If You Want Customer Service...Take A Cruise

     With my son and wife in the same industry as I am, family events are often interupted by one of our cell phones going off. My wife works hard on finding vacation spots where standard cell service is not available and internet is costly...she knows my weakness. This year she booked us on a cruise to Jamaica, Cayman Island and Cozumel aboard Carnival's Magic . Of course, Tuesday morning I woke up realizing that I had forgot to schedule storage lien sales for one of my stores and the deadlines were closing in. I composed two quick emails instructing a colleague all neccessary procedure and one on how to add it to our website "services" tab, signed in and sent them. After watching the time slowly tick away to send those emails and a final tab of $14 was deterrent enough to do any surfing.

     From the time we started the boarding process, we were greeted by smiling representatives welcoming us aboard... a heard of families and couples all with one thing in mind... Vacation. As we were being dropped of by the parking area bus, the previous guest were still getting off the boat... yet the rooms were ready as they opened the doors and the guests flowed thru the hallways. The stewards continually cleaning the hallways and maintaining rooms. Every representative of the cruise line smiled and always offered a greeting. The smiles often bridged the language barrier as the crew was from various countries around the world. Our steward Kelvin was from the Dominican Republic, our waitress Ula was from Lithuania, the cruise director James was from England and there were numerous other countries represented. The crew also did everything they could to make your trip as pleasurable as possible. Sounds like a great job being on a cruise ship... then you find out they do this six to nine months at a time working twelve hours a day for an annual salary of about $20,000 US. What was a common thread among the crew, was they felt privilidged to have a great job with an opportunity to meet a diverse group of people.
     By the second day of the cruise, the guest had been greeted with so many smiles and hello's that they were relaxed and began extending the courtesy in the passageways. You would go to dinner and there were at least three waiters taking care of all your needs... including having that second lobster tail or steak or a different meal because you didn't like your first choice. Each night your bed would be turned down, towels replaced, and towel scultures that would leave a smile on your face. Can't sleep and a little hungry?... call room service. If you walked up to a service counter, and a crew member was seated, the crew member would immediately stand to greet you. Their every action was service oriented enriched with a smile. This included the crew members that did nothing but wipe, sweep and mop their section of the ship to maintain that pristine look.
     Cruise Ships use the simple rules of customer service and fantastic Curb appeal to deliver a great product.  Their philosophy is supported by smiling, respectful customer service representatives to conquer the seas. Are you using these techniques to cruise into profits?