RCCL Main Dining reached a new low

[Aquahound]

Just got back from the Independence of the Seas. Great cruise (as usual) but my main seating dining was about as bad/sad as you can get.

 

Sorry to hear about this horrible service, my friend. I would have been upset also.

[Maraprince]

Depending on the Celebrity ship, you may not get any better service. We did Select Dining (same as My Time Dining) on Celebrity Millennium in Feb and the service was atrocious! I ended up in tears by the third night, since we were with a group and I was the trip planner! It was AWFUL!

 

One night we missed a show we really wanted to see because dinner took 2 hours and 45 minutes (due to terrible, SLOW service!). The Maitre'd had the nerve to tell me, in the most condescending tone that, on a cruise ship, dinner often takes 2.5 hours or more, implying that it was fine dining and that I was ignorant for thinking that we should have received more prompt service.

 

All I can say is don't hope for a great improvement on =X=, if our 11 days on Millie is any indication!

 

 

The longer than usual time to be served with MTD is one of the main reasons we do not go back to NCL and Free Style. It would take up to 3 hours -- not that we were eating -- due to the long breaks from being seated without a menu, no food or water on the table, then waiting for the waiter to start at the last table to be seated with their orders, at least 20 between courses if you didn't return a wrong order, dessert and coffee were never received and we still were late for all the shows with many nights of having to stand in the back to watch them! One night we decided to do the buffet so we could see the show. Guess what? They ran out of food and had to shut down some of the lines until more food was ready to serve -- guess other passengers had the same idea! We ate what we could and managed to get to see the full show and even had a seat! After dinner, we returned to the buffet to finish the rest of our dinner!

 

MARAPRINCE

[Maraprince]

Your suggestions are really the only way to properly deal with as bad a situation as the OP described. Perhaps we have been unusually fortunate in not having any experiences that even remotely resembled those described, but there is no excuse for bad service even on one occasion and certainly not on more than one occasion. The one occasion when we experienced poor service from a waiter and headwaiter, we quickly spoke to the Maitre'd and were moved to another table in the dining room where we had excellent service from everyone that we dealt with. I recently read something from Lisa Bauer which indicated that one of the unfortunate things that resulted from moving their best wait staff from other ships in the fleet to Oasis was the necessity to add inadequately trained new staff to those older ships with a resultant decline in passenger satisfaction. She claims that they have taken measures to weed out the poor performers and also indicated that they will not repeat their mistakes when staffing Allure. Time will tell if just how successful they will be. When Radiance of the Seas was first launched they staffed her with new and very inexperienced waiters and bar staff whose shortcomings were so obvious that the line took immediate measures to correct and improve the situation and within a

short period of time the quality of service on that ship had risen dramatically. :)

 

 

Other cruise lines bring out new ships and don't seem to have the same problems as RCL. During the time the ship is enroute to the US without paying passengers aboard is the time for training. Fare paying passengers should not have to deal with an inexperienced staff. Sure, there will be some getting used to finding your way around the kitchen and getting your sea legs and meshing as a team. To pull all the experienced/highly rated staff from the fleet and use them on the Oasis was courting certain failure. Like it or not, the rest of the fleet has paying passengers who are entitled to good service as well and should not be penalized because of the new ships coming out. RCL should hire staff and startto train them so they can be assigned to replace any staff members going to the Allure. Once they learn the basics they can deal with learning about the particular ship they are assigned to.

 

 

MARAPRINCE

[John Henry on CC]

Other cruise lines bring out new ships and don't seem to have the same problems as RCL. During the time the ship is enroute to the US without paying passengers aboard is the time for training. Fare paying passengers should not have to deal with an inexperienced staff. Sure, there will be some getting used to finding your way around the kitchen and getting your sea legs and meshing as a team. To pull all the experienced/highly rated staff from the fleet and use them on the Oasis was courting certain failure. Like it or not, the rest of the fleet has paying passengers who are entitled to good service as well and should not be penalized because of the new ships coming out. RCL should hire staff and startto train them so they can be assigned to replace any staff members going to the Allure. Once they learn the basics they can deal with learning about the particular ship they are assigned to.

 

MARAPRINCE

 

It has been more than four months since the Oasis launched with paying passengers. They can't hide behind that excuse any more.

 

If the service is poor, supervisory personnel needs to be re-trained and perhaps replaced.

 

Having never had anything worse than "average" service on any cruise, and usually it is good to outstanding, I cannot even imagine how I would feel if I had had rolloman's experience (and the others who have reported on this thread).

[bball4]

I'm just wondering if they want you to spend extra $$ going to the specialty restaurants.

[rolloman]

Sorry to hear about this horrible service, my friend. I would have been upset also.

 

Good to hear from you shipmate. Yeah, the whole dining thing was a major bummer, I had talked some family into going along as they were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. I spent the last 5 months pumping up how great it would be. Sadly every night at dinner I had to sit in my chair with my pointy ears and the long donkey snout. The grilled Crow was delicious though.

 

Hey, I see you are headed back to Solstice in a few days! I took your advice and went on the Equinox recently and it was an awesome cruise!!! You will love those new Elite Perks!!

[EVALUATOR]

Interesting. I was going to give the benefit of the doubt because the ship is now on its way back to Europe and the crew seemed to be really focused on that. So with this info, it seems they just might need better management. They picked the wrong dude to pass the cheap steak off on as I have a long history of ordering and eating that steak. Unfortunately it will be something I will probably not forget. No one likes to be cheated or made a fool of.

 

Their heading back to Europe would be an interesting excuse. We were on the Independence in December, 2009, and their excuse for the terrible service and food quality on that cruise was it was the first US cruise after the transatlantic.

[LBcruzman]

I recently read something from Lisa Bauer which indicated that one of the unfortunate things that resulted from moving their best wait staff from other ships in the fleet to Oasis was the necessity to add inadequately trained new staff to those older ships with a resultant decline in passenger satisfaction.

 

"Older Ships"? We are talking about the Independence of the Seas here. Isn't she the next newest ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet, built just before Oasis? Moving the best wait staff probably has something to do with this problem, but that seems a bit of a cop out.

 

On my most recent RCL sailings I have tried hard to overlook the decline in food and service in the MDR, but it is getting harder to do. My next sailing is on Oasis so I guess if they have the best servers working on her, then I am in for a return to the old days? I sure hope so, the prices we are paying are so much higher than on the other ships.

[Jolimont]

I'm just wondering if they want you to spend extra $$ going to the specialty restaurants.

That would be my guess too. You want tasty food and efficient service? Pay extra of course!

[9ersRule]

Sound very frustrating. I guess the only way to manage is to reduce or eliminate tip and blast the scorecard if the captain or maitre'd will not resolve!

 

Maybe we have been lucky on the three cruises with RCCL. Great service each time.

[Host Kewlguy]

It's really just the luck of the draw. Sometimes you get excellent servers and sometimes you get lousy ones. I wouldn't assume just because your servers were horrible the majority of the other servers in the dining room were horrible also. We've experienced inferior dining room service in the past but spoke to others on the same cruise who were very satisfied with the service they were receiving. There is no point in comparing dining room table numbers as the servers rotate around the dining room after every cruise.

[Host Kewlguy]

"Older Ships"? We are talking about the Independence of the Seas here. Isn't she the next newest ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet, built just before Oasis? Moving the best wait staff probably has something to do with this problem, but that seems a bit of a cop out.

 

On my most recent RCL sailings I have tried hard to overlook the decline in food and service in the MDR, but it is getting harder to do. My next sailing is on Oasis so I guess if they have the best servers working on her, then I am in for a return to the old days? I sure hope so, the prices we are paying are so much higher than on the other ships.

 

The cut backs are affecting ALL the cruise lines. Not just Royal. Our last cruise on Celebrity Constellation we had some of the worst dining room service of any cruise we've taken. And this on a cruise line that use to pride itself on being a cut above the competition when it came to food quality and service. It certainly wasn't noticable on that cruise.

 

Same goes for NCL. While we enjoy an occasional cruise on that line their main dining room food and service is nowhere near as good as what we experience on Royal. Not even close.

[Bakincakes]

That would be my guess too. You want tasty food and efficient service? Pay extra of course!

 

 

Now you are catching on.;)

 

Ala carte cruising...pick your cabin and then choose your dining package.

 

Is that what is coming? Probably.

 

I won't mind that actually. I'll pay more for fine dining...choice of wines with dinner and the kind of dining experience we used to get for the price of our ticket.

 

The MDR will basically be for pax who really just want to be fed. The other venues will be reserved for pax who don't mind paying for an upscale dining experience.

[cruzincurt]

That would be my guess too. You want tasty food and efficient service? Pay extra of course!

Well we opted for one night at Chops on the first back in the US cruise and it was no better. This was the 6th night of the cruise and Chops was less than half full. That should have been a warning sign. The service was so slow and inattentive, we finally gave up and skipped dessert.

 

There was just something missing in the crew's spirit.

[Bakincakes]

Well we opted for one night at Chops on the first back in the US cruise and it was no better. This was the 6th night of the cruise and Chops was less than half full. That should have been a warning sign. The service was so slow and inattentive, we finally gave up and skipped dessert.

 

There was just something missing in the crew's spirit.

 

 

Not a good sign if the crews morale is low.:(

[margaret91326]

We were on the Indi in Jan. We didn't even get a glass of water until 40 minutes into the dinner service. The rest of the meal was down hill from there. Being Diamond members, we have sailed many times with RCCL. This was the worst. We didn't want to spend the week taking ALL night to dine, yet we aren't much on the Buffet for dinner. So we opted for the anytime dining. We had never done it because the concept did not appeal to us. We went to the Maitre D' at the MTD and explained out woes. He was so very helpful and accommodating. We made a reservation for 8pm the next night. We were seated a a table with the most awesome waitress and assistant waiter. We were so thrilled. We returned each night asking for her section and they accommodated us. For those of you who haven't done the my time dining, you don't necessarily get the same table but you can get in the same section.

I would never sit all week at a table that the waitstaff was not up to par. That is the reason we cruise is for the dining experience each night. Take note RCCL.......

[lhall85917]

We were also on this cruise and did MTD as well as Portofinos and Chops one night each. No service problems in any of the dining rooms for us. Dinner each night generally took about an hour to an hour and a half.

[CruisinCat31]

We had the BEST MDR service on Rhapsody in March. Thanks to the fantastic Clayton (pity the cruise following ours was his last) and the superb Razvan! There was absolutely nothing they could have done better. May all of you that have had a bad experience be blessed in the future with service as good as what we experienced on Rhapsody.

[rolloman]

Odd that no one seems floored by the steak issue. It was the equivalent of going to a speciality restaurant and getting handed the main dining room menu.

[Bakincakes]

Odd that no one seems floored by the steak issue. It was the equivalent of going to a speciality restaurant and getting handed the main dining room menu.

 

 

I don't think anyone is "floored" by what is going on.

 

The definate lack of service and quality are SOP these days.:(

[UKBayern]

We were on her first cruise after coming over from Europe and chalked up poor service and atmosphere to that. Apparently, nothing changed in the months she was serving the Caribbean.

 

Bad service is never to be condoned, but you are missing one important point in your comment. They have not been serving in the Caribbean for months, but were probably new on the ship during the Transatlantic. We were on the Splendour OTS in November, on what was basically the first part of a repo cruise (from Venice to open sea). We noticed some minor issues with the serving staff on the first couple of nights, mainly down to inexperience (could not find things, did not know the wine menu very well, very nervous). You could see that they had to get used to working together in the team. We understood from the staff that there are a lot of crew changes directly before or after repositioning cruises. Most of our waiters were talking about this being their last cruise before going home or their first voyage.

 

Since your cruise was the first after the repo, many members of staff (maybe also in the kitchen) were probably relatively new to the ship. In our case, we noticed it was not bad will or lack of basic serving skills. Nobody is perfect and as long as we treat each other like human beings, it does straighten out in the end. One of our (new) waiters was so nervous he was trembling on the first night. All it needed was a few kind words in French (his native language) and he relaxed and everything was fine the rest of the cruise. There are always going to be new employees in any company we have to deal with, whether it is at the bank, the MacDonalds or the petrol station. And as one local driving school has on the back of his car here: "Be patient, we all have needed to learn at one stage or another".

[Aquahound]

Hey, I see you are headed back to Solstice in a few days! I took your advice and went on the Equinox recently and it was an awesome cruise!!! You will love those new Elite Perks!!

 

Awesome cruise, wasn't it? They did it right with that ship class. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. And yes, I'm looking forward to those new perks.

 

BTW, I have to say that it was your Chops steak issue that floored me the most. Like you said, it makes you wonder how many times they have "accidently" served the daily sirloin in place of a Chops filet.

[marci22]

I was on the last sailing also. I was at table 483 for early seating and our waiters Roy and Nikola were excellent. Even when I ordered a side at the last minute, or my son wanted an exchange, it arrived promptly and hot. They could not have been better.

 

That being said, they did move at an extremely rapid pace, maybe because they were working with less personnel? so I could understand that a waiter who was even a bit off might have a cascade-effect of problems.

 

While I only experienced one mediocre employee (Diamond concierge) everyone else was really excellent. I did get the impression that, for some reason, Indy is a 'difficult' ship to work on. Morale does seem to be an issue.

 

We did Portofino 2 nights and the first was excellent, the second was still good, but the food seemed to be a bit off in comparison. Service was very good both times.

[framboesa]

I am very sorry to hear about your bad experiences :(

We never (never,never) had a bad experience...we always had the best service, the best food...Everybody was so, so nice and polite with us...That's why we chose RCI to our friend's first cruise ever... I hope we made a good choice beacause it was always the best choice in our past cruises...:rolleyes:

[kyriecat]

I don't think being seated next to the Captain's table is any better than being seated somewhere else. I've been seated right next to to the Captains twice (but next at the Captain's table). Both times the service was very poor. On Rhapsody our waiter was very forgetful, constantly bringing the wrong plates or getting them mixed up. Once he forgot to bring our menus. He came to take our order but no one had a menu so we didn't know what we wanted. He said he'd be right back with some. After 10 minutes of watching him take orders for other tables and not bringing us menus, I went to the server station and got my own. On Legend we had the rudest waiter that I have ever encountered. He acted like asking him questions about the food was beneath him. Fortunately, we had the best assistant waiter ever that trip. We made it a point to tell the head waiter how displeased we were with the waiter but our assistant waiter was doing a great job.

 

Bar service on my January Serenade cruise was atrocious! If you were lucky enough to get a chance to order a drink at the beginning of the meal, it wasn't delivered until the main course or even during dessert. Most of the time, the bar server didn't even come by our table since we were in the corner. I had to get one of the waiters to hunt him down. After the first night, I put a little extra on the tip and made it a point to tell him that was to remember me the next night. Didn't help. One night I ordered a coffee with Bailey's with dessert. It took so long to arrive that dessert was over and everyone else at the table had left. I would have left too, but he still had my seapass card. The next night, I let the bar server know that we would be leaving in 25 minutes for a show and that if I couldn't get my coffee before then, I didn't want it. After 25 minutes, he hadn't shown up with it so we got up to leave. He came running across the room yelling at me. I was MAD! He said he'd be back in a minute with my drink and wanted my seapass. I told him I didn't want the drink anymore and wasn't going to pay for it. On Legend we had the most amazing bar server who practically brought our drinks when we sat down. She spoiled us.

 

The waiters on Serenade weren't any better then the bar server. I'm not used to having to ask for my water glass to be refilled. Usually the asst. waiter does it automatically, but this cruise they would only refill when you asked. Even when I asked, many times I was told he would be "right back" with the pitcher and he forgot until I asked again. I got so tired of waiting that I asked for a second glass or if they could leave a pitcher but told no.

 

It seems like the service (both cabin stewards and waiters) has deteriorated over the years. There are a few bright spots but not as many as there used to be. In the past, I would find a few people to mention by name on the comment card who either did a fabulous job or simply made me feel special by their friendliness. It seems like the list keeps getting shorter and last cruise, I didn't mention anyone by name.