Excellent Expectations

[david63]

Moving on a bit from the tipping topic what do you consider the requirements are for cabin stewards and MDR waiters to attain "excellent" on the end of cruise questionnaire?

For us we want a cabin steward who is pleasant and not "in your face", deals with anything we ask of them, keeps the cabin clean and tidy and most important of all cleans the cabin while we are having breakfast.

As for MDR waiters I cannot see anything that makes them excellent unless you have some special dietary requirement that they deal with for you. Certainly bringing me ice cream with every desert when I have not asked for it does not qualify.

Bar stewards can also warrant an excellent when they remember your name, cabin number and drinks order without asking.

[Stephen]

I call "Excellent" as doing your job, the same as any other employment/profession, that's what brings customers back, unless your an undertaker of course . It shouldn't need form filling or someone smarming round you with they're hand out.

[barney]

MMMMM!
I'm not looking for excellent, I'm merely looking for competence.
I have no great desire to make friends with any of the staff, I just hope that they will do their job in a professional manner.
We are always pleasant and polite and expect no more than the same back.

Funnily enough, by far our worst cabin steward over the years was also the most friendly and I'll confess, we did take to her and ending up marking her excellent even though she was pretty rubbish.

Does everyone fill in these questionaires?
What would happen to you stewards auto tip if you didn't fill it in?

I must confess that I have little recollection of filling these in these forms even though I've done dozens.
I, like many others, probably just tick the boxes and forget about it.
Fortunately, we have never had an issue that needed sorting out.
If we want the steward to do something specific, we leave a polite note.

[Meg 50]

excellent is doing your job and some - so sorting out problems before they've really become a problem.

[daib GC]

A problem with people not putting excellent when the cabin steward has got everything right and is efficient is that you are affecting his/her bonus. Even if you withdraw your auto tips you are affecting every on else’s tip.

It may be better if you cannot force yourself to mark them down as excellent just to not fill it in at all.

[Ranchi]

The critical flaw in all of these ticky box type management tools is that all too often, objective conclusions are inferred from what is essentially a subjective assessment. I would find it very easy to answer the question ‘Was your cabin kept clean?’ Or ‘Was the soap replaced when it ran out?’ etc.
It’s really just a system for hitting ( or not hitting) targets by administrators who are happier sitting at desks rather than supporting their staff.
On a different tack, I have been asked on several occasions why I stated that I was very unlikely to recommend my Bank to a friend. The simple answer being that I would never give financial advice to a friend ( or a stranger.). Now if the bank had
Which Bank is handiest for the the number 39 bus....that is an other ( easier) question.

[sunseeker16]

I agree with Ranchi there. I don’t ‘recommend services to my family and friends’ and I don’t need a cabin steward to be my new best friend - just be efficient.
I’ve just got off MSC - saw a few stewards in the corridor but don’t know which one was ours. However, the bed was made, towels changed, paperwork delivered etc, all efficiently and unobtrusively so no problems.€10 pppd obligatory service charge. Didn’t leave any extra but don’t feel mean about it

[Mervyn and Trish]

The whole Excellent thing is difficult. Some people will never give top or bottom marks in any questionnaire almost on principle. Others feel bad if they don't give top marks.

The whole thing is dreadfully subjective too. One man's excellent is another man's average.

I'm afraid I think the whole thing is a lazy bean counters' approach to performance management and I'm joining the camp of not filling it in in future.

But to answer David's actual question, for me Excellent would mean almost faultless. A small mistake wouldn't affect it, but several small ones or one big one would drop me down the scale.

[Stephen]

I don't go on holiday to fill out forms and get harassed over tipping etiquette, I go on holiday to relax and enjoy myself.

So

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to the lot of them

[Ray B]

No one can be excellent, I always think there is room for improvement, so I never tick it.

[Manoverboard]

I do not have any interest in setting the expectations for P&O staff to reach, I believe it is up to P&O to determine such detail and then to advise us the customers of the criteria.

In a previous life I set and evaluated performance levels for a considerable number of staff but serving me with my dinner or making my bed would not have achieved an excellent rating.

As I stated elsewhere we rarely fill questionnaires in but we will offer our thanks and an envelope if it has been earned for doing something out of the ordinary or something that impressed us by their use of initiative on a one to one basis.



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[Kendhni]

For us we want a cabin steward who is pleasant and not "in your face", deals with anything we ask of them, keeps the cabin clean and tidy and most important of all cleans the cabin while we are having breakfast.

That is mostly just doing their job and warrants 'good'. However returning to an unmade cabin in the early afternoon (as has happened us a couple of times) is irritating so maybe having it made up while at breakfast warrants 'excellent'.

As for MDR waiters I cannot see anything that makes them excellent unless you have some special dietary requirement that they deal with for you. Certainly bringing me ice cream with every desert when I have not asked for it does not qualify.

We have had one waiter that I rated excellent - on a Princess cruise. When we arrived at our seats on the second night (and every night afer that) he had already placed the drinks on the table. If we wanted something different that was not on the menu he sent his assistant off to try to find it and 9 times out of 10 she did. Julie once commented about how much she liked a particular pasta dish and a couple of days later he prepared the dish table side for her (even though it was not on the menu).

So not only did he and his assistant waiter get excellent they got a sizeable additional tip.

Bar stewards can also warrant an excellent when they remember your name, cabin number and drinks order without asking.

I would agree. Just serving me drinks would not get excellent' but remembering and even setting it on the bar, or a table, as I arrived gets a well deserved excellent.