Comments on: Does Attitude Make or Break Your Cruise? And Does It Influence Your Post Cruise Feedback?

By: Namvet4

Namvet4 — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:52:57 +0000

“However, when the pieces don’t fall into place as they should, and people report back on their less than fulfilling experience I get perturbed when they are scolded for not having a better attitude, or for not having read the fine print to establish their rights or lack thereof, or for having exaggerated expectations.”
“But, much too often these people are attacked by cheerleaders for the cruise line, and bullied into submission (to never be heard from again), instead of discussing how the problems could have best been rectified; when in fact a discussion of the issues raised could serve everyone’s interests much better, and educate others to avoid the problems raised. And when “the plan” works, and they don’t return, “the swarmer’s” delightfully (though insincerely) post tagging them “one hit wonders”.

Thank you for the article Kuki… well stated!
Unfortunately you can’t censor peoples poor behavior – being swarmer’s and/or flamers. They have the right to demonstrate their ignorance and stupidity as long as they abide by the rules of civility and the specific message board rules. That said, I ignore the ignorant and actually enjoy the effort and time I put into trying to glean the truth when someone reports, good or bad, their experience with a specific ship or cruise line. Most intelligent people figure it out real quick who is blowing smoke and who is really just acting like an idiot. That applies to both the OP who reports their experience and those compelled to comment.

Thanks for the blog!

By: Thoth

Thoth — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:52:19 +0000

Oh yes Kuki, I understand your point and agree. Too bad the Internet tends to attract “flamers” who do indeed attempt to run off people who don’t share their often narrow points of view. I don’t quit understand why otherwise civilized people can hide behind a fake name and take pop shots at anonymous posters. To be honest, they scare me!
To your credit, Cruisemates is far more gentile than most message boards out there.

By: Mike Lawson

Mike Lawson — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:31:53 +0000

Kuki, interesting topic. I can see this issue from both sides I think. Having read many reports from people that have had problems on a cruise, more often than not they say they will never go on XYZ cruise again. I think this makes individuals want to defend the cruise line. Many times the problem has been at least partial due to the individual. One example of that is the individual who gets sick and has to miss the cruise and then is mad at the cruise line for not refunding there money. I have read this many times and the one that made me laugh the most was the guy who got sick and said he would never sail HAL again after fifteen times with them. It seemed to me the money he saved on insurance from the fifteen cruises most likely paid for the missed cruise. I don’t like to see anyone get sick, but individuals blaming the cruise line for there mistake or one poor employee does not seem right. I will take this example one step further. I will use myself and the Blog cruise. This was my first time on Carnival and my first B2B. At the turn we went ashore to shop and have lunch. When we returned it was confusing getting back on board, but we made it on. The pursers desk gave us a new sign and sail card and I believed all was well. That evening I tried to use the card in the Casino and it was not working. I returned to the pursers desk and asked for help. I was told I needed my credit card. I ran up to my room to get it and returned to the pursers desk. Know out of breath from running. The woman at the desk started to laugh at me. I was in shock. I told her it was not funny, and it was there mistake not mine. I told her I would be writing John Heald as soon as I could get to a computer. What a change in her attitude changed. My point being was this an individual person not Carnival. As a first time customer if I had said Carnival is junk and never go on them I expect someone might come to there defense, and most likely should. Mike

By: John

John — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:20:09 +0000

Kuki, I am with you in your campaign to not “chase off” others. Maybe I should of not included my comment. As stated previously I am grateful for this web community. Thanks for everything and lets be more positive/supportive!

By: Kuki

Kuki — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:43:28 +0000

John,

I’ve glad you found the blog thought provoking.

It’s also self serving because I have to come up with a topic for my blog each week . LOL

And, yes, it’s best for the site if a new poster, even one who just wants to vent negatives, is welcomed at the site… rather than “chased off”.

But it’s also better from all concerned, because any conversation, even if it’s all about negatives and what they best way to deal with them might be, can be informative to lots of readers.

By: John

John — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:56:57 +0000

Wow, I have so many thoughts about this blog post. As a web community here at cruisemates we need to be supportive, and we can always use experiences from other cruisers (positive or negative) to learn things that can only enhance our own personal cruise experiences.

Just like anything, if you do it enough something will finally go wrong. It is easy to claim that if the poster had been on our boards before their cruise they would have known X. This is true some of the time, but not all of the time. It is also easy to become defensive of our favorite cruiseline.

Kuki, don’t kill me for saying this, but this blog post is also self serving for Kuki. The more people that use this website and aren’t “drive-by” or “one time posters”, but instead become long time members/posters help this web community grow.

I love Cruisemates! The blog post is valid for many reasons, and unfortunately people like being negative. I work in customer service and for every negative experience a customer has they will tell at least 7 people about it. But for every great experience that person may only tell 2 people about it. Let’s be less negative, more positive and try to support one another!

By: bahamamomma

bahamamomma — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:01:22 +0000

Attitude helps a lot – and if you have a complaint, a good attitude about the cruise will make it easier to discuss the problem immediately instead of letting it fester and then the negative feelings and attitude appear.

Case in point, went on NCL in Feb out of NO – literally danced to the music going up the ramp to the ship – we were pumped – later we noticed a couple of things and immediately brought them the attention of staff – but we never felt the problems were solved. We, since a positive attitude was present about the cruise, didn’t complain – after the cruise was over we thought about the situation and realized that NCL isn’t for us – we won’t say “never” but it will be a long time before we cruise with them again. Why bash them, it won’t get us anything and just because there were things that we didn’t like doesn’t mean that everyone would feel the same as us.

A company can only do so much with what they have to work with and in the case of the cruise lines they are going to only be able to please so many people. No matter how hard a company tries is folks have pre-conceived notions about something it’s going to take a lot to change their minds0 JMHO!

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:37:46 +0000

A big difference to me is the tenor of the posts which contain complaints, as well as those made by true “drive-by” posters who make their first visit to the forum only to say everything was rotten on their cruise – often because of something minor. They didn’t bother to come to the forum before the cruise to get advice and gain some understanding, yet they feel entitled to come to a forum after-the-fact and use a forum as a soapbox, never to return. In many ways it is unfair to do this. Some only want to garner sympathy and are not interested in a reasonable discussion. I give more credence to posts that don’t dwell on the negative but also tell about the things they did like. That is the sign of someone who is reasonable in their assessment and willing to talk about it.

I also agree that those who post nothing but pollyannish reviews are equally annoying.

By: Kuki

Kuki — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:55:07 +0000

Thoth,

No question there are people who step onboard, with their expectations too high, or have put much too little research into their vacations… which always amazes when they are spending significant $$$.

However, even if the posts are so undescriptive of our experiences, I think it’s important to discuss the differences, and not attack them for posting things different to our experiences.

Disagreeing is never the issue. It’s that some are allowed to drown out opposing views that’s the issue to me.

Everyone reading can learn from opposing views… even the original posters you don’t believe… but not if the only reaction is to drown them out.

By: Fireba11

Fireba11 — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:33:27 +0000

Right as rain Kuki! This is a DISCUSSION board
not a bashing board. All bashing does is drive folks away from cruise mates. I have learned many good things to look for in a cruise and things to look out for in a cruise on these boards, everyones imput, even complaining, has helped with that learning process.

Keep up the good work
Tim