Desire

Just back from my first and last cruise on any ship anywhere. My partner and I sailed on the Inspiration out of New Orleans for a seven day cruise on November 10 with stops at Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. I felt I had done alot of research on cruises but never realized the "hard sell" by the cruise director (aka cruise dictator) as to where to go to buy the "recommended" merchandise at the "recommended" stores or go on the "recommended" tours to get the "best deals", etc. etc. Thankfully I did neither, but plenty of folks did. I wondered if Carnival got a kick back on merchandise, some of the prices were out to lunch. I found Montego Bay very depressing and was back on the ship within the hour, Grand Cayman was a no go due to inclement weather, and Cozumel was quite nice after four days at sea. I also did not realize that many of the workers aboard the vessels are there on contract for up to 10 months at time, most from south american countries or the former soviet block. They do double and triple duty as waiters, bus boys and girls, cook staff and entertainers! The hard working staff apparently gets raises by the ratings received by the customers. Our cruise dictator said less than excellent meant failure for the staff. I wondered again if you filled in the form as excellent all the way (and it was not) does Carnival use that in their advertising, ratings that meet or exceed expectations - no Inspiration there.

Rocky

D-<BR>Sorry to see that your vacation was not good.I thought I was the only one on the planet and this w/s with the same thought.About the crew and all.After 3 days I thought our waiter was gonna fall into the table.Then about midweek he started working on us for our &quot;good comments&quot;.Finally I aksed him.He said if he or any of the crew got less than perfect marks on the comment cards,then boom they were off the ship.He said there were 10 others on shore just waiting for his job.And if he got the boot, he'd have to back to Romania or wherever and have to go into the &quot;Army&quot;.It was a bit annoying to say the least.

Dee

Almost everyone is doing customer satisfaction surveys these days. Most are pressuring the consumer to rate the person, experience, etc. as excellent. In reality, few are truly excellent, many may be very good, but few are excellent. We recently purchased 2 vehicles from different dealers and manufacturers. Both sales persons explained that if the customer satisfaction survey did not come back with the highest rating, the boss whould question them about it and it would effect their job! <BR><BR>When we fill in our comments on the cruises, we ALWAYS mention this pressure to rate everyone excellent, which renders the survey useless. Also, we fill in the rating we believe the individual or experience deserves regardless of the pressure. On one RCCL cruise our waiter was truly excellent and we sent a letter to RCCL with our comments regarding the cruise experience, good and bad, and that our waiter, who we named, was excellent and gave examples. We received a very nice reply and RCCI said that this waiter would recieve a special award.<BR><BR>

Ron

Take it for what it's worth---don't believe everything some of these folks who work on cruise ships tell you.<BR>Naturally they want to get good recommendations AND good tips--sometimes the sadder the story, the better the tips.<BR>Having to go to or back into the army back home has been around for quite a while, along with all the kids and family, etc back home they are supporting.

jess

our cousins went on this same cruise.carnival discounted this trip to only 525 us dollars per person.I can see that the crew has to work for almost nothing at that rate.welcome to the world of slave labor...

Ron

OK--say the cruise lines started paying everyone 20.00 per hour and benefits. How much would the cruise cost then? How many average people could then afford a cruise?<BR>Without cruising being affordable, the cruise lines would be out of business--<BR>without the cruise lines, there would be no jobs for these people who would ,no doubt, have to go back home to the army or some such fate, right?<BR>

Paul Therault

Good post Ron.<BR><BR>Too bad Desire did not enjoy her cruise or the ports. Cruising is not for everyone.<BR><BR>Also, I have sailed every Carnival ship and not once did any wait staff &quot;beg&quot; for a high rating. But then maybe Desire found one that did.<BR><BR>Paul

Desire

Thanks for all the replies. I do realize that if everyone was paid a higher wage then the cost of cruising might be prohibitive to alot of folks. For those that might enjoy the experience of leisuring living its a great value (especially for the quantity of food served!!!)but not for me. I'm still trying to get my land legs back.<BR>-D

Bob

How much money is &quot;a lot&quot; depends on how you look at it. Many of the workers on cruises come from--and plan to return to--countries with very low costs of living. As they have their room and board covered while on the ship and they don't (I believe) pay income taxes, they often leave with/send home what are very significant amounts of money. I've talked to some who plan to spend a year or two at sea and then return home with enough capital to buy or start a business.<BR><BR>A couple of years on a cruise ship can make a huge difference in their standard of living over time.

Ron

If I were 20-22 yr old, I think I would work on a cruise ship for free. Besides the food, lodging, etc- all those girls away from home, lonely. etc.--someone has to confort them!!

xxx

As far as rating the service on a cruise ship is concerned this is everywhere these days. We live in a service oriented society. We recently purchased a new home. We received surveys galore on how each and ever item was handled. The builder then rewards those people with a special bonus. Even Home Depot will call sometimes and ask if your shopping experience was pleasant last Sat. when you were in our store. It is everywhere.Actually it can benefit the consumer. You find these polls when there is so much competition.

Dee

Xxx, the issue Desire originally posted was not that customer satisfaction surveys were conducted by the cruise line. It was the pressure exerted to rate everyone and everything excellent. When customer satisfaction surveys are conducted without pressure to rate a certain way, but based on actual experience, they can benefit the company. When they are conducted with the pressure to rate &quot;excellent,&quot; as they are on cruise ships, they are useless. <BR><BR>We have been called or asked to completed customer satisfaction surveys when our house was completed, after having our cars serviced, after shopping at retailers, etc. However, the only times we have been pressured into rating the experience as excellent was on our cruises and when we bought new cars. <BR><BR>My husband is a Market Research Director of a division of a major global company, one of the Dow Jones industrials, and finds these tactics deplorable and unprofessional. Customer satifaction is another division in his company, but works closely with the market research divisions. In other positions, he has been responible for customer satisfaction. So I do have a little insight in to this. As I said in my above post, we always comment on this hard &quot;sell&quot; tactic.

Paul Thearult

A few years ago waiters on Royal Caribbean asked passengers if they would be so kind as to give them an excellent rating. I have not heard this lately.<BR><BR>This was the only cruise line that I ever heard this and it was not high pressure.<BR><BR>Paul

Bythebeautiful

On my most recent voyage, the cruise director, repeated and repeated and repeated the message of giving an excellent rating to the ship and staff. And, if I did not get the message the first time, it was repeated and repeated ad infinitum on the TV on the only channel we could receive in our stateroom. As for &quot;Desire's&quot; posting about the hard sell, I got it as well. I also just heard that most of the staff get room and board, the tips they receive may be all they earn on the trip, any truth to that?? Is that why they are registered outside the U.S. Another question, why was liquor so expensive, if the alcohol is duty free, the boat registered in Nassau or outside the U.S. why U.S. prices plus tax. Just asking.

Msinsight

FYI when we purchased our new home from the sales people, to the construction foreman, we were highly pleaded with for an excellent review. It would mean a bonus for them. It is not just the cruise ships. I agree the survey is probably useless. On a personal note, unless someone did something awful to me on purpose, I would feel very bad not giving a high rating. To serve the public is difficult enough. To pursuade people by methods of guilt, sympathy to receive a high score from the public only adds stress to an all ready stressful situation. I think the whole survey idea ought to be done away with.