The Crew Remembers You? Not Really.

Did you ever wonder how the crew remembers you from a previous cruise? The answer is that in most cases, they don't. I'm sure that now and then there is someone who was so demanding, such a boor, or such an extraordinary tipper that they remember, but overall, for the average cruiser once you are off the ship, so is your face from their collective memory.

So how do they seem to remember you from voyage to voyage? Simple. Remember that photo you have taken for your ship ID? They're saved. And at the start of every cruise, a "catalog" of repeat cruisers which includes their sailing history and photo is circulated among the crew so they can appear to remember you from the four day cruise you took three years earlier.

Ahead of our first cruise in 1995, I had heard how great the crew was and how they remember many passengers from cruise to cruise. I especially loved how one waitress came up and very cheerfully welcomed me back LOL.

What was surprising though was on the Caribbean Princess in 2008, I was getting a drink and the bartender asked if I had just sailed with them recently as I looked familiar. I said no it's been 2 years for us, what ship were you on then? He replied "Sapphire Princess out of LA". It had been 2 years to the week since we were on the Sapphire LOL.

It depends what cruise line and what ship. I sail primarily on the QM2. Cunard doesn't have a huge fleet for the crew to move around. I see the same great people trip after trip and you get a chance to build up a rapport with them. The first few days it feels like old home week.

Passenger recognition is huge part of crew responsibilities especially on Crystal Cruise Lines. Down to the smallest details!

It is so well done on Crystal that Harvard Business School study was done on it.

Many up market hotels do the same thing.

I checked into a Four Seasons hotel to find they had looked up my Facebook page!

Modern world!

When my friend and I sailed on Carnival Valor, we were two 40-ish women, traveling together. We were seated in the MDR with two 40-ish men, traveling together. Can you say, "At Sea Match-makers"?? But I digress...

We had an absolutely fantastic waiter, OV from Romania. Not only was he a great waiter, but fantastic at slight-of-hand magician and he delighted us with tricks almost every night.

One night, a strolling magician made his way through the MDR and stopped at our table to perform a card trick. (OV's tricks were better, but again...I digress.) The trick involved tossing a deck into the air. He tossed it too high and it struck a shiny ceiling tile, leaving a dent.

The following year, we ended up cruising on the Valor a second time, doing the alternate itinerary. The hope that OV was still aboard factored into our selecting Valor for a second cruise.

We were thrilled to learn he was still on board and we tracked him down at the MDR. He ACTED like he remembered us, but of course he would. When we pointed out the table where we'd been sitting on our previous cruise, he said we were wrong. He walked us all the way across to the entrance on the opposite side of the MDR, pointed to a table and said, "this is where you were...and there is the dent in the ceiling."

Yup...he was right...and he REMEMBERED!!!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE cruising???

We sail Carnival and have been remembered by staff who took care of us and some that didn't. We also keep in touch with some on fc and by e-mail.

We were recognized on Explorer by a waiter who had served us on Vision five years prior. It was really something. :)

.

Did you ever wonder how the crew remembers you from a previous cruise? The answer is that in most cases, they don't. I'm sure that now and then there is someone who was so demanding, such a boor, or such an extraordinary tipper that they remember, but overall, for the average cruiser once you are off the ship, so is your face from their collective memory.

 

So how do they seem to remember you from voyage to voyage? Simple. Remember that photo you have taken for your ship ID? They're saved. And at the start of every cruise, a "catalog" of repeat cruisers which includes their sailing history and photo is circulated among the crew so they can appear to remember you from the four day cruise you took three years earlier.

I basically have to do the same thing by looking at my yearbook to recall people I went to school with years ago. It takes seeing their face sometimes to recall anything about them.

It doesn't bother me if the cruise line uses a cheat sheet of sorts. It's not like I walk away thinking I'm in their every thought and that they're writing home to tell family about me. With the constant turnaround that they face, I'd doubt that most (not all) passengers expect to be remembered.

Passenger recognition is huge part of crew responsibilities especially on Crystal Cruise Lines. Down to the smallest details!quote]

 

Oceania too. They know who their repeat customers are. And even if they don't, they certainly know how to carry it off.

We cruised on Carnival's Fantasy last fall. In March we were on the Miracle. We were sitting in the atrium when our old room steward, from the Fantasy, came over, greeted us and called us by our 1st names! He was doing the suites on the Miracle. He certainly did remember us but don't know why. We didn't tip more, we both just said hello and spoke to each other.

Carnival asks on the cruise questionaire, you get after a cruise, if you were called by your names. Every time we are on the Fantasy, (frequently), we are greeted by "welcome back' and usually our names too. Last time on the room steward we only had once greeted us by name. (When we were in his section we didn't get a towel animal one night, we got a towel person! )

I keep wondering what we did that made them remember but still don'y know why. We have gotten bottles of wine from the Hotel Director (who also sat with us & bought us drinks), More than once from the Housekeeping director, The Maitre'd, and twice by the same captain. So on Carnival, you are rememebered!

I spent 32 days on Oosterdam in 2009. I joked with the photography staff, bought a lot of gangway pictures. Nine months later, I boarded the Westerdam, and as I walked through the photo gallery and one of the photographers pointed at me and said 'You were on Oosterdam last year!' EM

We were on a 3 day and getting off at Cococay, getting off the ferry with the hundred or so others it held walking up the dock. One of they guys on the island starts looking at one of my group and starts yelling out MIKE....MIKE...... Picked him out of the crowd. Apparently Mike goes to that island WAY too much LOL

There were two times that my hubby had a waiter repeated from another cruise. The first time, we were on the Paradise and had a table for just the three of us (we'd booked the cruise just a week or so before the cruise) and he recognized the waiter from his first cruise in 1992 (nine years before). I'm not sure how much the waiter remembered my hubby (or just guessed).

But in 2004, we were on the Sapphire in its third month of sailing and we recognized our waiter as our assistant waiter on the Star, just a year and a half before. We remembered being on a port shuttle bus sitting near she and her then-boy friend and she remembered that my hubby would bring his own coffee mug.

We cruise a lot and for the last many years only on HAL.

We see same bartenders, stewards, staff, officers from ship to ship and the hugs and smiles when we reunite are not from a photo they saw of embarking guests!!! They recall funny stories we shared, bartenders will ask if we are in our 'usual' cabin as he knows the cabin we always try to book.......... Some folks they remember. ;)

I think it could be those who are really, really nice to them and those who are really, really ugly stand out in their minds. The middle group may get a bit blurred but a quick reminder often tips them off to which ship you sailed together, when etc

They pay attention to their guests and that is why they remember so many.

I had a social hostess on QM2 at the entrance to the Queens Room at the captain's cocktail party who remembered me from when she escorted me to the captain's table on Celebrity six years prior! Was it my last name, my good looks? Who knows! She switched cruise lines and still remembered me.

On Regal, it was like "coming home". When was the last time the captain came off the ship right after docking, and helped you bring you and your luggage on board, even before the previous cruise passengers had gotten off?

Did you ever wonder how the crew remembers you from a previous cruise? The answer is that in most cases, they don't. I'm sure that now and then there is someone who was so demanding, such a boor, or such an extraordinary tipper that they remember, but overall, for the average cruiser once you are off the ship, so is your face from their collective memory.

 

So how do they seem to remember you from voyage to voyage? Simple. Remember that photo you have taken for your ship ID? They're saved. And at the start of every cruise, a "catalog" of repeat cruisers which includes their sailing history and photo is circulated among the crew so they can appear to remember you from the four day cruise you took three years earlier.

In our years of cruising (been doing it for nearly forty years) we have had multiple instances where crew members remembered us...sometimes by name and other times by cabin number (I kid you not). This does tend to happen more often to those who take longer cruises (our longest is 62 days) although it has happened to us a few times on shorter cruises. On our most recent cruise (the 62 day one) the Captain actually remembered us (because we had previously run into him in his home town), 2 bar waiters remembered us (that might not be a good thing) one of them only recalling our old cabin number, and a maitre d remembered our names (this is not unusual on longer HA cruises).

Hank

In our years of cruising (been doing it for nearly forty years) we have had multiple instances where crew members remembered us...sometimes by name and other times by cabin number (I kid you not). This does tend to happen more often to those who take longer cruises (our longest is 62 days) although it has happened to us a few times on shorter cruises. On our most recent cruise (the 62 day one) the Captain actually remembered us (because we had previously run into him in his home town), 2 bar waiters remembered us (that might not be a good thing) one of them only recalling our old cabin number, and a maitre d remembered our names (this is not unusual on longer HA cruises).

 

Hank

I can see it on the long cruises, but anyone who is remembered by a crew member four years later after a four day Bahamas cruise either was a royal PITA or an exceptionally good tipper.

We sailed 4 times in a row on the Celebrity Summit and were remembered by various staff, bartenders and room stewards.

And we are not exceptionally great tippers or PITA's. However, we do engage with the staff - greeting them, conversing with them, asking about their families.

Maybe that's the difference. Doesn't matter - it still feels nice!

Even with photos and names, it still takes a good memory since they see an awful lot of people for a pretty short time. I know I wouldn't be very good at it.

So how do they seem to remember you from voyage to voyage? Simple. Remember that photo you have taken for your ship ID? They're saved. And at the start of every cruise, a "catalog" of repeat cruisers which includes their sailing history and photo is circulated among the crew so they can appear to remember you from the four day cruise you took three years earlier.

I find it hard to believe that, on the busy day of disembarking/embarking, readying the cabins and entire ship for new passengers, that there is time for all crew members to sit and review photos of every repeating passenger. Maybe a few management crew members, maybe pictures of top level passengers, but all of them???

Even if it is true, it would still be quite an accomplishment for a crew member to recognize someone just from seeing a picturefor a few seconds that might be several years old. I think some of the crew just really do connect with some of the passengers.

I find it hard to believe that, on the busy day of disembarking/embarking, readying the cabins and entire ship for new passengers, that there is time for all crew members to sit and review photos of every repeating passenger. Maybe a few management crew members, maybe pictures of top level passengers, but all of them???

 

Even if it is true, it would still be quite an accomplishment for a crew member to recognize someone just from seeing a picturefor a few seconds that might be several years old. I think some of the crew just really do connect with some of the passengers.

The percentage of returning passengers on most sailings might be 10. For an average ship with 3000 passengers, that means maybe 300 people. It wouldn't take more than two or three minutes to skim them all.

If they think they want to make an effort to remember someone for whatever reason, one of their methods is aliteration.

They will remember "bald Bob" or "Skinny Sally" for example.

If they know you are a regular cruiser with the line or are particularly nice and friendly or whatever...... they have trained their memories to recall.

If a steward says to us he sailed with us on such and such a ship in a particular month/year, they are almost always correct.

Did you ever wonder how the crew remembers you from a previous cruise? The answer is that in most cases, they don't. I'm sure that now and then there is someone who was so demanding, such a boor, or such an extraordinary tipper that they remember, but overall, for the average cruiser once you are off the ship, so is your face from their collective memory.

 

So how do they seem to remember you from voyage to voyage? Simple. Remember that photo you have taken for your ship ID? They're saved. And at the start of every cruise, a "catalog" of repeat cruisers which includes their sailing history and photo is circulated among the crew so they can appear to remember you from the four day cruise you took three years earlier.

Not true.

Sarbanes-Oxley laws in the USA prohibit us from giving access to passenger information - including photos - to any but a very short list of onboard employees.

Those people are prohibited from distributing this information - except in the gravest of emergencies. Violating these laws results in instant termination.

We do remember about 10% of past passengers - either because they were wonderful human beings, or because they were the passengers from hell.

The other 90% are either cattle or cargo.

Although I've never had a crew member recognize (or pretend to), I have found that they all notice my T-shirts from previous cruises. It usually elicits a comment such as.."When were you on the ___ of the Seas? I was on the take-out crew!" A very nice way to get to know the crew members.:cool:

Not true.

Sarbanes-Oxley laws in the USA prohibit us from giving access to passenger information - including photos - to any but a very short list of onboard employees.

Those people are prohibited from distributing this information - except in the gravest of emergencies. Violating these laws results in instant termination.

 

We do remember about 10% of past passengers - either because they were wonderful human beings, or because they were the passengers from hell.

The other 90% are either cattle or cargo.

Thanks for that information. Not sure why anyone cares if they are remembered or not. Maybe those who are remembered can now start wondering if they were the hellish or heavenly past passengers.