What determines Good Service when you are on a cruise?

[Paulette3028]

If you have read these boards for even just a few minutes, it is clear that some people feel they have had poor service. Whether it was from the wait staff, bar staff, pool staff or housekeeping or any other staff department.

 

So let me ask, what does it take for you to consider yourself having had good service from the staff.

 

From my POV, when I need/want something that they make it happen if it is possible. My needs/wants are not outrageous, nor negatively impact other cruisers.....and I can't remember when it hasn't happened.

 

From my POV, when a problem arises they help in resolving the issue - again, I can't remember a time when it hasn't happened.

 

I don't believe I am extraordinary nor my experiences.

 

How do you see it?

[abridalmaven]

Some people are just harder to please than others. Up until now I have never had bad service on a cruise. But ask me about the crappy way we were just treated on our Virgin Atlantic flight recently and I will give year an earful.

[biomedbob]

POV from most Public Service folks means Personal Owned Vehicle! :D

 

I guess you mean Point of View. :)

[SHICHIDAN]

It is the consistency of how well we are treated and made to feel we matter.

 

After 28 trips we have been greeted with a hello we have been waiting for you each time.

 

We have never missed our escort onboard ship though I understand others have and it could happen if something came up.

 

We always are met in the room for introductions to head of house keeping and "hotman" or hotel director.

 

And so on. These are not expected but offered by RCL and thusly enjoyed by us.

 

If I had complaints I would list them if they were of consequence.

[Paulette3028]

It is the consistency of how well we are treated and made to feel we matter.

 

After 28 trips we have been greeted with a hello we have been waiting for you each time.

 

We have never missed our escort onboard ship though I understand others have and it could happen if something came up.

 

We always are met in the room for introductions to head of house keeping and "hotman" or hotel director.

 

And so on. These are not expected but offered by RCL and thusly enjoyed by us.

 

If I had complaints I would list them if they were of consequence.

 

Explain, I if you will be kind enough what you mean when you wrote:

 

"We have never missed our escort onboard ship though I understand others have and it could happen if something came up.

 

We always are met in the room for introductions to head of house keeping and "hotman" or hotel director."

 

I have not been on as many cruises as you have, and others may not have been either, and these things could be unclear.

[bigeagle12]

I do not have to ask for anything twice.

 

 

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[Folk Singer]

I do not have to ask for anything twice.

 

 

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Always leaving me with a smile from ear to ear.

[cb at sea]

We've always gotten "good" service. Once, the cabin attendant found my hubby's wedding ring that he thought he'd lost...that was "above and beyond", IMO!

[EmpressofPurple]

There are definite differences and degrees of service one can receive (on a cruise or anywhere else), including attitude, promptness, and quality of the service rendered. Many people are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the kind of personal service offered in cruising, including having your bedroom cleaned, bed made, bathroom cleaned, dinner order taken, food served, table cleared etc. (Perhaps we'd prefer to put our order in on our smartphone and have it delivered by drone?)

 

I have had some room stewards who straighten pairs of shoes, arrange toiletries neatly on a washcloth, etc., others who just swish and mop and leave. I consider the former to be exemplary service; others might find it intrusive.

 

Some waiters go out of their way to make your meal special: special-ordering dishes (escargots, indian food, coffee ice cream every night, for example, or a cheese plate waiting before the meal), while others just stick to the script, take your orders and fill them in a business-like (and not necessary fast) manner, explain that the ice cream is on a rotating basis and they cannot get 1coffee ice cream tonight, etc.... though as noted in a recent thread about how the "begging must stop" they always remind you that if you don't rate them a "10" it will hurt them.)

 

Many people here say "Oh, as long as I don't have to cook or clean up, it's a good meal/cruise." If that's truly the only yardstick to measure service, then poor service is just as acceptable as good service, as long as it gets done. I wonder what would happen if teachers graded students that way: "Oh, as long as I don't have to do the homework, it gets an A -- who cares if it's spelled wrong, handed in late, doesn't address the assignment"... not good for the future of education... and not properly judging or grading service is also not good for the future of cruising (or other places where personal service is important).

 

If you have full-time staff at home, cooking and cleaning, then having that on a cruise is nothing special. It's the QUALITY Of service that makes all the difference. (And even if you don't... you can still appreciate the difference between service with a smile, attending promptly to your requests, or even providing you with something special you hadn't expected or asked for... and workaday, mediocre, just-meeting-the-demand, even sullen or hostile service.)

 

The only truly poor service I have ever received, I have written about before. When first using the Diamond drink coupon in a bar, I didn't realize that service was not included (I thought, like the drink packages, that these three free drinks in the bars during happy hour included tips for the waiter). Rather than informing me of this tactfully, the waiter who served me in the Schooner Bar was actively hostile, asked me for a tip directly, and when I said I thought it was included (and pointed to the receipt which said it was) sharply stated, "Oh yeah, I work for free."

 

I was embarrassed and humiliated, and when I later found out that indeed, ALL of the bar servers who had provided me with drinks for the previous three days (very politely and with a smile) had indeed been working for free, I felt very bad. While I was glad to have this omission on my part brought to my attention, I felt the server handled it very badly. (I later communicated to both Guest Services and C&A that THEY should let Diamond members know that tips were NOT included in these free drinks, and that they were responsible to tip their servers... and that the servers should not have to inform us of this, whether politely or hostilely, or say nothing and receive nothing through no fault of their own, or the uninformed diamond member.)

 

Please note, despite the fact that I think the server was in the right, and I learned something from this exchange, this does not change the fact that the service was terrible. Yes, he provided a drink, and yes, he did so timely... and yes, he provided accurate information. That does NOT make it good service!!

 

I feel the same way about slipshod cleaning by stateroom attendants, lukewarm meals served by waiters, poor information provided by shore excursion staff, indifferent CD staff leading trivia games or other entertainment... there is a difference between poor service and good service. "Just getting it done" is the baseline. I have always felt that RCI staff go above and beyond, offering a warm smile, really making an attempt at a personal connection even when you're just on board for a week, or 3 or 4 days... very impressive. When that is lacking, I find nothing wrong in criticizing that fact, which many posters have done at various times.

 

Most of us are used to a very low level of service, at restaurants, fast-food joints, doctors' offices, the post office, airline counters... it's a delight to encounter true, old-world attentive personal service on a cruise. It's one of the few places I can enjoy this, and I would hate to see service devolve to what we experience most places in our lives.

[2004corvette]

i am on VACATION and as long as staff/crew does what needs to be done and not cause me any stress or anxiety (long lines ~ lack of service ~ not doing their assigned job/duty were as it directly affects me) i consider it to be good service.

 

most staff/crew work hard long days often in various positions onboard and for that i am very appreciative of the service they provide which is 99% of the time fantastic as far as i am concerned and have experienced....:)

Edited September 28, 2014 by 2004corvette

[PattyG12]

 

We have never missed our escort onboard ship though I understand others have and it could happen if something came up.

 

We always are met in the room for introductions to head of house keeping and "hotman" or hotel director.

 

 

Hmmm I've never been escorted onboard ship nor have I been met in my room by the head of housekeeping ... am I sailing in the wrong rooms?

 

We are always greeted by a wave and that makes us happy. Our room steward always tries to introduce himself pretty quickly.

 

That said, we are pretty easy to please.

[John&LaLa]

Two pet peeves.

Leaving room at 8AM, returning at 1PM and the cabin not done up.

Sitting through a horrendously slow dinner service, and noticing next table on dessert. Same waiter.

Oh, and a dealer on a hot streak. :rolleyes:

 

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[Paulette3028]

We've always gotten "good" service. Once, the cabin attendant found my hubby's wedding ring that he thought he'd lost...that was "above and beyond", IMO!

 

How wonderful.....was it by accident that they found it, or had you alerted the cabin attendant to the possibility it was lost.....either way -- outstanding.

[SHICHIDAN]

Explain, I if you will be kind enough what you mean when you wrote:

 

"We have never missed our escort onboard ship though I understand others have and it could happen if something came up.

 

We always are met in the room for introductions to head of house keeping and "hotman" or hotel director."

 

I have not been on as many cruises as you have, and others may not have been either, and these things could be unclear.

 

These are items that come with the room. I believe it depends on the room you book. They are standard as far as I know for specific categories and have been on all our sailings. I don't believe we are unique. Ships tour by officer or concierge has always been included also. I have seen where others did and did not get the tour prior to general boarding. We have been lucky to this point.

[Paulette3028]

It is the consistency of how well we are treated and made to feel we matter.

 

After 28 trips we have been greeted with a hello we have been waiting for you each time.

 

We have never missed our escort onboard ship though I understand others have and it could happen if something came up.

 

We always are met in the room for introductions to head of house keeping and "hotman" or hotel director.

 

And so on. These are not expected but offered by RCL and thusly enjoyed by us.

 

If I had complaints I would list them if they were of consequence.

 

 

 

These are items that come with the room. I believe it depends on the room you book. They are standard as far as I know for specific categories and have been on all our sailings. I don't believe we are unique. Ships tour by officer or concierge has always been included also. I have seen where others did and did not get the tour prior to general boarding. We have been lucky to this point.

 

I believe the key words you used in describing the services you have received are clearly not part of the standard for many cabin categories. An escort onboard and an introduction to the head of housekeeping or ship tour prior to general boarding, must be something available to people, like yourself, in the upper level suites.

 

Something to look forward to if we have the ability to take a cabin in those categories.

[temple1]

For me good service means the cabin attendant introduces him/herself as early as possible the first day. S/he makes a note of our preferences and then keeps a low profile. I don't have a long list of needs, I don't worry too much about the little things - just ice in the bucket and a wine bucket for the chardonnay. All else is good for the cabin.

 

On the pool deck - Servers who pass through routinely and actually slow down to see if you would like a drink (soft or otherwise).

 

In the restaurants - Servers who remember our likes and makes useful suggestions. I like some interaction with our waiter and assistant, but some go over board. In all our cruises we've only had 2 bad servers, both on the same cruise.

 

Bars - I like when I have the same waiter several times during the cruise and they get to know our preferences.

 

Customer Relations: Individuals who have the responsibility to do the job and can make corrections or resolve problems without 20 phone calls. On a recent Freedom cruise I was struck by how "not" friendly some of the officers were. They were not outwardly rude - just disinterested. I have been spoiled by staff smiling and at least nodding when we encounter them on the ship - even if it is the staff responsible for making repairs or cleaning the bathrooms. So we were surprised one evening as we were trying to figure out the intricacies of Shuffleboard ;) when several uniformed staff walked by with no greeting or acknowledgement at all.

 

Over all - friendly service with a smile. I don't want someone bowing, but friendly courteous service that doesn't take all day.

[Paulette3028]

Customer Relations: Individuals who have the responsibility to do the job and can make corrections or resolve problems without 20 phone calls. On a recent Freedom cruise I was struck by how "not" friendly some of the officers were. They were not outwardly rude - just disinterested. I have been spoiled by staff smiling and at least nodding when we encounter them on the ship - even if it is the staff responsible for making repairs or cleaning the bathrooms. So we were surprised one evening as we were trying to figure out the intricacies of Shuffleboard ;) when several uniformed staff walked by with no greeting or acknowledgement at all.

 

Over all - friendly service with a smile. I don't want someone bowing, but friendly courteous service that doesn't take all day.

 

I had to leave in my reply your comment about Customer Relations. In my company we have a "10 foot -10 second Rule". It means if you come across a customer within 10 feet of you, then within 10 seconds, just smile or nod your head. The goal is simple contact -- not necessary to engage in a conversation unless the customer opens it up. But it will go a long way to improve the image of Customer Relations. We are a fairly large scale retailer, and yes we have responsibilities for merchandising etc, but nothing should stop an employee from being able to employ the "10 foot - 10 second Rule". Yet some employees still can't/won't do it.

[ryano]

Keep my drink glass filled at dinner. Serve my meals at the temp they are supposed to be served at and on time and keep my cabin tidy and I'm good to go.

 

Pretty easy to please. I've yet to have "bad" service on a cruise.

Edited September 29, 2014 by ryano

[temple1]

I had to leave in my reply your comment about Customer Relations. In my company we have a "10 foot -10 second Rule". It means if you come across a customer within 10 feet of you, then within 10 seconds, just smile or nod your head. The goal is simple contact -- not necessary to engage in a conversation unless the customer opens it up. But it will go a long way to improve the image of Customer Relations. We are a fairly large scale retailer, and yes we have responsibilities for merchandising etc, but nothing should stop an employee from being able to employ the "10 foot - 10 second Rule". Yet some employees still can't/won't do it.

 

I guess I notice it more than a lot of people would because I have done so many "shops" where part of the review of a business is the interaction of staff with customers.

[sjb317]

What constitutes "good service" is probably almost as subjective as "good food". We are very easy to please, I think the biggest request we've ever made is for ice once a day and I don't think we've ever had a special request in the dining room. Cabin attendants probably love us as we keep the room very tidy.

I guess good service for me would be when everything is done in a timely manner with a pleasant attitude. I like friendliness but not over the top, and we have had a few experiences where friendliness became kind of creepy.:eek:

The only time I've felt that we've had bad service was on Celebrity. It was very difficult to get service in the Captain's Club until the waiters discovered we would tip.:D And it was very difficult to get waited on around the pool, we ended up just walking to the bar if we wanted something to drink.

 

Sherri:)

[davy jones]

Keep my drink glass filled at dinner. Serve my meals at the temp they are supposed to be served at and on time and keep my cabin tidy and I'm good to go.

 

Pretty easy to please. I've yet to have "bad" service on a cruise.

 

In general, my thoughts are similar to yours (add keep ice bucket filled). Note, that we try to keep the room tidy. Stewards should not have wade through unnecessary clutter to do their jobs. If the above are met, with basic courtesy and politeness (from staff to me and me to staff), I am quite content. In service industries, these should be minimum expectations. All cruise lines, with an occasional issue, meet this criteria consistently. I do not expect them to anticipate my changing desires.

 

The things that I notice are the "over and above". Greetings exchanged with stewards and wait staff. The steward who checked in on my slightly seasick spouse gets high marks. Even more so, greetings from crew who do not directly serve passengers, like the people who keep the public areas clean. I see them often on all cruise lines. It's one of the things that make the cruise experience different from the land experience.

 

In my mind, the true definition of a cruise line's service committment comes when things go wrong. That is when the corporate committment is most evident. Stewards and servers easily figure out that friendlieness and service = increased tips. If land based or onboard customer service people have to make things right, then the bottom line is potentially impacted (even if only a little). From the number of threads on the subject, this is where cruise lines often fail.

[griffy116]

We are easy to please and have never had bad service from RCCI. We have asked for the doors between cabins to be opened. Sometimes they can, sometimes they can't. We ask for ice in our cabin. We keep our cabins neat, tidy and everything put away. As I pass down the hall with doors open, I'm always stunned when I see the mess some passengers leave. Our children started cruising at an early age, and now take friends who are new to cruising with us on vacation. They have their own cabins and they are expected to respect the people who work hard to give them an enjoyable vacation. They know that tips for room service are a must and that they aren't to keep piles of clothing on the floor for the steward to try climbing over. It takes about 5 minutes out of your day to tidy up the room. We respect people in the service industry, whether it's on land or on a ship. It's never too early to start teaching your children how to respect these workers. You set the standard.

[cruiseapril]

We smile and we get smiles and good service. If there has been a problem, we ask pleasantly for assistance. Pretty basic.

[griffy116]

We're easy to please and we've never had bad service. We've had some crew and staff that were better than others, but never bad service. We appreciate the hard work of ALL people in the service industry and the LOW pay they receive. We keep our cabin neat and tidy. Our children have grown up cruising and they respect how hard it is for the stewards to keep cabins clean. They've seen the inside of some of the cabins when doors are open. They now have cabins of their own and bring friends along. They don't want to make the job of the steward harder either. It's pretty simple to keep us happy. We like clean towels, ice in the bucket. We've always had great waiters who never fail to recommend the best dishes at dinner. The bar servers have never been stingy with the liquor. That, to me, is good service.

[mjldvlks]

There are many things that are "good" service in the sense of better than what is typically expected. A few of the things that I have experienced that fit in that category include:

 

1. A bar tender that had my diet coke [on a soda card] ready on the bar when he saw me approaching to watch a game on the Schooner Bar TV.

 

2. Waiter who went out of their way to get special desserts made up for specific guests -- including Maria on Indie who got one of our table mates a specially made orange sherbet sundae every night for two weeks [i think he was testing her].

 

3. The cabin attendant that, even though we were in a lowly port hole OV on Monarch, went out of his way to make sure he talked to me personally the day before change over on a B2B to make sure we knew the procedure and he did what we needed.

 

4. Many bar servers who brought over a tray of our typical drinks almost the second our group sat down in one bar or another [most frequently our trivia group].

 

5. The many waiter who greet me by name and with a smile from day one.

 

6. The many activity staff personnel who let us pretend we are best buddies for a week.

 

A few of the things I consider sub standard [almost all of which occurred on a single cruise aboard Jewel]:

 

1. Having a waiter and headwaiter refuse an order for a steak to be cooked "medium" [Gee -- if Golden Corral can do it . . .]

 

2. Having a waiter yell [literally] at one of our table mates who had the audacity to eat what he served her [it turns out he served her by mistake -- his mistake].

 

3. The bar server who took my order for a diet coke [on a soda card] and then never came back -- twice on the same cruise.

 

4. The waiter who didn't even bother to show up for 30 minutes after we had been seated [OK this was not Jewel, this was Celebrity]. I don't think he ever told us his name.