Giving honest answer on survey, but don’t want to negatively affect staff wages??

[TravelingCircusof5]

Hi all, as the title says, I am about to fill out my post cruise survey. I would like to give honest critique, but most of my issues seem like they are Exec level cruiseline decisions (ex: poor food quality) but not the fault of the staff/ server bringing it out. I want the top brass to hear our opinions, but not the server and room attendant to be held accountable for it. Help?

[leaveitallbehind]

IMO you have two options: fill out the survey honestly but be certain to cover your concerns regarding the line staff openly with any comment section.  They won't be held accountable for, as example, food quality concerns as that is out of their control.  They are only measured on service performance. 

The other option is to address an email separately to the cruise line management and address your concerns that way.  Or do both. 

 

But the surveys do get noted - in particular with anything other than a stellar review - by management, so your concerns should be heard.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

When the question relates to personnel we give a high score if warranted. When it relates to food quality we give a score based on the taste and preparation. Some times it is hard to answer without an overlap, i.e. overall cleanness of the ship or temperature of the food. We always make sure go mention the individuals that made our cruise enjoyable.

[Liao]

37 minutes ago, TravelingCircusof5 said:

Hi all, as the title says, I am about to fill out my post cruise survey. I would like to give honest critique, but most of my issues seem like they are Exec level cruiseline decisions (ex: poor food quality) but not the fault of the staff/ server bringing it out. I want the top brass to hear our opinions, but not the server and room attendant to be held accountable for it. Help?

Surveys should be objective but honest.  Whenever possible in the comment sections, I speciifcally write in the name(s) and role of the individuals I am commending.  I keep ship related concerns (if any) separate from the crew.  Also, if I were having difficulty with a crew member, I'd make every attempt to rectify and communicate the concern when it happens very early in the cruise.  Could just be a misunderstanding.

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, leaveitallbehind said:

IMO you have two options: fill out the survey honestly but be certain to cover your concerns regarding the line staff openly with any comment section.  They won't be held accountable for, as example, food quality concerns as that is out of their control.  They are only measured on service performance. 

The other option is to address an email separately to the cruise line management and address your concerns that way.  Or do both. 

The above is what i would do - fill out the survey honestly and send a separate communication to the executives.  

 

OP, I hope you get what you want out of this.  I've always believed that honesty is the best policy - no matter where it leads.

[Georgia_Peaches]

Just tell the truth.  If you can, name names of those who took care of you so they are not negatively impacted.  Celebrity brass should be able to separate out concerns that are corporate over those that are service related specific to an actual person on the ship.

 

Regarding food quality, I have to say that it has vastly improved over this time last year...IMO, of course.

[CGinMTL]

Surveys normally confirms what an organization already knows.

It does help prioritize issues.

Fill out they survey, be honest .

[phoenix_dream]

I hesitate to agree with the whole be honest philosophy.  Why? On more than one occasion I've had wait staff tell me that they get dinged if you say anything bad about the food as it is their responsibility to ensure you are happy with the food.  Doesn't seem fair or even logical for that matter but more than one person has said that to me.  Personally I would express any concerns of that type by an email to corporate.  If you give a lower grade but put notes in a comments area is that enough to mitigate the damage of a bad rating? Honestly I don't know. 

[cruisinsusin]

26 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

I hesitate to agree with the whole be honest philosophy.  Why? On more than one occasion I've had wait staff tell me that they get dinged if you say anything bad about the food as it is their responsibility to ensure you are happy with the food.  Doesn't seem fair or even logical for that matter but more than one person has said that to me.  Personally I would express any concerns of that type by an email to corporate.  If you give a lower grade but put notes in a comments area is that enough to mitigate the damage of a bad rating? Honestly I don't know. 

I have been told the same thing by multiple waitstaff in both main dining and Luminae.

[jean87510]

4 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I hesitate to agree with the whole be honest philosophy.  Why? On more than one occasion I've had wait staff tell me that they get dinged if you say anything bad about the food as it is their responsibility to ensure you are happy with the food.  Doesn't seem fair or even logical for that matter but more than one person has said that to me.  Personally I would express any concerns of that type by an email to corporate.  If you give a lower grade but put notes in a comments area is that enough to mitigate the damage of a bad rating? Honestly I don't know. 

If you want things to change then be honest.  If the staff matters more than the food, give them all 10s but then don't complain about food.  

 

Edited to add the better solution is to tell them WHEN your food is unacceptable.  And would you say something at home if going out to eat or would you feel sorry for the staff?

Edited April 30 by jean87510

[Liao]

9 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I hesitate to agree with the whole be honest philosophy.  Why? On more than one occasion I've had wait staff tell me that they get dinged if you say anything bad about the food as it is their responsibility to ensure you are happy with the food.  Doesn't seem fair or even logical for that matter but more than one person has said that to me.  Personally I would express any concerns of that type by an email to corporate.  If you give a lower grade but put notes in a comments area is that enough to mitigate the damage of a bad rating? Honestly I don't know. 

Id hesitate to follow that method and just being honest, it could be the staff’s collective way of driving positive feedback.  If Im asked a specific question at the end of the cruise survey and I felt that the food quality was concerning enough, I’m letting them know.  How Celebrity deals with it after is out of my hands.

[chisoxfan]

These surveys (I think X and the others are the same) are very frustrating to me. So if the entertainment is poor but there are one or two standouts there is no way to quantify with a single score. I know you can mention an individual performer but we typically don't make note of the name. The technology certainly exists to list every music act for the cruise but apparently too much work? So I know that naming some people is positive for them (and am glad to do it) but overall the survey is pretty worthless ie. I would be reluctant to leave a poor rating for entertainment when one of the best one or two acts we have seen on board a ship performed.

The survey has become the analytical crutch for management who don't get fully involved in their business. JMHO

[robbinsca]

I spent a number of years in Customer Service front line management. I have no hesitation in giving brutally honest feedback. If you don’t think their Managers coach them to solicit positive reviews with sympathy votes you are a bit naive. The Managers benefit from those ratings too.

 

Customer Service Management knows that the most useful feedback is the ones that have a variety of ratings. The “smile sheets” that give all good or all bad ratings are ignored. The value is in the comments from the honest reviews that offer specific examples in the comments.

 

I once told NCL Jewel that I didn’t appreciate the Buffet Officer telling me that “you must work at Taco Bell” when I questioned the two protein choices for tacos being chili or fajitas. Haven’t sailed on that ship since, though I really like their itineraries.

[chisoxfan]

37 minutes ago, robbinsca said:

 

 

Edited May 1 by chisoxfan
delete

[chisoxfan]

14 minutes ago, chisoxfan said:

  36 minutes ago, robbinsca said:

I spent a number of years in Customer Service front line management. I have no hesitation in giving brutally honest feedback. If you don’t think their Managers coach them to solicit positive reviews with sympathy votes you are a bit naive. The Managers benefit from those ratings too.

That's the other issue with modern surveys.... management  makes them 'important' and like when you get your oil changed at BMW they plead for a good score or 'they will be out on the street with their kids'. Ok, you changed the oil for an exorbitant price.... how good or bad can that experience be...A negative survey tends to hurt the poor stiff doing the work usually under the restraints of management. I expect to have a positive professional experience whether on a cruise, dining, or other service.  I will glady bring up a terrible specific experience to management but it is not my job to do theirs and 'monitor' how they run their business. That is a valuable benefit of cruise critic...one can express their views (not limited by 25 words or less), get feedback from others, not punish individuals who probably had little to do with bad outcomes, and allow others to evaluate the input.

[doghog]

43 minutes ago, chisoxfan said:

That is a valuable benefit of cruise critic...one can express their views (not limited by 25 words or less), get feedback from others, not punish individuals who probably had little to do with bad outcomes, and allow others to evaluate the input.

Which has absolutely nothing to do with the PCS that the staff is being judged by the cruisers and their employer. 

[chisoxfan]

31 minutes ago, doghog said:

Which has absolutely nothing to do with the PCS that the staff is being judged by the cruisers and their employer. 

Never suggested it does. Just that an expansive give and take format like CC offers better insights than a survey. Additionally,  my point was the corporate reliance on 'surveys' is mis- directed in my opinion.

[doghog]

11 minutes ago, chisoxfan said:

Never suggested it does. Just that an expansive give and take format like CC offers better insights than a survey. Additionally,  my point was the corporate reliance on 'surveys' is mis- directed in my opinion.

I stand by what I said.  What others post on CC has nothing to do with the cruise lines PCS. Which this thread is about. Not saying some of what is shared on CC positive, negative experiences, opinions isn't good BTW info. I never had a staff member say to us, don't forget to mention me on CC as it will help me.

Edited May 1 by doghog

[chisoxfan]

1 minute ago, doghog said:

I stand by what I said.  What others post on CC has nothing to do with the cruise lines PCS. Which this thread is about. Not saying some of what is shared on CC positive, negative experiences, opinions isn't good BTW info. CC is of no benefit to the cruise lines employees.

Again, never said that CC has any bearing on cruise line employees. Just offering my opinion that survey's can be a poor measure of actual satisfaction and modern management relies too much on them.  It was not my intention to move 'off topic' but thanks for pointing out this transgression.

[doghog]

3 minutes ago, chisoxfan said:

Again, never said that CC has any bearing on cruise line employees. Just offering my opinion that survey's can be a poor measure of actual satisfaction and modern management relies too much on them.  It was not my intention to move 'off topic' but thanks for pointing out this transgression.

Got it. That's exactly why my comments. No problem. 

[Muushka]

I agree with what the poster wrote about the waitstaff being responsible for your satisfaction with your meal.  On a recent cruise we were less than pleased with the food quality at Luminae (I think he could tell and he really did try to get us to order something else) and on the last day our waiter asked us to please not complain about food because it was his responsibility for us to be happy.

 

So I didn't complain on the survey.  I think if we had realized we shouldn't, we would have been much more picky.

[jlawrence01]

Two comments on the subject.  We have been on eight cruises on seven different lines.

 

The ONLY cruise line where we were always hounded for a good review was RCCL.  It got to the point of being annoying.  When we finally did get home ten days after the cruise, the link to the survey did not work as we had waited too long.

 

Second, if you are unhappy with any aspect of service, it is better to take it up with a manager immediately as it is likely that others are having the same experience.  That allows the problem to be resolved.

 

On my cruise on the Millennium, I only had two comments - that the sound system in the Main theatre was not good and that certain dishes in the MDR were not properly prepared.  They were minor issues.

[the penguins]

On 4/28/2024 at 6:28 PM, TravelingCircusof5 said:

Hi all, as the title says, I am about to fill out my post cruise survey. I would like to give honest critique, but most of my issues seem like they are Exec level cruiseline decisions (ex: poor food quality) but not the fault of the staff/ server bringing it out. I want the top brass to hear our opinions, but not the server and room attendant to be held accountable for it. Help?

Be honest. The survey differentiates between “service” and “quality”. If you mark the staff are good marking the qyss as quality poor has no affect on the staff.

If the quality is poor or excellent we tell the Maitre D on the day.

Good staff reports help with promotions (we had an outstanding Assistant Waiter who we spoke to the Manager about. A few days later the Manager came back and told us he had checked the person’s assessments, watched their performance for 2 days and they had now been offered a place on a training course to be a  Waiter - The Assistant Waiter was on tears when she found out. 

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, the penguins said:

Good staff reports help with promotions (we had an outstanding Assistant Waiter who we spoke to the Manager about. A few days later the Manager came back and told us he had checked the person’s assessments, watched their performance for 2 days and they had now been offered a place on a training course to be a  Waiter - The Assistant Waiter was on tears when she found out. 

Thanks for sharing this.  Was this onboard a cruise?  I've never proactively spoken to management onboard any ship about an outstanding employee.  I've relied on surveys for this.  Perhaps I should start?  Two lessons that I get from your story:

 

1) One person can make a BIG difference in someone's life

2) Sometimes greatness isn't obvious; sometimes it needs to be pointed out by someone who notices and cares.

[horseymike]

if you do not respond honestly there is no point in completing the survey.