New Cunard Survey

[MylesS]

Thought it might be interesting to some or a possible glimpse into the future. I've just had a survey from Cunard talking about a recent 14 night cruise I did, but this is different to previous ones.

The best way I can describe it is as follows: this survey takes the cruise in question, and asks questions about the price you'd be willing to pay for different dates and "perks" added or changed. For example, it gave prices for the same cruise 2 weeks later, but with a drinks package included for a different price.

Could this be an indication that Cunard might start offering "all inclusive" packages like some other Carnival corp brands are?

Image attatched at an example question. All questions followed the same format, with the same table, but different items in those tables (if that makes sense!)
 

[Annabel50]

Just received the same about a voyage we took to the Fjords in May, including question about our annual income! which I declined. They would in my opinion be focusing better on providing some new itineraries, unfortunately no space for your own comments which would have been useful. 

[bluemarble]

Interesting. Were the "different items" they asked about things such as pre-paid hotel and dining service charge, alternative dining meals, spa credit, photography credit, other? Just trying to think what other items they might be considering offering in more inclusive bundles.

[MylesS]

Just now, bluemarble said:

Interesting. Were the "different items" they asked about things such as pre-paid hotel and dining service charge, alternative dining meals, spa credit, photography credit, other? Just trying to think what other items they might be considering offering in more inclusive bundles.

For me, all items they asked or were interesting in having included were in my screenshot. Not sure if others will get more. That being said, we had a full spa pass for this trip, so I'd assume if they did use this information to personalise the survey more, it wasn't used here.

[Chart Room Princess]

I received the survey based on my June 2023 12 night cruise to Northern Europe. The categories on my survey were the exact same ones listed in MylesS’ screenshot above. The examples would list different chosen categories and ask which cruise you prefer and whether you would have booked that cruise or not. I also declined to provide my annual income.

[david63]

Going from that screenshot the thing that baffles me is why drinks and wi-fi are almost twice as much if you have a balcony than if you have an inside cabin😕surely they would be the same?

[Winifred 22]

I would like a refundable deposit. 

[Patria21]

Ah, Cunard. I received the survey based on my April 23 crossing on the QM2, which of course never happened because the ship was laid up in Southampton. The first question asked was why did I cancel - to which I answered I didn't, you did. The survey then proceeded to ask me the same hypotheticals shown above. One other tiny oddity/annoyance with which probably only other board members who live in Washington, DC can empathize: The survey asks which US state you live in, but doesn't list the District as an option. It's not a big deal, obviously - but you kind of expect a large company to get something like that right on an internet survey.

[bluemarble]

19 minutes ago, Patria21 said:

Ah, Cunard. I received the survey based on my April 23 crossing on the QM2, which of course never happened because the ship was laid up in Southampton. The first question asked was why did I cancel - to which I answered I didn't, you did.

 

Similar experience here. I received the survey a short time ago for the 7-night April 30th transatlantic crossing from New York which of course Cunard cancelled.

 

Here are a few of the oddities I noticed in that survey.

 

1) They reminded me of the amount of on-board spending money that was included with my booking, but they listed that amount with the £ symbol rather than the $ symbol.

 

2) They also asked me "What was the main reason for cancelling that cruise?" even though they were the ones who cancelled it.

 

3) They presented me with several alternatives which included money for shore excursions, but of course there isn't any opportunity to take shore excursions during a transatlantic crossing, so those alternatives had no appeal for me.

 

4) They presented me with several alternatives which included a wi-fi package, but as a diamond member of the Cunard World Club I already receive sufficient internet credit to cover a wi-fi package for a 7-night crossing, so those alternatives also had no appeal for me.

[bluemarble]

Here's one other nuance about the survey I didn't mention in my previous reply. The alternatives I was given for the "Refund" option were "Non refundable" or "Fully refundable up to 90 days before sailing". In the US, refundable deposits are currently refundable only up to 120 days before sailing (for sailings of 30 days or less). I don't know if they were intentionally proposing a loosening to that policy for the US. More likely I figure they meant the 90 day cutoff for those in the UK. If they were to offer refundable deposits in the UK, that would be in line with the 90 day final payment date in the UK rather than the 120 day final payment date here in the US. My guess is they were being a tad sloppy if they stated "90 days" in the survey wording for both the US and the UK.

[sogne]

our survey was based on 4n to Amsterdam pretty pointless I thought

[nosapphire]

The majority of surveys are issued by third-party organisations (usually market research companies) contracted to run a survey, collate the results, and present the collated findings to the company that employed them.

The third party rarely has any in depth knowledge about the subject itself, or which countries they are sending the surveys to, which can explain why the questions sometimes seem a bit odd.

Somewhere at the very end should be (in teeny-tiny print) the name of the company collecting the information "on behalf of..."

[bluemarble]

15 minutes ago, nosapphire said:

The majority of surveys are issued by third-party organisations (usually market research companies) contracted to run a survey, collate the results, and present the collated findings to the company that employed them.

The third party rarely has any in depth knowledge about the subject itself, or which countries they are sending the surveys to, which can explain why the questions sometimes seem a bit odd.

Somewhere at the very end should be (in teeny-tiny print) the name of the company collecting the information "on behalf of..."

 

I may have missed the teeny-tiny print naming the survey company. But I can tell you the URL for the portion of the survey asking general questions such as demographics indicates the survey company is Borderless Access ("survey.borderlessaccess.com").

 

The URL for the portion of the survey presenting different cruise options to pick from changes to "eu.surveyme.online".

[ExArkie]

17 hours ago, bluemarble said:

They reminded me of the amount of on-board spending money that was included with my booking, but they listed that amount with the £ symbol rather than the $ symbol.

I have received a few scattered messages from Cunard (or marketing groups acting on their behalf) that seem to imply they think I live in the UK rather than the US. Nothing consistent, a ratio of probably one out of seven or eight, but it suggests a field in their database that’s not checked prior to sending out a notice. 
 

Of course, that beats the airline KLM who are persistent and consistent in their assumption I live in Belgium, probably because one time about 16 years ago, I had to book a short-notice trip from Brussels to Shanghai (long story), regardless of the fact they have my actual address in their database. 

[NE John]

Maybe all this new Artificial Intelligence will solve these problems?!?

[safarigal]

19 hours ago, Patria21 said:

Ah, Cunard. I received the survey based on my April 23 crossing on the QM2, which of course never happened because the ship was laid up in Southampton. The first question asked was why did I cancel - to which I answered I didn't, you did. The survey then proceeded to ask me the same hypotheticals shown above. One other tiny oddity/annoyance with which probably only other board members who live in Washington, DC can empathize: The survey asks which US state you live in, but doesn't list the District as an option. It's not a big deal, obviously - but you kind of expect a large company to get something like that right on an internet survey.

I was also on the cancelled April 23rd crossing, so I was actually quite annoyed by the survey. All I was trying to do is get home after the world voyage on Mary, so questions about would I have taken an earlier crossing or a later one were quite annoying. I know their algorithm probably didn't identify those of us who couldn't sail back home or go on the return crossing, and we were still able to complete most of the survey, but it is still frustrating.

[bluemarble]

7 minutes ago, safarigal said:

I was also on the cancelled April 23rd crossing, so I was actually quite annoyed by the survey. All I was trying to do is get home after the world voyage on Mary, so questions about would I have taken an earlier crossing or a later one were quite annoying. I know their algorithm probably didn't identify those of us who couldn't sail back home or go on the return crossing, and we were still able to complete most of the survey, but it is still frustrating.

 

I hear you. Our booking on the cancelled April 30 crossing was the first of three consecutive bookings on QM2 (eastbound crossing, Norway, westbound crossing). We ended up flying to England to salvage the Norway and westbound crossings). So yes, the options about taking earlier or later crossings were irrelevant to our situation. But I played along and chose the options that would have been the most appealing to me without regard to the other circumstances.

 

Generally for me the most important of the options presented was to have a refundable deposit. I always picked a refundable option over non-refundable one. And when both options presented were non-refundable I made sure to select "No" when asked if would have booked the option I selected. I do hope those of you in the UK will eventually be able to choose fares with refundable deposits as we enjoy in the US. Perhaps this survey is a step in that direction.

[Winifred 22]

Refunds generally in the U K are non refundable for anything requiring a deposit so realistically I don’t think this will ever be an option. 

[MylesS]

3 hours ago, bluemarble said:

I do hope those of you in the UK will eventually be able to choose fares with refundable deposits as we enjoy in the US. Perhaps this survey is a step in that direction.

Appreciate I may be the only one with this opinion, but I'd rather have Grills packages that include drinks & WiFi (which I believe those of you in the US can get) over refundable deposits.

Edited January 3 by MylesS

[bluemarble]

25 minutes ago, MylesS said:

Appreciate I may be the only one with this opinion, but I'd rather have Grills packages that include drinks & WiFi (which I believe those of you in the US can get) over refundable deposits.

 

I suspect you are not alone with that opinion. Just to clarify, the standard Grill Suites Offer in the US includes a drinks package (for drinks up to $12) and pre-payment of the Hotel and Dining Service Charge ($16.50 per person per day for Grill Suites). It does not include a WiFi package.

Edited January 3 by bluemarble

[WantedOnVoyage]

This regular Grills passenger would much rather have the lower fares charged for the UK market and buy a drinks package that actually works for most drinks.  With the considerable increase in the per drink prices across the board, $12 doesn't get you much at all.  It used to be real benefit. No longer. 

 

 

[Thaxted]

On 1/2/2024 at 4:03 PM, Patria21 said:

Ah, Cunard. I received the survey based on my April 23 crossing on the QM2, which of course never happened because the ship was laid up in Southampton. The first question asked was why did I cancel - to which I answered I didn't, you did. The survey then proceeded to ask me the same hypotheticals shown above. One other tiny oddity/annoyance with which probably only other board members who live in Washington, DC can empathize: The survey asks which US state you live in, but doesn't list the District as an option. It's not a big deal, obviously - but you kind of expect a large company to get something like that right on an internet survey.

I empathize. Which state did you claim as your own? I chose Maryland, but next time I'll look for something more exotic. American Samoa sounds about right.

[Patria21]

46 minutes ago, Thaxted said:

I empathize. Which state did you claim as your own? I chose Maryland, but next time I'll look for something more exotic. American Samoa sounds about right.

Maryland as well - but I like your idea better. 

[TouchstoneFeste]

13 hours ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

This regular Grills passenger would much rather have the lower fares charged for the UK market and buy a drinks package that actually works for most drinks.  With the considerable increase in the per drink prices across the board, $12 doesn't get you much at all.  It used to be real benefit. No longer. 

 

 

On our recent voyage it appears they were being somewhat flexible in applying the limit. Some (not all) wines over $12 did not appear on our account. We also received an unexplained nearly $60 refund after the voyage. I couldn't make it match up exactly to the drinks charged, but the only other less-than-$60 purchases on board were some small items from the shop. Or perhaps I should be thanking Cunard for the gift of George the Cunard bear.

[tacticalbanjo]

I'd rather they included gratuities or offered a combined drinks, wifi and grats package like Princess do but that wasn't an option. 

 

I did wonder what they would replace the current World Club wifi credit with if they started to include wifi in the fares.