Cruise survey

[Lena11033]

What's the point of them if anything less than 10 is a failure? 

 

That's not a true survey on how the cruise was. People are putting 10s to not impact employees when that may not be the truth, so not only is the company not improving on issues people are not able to grow in their role.

 

[Georgia_Peaches]

First, thank you for taking the time to read and respond to questions.  It is my hope that you will respond to tough questions as many good ones regarding wine choice, lackluster menus, and lounge furniture have been asked and I eagerly await those responses. 

 

I have sailed Celebrity pretty exclusively since 2015 but have recently branched out to other lines because the Celebrity product is changing.  However, one thing that has remained consistent is Celebrity's ability to acquire great crew for all of the ships in the fleet.  Without fail, every crew member we encounter is courteous, welcoming, and willing to go the extra mile to make a vacation feel special.  But nothing is perfect all of the time and sometimes, constructive feedback about an experience can be helpful if one is truly interested in continuous quality improvement.  However, I will no longer complete a post-cruise survey until Celebrity management discontinues the practice of allowing the crew to actively solicit a ten rating on the survey.  This is simply ridiculous and quite frankly, very uncomfortable. If everything is rated a ten then a ten rating becomes nothing more than average.  On my most recent cruise on Edge to Alaska (May 31-June 7) my husband and I were literally hounded for a ten rating by our server in Luminae, the M'd in Luminae, as well as the sommelier.  Our butler also stressed the importance of a ten rating.  We received the spiel for a ten rating at every meal starting about mid-week through the trip.  At the conclusion of our last breakfast in Luminae on debarkation day, the hostess at the stand in Luminae actually called after us as we were departing..."don't forget to give us a 10!"

 

If upper management has created a culture among the ranks that anything less than a 10 on the survey is unacceptable, then how are consumers of the Celebrity product ever supposed to give honest feedback?  Is honest feedback something Celebrity really wants?

 

Again, thank you for taking the time.

Edited July 3 by Georgia_Peaches

[conquesodor]

I appreciate that Celebrity wants to survey customers on their cruise experience, but the pressure that crew evidently feel around this is getting out of hand and is probably skewing results. It seems that it has become standard practice for crew to tell passengers that being rated anything below a 10 out of 10 is viewed as a failure. There is no point in having a survey designed around a 10-point score if this is how crew and their managers interpret the surveys. I value the opportunity to provide feedback and to praise crew who go above and beyond, but the way the current system is working - even if unintentionally - is flawed. Passengers certainly should not be getting coached by crew on how to answer the survey. I hope the process can be redesigned to work better for everyone. Thank you.

[Laura Hodges Bethge]

We always want our guests to provide us with their honest feedback so that we can continuously enhance our experience and offerings. The post-cruise survey is one of the best tools we have to truly understand what we do well and what needs improvement. We do not interpret ratings less than 10 as a failure, nor do we expect to always receive 10s.  We constantly strive to be better and to provide our guests with their dream vacation, so we encourage you to answer honestly. 

[bjahil47]

1 hour ago, Laura Hodges Bethge said:

We always want our guests to provide us with their honest feedback so that we can continuously enhance our experience and offerings. The post-cruise survey is one of the best tools we have to truly understand what we do well and what needs improvement. We do not interpret ratings less than 10 as a failure, nor do we expect to always receive 10s.  We constantly strive to be better and to provide our guests with their dream vacation, so we encourage you to answer honestly. 

This information should be relayed to all crew as they believe anything less than a 10 is failing and that they will be reprimanded for it.  They should also not continually ask for 10’s.

[lv2cruisgrl]

3 hours ago, bjahil47 said:

This information should be relayed to all crew as they believe anything less than a 10 is failing and that they will be reprimanded for it.  They should also not continually ask for 10’s.

I agree!  Some practically beg us to give them a 10!

[Georgia_Peaches]

I'm just happy that LHB addressed the question.  I wish she had followed up with something like, ..."we will look into the practice across the fleet of hounding passengers for a 10 on the survey and recommend that this practice be stopped immediately..."  But at least it's now on her radar.

[Spif Barwunkel]

8 hours ago, Laura Hodges Bethge said:

We always want our guests to provide us with their honest feedback so that we can continuously enhance our experience and offerings. The post-cruise survey is one of the best tools we have to truly understand what we do well and what needs improvement. We do not interpret ratings less than 10 as a failure, nor do we expect to always receive 10s.  We constantly strive to be better and to provide our guests with their dream vacation, so we encourage you to answer honestly. 

Honest feedback should be just that, without prodding or pandering by staff and crew in order to solicit high numbers. Take the numbers game out completely and rely on management only to rate their charges. Passengers will add to those ratings through the post-cruise survey as they see fit. We will recognize the exceptional without being told to and we will bring attention to those who fall short. In the meantime, please make it a "point" across the fleet that favorable solicitation of ratings is no longer acceptable. At times I feel insulted that I have to be reminded about the only number that counts. No matter the quality of service, there is a taint to an otherwise good relationship.

[PROCRUISE]

21 hours ago, Laura Hodges Bethge said:

We always want our guests to provide us with their honest feedback so that we can continuously enhance our experience and offerings. The post-cruise survey is one of the best tools we have to truly understand what we do well and what needs improvement. We do not interpret ratings less than 10 as a failure, nor do we expect to always receive 10s.  We constantly strive to be better and to provide our guests with their dream vacation, so we encourage you to answer honestly. 

If a rating less than 10 is not noted as a failure, then why do your staff members plead for a rating of "10" as if their jobs depended on it?

[jlawrence01]

The issue that I have with the survey is that it gets sent to you upon departure and you get about a week to complete it.  For us, a cruise is one week of a five or six week adventure often without email.  When we get time to complete the survey, it is already closed.

[ggo85]

I fear the result of this thread will be to "punish" the crew for soliciting 10s.  

The reason the crew is begging for 10s (we got it too from Luminae, our butler, our cabin steward) is that they fear retribution if they don't receive this score.  We were told that "quality of food" reflected on the Luminae staff, even if the quality of meat was terrible b/c the company won't spend the money for better meat.

 

The survey is designed to give Corporate the answers they want.  There is no nuance in the questions, and responsibility for any negativity appears to be placed solely on the crew rather than corporate decisions.  The only way to get better is to get constructive feedback.  X clearly doesn't want that.    

[LXA350]

It is very annoying to get to hear every cruise the begging of cruise members to get a 10 rating. Overall, everyone of us can always do better and generally no rating should be given above 9 with some exceptions of course. Nothing in life is perfect, so if it i close to perfect "9" I would consider this a excellent rating.

[Campari231]

My other issue with the survey is that they list the Food in the same category as Wait staff.  There should be a Totally Separate Category for Food, Quality, variety, temperature. ETC.