Guest satisfaction surveys

[xiphoid76]

Just got off the Dream for a wonderful three day cruise and had a great time. First time at Palo and loved it. This was our 12th Cruise and first time we were really overwhelmed with the requests to fill out excellents on the guest satisfaction survey. A little too much. These must mean so much to the workers that they are stressed so much about them. It makes us feel pressure to much to give all excellents even if not fully deserved because we don’t want to hurt anyone. I wish it wasn’t this way and we could be more honest and give some criticism when we feel appropriate.

Our waiter told us to hand the survey in to him or the box by the restaurant at breakfast and our room steward told us to leave it on the fish hook outside our door so he could take care of it. I felt uncomfortable doing either as I don’t want them reading it (even though we gave them a great review). Instead we drop ours in the box when we disembark from Deck 3.

I wish they could have us do this only online or that it wouldn’t affect the staff so much as they work so hard.

 

[71 Truck]

My wife and I just got off the Fantasy on Saturday and we had a wonderful time. This was our tenth 7 day cruise so we final made Platinum. Of those cruises we have never revived service any thing less then excellent so we have never had a problem recording this on our survey. The only cast member that had really mentioned the survey was our server at dinner. He did not make a big deal about it but did tell us how important it was for Disney so they knew if there was any thing in general on the ship that needed to be addressed. If we ever did have a problem we would not have a problem filling out the survey accordingly. Disney does not know if there is a problem unless you let them know. We always drop our survey in the box outside of the restaurant we eat at in the morning.

As a side not we just revived an email from Disney cruise line to do a online survey.

My wife and I are DVC members and were Annual Pass holders so we get surveys all the time. There have been times we have had issues at Walt Disney World and let them know on the surveys they have sent us.

 

[Dug720]

The box outside the MDRs is NOT collected by the servers. Those are emptied and collected (and preliminary numbers compiled) by guest services and other officers who work with them. So if you are uncomfortable handing it to a server or putting it on your fish, that is the way to go.

That said, if there were issues that are leading you to put not great scores or comments, my question would be: did you address them when they came up or did you just let them fester until this survey? They cannot fix or try to what they do not know is wrong, and IMHO it is very unfair to them turn around and penalize them for something they did not know you were not happy with.

 

[xiphoid76]

The box outside the MDRs is NOT collected by the servers. Those are emptied and collected (and preliminary numbers compiled) by guest services and other officers who work with them. So if you are uncomfortable handing it to a server or putting it on your fish, that is the way to go.

That said, if there were issues that are leading you to put not great scores or comments, my question would be: did you address them when they came up or did you just let them fester until this survey? They cannot fix or try to what they do not know is wrong, and IMHO it is very unfair to them turn around and penalize them for something they did not know you were not happy with.

Absolutely nothing but excellent service on this cruise - so no issue there. Just felt more pressure this cruise than the rest of my cruises to give excellent reviews. My issue was more with leaving them on the fish hook to be collected - does not seem very secure. I would never let anything ‘fester’ if I had an issue - I am from Philly as my husband says - we don’t ‘fester’

 

[Dug720]

Absolutely nothing but excellent service on this cruise - so no issue there. Just felt more pressure this cruise than the rest of my cruises to give excellent reviews. My issue was more with leaving them on the fish hook to be collected - does not seem very secure. I would never let anything ‘fester’ if I had an issue - I am from Philly as my husband says - we don’t ‘fester’

They have the boxes scattered around at the MDRs and usually Guest Services and/or stairs in the atrium at least. Easy enough to drop them there.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

We were actually told by our servers on our recent Wonder cruise to not give them the surveys. I don't recall the exact reason. They said to make sure the survey is deposited in the available boxes.

 

[xiphoid76]

We were actually told by our servers on our recent Wonder cruise to not give them the surveys. I don't recall the exact reason. They said to make sure the survey is deposited in the available boxes.

That is why I found it very odd this time - both our waiter and our room steward basically wanted us to hand them the surveys. They were all excellent so there were no issues, just seemed strange this time.

 

[dcassetta]

That is why I found it very odd this time - both our waiter and our room steward basically wanted us to hand them the surveys. They were all excellent so there were no issues, just seemed strange this time.

I wonder if this is to make sure the surveys were actually done. I am sure some people leave the ship without completing the survey. Perhaps you need a certain percentage of "excellent" scores to earn the bonuses. If you have 5 tables and one table does not turn in a survey, then statistically it may look like you only achieved 80% excellent. That 5th table did think you did an excellent job, but as they did not turn in a survey, there is no way to know.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

That is why I found it very odd this time - both our waiter and our room steward basically wanted us to hand them the surveys. They were all excellent so there were no issues, just seemed strange this time.

Honestly, I would think any being handed in by a cast member would be suspect. I've seen the bad side of society enough to know that there are going to be people who might fudge things given the opportunity.

 

[mocodis]

if we have any issues, we report it and everytime, they are taken care of that same day. I may note it on the survey indicating it was addressed most efficiently. Also during the cruise, I will write notes of appreciation and hand them into guest services. Servers benefit by getting extra time off. see you onboard.

 

[Chirple]

Just got off the Dream for a wonderful three day cruise and had a great time. First time at Palo and loved it. This was our 12th Cruise and first time we were really overwhelmed with the requests to fill out excellents on the guest satisfaction survey. A little too much. These must mean so much to the workers that they are stressed so much about them. It makes us feel pressure to much to give all excellents even if not fully deserved because we don’t want to hurt anyone. I wish it wasn’t this way and we could be more honest and give some criticism when we feel appropriate.

Our waiter told us to hand the survey in to him or the box by the restaurant at breakfast and our room steward told us to leave it on the fish hook outside our door so he could take care of it. I felt uncomfortable doing either as I don’t want them reading it (even though we gave them a great review). Instead we drop ours in the box when we disembark from Deck 3.

I wish they could have us do this only online or that it wouldn’t affect the staff so much as they work so hard.

We were on the Magic at the end of October, and guest surveys were handled in the usual fashion—drop box. Only one time on a previous cruise did we get the excellent speech over multiple days from our MDR server.

I am so glad that you enjoyed Palo as I recall you were hesitant to go. My main question is did you have any issue with your footwear selection?

 

[yayornay]

We were on the Fantasy in October and experienced the same. Every single dinner in the MDR, it was reiterated that the service should be excellent and is there any reason why we wouldn't give them an excellent rating. It was overkill. I was really actually quite peeved about it by the end of the week. Service was good and I wouldn't complain about anything other than them asking me repeatedly if there was any reason why I wouldn't give them an excellent rating. Then they'd move to my husband and ask him. It felt very fake and scripted.

 

[xiphoid76]

We were on the Magic at the end of October, and guest surveys were handled in the usual fashion—drop box. Only one time on a previous cruise did we get the excellent speech over multiple days from our MDR server.

I am so glad that you enjoyed Palo as I recall you were hesitant to go. My main question is did you have any issue with your footwear selection?

We went and I have to say I was floored at how much I loved it! The food was excellent and service phenomenal. We did wear sneakers and had no problems - there were people there at brunch also in sneakers, flip flops and shorts, so I am thankful the dress issue did not come up. We wore jeans and a dress shirt. You have a great memory!!

 

[cadien]

I don't remember the exact categories, but if it was something like a scale of 1 to 5, there's not necessarily anything specific enough between a 4 and a 5 to complain about.

 

[Mto3]

We were just on the Dream in November and also were told to leave the survey in the drop box. If I remember correctly, the server brought it up the night before.

 

[kiford]

We've always deposited them in the boxes. I think that some people just don't get around to putting them in the boxes so occasionally servers will allow people to give them to them at breakfast on the last day for convenience. I don't think they're really supposed to do that but they probably figure it's better than not having them done at all.

We often get the "excellent" speech but I have to admit I pretty much tune it out. If I don't feel like I got good service, I first try to deal with it (and we had to one cruise - they finally replaced our assistant server and we got a fantastic replacement). Once the problem is fixed, I'm happy to give them a good score and forget the original issue existed. I'm not too terribly hard on people in my review, but I'm not going to feel guilty about scoring something at a level I feel is appropriate.

BUT, I usually attach another page and provide comments - some for context of why I didn't mark excellent and some to name CMs and what they did for me. I believe it carries far more weight than a tick mark on a set of boxes from 1-5. It takes more time and thought to do that - which people won't generally do if it wasn't significant enough for them - and it provides a concrete record of why this person deserves credit and isn't just because I saw their nametag or they asked me to mention them. I was not in the least bit happy about the no-choice appetizer plate served during the AP show night because it has seafood on it to which I'm allergic. I can't even eat anything off the plate once seafood has been placed on it as I don't know if there's been contact. But last cruise my server offered me chicken soup from the children's menu and let me know that it was available every night. I didn't know that. I want them to change that appetizer and that can't happen if I say it's excellent. But I definitely gave a shout-out to the server on my comment card.

I'll provide comments about how so-and-so remembered me from my last cruise and how nice that felt, how having a server chat to me for a few minutes every time I went to the Cove Cafe made me feel like I was going to my favourite local coffee shop, how my assistant server found a wine pairing for an entree that didn't have one listed, etc. Sometimes it's the little things that can enhance your experience - I don't think that it has to be something way above and beyond before it should be acknowledged. I just feel that it's more helpful to provide genuine feedback, context and recognition than to say it's excellent even if it's not because I feel bad about what might happen.

 

[CamColt]

Wow! In 21 Disney Cruises we have never been told this. We get the excellent speech which I despise, but I hope they aren't getting this crazy about it, they they want to see it first. That is absurd! The fact that the survey asks if you are being pressured to give excellent just shows, they need to find a better way.

 

[jrabbit]

My guess is that DCL has been bringing on more new CM's and training them in anticipation of the new ships coming on line in a few years. I also guess that the newbies will give the excellent speech more often than the long term CM's. And with more employees and currently still only 4 ships, the competition for the jobs now is greater ... and therefore anything that can set them apart from their competition (coworkers) keeps them working now.

 

[AquaDame]

The most we were pressed for an excellent was on the Fantasy in 2012.. it was our second cruise and we made the mistake of bringing the survey that had just been delivered to dinner with us to fill out. Our server literally sat at our table and watched us fill-in his bubble... they needn't have worried.. we told them ALL WEEK they had been excellent!

 

[Ralph&Pam]

I’ve learned to deal with the “excellent” speech up front. The first time the server starts in, I note that we’ve been on many cruises and that we understand the importance of rating them fairly. I indicate that we will let them know if anything is not to our liking and indicate that getting that speech more than once is at the top of my “don’t like” list. Haven’t had a repeat of the speech on any cruise since. We always recognize excellent service on the evaluation forms and as additional cash on top of our prepaid gratuities in the envelopes that we distribute on the last night.