Anyone else miss the old head waiter/asst waiter setup?

Just back from our 7th cruise together and of all the changes, the one we miss the most is the interaction with the wait staff in the main dining room.

We usually travel with a group of 10-12 adults and have always enjoyed the interactions with the wait staff team assigned to us. They would remember your name, greet you when you arrive, place a napkin on your lap, remember your preferences, joke around, etc. They almost always came by the table at the end of the meal to share a magic trick, a story, etc

Now, you hardly get to know them at all. They are so over worked, they don’t have time to develop any kind of a relationship. They don’t place a napkin on your lap, serve the rolls, greet you by name, interact on any level other than take your order and deliver your food.

It’s not the service that is missed (I can place my own napkin), it’s the personal touch. The relationship that developed and the laughs shared. It takes away from the main dining room experience.

We usually have new cruisers with us because we tell everyone how amazing it is and we always have said one of our favorite parts of cruising is the dinner in the main dining room. It’s not the favorite part anymore - it’s just dinner.

Anyone else miss that and wish they would do away with that cutback?

This has not been our experience, even with YTD. We had the same server team for 2 weeks and they were awesome.

I want to add...the dinner on Carnival is one of the reasons we were always reluctant to try other lines...we enjoyed the experience so much and didn’t think the setup on other lines would be as awesome, personal, and interactive.

With that gone, and Carnival prices on par with other lines now, we’ll be shopping around for our next cruise. Considering NCL.

can you explain this "setup" you are talking about. We had a server, assistant and a cocktail server. They all knew us by name, they knew we liked our red wine before our meal

bender031177, I am also looking at other cruise lines for my next cruise but for different reasons.

As far as MDR service, I have always had excellent and attentive service, even with my last three cruises being "your time dining", when I could still mostly get the same wait staff every night in the dining room, and occasionally, if I did not want to wait for their section, took a different wait team, but still, had excellent service. I did not find any of my servers to be rushed or impersonal, but I cannot say the same for my room stewards the last two cruises. They were definitely stressed out.!, but still pleasant enough.

Just my experience though, and I realise that other people have had other experiences that differ.

 

With that gone, and Carnival prices on par with other lines now, we’ll be shopping around for our next cruise. Considering NCL.

Our NCL dining experience on Jade was not good. Food was sub par, service was extremely slow, waiters were not attentive. Ate in MDR twice for dinner, twice for breakfast so it wasn't only a one time problem. Moderno specialty restaurant was excellent. Ate there twice.

We found Carnival food and dining to be quite good. HAL is our favorite.

can you explain this "setup" you are talking about. We had a server, assistant and a cocktail server. They all knew us by name, they knew we liked our red wine before our meal

Agree...We have not seen a drop off in service nor friendliness/communicating with MDR staff in our recent Carnival cruises.... I can honestly say we may have had the best service on our last cruise this past November on the Vista. Never waited for drink...I always had a fresh drink waiting before finishing my last one and although I could see our head waiter was very busy...He always made time for us and would talk to us each evening sometime during or as we finished our meal.... Still remember his name "Nathaniel" lol

Although it seems the waiters are working more than before, I have not seen a decline in the service. We were avid late diners for many years for this reason. What we have seen is that the number of people that show up for late dining has declined tremendously, except elegant night. Most other nights, we have found that out wait team had time to stop and chat like before. Now something else we tried is ytd and expected a drastic change, I didn’t think we would enjoy it other than the convenience of it. I was wrong we thoroughly enjoyed it the last two cruises. We were able to find teams that we enjoyed and they didn’t spend a ton of time like before but it was certainly clear that they were there to enhance your experience. I have not experienced any decline in service at all in the dining room. It’s still one of my favorite things to do on cruises. Not only that, we often see our dining room teams at brunch, working on lido and around the ship. I swear they are always like old friends. We see a lot of them from ship to ship as we often cruise from our home port of Galveston. They still work hard, but do take time to do some of those things that we enjoy and we enjoy tipping them well to show our appreciation.

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Just back from our 7th cruise together and of all the changes, the one we miss the most is the interaction with the wait staff in the main dining room.

 

We usually travel with a group of 10-12 adults and have always enjoyed the interactions with the wait staff team assigned to us. They would remember your name, greet you when you arrive, place a napkin on your lap, remember your preferences, joke around, etc. They almost always came by the table at the end of the meal to share a magic trick, a story, etc

 

Now, you hardly get to know them at all. They are so over worked, they don’t have time to develop any kind of a relationship. They don’t place a napkin on your lap, serve the rolls, greet you by name, interact on any level other than take your order and deliver your food.

 

It’s not the service that is missed (I can place my own napkin), it’s the personal touch. The relationship that developed and the laughs shared. It takes away from the main dining room experience.

 

We usually have new cruisers with us because we tell everyone how amazing it is and we always have said one of our favorite parts of cruising is the dinner in the main dining room. It’s not the favorite part anymore - it’s just dinner.

 

Anyone else miss that and wish they would do away with that cutback?

Yes. I do miss the way the dining rooms used to be set up. I loved getting to know our servers and the great service we got. It's certainly not the same as the days of old. I have tried your time dining 3 times now and I hated it every time. The first time we sat at our table for over 45 mins. before we even got our water. Then another 30 mins. to get a server. This was on the Valor shortly after your time dining was started. I later tried again thinking well maybe it was bad because it was new. Wasn't as bad this time but it was still bad. I gave it one more shot and said nope, not for me. I still opt for late dining, but more and more, with the way the dining room is and the slow service, I go to the Lido for diner. I really miss the way it used to be. I like to be seated and waited on but it's just not what it used to be.

I want to add...the dinner on Carnival is one of the reasons we were always reluctant to try other lines...we enjoyed the experience so much and didn’t think the setup on other lines would be as awesome, personal, and interactive.

 

 

 

With that gone, and Carnival prices on par with other lines now, we’ll be shopping around for our next cruise. Considering NCL.

So you complain about having the waiter/asst waiter setup and getting to know you and then you mention NCL where you probably won’t even be at the same table for dinner cause it’s Freestyle with no set times.

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Yeah I definitely miss this. I always thought it was because of your time dining. We get a different server every night. Haven’t done set time dining in 7 years

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You'll want to re-consider NCL if service on CCL is perceived as an issue. On NCL with no set dining times you'll have a different wait staff every night. They also don't have time to engage in conversation since they, too, are busy. Our wait staff on CCL (1 head waiter, 2 assistants) have always been friendly. On non-elegant nights the water carafe stays on the table, on elegant nights they will refill water and our teams have always been attentive to this. Same with bread- non-elegant night the basket stays on the table, elegant night they will serve it. Our names have always been remembered (which always amazes me because I can hardly remember my own name most days). I'm sorry that you had the experience you had, I have read of others having a similar experience as well as reading many more stories where it isn't an issue. I know that in our favorite restaurants we will sometimes get a waiter/waitress who is less than stellar compared to the other servers we've had.

I haven’t experienced this either. On my last cruise on Freedom, I was amazed when a waiter who wasn’t ours, stopped by remembering me from my cruise on the Liberty 7 months earlier. She still remembered my name and my sons name—who wasn’t with me on the second one. I’ve always been impressed at how the Carnival staff have an amazing ability to remember names!

On Miracle repo we had a head waiter, assistant waiter, and bar runner. The bar runner helped clear tables and fill drinks when they weren’t fetching a bar drink. I was rather impressed with how on top of things they were.

My recent Carnival MDR dinner experiences had the wait staff remember my name and my bottle of San Pellegrino waiting for me, so I have different memories than the OP.

In specialty restaurants, as well as ATD or YTD, whatever it's called, I don't have the expectation that the wait staff will remember these details, and I don't let it detract from my primary purpose of enjoying dinner.

On Miracle repo we had a head waiter, assistant waiter, and bar runner. The bar runner helped clear tables and fill drinks when they weren’t fetching a bar drink. I was rather impressed with how on top of things they were.

It was the same for us . We were on that cruise also. We had early seating, wait staff always called us by name. No they don't have as much time as they used to to interact, but by the end of our 14 days we knew all about their families, when they were leaving for vacation to go home, what ships they liked, what routes they liked, etc. This is the reason we pick early seating. We have tried YTD a couple of times, even asking for same wait staff (sometimes their area would be full and we didn't want to wait) and it just isn't for us, but we really haven't found the experience too much different from what it has always been.

We've not had any issues in the dining room - still the same waitstaff setup. Our favorite has been John Alex & his team on Freedom in the YTD room. We requested them every night. He's a great guy - funny too!

Just back from our 7th cruise together and of all the changes, the one we miss the most is the interaction with the wait staff in the main dining room.

 

We usually travel with a group of 10-12 adults and have always enjoyed the interactions with the wait staff team assigned to us. They would remember your name, greet you when you arrive, place a napkin on your lap, remember your preferences, joke around, etc. They almost always came by the table at the end of the meal to share a magic trick, a story, etc

 

Now, you hardly get to know them at all. They are so over worked, they don’t have time to develop any kind of a relationship. They don’t place a napkin on your lap, serve the rolls, greet you by name, interact on any level other than take your order and deliver your food.

 

It’s not the service that is missed (I can place my own napkin), it’s the personal touch. The relationship that developed and the laughs shared. It takes away from the main dining room experience.

 

We usually have new cruisers with us because we tell everyone how amazing it is and we always have said one of our favorite parts of cruising is the dinner in the main dining room. It’s not the favorite part anymore - it’s just dinner.

 

Anyone else miss that and wish they would do away with that cutback?

I totally agree with you. Service is nothing like what it used to be. I definitely miss the Head Waiter and his assistant, and when they only had about 5 tables to take care of instead of 15. I've had a few cruises with horrible MDR service in the last few years.

I totally agree with you. Service is nothing like what it used to be. I definitely miss the Head Waiter and his assistant, and when they only had about 5 tables to take care of instead of 15. I've had a few cruises with horrible MDR service in the last few years.

please don't make things up, there is no way they have 15 tables, I'm in the restaurant business and again, no way

Off the Glory a few weeks ago, and had a headwaiter, 2 assistants, and a bar person "roaming" the area. After requesting it the first night, 2 caffeine-free diet cokes were waiting on our table each and every night, placed there by our headwaiter. We were addressed by name all throughout the dining experience. On elegant night the rolls were served to us - the other nights a bread basket was set on the table for us to serve ourselves. (which I thought was a waste of bread, as there were at least 6 rolls/slices in it each night, and we only ate 2-3) I do know they have more tables/people to serve than in the past, but it would also be helpful if people didn't stroll in whenever they pleased for dinner. People arrived up to 1/2 hour late on some nights.

please don't make things up, there is no way they have 15 tables, I'm in the restaurant business and again, no way

It wasn't meant to be an exact number, only a basis on how I feel with the way the service is now. Having three to a team instead of two only makes it worse. Total confusion. Oh, and by the way, on the Magic this past November I watched our servers because we had plenty of time to do so between courses. We were at the back of the dining room. They had at least twelve tables. It was our 19th cruise and absolutely the worse MDR service we ever had.

can someone please explain what the OP means by a different "setup"?

can someone please explain what the OP means by a different "setup"?

I have no idea....doesn't sound like YTD though. All I can think of is she misses "The good old days"....But to be honest....we haven't seen a drop of service, drink orders and have always felt a connection with our waitstaff on every cruise. Sometimes you get a disinterested waiter or someone who just got a new assistant so he/she is learning to work with them.

can someone please explain what the OP means by a different "setup"?

There used to be a head waiter and assistant waiter and they only had a few tables to look after - now there is a head waiter, an assistant waiter, and another helper. They have a team of 3 assigned to each table but each team of three has more tables.

It changed about 4 years ago?? Anyone remember?

In no way was I complaining about the service from the wait staff we had this trip or the last one - they have all been fantastic hard working folks. I was just reminiscing for the days when there was a team of 2 who we always got to know really well and had more personal interaction with. It truly enriched our cruise experience and, I hope, enriched their work experience.

As for those who say I won't get any better on NCL - that's my point. I was loyal to Carnival in part because of the old set up. If I can't get that level of service and must accept a less personal experience, then I will be willing to try other cruise lines. No diss on Carnival - this was my 9th cruise with them and I have loved every single cruise! We will take our 6 year old on Carnival next year because I believe they are quite kid-friendly, but the next adults-only vacation will likely be with a different line so we have something to compare them to.

Peace everyone!

:halo:

:halo::champagne-toast::champagne-toast::champagne-toast:

:halo:

Oh, and we had early dining which we have had on all but one of our cruises.