EC Un-Plugged:

June is here and our employees are working harder than ever to ensure that you, our guests, have an unforgettable time out on the water. Last week on our OSS call, we discussed, debated and ultimately chose two OSS Level 10 WOW winners:

One Critical Moment of Service Internal WOW Winner and One Customer Service WOW Winner.

Read below to learn all about some of the WOW stories submitted from across the country, and to find out who won!

Critical Moment of Service/Internal WOWs
NOMINEES:

• Lalo from Chicago – Chicago was recently very short-staffed for a cruise – the Restaurant Manager on duty did not have a Bartender or Host for the busy Saturday lunch cruise, and could not find anyone to cover the shift. The Restaurant Manager called Lalo to inform him of the situation, and he volunteered to help her out by coming in on his day off. Lalo did everything – he was a Bartender, he set the buffet and he cleared tables!

• Chris from Chicago – Due to a recent inputting error in our computer system, additional groups were booked onto a private deck for a cruise. The fast-acting Odyssey team opened a deck for a deck charter. The only problem – there was no DJ for the group. Chris came to the rescue by offering to postpone his HR duties in order to DJ for these groups, allowing the Chicago team to provide a great experience for these guests.

• Captain Phil & Captain Edgar from New York – On a recent Saturday, a party of 27 cruising to celebrate a 70th birthday showed up on the New Jersey side of the river when they were booked to sail from New York. Captain Edgar on the Spirit of New Jersey quickly called over to Captain Phil, who was on the Spirit of New York. Captain Phil agreed to bring the boat over to Lincoln Harbor to pick up these guests. In order to make sure the New York guests received their full harbor cruise experience, Captain Phil sailed for an extra 20 minutes before dropping the New York guests off. Finally, Phil brought the entire birthday party group back to New Jersey!

And the Critical Moment of Service Internal WOW Winner is…Lalo from Chicago!

Customer Service WOWs

• Matt from Chicago – DJ Matt went above and beyond for a senior group onboard Mystic Blue recently! Matt kept the seniors dancing the entire cruise – they were doing the YMCA, the Electric Slide, and Matt even had a conga line going! The seniors all got into a circle and Matt had each person enter the circle and perform a dance while the others cheered them on. The Mystic Blue team has never seen seniors have so much fun or dance so much!

• Josh & Will from Baltimore – A couple chose to celebrate their second anniversary aboard Spirit of Baltimore after they had spent their first anniversary 6,000 miles apart due to husband Tom’s deployment in Iraq. Tom had emergency surgery the week of the cruise and needed handicapped seating. Josh and Will went above and beyond to help this couple, assisting them with boarding and taking care of them throughout the cruise. The guests wrote a letter to the team thanking Josh and Will for their exceptional service and for making their anniversary special!

• Jim from Norfolk – Guest Dave cruised on a recent Spirit of Norfolk dinner with his mother. Jim saw them park in a handicap space and went over to their car – he not only greeted them at the car, but also helped Dave’s mother out of the car and onto the ship. Dave wrote a letter stating that Jim “is one of those people we could use more of walking the earth.”

• Trista & Leah from Norfolk – Guest Mrs. Sharp arrived at the Norfolk ticket booth recently to ask about dinner cruises on future dates. Trista and Leah had already closed but willingly re-opened and re-started the computer to get the information Mrs. Sharp needed. She told them she would be back later to book a cruise – when she came back later that evening, they again had shut down the booth and were getting ready to leave, but again re-opened the booth and assisted in selling her the tickets she wanted.

• Richard & Joey from New York – The New York team found out that an individual onboard a recent Bateaux cruise was going to propose to his girlfriend. The team set up a very nice intimate table in the Orion room, away from everyone else. Server Richard worked with Joey and the band to get the guest, Mario, to slow dance with his girlfriend in front of the band. Joey then asked Mario if he had something he would like to say – he proposed and his girlfriend said yes!

• Stacey from New York –Stacey had seen a note about a guest who wanted to propose to his girlfriend – her favorite song was “Suddenly” by Angry Anderson. When the Restaurant Manager got onboard and approached the DJ about playing the song, he said Stacey had already made arrangements for the WOW and already loaded the song into the DJ system!

And the Customer Service WOW Winner is…Jim from Norfolk!

Congratulations to not our only our winners, but our nominees and all those who took party in nominating and recognizing them.

I share these stories with you not only to acknowledge and recognize our very special, creative and hard-working shipmates, but because I do truly think this is an interesting part of the company I am a part of. It is these critical moments and WOWing our guests that make us the organization we are. Any company can run some boats. But no company does it with the care and compassion that we display every single day.

2010 is in full swing, and so are our Level 10 WOWs! Employees all across the fleet are working extra hard to “make moments into memories” – our OSS focus for twenty ten.

Our new process of choosing National Level 10 WOW Awards is now in effect.
This is how it works:

1. WOWs are collected in advance, and sorted into two lists:

a. “Customer Service WOWs”
Going out of the way, above and beyond, to make a guest’s experience truly extraordinary.

b. “Critical Moment of Service/Internal WOWs”
A critical moment of service is when there is a situation that could potentially be damaging, or can be turned into a moment of greatness. (Example: You come up to our ticket booth with your ticket and your name is not in our computer system. Does the ticket booth agent tell you to scram? No, he or she checks with his/her boss, figures out what went wrong, then perhaps offers you a complimentary cocktail for waiting patiently while things were sorted out.)
An Internal WOW is one employee going out of his/her way to help another employee. (You’ll see what I mean when you read the stories below.)

2. The WOW nominee stories are then sent out to OSS Champions (these are the people that are responsible for keeping OSS alive and thriving in their respective departments in the office/on the vessels) prior to each OSS call so everyone can read over all of our WOW stories before the call

3. On the OSS call, each city will vote for one WOW winner from “Customer Service WOWs” and one WOW winner from “Critical Moment of Service/Internal WOWs”

4. The winners will get moola, recognition and the glory of knowing how great he/she is.

Here’s a sample of some of the stories we discussed and voted on our OSS call this past Tuesday, April 20th. Enjoy!

Customer Service WOWs

• Michael (Boston) – “Michael bartended the BU cruise last year and made a drink called “Clockwork Orange” for a few ladies. They returned this year, saw Michael, and to his surprise, ordered a clockwork orange. Apparently that is now their drink of choice!”

• Walter (New York) – “DJ Walter is working hard to ensure our student cruises have a phenomenal DJ experience! He has scripted a dance competition for the student DJ cruises – dance contests between the students and chaperones. Walter was proactive in creating a program that would turn “moments into memories” for many of our kids. Great feedback from the schools with many saying it was the best part of their event.”

• Yvette (New York) – “When she learned many of her guests on a recent dinner cruise were from Sweden, she Googled various words (welcome, thank you, etc) so she could use them and make the guests feel at home.”

• George (Philadelphia) – George recently went above and beyond for a guest on Spirit of Philadelphia – the guest wrote a letter about George’s excellent service, which is excerpted below:
“I spend my days at a reception desk – it is part of my job to make visitors feel welcome and provide them with quick efficient service. I never expected that I would need this same type of service! On Saturday, 2/27/10 I was with the CONA convention who was having their annual banquet on SOP. It was a cold, wet, windy miserable night when I arrived. My co-workers parked my car for me. This left me at dockside trying to board the ship. I have some breathing issues, and I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to get up the ramp and on the ship. And then out of the wind and rain George appeared and asked if I could use some assistance boarding! I was saved! He put his arm out and off we went! It was a long trip because the cold and wind were really hard on my lungs. I told him I was sorry it was taking so long and he said no worries, that’s what he’s there for! When we finally got to the dining room George escorted me to a seat, helped me with my coat and asked if there was anything he could do. Now, this could’ve been the end of the story, but it’s not! To my surprise, during the cruise George came by to see if I was okay or needed anything. I assured him I was fine. You cannot imagine my reaction when I looked up a few minutes before docking and there was George waiting to take me back down! To me, that is the ultimate in customer service!”

And the Winner is…George from Philadelphia!

Critical Moment of Service/Internal WOWs

• Jimmy (Spirit of Chicago) – “This WOW happened on April 15th for dinner on Spirit of Chicago. Jimmy saw a critical moment of service approaching as soon as he read the manifest for that night. Onboard, Jimmy had an expected count of 75 –a high school group of 38 on the same deck as a senior group of 15 and about 20 individual cruisers (couples, a small group of friends, co-workers, etc – we call them Indys, as opposed to groups). Anyone who has encountered such a treat will know what was about to happen…students almost always take over the dance floor. Jimmy had talked with all of the Indys as well as both group contacts early on in boarding to feel out the situation. The students remained calm and mostly outside during the first hour to hour and a half of the dinner cruise to take photos. Once it got closer to dancing time, Jimmy had arranged with the contact for the group of 15 seniors to take them outside. Jimmy had set up seating for 15 on the third deck stern, and roped it off for them as a VIP area. The guests were told that there would be complimentary champagne from the manager on the outer decks. The entire senior group went outside as the students filtered inside for dancing. This was perfectly orchestrated! The majority of the Indys had already headed to the fourth deck on their own. The students were allowed to dance almost the remainder of the cruise while the Indys and seniors enjoyed the beautiful weather on the outer decks in almost complete silence. After the champagne, a few seniors ventured in and even danced with the students – not what Jimmy had expected, however, the champagne might have had a thing or two to do with that. Jimmy saw a problem approaching and had a great plan to accommodate all groups!”

• Francisco (Boston) – “We were out of Island Oasis mix, but rather than telling the guest we were out, Francisco went to the galley and got fresh fruit and ice cream to make his guests a smoothie!”

• Jonathan (Spirit of Norfolk) – “After attending the OSS session and hearing the focus that everyone is a sales person, Jonathan, a bartender, took it upon himself to create referral forms that the staff can hand out to potential customers that may be interested in booking a cruise. We rolled out a new referral program to all of the staff during the meeting and this new tool will make the process even easier for our shipmates”

• Snoop (New York) – “Last Tuesday, when he heard we were short dishwashers on the Spirit of New Jersey for the dinner cruise, Snoop willingly jumped onboard to help out after working in the commissary all day (no questions asked). This was a true display of our shared value “We Will Help Each Other!”

• Jeiza (Chicago) – “Michael (a server) was extremely busy during a dinner cruise, and needed extra assistance when it came time for dessert service. Jeiza was a host that night, and offered him extra help. Instead of just calling down to the galley on her radio about his missing dessert items, she decided to walk down to the galley and get the tray herself. It was a full table’s order, and she brought the tray back up to the Amethyst deck. She then prepped the special dessert plates with candles and parasols. She delivered the desserts to Michael’s table, rather than waiting for someone else to come and do it. Michael was WOWed by Jeiza and wanted to make sure she was recognized for this!”

And the Winner is…Jimmy from Chicago!
Join me in acknowledging all of these very kind and helpful EC workers. Great job guys and gals.

And to you, our readers, past guests and future passengers, we look forward to WOWing you all in the near future.