Comment Cards - The Hard Sell

[fredandkell]

Just off Fantasy (10th cruise). Server and assistant each gave 5-minute spiels about comment cards the last two nights. About the importance of Excellent over Very Good. One said they needed the rating to get a promotion and to be able to send money to their sick mother. Rest of my table mates were embarrassed. It was very uncomfortable to sit through. One said it amounted to begging. I joked ‘what happens if they don’t get an excellent rating do they get thrown overboard.’

I’ve never seen it that hard before. Usually they mention a little bit and that’s it. State room hostess didn’t say anything. The thing is both of our servers were excellent and I was going to give them that rating anyway. Has something changed? Or was it just these two in particular or is this a trend? I’ve never seen such desperation before. It was indeed begging. And I noticed on the comment card they don’t ask anymore if you felt pressured into giving your rating. Interesting.

We had the same server on two different Disney cruises. He did the same thing to us. It became a family joke. Like, I would say to my son, can you please pass the mustard, and he would reply, “Only if you give me a 5-star rating!”

 

[Dug720]

I’ve gotten the same speech on Royal Caribbean and on Celebrity. Only difference there is I don’t always have the same servers so I get it each night I have different ones (especially an issue on Edge Class if you’re visiting all 4 MDRs since they don’t do rotational dining - you pick on your own).

 

[DCLMP]

And the situation will never improve if we all did that. IMO, it's up to me to let DCL know how my trip went. If I don't the bad never gets fixed. And the good might disappear.

Agreed that’s the whole purpose of a survey. I’ll be honest half the time aI forget to drop it in the box. I always do the ones they email.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I wish they'd give it to us the day before. Instead they wait until the last night, when you're trying to pack, deal with tip envelopes, and still hoping to see a show or have some last minute fun. They also don't leave enough empty space to write in general comments.

 

[Yensid29]

I think if they were to put the survey in the DCL app it would be a lot easier and faster to complete.

 

[kateandy08096]

THE SCENE: DINNER ON DISNEY WISH; OCTOBER 2019
DAY TWO AT DINNER:
*
...... straight out of a Stephen King novel when the Head Server asked the obvious Newbie DCL Guest to the right of me "How is you meal" and was told "It is Good."
*
My heart just fell to my feet in .01 seconds as my head bowed as I was trying to disappear as quickly as I could as sure enough, out came verbiage from the Server that would be just ripe for a Stephen King novel in his attempt to goad the now in shock Guest to change his answer.
*
*
With that, thank you for this thread as I have been busting my rear to get where am I am at with all aspects in life and unless I get talked out of it by fellow cruise DISsers come this November onboard the Fantasy,
I really just desire to enjoy my first time use of a veranda (and skipping 2nd seating dining altogether) while only focusing in on my Room Attendant and Room Service.
*
I hear one peep out of anyone about surveys and its all zeros for everyone of the comment card.



T.T.F.N.
&
Cheers Y'all

Not only is this absolutely hilarious I agree 100000% I didn't spend a bazillion dollars to be harassed by the workers for a survey. If they want excellent reviews I expect excellent service which is definitely what we did not receive last sail on the dream.

 

[cmph]

I don't care if we get the speech once per cruise. What (slightly) annoyed me in March was that it now goes beyond your dinner team. We had lunch in the MDR and were asked how everything was as we left. No one working that shift was a part of our table's dining team or even on our rotation. I can't remember what my innocuous response was - but I wasn't thinking of the survey language at all, just politely replying to the question as we walked out. The immediate reply to my innocuous response was an overly enthusiastic (wink wink) "I hope it was excellent!" Ok, yeah, got the hint. It's a whole new level if I have to use the word "excellent" literally any time someone asks me how something was.

 

[gatordoc]

I wish they'd give it to us the day before. Instead they wait until the last night, when you're trying to pack, deal with tip envelopes, and still hoping to see a show or have some last minute fun. They also don't leave enough empty space to write in general comments.

As is unfortunately true with many companies they don’t really want comments. I almost always add an extra page, though. And I’ve learned with online surveys that if you are fortunate enough to get a comment box, you likely won’t get another one, so use all the space and include all your comments whether they directly address the question asked or not.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

As is unfortunately true with many companies they don’t really want comments. I almost always add an extra page, though. And I’ve learned with online surveys that if you are fortunate enough to get a comment box, you likely won’t get another one, so use all the space and include all your comments whether they directly address the question asked or not.

So true.

 

[Jsoenning]

I create my own comment section by adding (with a staple so it doesn't get lost) a whole page to the survey. Usually one of the letterhead stationery sheets from the desk, but, on occasion, a full binder paper page.

One of the questions does address "did you have a problem"
View attachment 759846

We did the add a sheet thing on our last Disney Magic cruise because we felt there wasn't enough space to brag about the cast members that went above and beyond. I hope it made it through.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

It has been so bad for us that we almost quit sailing DCL. It was outrageous--we could not have a conversation bc someone was constantly interrupting asking if whatever was excellent. My mom was on a strict diet (she's a competetitve powerlifter) and would sometimes eat only a few bites of one of the courses, and she would not have dessert ever. Then they'd harass her endlessly about what was wrong and bring her more stuff.

On our last couple of cruises, one of us gets up and tells both the server and the head waiter that we are going to leave excellent ratings, and that we want to be left alone to enjoy our meal. That we will let them know if we need something. And that we will leave excellent ratings no matter what as long as that happens. We stress that we understand the game and that we are going to leave excellent ratings.

Every time I get a survey, I tell them this policy of requiring excellent ratings for compensation of a wait staff team that is clearly working their tails off is maddening to the guests.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We did the add a sheet thing on our last Disney Magic cruise because we felt there wasn't enough space to brag about the cast members that went above and beyond. I hope it made it through.

That was the case as well for our WBPC on the Wonder last year. It was our 25th Disney cruise and by far the best ever, with no survey harassment. We went to GS to adjust our tips higher and while I was being helped, another guest in the line next to us was there for the same thing. I didnt think to add a sheet of paper. Do you pack a stapler?

 

[Dug720]

That was the case as well for our WBPC on the Wonder last year. It was our 25th Disney cruise and by far the best ever, with no survey harassment. We went to GS to adjust our tips higher and while I was being helped, another guest in the line next to us was there for the same thing. I didnt think to add a sheet of paper. Do you pack a stapler?

I email after the fact. On the contact us email page there is a box for "my recent cruise". I'll email at the airport waiting to fly home. (I do the comment card too, but I'd rather not mess up the scannable forms with tape or staple holes.)

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I email after the fact. On the contact us email page there is a box for "my recent cruise". I'll email at the airport waiting to fly home. (I do the comment card too, but I'd rather not mess up the scannable forms with tape or staple holes.)

Thanks for that tip.

 

[auntlynne]

I understand the need for surveys as they will allow companies to see what works and where to make improvements, but I have got to say that the hard sell (or worse, the guilt tripping) is really frustrating the past few years everywhere. At the Apple Store "Hey anything under a 10 is a failing grade!" - what exactly did the service I get in having you go to the back to pick up a computer that I ordered online that qualifies as anything other than average? A nice day at Topgolf followed up by a hard sell on a survey for a "discount" of $5? Or a week long cruise with excellent service that has the last night or two guilting passengers into hand delivering an envelope with tips that we paid for 3 months ago already credited to the service staff's account? And with a survey that pushes even harder for everything to be "excellent". I think they'd get more honest reviews if they asked to list the staff members who made the best impression (but limited it to maybe 2 or 3?)

What I find deplorable about Apple (especially) is that anything other than a “10” DOES go down as a 0. “Acceptable” should be a valid response when that is what is called for in the transaction! Just like I don’t want Chick-Fil-A workers to have to be the last one to speak in our interaction. Let them learn to have normal, pleasant interactions - and learn to read a situation.

I don’t want to do employee evaluations when I am on vacation. And give me a place to make constructive comments - not just numerical values applied to human interactions. I honestly don’t feel my opinion matters despite 20 sailings. Shouldn’t that be evidence that things are being done pretty well? Because you know I have other, less expensive options. Wow, that was a load of frustration. We started getting the talk of how important the survey about Night 7 (of 8). I cut him off before I had to hear the word, “Excellent.”

Thanks for letting me vent.

(Two days after the cruise and we are looking at cruises for next year. Again, do they need a survey from us?!). And we bought one placeholder. Because we couldn’t get two.

 

[AquaDame]

If it's excellent or nothing change it to yes/no.

 

[Remysister28]

I just sailed on the Wonder’s repositioning cruise to Vancouver and had a great time. Many memorable moments with cast and crew members. I am happy to say I did not hear about comment cards until the last day and because of reading Disboards I was fully prepared. I had a few people I wanted to give excellent ratings.

 

[Jsoenning]

That was the case as well for our WBPC on the Wonder last year. It was our 25th Disney cruise and by far the best ever, with no survey harassment. We went to GS to adjust our tips higher and while I was being helped, another guest in the line next to us was there for the same thing. I didnt think to add a sheet of paper. Do you pack a stapler?

I believe we were given a paper clip by the concierge team. Didn't staple it but it's funny seeing you ask made me wonder how did we do that?

 

[andrew870]

Everyone should flip the script on the staff. Prepare a comment card for them on how you (the customer) have been during the voyage. Also how I can improve on future sailings.

 

[RedHead0186]

And give me a place to make constructive comments - not just numerical values applied to human interactions.

It's much harder to analyze qualitative data (like comments) than quantitative data (like numerical values). And of course, numerical values are just 'labels' and different people assign different values to them so they're not as meaningful, but much easier to tabulate and come up with statistics. Of course, if a company really cared about feedback, they would take the time to do qualitative analysis on comments instead of just quantitative on the ratings. Alright I'll get off my survey/data analysis soapbox now, lol.