Good versus excellent

[harber78]

Really frustrated at inference that P&O staff must have excellent on customer satisfaction survey or they lose pay/tips and wonder if it is something you get told to feel sorry for staff and therefore everyone gets excellent.

 

How can you tell difference between really excellent staff and good staff. Surely good is good, but excellent is someone who goes out of their way or job to deserve excellent.

 

Example is just off Ventura and arrived at cabin to find a pair of knickers on washing line in toilet and toilet black. Also no slippers etc. re peninsular club or any paperwork with our name on as usual and no signs of a cabin steward so took picture and went to reception to ask whether someone was still in our cabin in error. Was discrete and reception guy was very apologetic and said that was not P&O standard which I agreed was not and puzzled me. He said cabin supervisor would meet me at cabin which he did but surprisingly instead of being apologetic he said stupid boy I guess about knickers and grabbed them off line and then told me all toilets on Ventura were black due to pipes. He also added that we would get our peninsula stuff but their priority was for Baltic etc. and they would get around to Mediterranean later. It was 3pm

 

Did get slippers etc. after dinner and saw cabin steward next day (first time) and no apology or hello, in fact never spoke to us for 4 days despite seeing us in morning and evening. We always said good morning to him and other stewards too on way to lift and they replied but ours ignored us. Eventually he gave in and replied good morning and even agreed to give me some hot chocolate when I told him I had a cold. He shouted down corridor to a female steward to get 6 hot chocolate and said he would also get me an extra box of tissues by bed but they never appeared nor did the hot chocolate get replaced when used. No biscuits on last night either.

 

My husband completed the questionnaire as I had flu and put good instead of excellent and I only found out when I realised steward had gone back to ignoring us when we said good morning. To be honest his attitude and his supervisor too were way below excellent in our opinion and we have had many stewards who were excellent and should not be banded together in the same banding. Maybe us leaving autotips on was the problem because he clearly didn't care less about good service to us. His loss because the excellent stewards get an extra tip as thanks from us.

 

In two minds as to whether to write to P&O as I really don't think the cabin supervisor was a good advert for Ventura or P&O

[Monorail Orange]

I believe they expain that 'excellent' doesn't mean everything is perfect all the time, but they do a great job. Or something to that effect.

 

I know what you're saying though, we deem 'excellent' to be the absolute best (as its the top option) and you'd like to use that when a crew member has gone 'above and beyond' or that one of the services is 'outstanding'.

[majortom10]

Really frustrated at inference that P&O staff must have excellent on customer satisfaction survey or they lose pay/tips and wonder if it is something you get told to feel sorry for staff and therefore everyone gets excellent.

 

How can you tell difference between really excellent staff and good staff. Surely good is good, but excellent is someone who goes out of their way or job to deserve excellent.

 

Example is just off Ventura and arrived at cabin to find a pair of knickers on washing line in toilet and toilet black. Also no slippers etc. re peninsular club or any paperwork with our name on as usual and no signs of a cabin steward so took picture and went to reception to ask whether someone was still in our cabin in error. Was discrete and reception guy was very apologetic and said that was not P&O standard which I agreed was not and puzzled me. He said cabin supervisor would meet me at cabin which he did but surprisingly instead of being apologetic he said stupid boy I guess about knickers and grabbed them off line and then told me all toilets on Ventura were black due to pipes. He also added that we would get our peninsula stuff but their priority was for Baltic etc. and they would get around to Mediterranean later. It was 3pm

 

Did get slippers etc. after dinner and saw cabin steward next day (first time) and no apology or hello, in fact never spoke to us for 4 days despite seeing us in morning and evening. We always said good morning to him and other stewards too on way to lift and they replied but ours ignored us. Eventually he gave in and replied good morning and even agreed to give me some hot chocolate when I told him I had a cold. He shouted down corridor to a female steward to get 6 hot chocolate and said he would also get me an extra box of tissues by bed but they never appeared nor did the hot chocolate get replaced when used. No biscuits on last night either.

 

My husband completed the questionnaire as I had flu and put good instead of excellent and I only found out when I realised steward had gone back to ignoring us when we said good morning. To be honest his attitude and his supervisor too were way below excellent in our opinion and we have had many stewards who were excellent and should not be banded together in the same banding. Maybe us leaving autotips on was the problem because he clearly didn't care less about good service to us. His loss because the excellent stewards get an extra tip as thanks from us.

 

In two minds as to whether to write to P&O as I really don't think the cabin supervisor was a good advert for Ventura or P&O

 

If I had received that sort of service on my cruise I would have removed my auto gratuity very quickly.

[h3rjp]

I totally agree with what you are saying. In 10 cruises I've only once had a "bad" cabin steward. I marked this on the questionnaire (I too left the tips on).

 

I would certainly follow up with P&O. At the very least the steward and their supervisor clearly need retraining and if no one complains, then the chances are nothing will change.

 

 

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[Josy1953]

We have travelled on Ventura 4 times and 19 times on other P&O ship's and I have never been able to work out why everything about Ventura seems to be at a lower level than the other ship's. Earlier this year we were on Ventura and had a steward that we have had several times before and consequently we did chat with him on a number of occasions and he said that the staff morale was poor on Ventura compared with the other ship's and that a lot of the staff just wanted to get through their time and hoped that their next contract would be on a different ship. We choose the ship based on itinerary and time but if I were a new cruiser going on Ventura for my first cruise I doubt that I would return to P&O.

 

P&O really need to look into what is going wrong on this ship.

[Florry]

So long as the service is good I tick excellent so they get all of my tip. If the service wasn't good I would mark the questionnaire appropriately and remove some of the tip - I have never had to do that. Whilst I wouldn't expect to be faced with a pair of pants I don't think I'd worry too much and would probably see the funny side.

 

 

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[daiB]

We have travelled on Ventura 4 times and 19 times on other P&O ship's and I have never been able to work out why everything about Ventura seems to be at a lower level than the other ship's. Earlier this year we were on Ventura and had a steward that we have had several times before and consequently we did chat with him on a number of occasions and he said that the staff morale was poor on Ventura compared with the other ship's and that a lot of the staff just wanted to get through their time and hoped that their next contract would be on a different ship. We choose the ship based on itinerary and time but if I were a new cruiser going on Ventura for my first cruise I doubt that I would return to P&O.

 

 

 

P&O really need to look into what is going wrong on this ship.

 

 

Sorry I do not find this at all. We had 28 nights on Ventura with a great staff and no sign of any discontent.

 

In fact many of our friends are doing the same cruise next year on the same ship.

 

 

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[daiB]

Giving an excellent for a good standard of service is what the company want. Every Captain we have had has said this. It is daft however I will not deprive the staff.

 

However if I had the service of the OP then my score would reflect that it would struggle to get to the half way point.

 

 

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[Bryn@man]

We always complete the questionnaire honestly and put the cross firmly where it deserves to be. There is no offset applied due to guilt of staff losing out. Whilst P&O have many exceptional staff they also have as many average and substandard crew members, if not more.

 

It's a kick in the teeth to those exceptional 'double bagger' crew members if all are scored as exceptional...

[jh1809]

Giving an excellent for a good standard of service is what the company want. Every Captain we have had has said this. It is daft however I will not deprive the staff.

 

However if I had the service of the OP then my score would reflect that it would struggle to get to the half way point.

 

 

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Agreed. In this case the steward clearly fell well short of "good", so the difference between good and excellent shouldn't come into it. And his supervisor doesn't seem to have been great either.

[davenew]

Giving an excellent for a good standard of service is what the company want. Every Captain we have had has said this. It is daft however I will not deprive the staff.

 

However if I had the service of the OP then my score would reflect that it would struggle to get to the half way point.

 

 

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Surely, excellent is when they have exceeded your expectations with no room for improvement??

If you have received a service that you deem can be improved upon, then they get the appropriate score below excellent.

I do not agree that you should give top marks just for the sake of it.

 

Its no different to the rating schemes used in industry where if you atre performing your job to a satisfactory standard, you get 3/5 score. To get a 5, you have to perform way over and beyond what is expected of your objectives.

[uk338]

I don't like the questionaire system, i find it awkward. We are almost always asked by the cabin stewards to review positively - given the usual pep-talk "these questionaires are very important to us...bla bla...tips bla bla".

 

We've also had the stewards who make a small mistake early in the holiday, then just give up. I guess they assume they wont get extra tips and/or favorable feedback.

[majortom10]

The big question is if cruisers only put "good" and therefore the member of staff gets their bonus from gratuities cut as a consequence where does this extra money go to. I very much doubt it goes to those that have received "excellent" as an extra bonus.

[Florry]

The big question is if cruisers only put "good" and therefore the member of staff gets their bonus from gratuities cut as a consequence where does this extra money go to. I very much doubt it goes to those that have received "excellent" as an extra bonus.

 

 

This is why I tick excellent if I'm happy. I'm not over-analysing definitions, all I'm concerned with is do they deserve the full tip I am paying? If yes it's an excellent, if no then it's a good or less with tip proportionately removed - that's how I make the P&O system work for me.

 

 

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[harber78]

Thanks for your replies as wondered whether I was being picky but I took more offence at the supervisors attitude then the knickers being left as in his hurry he didn't check shower.

 

I have only cruised with P&O and been with them many times and only one other time had a bad steward and again put good to reflect as usually put excellent on everything and steward (lady) told us excellent not good next time as it was part of world cruise 2 sectors and she did improve so it worked and she got excellent at end of next sector as a result.

 

Will most probably send P&O an email as their supervisor definately needs training as he certainly shouldn't tell customers that all toilets are black as not true and if it was at least phrase it better and to imply that my level on their points system wasn't high enough to get attention yet is also not a good thing to tell customer. Not a complainer to companies to be honest but think you are right individual concerned needs more or at least retraining.

 

Unpacking and washing first and then browse for another cruise, but not on Ventura.

[Bryn@man]

If Ok is Excellent and less than OK is Good, Fair or Poor then P&O will never improve... May even regress as customer expectations are being continually exceeded despite the service being just Ok...

[kersh]

I don't think you are being picky about the knickers. If he didnt check the shower that means he didn't clean it after the last occupants left. I think that is totally gross.

 

Welcome Home and good luck with the washing and ironing.

 

Sue

[harber78]

I don't think you are being picky about the knickers. If he didnt check the shower that means he didn't clean it after the last occupants left. I think that is totally gross.

 

Welcome Home and good luck with the washing and ironing.

 

Sue

 

Think you are right Sue because toilet paper wasn't folded into V at end and it is usually.

 

Washing and ironing needs doing and back into case ready for Baggage Handling Company collection for Arcadia.

 

Barbara