I had a great customer service experience recently and think it’s only fair to share that since, like most of us, I’m more than eager to share the BAD ones.

I traveled with my family on a Carnival cruise to Mexico 2 weeks ago (yes, we had fun and gained a cumulative 11 pounds among the 3 of us!).  We were all prepared for a sub par cruise experience since, after all, it WAS Carnival (and not the higher priced Royal Caribbean or Princess lines which we have cruised before).

Our actual experience was not that much different from our experiences with other lines…there were little things that were different, however Carnival did a great job of spoiling us and ensuring that everything was in place to have a great time.  We walked away from the cruise thrilled that we had done the trip and ready to recommend Carnival to anyone that considered cruising an exorbitant luxury.

But what absolutely DELIGHTED us was the level of service we encountered when we reported my son’s passport missing (it actually wasn’t MISSING…we knew exactly where he left it!).  Within 24 hours of filing an electronic ‘claim’, we received a personal email from the Guest Relations department, telling us that they had, in fact, located the passport and that we would be hearing back from a designated representative within a week (they had to get the passport from the ship to a post office…at that time, it was back at sea on its way back to Mexico!).

Even better than hearing back from someone, less than a week later, we actually received the passport in the mail!  I was shocked…we had the passport back only 9 days after we had left it on the boat.  And no one was hitting us up for a ‘handling fee’ of some kind—I was totally prepared to pay $20 or so to cover the extra effort required to return the passport.

What this experience reminded me of is that even though all of the work that organizations do on their ‘core product’ is important, it’s the LITTLE things (like how you handle your Lost and Found department or your Returns process or your Tech Support desk) that are opportunities to exceed customers’ expectations and really wow them.  Those situations can go a long way to helping your customers really understand how devoted you are to making it easy for them to do business with you and that you really care about their business.

It sure worked for me…I’m now a loyal Carnival Cruise Line customer!