RCCL Main Dining reached a new low

[marci22]

There seems to be an affection for the use of gelatin these days, and their chocolate desserts aren't nearly as good or as plentiful as in the past.

 

Absolutely. My teens would say, "Don't order that: it's not cheesecake, it's jello."

[marci22]

 

It annoys me that crew would be so forward but on the other hand I know that if they receive less than excellent there can be h*** to pay. They can lose tables/cabins..etc. and that cuts into their income.

 

Some certainly deserve low grades for their performance but I can imagine that some may be graded unfairly for minor issues.

 

We heard that one 'poor' rating must be offset by 20 'excellents'. And everyone sooner or later gets one, but it still hurts. As long as someone is really trying hard and remains pleasant I don't mind giving them an excellent.

[Bakincakes]

Absolutely. My teens would say, "Don't order that: it's not cheesecake, it's jello."

 

 

:eek:

 

When the teens notice....mine used to shovel food in so quickly they wouldn't have a clue..:rolleyes:

 

but I agree...also suspect is anything called "mousse" unless served in a specialty.;)

[Paul65]

I found the panna cotta to be quite good on my recent cruise. Of course, that is supposed to have gelatin in it. I had a mango panna cotta in the WJ one day for lunch and had a taste of the raspberry panna cotta that my son ordered for dessert at dinner. Both had nice flavors of fresh fruit. The cheesecakes did not seem to be anything remotely like gelatin. It wasn't the world's best or anything, but it was real cheesecake.

[Maraprince]

Whether or not you are on the newest or the oldest ship, bad service is bad service. The age/size of the ship doesn't cause bad service -- lack of proper training and supervision does.

 

It seems odd that RCL would "put down" their older/smaller ships and focus only on the Oasis and its soon to arrive sister ship. Passengers overall are paying more to sail with RCL and come back and come back and come back.

 

They are looking for good service and good food quality. If the MDR food and service is subpar (whether by accident or by design), the pay extra venues aren't large enough to hold everyone. If the service/food qualities in the pay extra venues isn't any better, than I would say RCL has a major problem on their hands.

 

MARAPRINCE

[mtchg]

..reviews of the MDR food AND service; I think it's obvious that Royal Caribbean's MDR overall quality is inconsistent; which means discerning cruisers will have at least as many bad MDR experiences as good (as opposed to the occasional anomalie).

I also can assume that management monitors these boards. Do you think there is any concern or attempt to correct this? Or is it a "just hang on" mentality until the economy improves? Or is my original premise wrong and MDR is just fine...thoughts?

Mitch

[Paul65]

I would say that your original premise is at least partially wrong. It IS inconsistent, but that is not a new observation. Even years or decades ago, the experience could vary from ship to ship, voyage to voyage, table to table. I think it is harder to be consistently good, when you're serving thousands of passengers on a mega-ship, so there is probably more inconsistency now than a couple decabes ago, when ships like the Monarch were the "mega-ships" of the day. But I don't think it has reached the point that cruisers will have "at least as many bad MDR experiences as good."

[mtchg]

...although your premise implies the service/food would be better now on the smaller ships; and worse on the larger. That could be true or not...not sure...but I am ready to give the Indy a try and I will report back.

Mitch

[Paul65]

[quote name='mtchg']...although your premise implies the service/food would be better now on the smaller ships; and worse on the larger. That could be true or not...not sure...but I am ready to give the Indy a try and I will report back.

Mitch[/quote]

Well, it doesn't exactly imply that. A lot of the service and quality depends upon the people in charge. So, if they decide to put their best chefs and best hotel division staff on the newest and biggest ships, then you may find it better on the big ships than on the smaller ones. There are other factors in play than JUST the size of ship and number of passengers. In fact, simply the number of ships in the fleet now vs. 20 years ago probably impacts the degree of consistency, as well.

[EVALUATOR]

[quote name='Paul65']I would say that your original premise is at least partially wrong. It IS inconsistent, but that is not a new observation. Even years or decades ago, the experience could vary from ship to ship, voyage to voyage, table to table. I think it is harder to be consistently good, when you're serving thousands of passengers on a mega-ship, so there is probably more inconsistency now than a couple decabes ago, when ships like the Monarch were the "mega-ships" of the day. But I don't think it has reached the point that cruisers will have "at least as many bad MDR experiences as good."[/quote]

So the size of the ship, or the number of the ships in a fleet is the controlling factor in the inconsistent service? Couldn't it be bad management?

The cruise directors are so controlled that they all use the same top ten questions asked on a cruise list in the farewell show. But the dining room staff is allowed to try and substitute a black angus sirloin for the fillet, and try to charge for it until questioned?

[Paul65]

[quote name='EVALUATOR']So the size of the ship, or the number of the ships in a fleet is the controlling factor in the inconsistent service? Couldn't it be bad management?[/quote]

Of course it could. You must have missed the other part of my post, where I said, "A lot of the service and quality depends upon the people in charge."

[geegee1]

[quote name='rolloman']...No bar service, the actual times I wanted a beer, I had to go outside the dining room and buy one at Boleros and then bring it back to my seat.[/quote]

Last year on EOS we experienced the same thing. We told our waiter that we wanted a bucket of beers at our table as soon as we got in (table of 7 adults/4 beer drinkers). Almost every night we had to wait until halfway through our appetizers to get a drink. It was always some different excuse, it wasn't his job, the drink girl was busy, they ran out of beer, it was just beyond frustrating.

[SandraLee]

For us, the Indy was the largest ship we've been on. The service on the Radiance was far better. Yes, there is an issue with too many people, but I think it is the RATIO of crew people to passengers.

It was very consistent across the ship that there were too many people and not enough crew. Anyone have a grid that shows the difference in passengers to crew in the RCCL fleet? and also across cruise lines?

[EVALUATOR]

[quote name='Paul65']Of course it could. You must have missed the other part of my post, where I said, "A lot of the service and quality depends upon the people in charge."[/quote]

No I didn't miss it. I was responding to your post prior to that one. My internet provider keeps trying to substitute my 9.0 MBPS service for 56K. It does sound like we somewhat agree that management is at least part of the problem.

[Paul65]

[quote name='EVALUATOR']No I didn't miss it. I was responding to your post prior to that one. My internet provider keeps trying to substitute my 9.0 MBPS service for 56K. It does sound like we somewhat agree that management is at least part of the problem.[/quote]

OK. Thought you had read both, because it was in the second post that I mentioned the number of ships in the fleet. But, yes, I think management is part of the problem. But I don't think management is trying to cheat people out of premium steaks that they pay for. That was likely an isolated screw-up, but it does sound like they had poor overall galley management on rolloman's cruise, given the many problems he experienced.

[tracysue]

we were on indy - march 20th table 296 (i believe) - and it was fabulous service! We loved our waiter to pieces, he took a lot of time - talked with us - and every night we got to ask him a question about his home land and family - it was engaging and fun! The food was good to - was it gourmet? no - but it was good food - great selections, and we liked everything... the steak from Chops - you could see the difference from the one that was on the menu every day w/ no charge - so I cannot imagine people making that mistake.... and least I hope not.
re: if the large ship is not as good of service as a small ship....? i think it all comes down to the people....
[COLOR="Black"][B]we gave our wait staff great marks and extra money at the end of the cruise..... anyone that goes on Indy - ask to be seated at Evo's table....
he was great!
al[B]so, the afternoon we get on a ship, the 1st stop is the dining room - 1 to check out location, meet the head waiter - and tell him we want a great wait staff - as well as talk about the diet needs.[/B] [/B][/COLOR] (diabetic)

I will agree the bar sevice is non-existent....and I don't know why - ????

[EVALUATOR]

Of course, management knows about the service issues. Lisa Bauer even addressed it in a recent blog.


"We have a healthy competition between our stateroom attendants and our dining room wait staff for who can deliver the best guest satisfaction ratings. It is always very close, and we know that the level of engagement our guests get from their wait staff is very important to our guests. Last year we had a few challenges to our dining room service. We had almost the entire [I][URL="http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do;jsessionid=0000cSCNkFcG3tFDcD6TrTe_bhD:12hdhu6tq?br=R&shipClassCode=OA&shipCode=OA"]Oasis [/URL][/I]start up team come from existing ships, so we had to back fill the open positions with mostly new hires across the fleet. Because our Food & Beverage team is the largest onboard, the influx of so many new hires had an impact on our service until the new staff got into the routine onboard.
[SIZE=4][COLOR=Red]We also introduced a new program that was specifically put in place to increase service levels in the dining room[/COLOR][/SIZE] [SIZE=4][COLOR=Red]by having the wait staff take drink orders[/COLOR][/SIZE]. While this worked well on some ships, on other ships, we didn’t have the right numbers of bar stations, or proper technology to make it easy for the wait staff to be efficient. As a result, we went back to basics and are reworking all the processes to ensure that when we continue to implement this program, we’ve given the crew the correct resources and processes to be successful.
We’ve recently launched a fleetwide “We Service Incredible” contest to the dining room staff to have an increase in training and focus on really delivering the wow in the dining room. In addition, we also have put into place new timing and training so that when we staff [I][URL="http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do;jsessionid=0000cSCNkFcG3tFDcD6TrTe_bhD:12hdhu6tq?br=R&shipClassCode=OA&shipCode=AL"]Allure[/URL][/I], it doesn’t have the same impact across the fleet.
Early results on the “We Serve Incredible” contest are encouraging, as our guests’ ratings are up and the race between housekeeping and dining room service continues!"

Where would having waitstaff taking drink orders increase service. Stupid idea, with expected results. Or was it a bean counting, money saving move. If the latter, calling it a service enhancement is another management mistake. If they had the entire bridge crew come to the dining room and wait tables, do you think there might be navigational implications?

Waiters wait tables.
Cabin Attendants attend cabins.
Bar Servers serve drinks.
Cooks cook.
Dish washers wash dishes.

Sometimes simple processes are overcomplicated.

The last time we ate in Portofinos, I ordered the Fillet. The waiter came over to the table with a tray of steak knives. He used two forks to delicately pick up one of the steak knives and place it next to the knife I had. He then picked up the knife I had and placed it on the tray of clean knives. The problem was the steak knife he gave me was so dirty, it looked like it wasn't washed from the prior cruise, let alone the prior service.

I guess the dishwashers were steering the ship while the bridge crew was delayed in turning down the beds while looking for the discontinued pillow chocolates.

[Paul65]

I'm not so sure I agree with you on all that, Evaluator. In almost every land-based restaurant I've ever been to, the waiter takes your entire order, including drinks, and it works pretty well. They then pass the drink orders to the bar and the food orders to the kitchen. But you have only one person keeping up with what each customer ordered and making sure they got it. It works in most restaurants; I could see where there might be some efficiencies in doing the same on a ship, if it's managed properly.

[LBcruzman]

[quote name='Paul65']OK. Thought you had read both, because it was in the second post that I mentioned the number of ships in the fleet. But, yes, I think management is part of the problem. But I don't think management is trying to cheat people out of premium steaks that they pay for. [COLOR=red]That was likely an isolated screw-up,[/COLOR] but it does sound like they had poor overall galley management on rolloman's cruise, given the many problems he experienced.[/quote]

Ummmm......not so sure, I have read many reports on here of this happening (ordering the steak you pay for and receiving the inferior free one). And it wasn't isolated to this ship. I am not saying this is intentionally being done, but it does make one wonder. Putting entree items for a charge on the otherwise free entree MDR menu was bound to cause problems like this, not to mention it is so tacky. Even in the specialty restaurants, you pay one fee to dine there, but the entrees have no prices on the menu.

[EVALUATOR]

[quote name='Paul65']I'm not so sure I agree with you on all that, Evaluator. In almost every land-based restaurant I've ever been to, the waiter takes your entire order, including drinks, and it works pretty well. They then pass the drink orders to the bar and the food orders to the kitchen. But you have only one person keeping up with what each customer ordered and making sure they got it. It works in most restaurants; I could see where there might be some efficiencies in doing the same on a ship, [B][COLOR=Red]if it's managed properly[/COLOR][/B].[/quote]

Agreed, but most land based restaurants do not have half their guests showing up typically within 5 minutes of each other. Then have the process followed by an encore appearance in two hours. Most of the time it is staggered to allow for a flow of customers. Anything that interrupts the timing of the MDR service effects around 20 diners at a time, per server.

RCI knows the problems associated with a tidal wave of diners. At breakfast and lunch, they hold back customers at the door, seating them at a more staggered pace.

[Paul65]

Fair enough. This was the first time I'd ever seen such a report, and it didn't seem that anyone else on the thread was claiming the same had happened to them. Nobody at our table ever ordered the premium steak, but if it is similar to the filet I enjoyed at Portofino, I might be tempted to do so on a future cruise!

[tracysue]

[quote name='LBcruzman']Ummmm......not so sure, I have read many reports on here of this happening (ordering the steak you pay for and receiving the inferior free one). And it wasn't isolated to this ship. I am not saying this is intentionally being done, but it does make one wonder. Putting entree items for a charge on the otherwise free entree MDR menu was bound to cause problems like this, not to mention it is so tacky. Even in the specialty restaurants, you pay one fee to dine there, but the entrees have no prices on the menu.[/QUOTE]
we purchased the option of the chops steak 3 different nights - never a screw up - and done perfect!!! there is no way you can miss a filet vs a "sirloin" off the menu......man, you'd really have to need some glasses....again... I think it is the wait staff....not done intentionally - but...how could it be that messed up?
if you have a poor server team...you'll get poor service...including attention to the details.

[BroncosFan2010]

Large ships, Spring Break time, packed ships.... no wonder service was not great.....

[SandraLee]

[quote name='BroncosFan2010']Large ships, Spring Break time, packed ships.... no wonder service was not great.....[/QUOTE]

I don't understand that philosophy. If the ship can sleep that many people, there should be enough crew to [I][B]service[/B][/I] that many people.

Just because the ship is full, shouldn't mean the service suffers. The amount of staff on board should be designed to handle the ship at capacity. Otherwise, reduce the capacity.

Personally, I'm sick of hearing to sail when the ship isn't full. I'm paying premium dollar to sail during busy season; shouldn't the service reflect that?

[Bakincakes]

[quote name='SandraLee']I don't understand that philosophy. If the ship can sleep that many people, there should be enough crew to [I][B]service[/B][/I] that many people.

Just because the ship is full, shouldn't mean the service suffers. The amount of staff on board should be designed to handle the ship at capacity. Otherwise, reduce the capacity.

Personally, I'm sick of hearing to sail when the ship isn't full. I'm paying premium dollar to sail during busy season; shouldn't the service reflect that?[/quote]


I agree.

Amazing that people think that when a ship is full that they should have to deal with substandard service or that pax shouldn't complain? Ridiculous!!

If they are building ships with a certain capacity then they had better make sure they have a crew that is capable of serving that number of people.

Is RCI losing its good staff or merely transferring the better staff to Oasis? Why aren't all staff members properly trained?

Maybe they do read these boards and see scores of posts like "Well it is only "banquet" food..what do you expect?" So does that mean that RCI has gotten the idea that pax are willing to accept anything in the MDR? Maybe they are and maybe they do.

There is just no excuse for poor service. None.