TABLE OF CONTENTS By the end of the chapter the reader should be able to:
Comprehend the importance of operations and management on customer service
Describe the range of customer services
Compare and contrast the internal and external factors that influence customer services
Examine customer service systems for cruise lines
Discuss profiles of cruise customers and specific needs
Reflect on demographics and segmentation
This chapter is concerned with customer service and the rather elusive issue of quality. The term quality presents a number of complexities, starting with the basic idea that it is a form of utopian excellence (Tse, 1996). Consider, for example, what quality means from the perspective of an operational manager aboard a cruise ship. Harris (1989) draws attention to the way that quality can correlate to prestige relating to reputation, admiration, luxury, and consequently, as a result, price. Compare Silverseas Cruises with Easy Cruises, for example, or consider that quality can be the way the customer views the service received against the perception of what was offered. For some, quality is concerned only with ultimate customer satisfaction.
Taken a stage further, some authors suggest that quality refers to a product or service that is a combination of the predictably uniform and the reliable, suitable for the market and at the lowest cost (Deming, 2000). Other theorists proclaim that it has more to do with the customer's perception of what is fit for the purpose (Juran, 1980). Yet others propose that quality has to do with...
