Guest Comment Cards

In the last days of every cruise, the guests will receive a comment card to fill out.

The cruise line would like to know from the guests, how they enjoyed their cruise, how many people were satisfied with what the cruise line offers, the service, the personnel. The cruise line wants to know, what changes guests would like to see, about what guests are complaining.

Make no mistake that comment cards are not being read by ships and headquarters management. A great deal is spent on reading them onboard and ashore in the main office. Very detailed reports are being generating with percentages showing likes and dislikes, analyzing every department.

Each cruise line handles comment cards a little different. On some ships the guests are asked to hand them to Reception, on others the guests are supposed to drop them into a locked box. Some cruise lines have a designated person opening this box and evaluating the comment cards onboard, other cruise lines will have the comment cards sent to their head offices, without the ship knowing the response on the comment cards.

Especially on bigger ships, more than one person needs to read the comment cards and then highlight the good or bad comments. Also the department heads are made aware of specific comments concerning their department.

Often the results of the comment cards are discussed in the Hotel Manager's Meeting and sometimes in the Captain's Meeting.

How can you benefit?

The ideal for you as a crew member is, to be mentioned positively, by name, in the comment cards. Because this means you left a very good and personal impression in the guests mind. It is better to read: "Anthony, the bar tender in the casino bar was very friendly and knowledgeable" than to read: "The casino bar staff was very friendly and knowledgeable".

Try to see the guests comment cards as a mini evaluation each cruise. The more often your name is mentioned in a positive content, the better for you, for your future career and often for more tips.

Guaranteed, it is not always easy to get good comments and there might be a negative one here and there, but my advice is simply to try to avoid that.

However, please don't be tempted to not follow your company rules in order to get good comments. This might works for a while, but sooner or later will backfire more than having not received any comments at all.