Feeling Pressured to Give Your Cruise a Perfect 10/10? How Cruisers Are Handling the Post-Cruise Survey

A recent social media post asked if others felt pressured to give perfect ratings on a post-cruise survey.  After all, knowing a crew member’s livelihood depends on this kind of thing gives the survey more weight.  It didn’t take long for the group of veteran cruisers to give their takes.

That post-cruise survey email hits your inbox a day or two after you get home, and suddenly you’re staring at all those rating questions about dining, service, and your overall experience on board the ship.

For a lot of cruisers, it turns into more stress than it really should. The debate got started up on Reddit when one passenger in a Royal Caribbean subreddit asked this question:

“Anyone else feel a lot of pressure to give a perfect rating on the survey?”

They went on to explain: “The servers in the main dining room basically told us if they don’t get a perfect rating, they get punished. When it’s either a perfect rating or nothing, I just don’t leave a review or fill out a survey. What’s the point?”

While saying the crew members get “punished” for a lower rating is a bit extreme, it’s true that these surveys are a huge deal to the crew, even if some cruise travelers either ignore them or fill them out flippantly.  After cruising for almost two decades, I realize how important these details are.

The social media post apparently hit home with a lot of other cruisers, and the comments poured in right away from fellow travelers who have wrestled with the same internal conflict. 

The Pressure Many Cruisers Feel

A big sticking point for people is that specific survey question asking if anyone requested a perfect 10 or pushed you to fill it out.

It’s not uncommon for the crew to ask for a good rating even if they technically aren’t supposed to.

One commenter said what a lot of other cruisers have questioned about this:

“The question ‘did anyone request you to fill out the survey or request a perfect 10 (however it’s phrased)’ freaks me out because if I click yes, are they supposed to ask for those things or will they be punished for asking?”

It leaves you wondering what the “right” answer is without getting someone in trouble.

How Different Cruisers Handle the Ratings

Plenty of people decide to give 10s most of the time as a way to support the crew. One cruiser shared this way of thinking:

“No pressure, but unless something was truly awful, I always do a perfect score and name everyone I can. It means a lot to them, and there is zero reason for me to give a crummy score.”

But not everyone feels comfortable with that. Some people want to stay honest and realize that if the cruise line really wants constructive feedback maybe some positive changes can come from it.

“Be honest. Rate honestly and answer yes to the ‘did anyone ask you to give a 10’ question. Why is that so hard? People need to be honest or nothing will change,” one comment stated.

Worries About What Perfect Scores Really Do

On the flip side, a few people pointed out a downside to handing out 10s every time. One Diamond member said:

“And that’s why the quality keeps dropping. As long as the 10’s keep on coming in head office thinks all is great maybe we can cut back some more.”

Another person explained how the scoring system works in reality, which can be a lot different than some think:

“9-10 is a 100, 6-8 is a 0, 0-5 is -100… anything less than perfect can really hurt them.”

It creates some confusion because you want to be nice to the crew but also wonder if your feedback is actually helping the cruise line improve.

In my experience, if a crew member is not offering good service, they typically won’t even bring up the survey.  Not that they should. But this kind of extra effort usually is paired with good service on the ship as well.  

Then again, your mileage may vary.

Why Crew Members Bring Up the Survey

Crew members are usually away from home for many months at a stretch, working hard to take care of guests and support their families back home.  

It’s not an easy life and I can honestly say that I’ve had incredible crew members on just about every cruise I’ve taken.

Whether it was the extra time a room steward took to make extra towel animals for a child or a waiter remembering how I like my steak cooked, all those details add up to a better cruise vacation.

A strong survey can mean bonuses, extra days off, or better chances when contracts come up again.

That’s why some of them mention how important those perfect scores are before the cruise ends. 

The good news is that cruise lines do pay attention to the surveys. When you name specific crew members and say what they did well, those comments often get passed along to their supervisors and can lead to real recognition.

Practical Tips for Filling Out the Survey

Here’s what a lot of experienced cruisers do to keep things fair:

• Give the 10 if the service felt solid and you had a good experience. Most people in comments of this social media post lean this way unless something was clearly off.
• Use the comment boxes to name names and give specific praise. Telling exactly what your waiter or room steward did well can mean more than the number itself.
• Put bigger picture issues (like food trends or staffing) in the general sections instead of putting that on an individual crew member.  It’s not the crew member’s fault if the food selection at the buffet wasn’t to your liking or the bed was too hard.
• Skip the whole survey if it just doesn’t feel right. Plenty of people in the discussion do exactly that and move on.

The most polarizing part of the survey is usually the “were you asked” question.   Some prefer to be 100% honest about it and others are afraid of hurting the crew members.  It’s your call, but since these surveys are all about transparency, every bit of feedback can help make future cruises better for everyone.

Personally, I tend to give out perfect 10’s on a regular basis, but I also use the comment sections for critiques and added context for anything that was a tad off.