably priced port excursions

_On board electronic booking ..... _ a functioning website for booking

_an invitation to tea ..... _staff and crew morale

_Stylish Facade ..... _a cruise experience with substance

Thank you for answering these questions. If the forced choices seemed biased, they are, however they are no more biased than the questions Celebrity sent me in a recent questionnaire regarding future booking. Which leads us to the final question, if you please:

Do you think the right hand column of answers represents a greater influence on the decision to book a future cruise than the left hand column?

_NO ..... _YES

Are your corporate decisions being made on the presumption of the right hand column and are you satisfied with your product and services?

_YES ..... _NO

Please explain your answer in detail:

Are you.....

A) Serious? YES.....NO

B) Joking? YES.....NO

C) Insane? YES.....NO

I suspect I know the answer because if it's A), it's not even close to a sensible survey (and who is it aimed a anyway?). If it's B), it's not remotely funny. So that leaves C). I'll let you draw your own conclusions!

What has a greater impact on your customers decision to book a Future Cruise on board:

_ An Ipad in Future Cruise Office ..... _ an experienced and skilled Captain

_ A nice chair in Future Cruise Office ..... _a clean and well maintained stateroom

_No waiting in Future Cruise Office ..... _a friendly helpful Guest Relations staff

_Tea and coffee while you wait in FCO .... _good food and staff in the MDR

_a beverage package ..... _an optimally maintained engine room

_free Wi-Fi .... _a clean, attractive well-maintained ship

_On Board Credit ..... _reasonably priced port excursions

_On board electronic booking ..... _ a functioning website for booking

_an invitation to tea ..... _staff and crew morale

_Stylish Facade ..... _a cruise experience with substance

Do you think the right hand column of answers represents a greater influence on the decision to book a future cruise than the left hand column?

_NO ..... _YES

Are your corporate decisions are being made on the presumption of the right hand column and are you satisfied with your product and services?

_YES ..... _NO

The really interesting question is the last, which is also the one I have trouble answering. Its a summation of all the rest. I think your survey reflects your dissatisfaction with Celebrity, re:the loss of some things while the future sales office expands every year.

The maintenance and safety of the physical resources is a basic expectation.

Corporate decisions are just that- attention to the bottom line is the basic role of the corporation.

While they definitely impact my cruise experience I am still happy to cruise.

Thank you for your thoughtful response, herbanrenewal. In the main we are in agreement, and an informal survey of this board would suggest we are not alone. And then we get to the last question. My experience with the questionnaires I am asked to participate in for Celebrity is that there is a corporate attitude or business philosophy indicated in the assumptions and preferences motivating the questions. No argument the bottom line ultimately drives and is the fundamental purpose of any business. If one must stay competitive to keep the bottom line healthy, if finding the niche in the market place can be the difference in thriving and barely surviving or eventually failing, then one has to find the niche. The questionnaires from Celebrity suggest they are relying on promotions to generate and retain business, which to me suggests corporate leadership lacks faith in the quality of the product to sustain the business. Maybe the board of directors see the survey responses regarding passenger preferences, and the reactions to promotions and concludes a quality product is elusive to earn and to darn hard to maintain, so mass market gimmicks replace quality and value as the company's core focus. Style without substance, and styles so easily and quickly change. A point one sees lamented on this board by long time travelers who enjoy cruising.

I too continue to cruise, and dissatisfaction and concerns aside, we have a much anticipated 17 night cruise upcoming this October.

I also received this survey. The first section was about future cruise sales as already discussed. The second part was all about loyalty perks, asking what current perks are most important to me, what possible perks I would be interested in seeing added. The survey also asked what perks OFF the ships I would like to see, the next page asked me to choose what type of perk I would choose: airline miles, hotel points, movie/entreatment options etc. I should have taken a screen shot of this page.

From this survey my thoughts are that they are amending the perks of Captains Club.

I dare Celebrity to put out a survey regarding their website!

I also received this survey. The first section was about future cruise sales as already discussed. The second part was all about loyalty perks, asking what current perks are most important to me, what possible perks I would be interested in seeing added. The survey also asked what perks OFF the ships I would like to see, the next page asked me to choose what type of perk I would choose: airline miles, hotel points, movie/entreatment options etc. I should have taken a screen shot of this page.

From this survey my thoughts are that they are amending the perks of Captains Club.

jj6961, given the speculations on other threads about expanding the Captains' Club tiers and/or making adjustments to existing tiers, this had occurred to me as well, and it makes sense. I can understand there are massive pressures to "grow the business" and "build the bottom line", and partnerships are one way to generate loyalty. For me that is a problem: Imagine, one day I will be a Toyota/Celebrity/Hilton/Delta Airlines person.

I dare Celebrity to put out a survey regarding their website!

A few months back, March possibly, I was given the opportunity to look at a version of Celebrity's updated website that was then under development. Beta testing is a smart practice, and the feedback from real world users can be helpful to identifying and correcting issues with a program. The beta site wasn't perfect, how could it be while still being developed, although it looked good. In fact the questionnaire about my user experience focused on the look of the website, and how attractive the updated site might be for enticing bookings. No questions about how well it worked. Therefore, I gave firm and clear feedback that given the then currents websites shortcomings, the new website first and foremost must WORK. I used terms like "functionality", "user interface", "ease of navigation", and the lack thereof. Celebrity rolled out a new website this summer. It has pretty pictures.

That experience, coupled with my questionnaire experience this week, led me to start this thread. My opinion is that the computer research and development firms used for these tasks ignored the feedback given, or they were simply following directives. In the first case, I want the Celebrity board to be aware of what is occurring, that these surveys are slanted and are generating biased data. If the latter case is true, then no matter what the current stock yields indicate, the board and Celebrity management are attempting grow their business based on superficial aspects of products and services, instead of core values that sustain long term success.

I have had several lengthy conversations with the head of Celebrity IT. I was told that indeed they did survey frequent and long time cruisers prior to the launch of the new site, however they confirmed that the emphasis of the questions were about the appearance of the new site, the preference customers had about colors, contrast and appearance and NOT functionality, user interface, ease of use.

To the OP:

Your survey is based on an incorrect assumption. You assume that the survey you received from Celebrity addresses the product/service as a whole. However, that is not the case. It's actually quite clear about the fact that it is addressing specific features of their offering. Specific functional areas have goals and they are reaching out to get feedback on how their given area can best achieve those goals. Thee is a legitimate place for this.

i dare celebrity to put out a survey regarding their website!

Thank you for my best laugh of the evening!!

Fishlover, your point is acknowledged and I see the validity of getting feedback about the aesthetics of a website. I acknowledge that I have an assumption about what the basic requirements of a business website can be at this point in the relatively short history of software development. Those being the aforementioned expectation of functionality, comprehensible user interface, and ease of navigation. I also admit I have made inferences about the management decisions that guide said software development. Can I take it that you agree assumptions can lead to mistaken conclusions and decisions?

Luvcrusn, I appreciate you confirming my guesses and inferences, although I am saddened by the information. You have probably expended untold hours and energy to better utilize the current Celebrity website, and make the user experience for others.

Fishlover, your point is acknowledged and I see the validity of getting feedback about the aesthetics of a website. I acknowledge that I have an assumption about what the basic requirements of a business website can be at this point in the relatively short history of software development. Those being the aforementioned expectation of functionality, comprehensible user interface, and ease of navigation. I also admit I have made inferences about the management decisions that guide said software development. Can I take it that you agree assumptions can lead to mistaken conclusions and decisions?

 

Luvcrusn, I appreciate you confirming my guesses and inferences, although I am saddened by the information. You have probably expended untold hours and energy to better utilize the current Celebrity website, and make the user experience for others.

If I was CEO of a large company spending untold bushels of money on the development of a new website it's a no brainer that the primary goal for the site would be to generate revenue. In order to accomplish that, a basic no-brainer function that would be primary would be ease of use for the customer. It seems however, that the primary focus is this case was a glossy, slick appearance. There is obviously still no emphasis on functionality. I know they are aware of the problems, yet corrections are 4 months and still not happening. The CEO should be concerned with revenues going forward.

Case in Point -

For our past five cruises on Celebrity, I have been able to request luggage tags for an upcoming cruise through the Celebrity website. Easily accessed request page, easily filled out form, and within a week the luggage tags arrived in the mail. This morning, I just attempted for the third time this week to request the tags for our upcoming cruise. Although I completed the on-line check in weeks ago, my page accessed through Captain's Club shows I need to check in, even though I have a printed copy of our Xpress Pass in hand indicating I completed the process. Therefore, for the third time this week, I failed to complete this simple task due to problems with the current computer system. I called Captain's Club, and a nice and very helpful Janet verified that Celebrity knows I've checked in, and she ordered the luggage tags for me. Reports from other Celebrity guests on the Roll Call for our cruise show they are encountering the same problems and are using the same solution. No, not the end of the world, not really a big deal, however it is part and parcel of the ongoing malfunctioning of the Celebrity website. Oh well, it is job security for the ever helpful Celebrity Captain's Club staff.

At least I can stare at pictures of an underground lake and a CGI of Eden while taking slow deep breaths, which might qualify for legitimate mindfulness practice.

Working for a software development company, I am vary familiar with web-based applications. Locating and actually applying the 50% discount for the beverages packages for our up-coming cruise was very difficult, hidden down many pages. Without the directions from a post on this site, we would never have found it. I get e-mails every single day from Celebrity, but they are fluff, just keeping the subject in front of me - which is the point of marketing.

However, Cruisefam38's original point is that the website and the company should be more substance instead of fluff. We are Captains Club elite, and while on board, we get nothing but gracious help and good times. That same treatment should apply to how the company is viewed when on shore - and the main point of contact is their website - which is important marketing as well.

reds-cruisin, I appreciate your informed opinion regarding the Celebrity website, and your thoughts on how making and maintaing a good product is important to brand presentation and marketing of said brand.