Cruise Values are Relative
Even when it is my relatives who are cruising.
I received a pre-dawn telephone call this morning. I was happy to see the caller ID was contact from my wife's sister and her husband. They had been on a 5-day Carnival Cruise to celebrate my brother-in-law's 50th birthday, and were scheduled to return this morning. Sure enough, this call was from them, on board, in those idle hours prior to debarkation.
We receive such great client feedback that selling cruises is a joy. Client satisfaction rates are so incredibly high that any complaint must be taken very seriously. So, I was disappointed to hear that my relatives were not 100% satisfied with their cruise. The definitive statement was: "We'll never go on Carnival again".
In this case the disappointment was focused on service. These folks felt that the on board staff was not personable, and not attentive. We are in the top 1% of all agencies selling Carnival, so we get a lot of input regarding their performance. This is not our usual client response.
It is possible that this particular cruise underperformed, but I suspect that our true cause for concern was mismatched expectations. That is our responsibility. We are suppose to match: budget - product - expectations. I take full responsibility for their disappointment.
My relatives got a super fantastic low price on this cruise. That was a priority in the initial purchase because they wanted an inexpensive quick getaway. That is all fine, until we consider that they have some pretty good cruise experiences in their history. Their natural assessment would be to expect the level of service and attention they had previously experienced, but got lucky with a bargain price. Truth is, cruise values are relative.
We should have been more diligent at qualifying the quality of the purchase for this super fantastic low price. It was our responsibility to set expectations to the realistic level of this product. Or, vice versa, if expectations are for higher service levels we should insist on adjusting the budget to a product that will deliver to those expectations.
Carnival really does deliver food, service, and accommodations that are a good value relative to the fares. We simply can't expect Hyatt performance at a Howard Johnson price. I'm committed to making sure we deliver more than just a cheap price - we must also define value relative to expectations. That goes for all of our thousands of clients each and every year.
I received a pre-dawn telephone call this morning. I was happy to see the caller ID was contact from my wife's sister and her husband. They had been on a 5-day Carnival Cruise to celebrate my brother-in-law's 50th birthday, and were scheduled to return this morning. Sure enough, this call was from them, on board, in those idle hours prior to debarkation.
We receive such great client feedback that selling cruises is a joy. Client satisfaction rates are so incredibly high that any complaint must be taken very seriously. So, I was disappointed to hear that my relatives were not 100% satisfied with their cruise. The definitive statement was: "We'll never go on Carnival again".
In this case the disappointment was focused on service. These folks felt that the on board staff was not personable, and not attentive. We are in the top 1% of all agencies selling Carnival, so we get a lot of input regarding their performance. This is not our usual client response.
It is possible that this particular cruise underperformed, but I suspect that our true cause for concern was mismatched expectations. That is our responsibility. We are suppose to match: budget - product - expectations. I take full responsibility for their disappointment.
My relatives got a super fantastic low price on this cruise. That was a priority in the initial purchase because they wanted an inexpensive quick getaway. That is all fine, until we consider that they have some pretty good cruise experiences in their history. Their natural assessment would be to expect the level of service and attention they had previously experienced, but got lucky with a bargain price. Truth is, cruise values are relative.
We should have been more diligent at qualifying the quality of the purchase for this super fantastic low price. It was our responsibility to set expectations to the realistic level of this product. Or, vice versa, if expectations are for higher service levels we should insist on adjusting the budget to a product that will deliver to those expectations.
Carnival really does deliver food, service, and accommodations that are a good value relative to the fares. We simply can't expect Hyatt performance at a Howard Johnson price. I'm committed to making sure we deliver more than just a cheap price - we must also define value relative to expectations. That goes for all of our thousands of clients each and every year.
posted by The Captain at
9:51 AM
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