Hard Bed and neglected in the MDR what to do?

[sparks1093]

I think it may be because someone was complaining about a lot of things.

 

We had one meal like that-- the table next to us had a whiny biddy- I mean she complained about everything-- something not hot enough something not cold enough-- not enough ice in her drink and on and on and on.

 

Our table suffered through service because the waiter was spending way more then enough time on just that one lady

 

That is also a reasonable explanation.

[quickrate]

Me neither, you are on a cruise and you can't go nowhere anyways. But this is typical something american. The service in a restaurant in the states and europe is like day and night. In the states they go to eat and in europe they go for a night out.

I agree with you. I never understand the rush to finish dinner. We make this into an event each night and never finish in less than 2 hours. We usually travel with several friends and we catch up on each others day over dinner. Several bottles of wine later, we have had a nice social evening!!

[quickrate]

so do you really think everybody should conform to your way of doing things. Or could they have their own wants and desires according to them and their schedule. Or maybe they should check with you each time they cruise so you could tell them how to do things?

Seriously?! Stu wasn't being hostile,only voicing his opinion!

Pat

[brooklynfc]

I agree with Allie.

 

I also must add that Carnival's beds are being switched over to the hard ones. It sounds like you had one of the new, hard beds, and one of the older, comfy beds that Carnival has been well-known for. They are doing away with the comfy beds for the cheaper hard ones. Since mattresses are changed out somewhat often, they will all eventually be that way. So just be prepared to ask for that egg crate pad right away.

 

For dinner, I really wonder what we have done wrong now. Except for this last cruise, we're usually getting dessert around 7:30-7:40. I was starting to think that that was normal. But we still knew we were one of the last ones to get it. I guess I just have bad luck.

 

I'm going to patiently wait to see if a brand new thread is started about mattresses now.............:p

[MCC retired]

Reguardless of the complaint , not handling it onboard then

complaining now here on CC , solves nothing for the OP.

[sparks1093]

Reguardless of the complaint , not handling it onboard then

complaining now here on CC , solves nothing for the OP.

 

I read the OP's post as "this is what happened, if it happens again what do we do". In any event any newbies reading this thread will know what do to if it happens to them.

[FiremanDan]

Seriously?! Stu wasn't being hostile,only voicing his opinion!

Pat

 

Yes, and Stu is just a little uptight over his pet Yak. :p

[cruzinlisa]

I agree with you. I never understand the rush to finish dinner. We make this into an event each night and never finish in less than 2 hours. We usually travel with several friends and we catch up on each others day over dinner. Several bottles of wine later, we have had a nice social evening!!

 

Sometimes depends on the situation. If I am sitting with friends or nice tablemates and drinking wine, sure, take time. But like on our last cruise where we had our 15 month DD who never seemed to nap and thus was always cranky and restless, the 1.5 hours that dinner took was painful. Probably for all involved.

[golfadj]

Yes, and Stu is just a little uptight over his pet Yak. :p

 

That is true, last night saw it messing around with the cute little yakette accross the street.

 

Sometimes would love to speak to the head waiter and find out why certains things happen they way they do during dinner.

[sharecruises]

The best advice is something you have heard...take care of it on the ship

 

Right now we are Monday Morning Quarterbacks...coulda , woulda, shoulda

 

You should have complained to room steward, they would have gotten you an egg crate topper *if they were some left, complain early

 

You also should have complained to the maitre' d

 

No need to worry about being bumped to late seating, they wouldn't have done that

 

They probably would have addressed the wait staff to speed up or moved you to another station that could serve you better.

 

When you are on the ship you can solve problems...afterwards, good luck, nothing can be done, we can discuss it over and over but there is nothing gonna happen. Carnival may or may not send you a "survey" and I have not seen anything come of a survey....there is no more "45 day letter" so if you write a complaint now to them you will get a canned response

 

Best advice : address problems while on ship

 

hth

[PA Dutchman]

We never get out of the MDr till around 7:30, some nights it seems slow but in the end its still around 7:30. If you want in and out in 1 hr you better hit the lido deck. For the bed next time tell them you want a comfort bed. Sometimes I really wounder why some people really go on a cruise cruise. It takes us 1 1/2 hrs at our local steakhouses.

[RuthlessBoss]

Yes, and Stu is just a little uptight over his pet Yak. :p

Yes, the yak is "fooling around" while he should be at the dry cleaners hunting for his cruise suit:D

[mountaincruiser20]

Had a similar problem last year on the Magic. Our Headwaiter and one of the Assistants didn't show up and never called in. One of the assistants stepped in but being under staffed and new it took forever to get out of the dining room. When the Maitre D came by and asked why we were still waiting, we told him. The Headwaiter was made an assistant the rest of the cruise for not reporting in and leaving only two to take of all his tables.The assistant who stepping got a black jacket for the rest of the cruise and after a couple of nights was doing great. We were also moved to another area where we met our new Headwaiter. We still talk with her on Facebook regularly. Hope they still have the comfortable beds on the Sensation in a few months, and the Breeze.

[Aplmac]

Why are they changing back to hard beds, instead of the "Comfort Collection"?

Two words: Bean Counters. ;)

.

[golfadj]

Yes, the yak is "fooling around" while he should be at the dry cleaners hunting for his cruise suit:D

 

Well we know he will not go near my butcher friend.

 

Amazing that a headwaiter will just not show up for work one night.

[marshhawk]

The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Sad but true. On our last cruise, We had early dining on the Fascination, we showed up on time every night, but our waiter had a disappearing assistant. Showed up for a round of bread, and then didn't see her again til dessert. Waiter worked his butt off, but we were always the last to leave. Every one at our table talked about cutting his tips. We gave him a little extra, and told him we hoped he got a new assistant. In this case complaining to the Maitre'D wouldn't have helped. I really do not like "sweet home Alabama" as the Maitre D', most smug man I have ever met. Oh I take that back, I really have never met him, when I said hello to him he walked the other way.

Great beds so far on everything but the Legend. Like a rock, turn once and it was like hitting another rock. DH got on his side, I got on mine and we found the one comfortable spot and stayed like that all night. I think the floor may have been more comfortable. Hard bed, talk to the steward or guest services. But we didn't know who to talk to either. Boy do you learn a lot on CC !

Two years ago our phone in our cabin did not work. You could get a dial tone sometimes, but you couldn't dial out. When we complained to guest services they asked us what we needed it for. How about calling for room service, or connecting with members of our party that were on another deck. We never got it fixed, while we had plenty of crew come and try to repair it??:rolleyes: So when we wanted to call our friends, we had to go somewhere else on the ship, and use a phone there. That was not the best of customer service. :(

[mikel24m]

We got back from the Triumph last Thursday and although we had a good cruise, there were elements that made us feel like we were in steerage.

So I was hoping some of you may have experienced the same and who did you complain to and what results you had?

 

1st-Room 1216 had a really hard bed. I thought it was just me, but my dh took a nap on my side and noted how hard it was. The DH said it didn't remember there always being a large gap between the beds. We pulled the sheets off the final morning and and saw where there was just a thin mattress cover that held the two twins together. I thought I had checked the set up on a previous cruise and saw that there was a pillow top like mattress cover that held the beds together?

If we would've reported, what could they have done?

 

2nd-In the MDR, we would receive our main course while the others around us were receiving their desserts. This happened every night regardless of what time or what order we arrived. Once, we were early and got there before any of the other tables assigned to our waitstaff and we still got our served last. It was close to 7:15 by the time we got our desserts.

We would get our menu, drinks and bread fine. But after that, we were at the mercy of the galley. Our runner would disappear for long periods of time and I could even see our head waiter looking anxious. Eventually when the runner returned to our area, we'd get our food.

You'd think they'd see us sitting there twiddling our thumbs, butter knife fighting, arranging our glasses like Easter Island statues hoping that someone would notice they were empty, and apologize for the delay, but not a word, explanation or apology was given.

I really felt that it was the low man on the totem pole causing the delay and didn't want to get the other two in trouble, but if we complained, we were likely to get bumped to Late Dining?

So what do you do?

 

We also had this happen to us in the MDR once.The service team was tied up with big parties and although we arrived on time(and most of the other parties were late) we were the last ones to leave. We decided to not go anymore and had a great dinner at the buffet with most of the same foods served in the MDR including choc melting cake

[Topo Gigio]

Look like they are getting the same mattress supplier as Princess.

[GROUCHPUSS]

We are just off the Splendor and had poor service in the MDR. On 1st formal night it was so bad that we left the dining room while waiting to order dessert. We had menus for over 30 min and no one ever came to take our order. I do not blame the waiter he was just had way too many guests to take of and he was by himself.

 

We had anytime dining and we will not do it again. It took most nights over 2 hrs to get through dinner. The tables were so close together that you could not walk through the room without hitting chairs and bumping other people trying to eat.

[golfadj]

We are just off the Splendor and had poor service in the MDR. On 1st formal night it was so bad that we left the dining room while waiting to order dessert. We had menus for over 30 min and no one ever came to take our order. I do not blame the waiter he was just had way too many guests to take of and he was by himself.

 

We had anytime dining and we will not do it again. It took most nights over 2 hrs to get through dinner. The tables were so close together that you could not walk through the room without hitting chairs and bumping other people trying to eat.

 

That is awful. Did you complain to the MD?

[JoeMissile]

We got back from the Triumph last Thursday and although we had a good cruise, there were elements that made us feel like we were in steerage.

So I was hoping some of you may have experienced the same and who did you complain to and what results you had?

 

1st-Room 1216 had a really hard bed. I thought it was just me, but my dh took a nap on my side and noted how hard it was. The DH said it didn't remember there always being a large gap between the beds. We pulled the sheets off the final morning and and saw where there was just a thin mattress cover that held the two twins together. I thought I had checked the set up on a previous cruise and saw that there was a pillow top like mattress cover that held the beds together?

If we would've reported, what could they have done?

 

2nd-In the MDR, we would receive our main course while the others around us were receiving their desserts. This happened every night regardless of what time or what order we arrived. Once, we were early and got there before any of the other tables assigned to our waitstaff and we still got our served last. It was close to 7:15 by the time we got our desserts.

We would get our menu, drinks and bread fine. But after that, we were at the mercy of the galley. Our runner would disappear for long periods of time and I could even see our head waiter looking anxious. Eventually when the runner returned to our area, we'd get our food.

You'd think they'd see us sitting there twiddling our thumbs, butter knife fighting, arranging our glasses like Easter Island statues hoping that someone would notice they were empty, and apologize for the delay, but not a word, explanation or apology was given.

I really felt that it was the low man on the totem pole causing the delay and didn't want to get the other two in trouble, but if we complained, we were likely to get bumped to Late Dining?

So what do you do?

Let me get this straight:

• Your bed was not to your liking, but said nothing to your steward.
  
• Your meals in the MDR were slow, but said nothing to your waiter or the Maitre'D.
  
• You wait until the cruise is over then post on a public forum expecting an answer from total strangers as to how to handle this.
  

Not sure what you expect, but I have no sympathy for your situation. You had ample time on the ship to resolve these issues. My only suggestion may be taking a course in assertiveness before your next cruise.

[sharecruises]

We are just off the Splendor and had poor service in the MDR. On 1st formal night it was so bad that we left the dining room while waiting to order dessert. We had menus for over 30 min and no one ever came to take our order. I do not blame the waiter he was just had way too many guests to take of and he was by himself.

 

We had anytime dining and we will not do it again. It took most nights over 2 hrs to get through dinner. The tables were so close together that you could not walk through the room without hitting chairs and bumping other people trying to eat.

 

That really stinks, sorry it happened to you

 

You might have tried to switch over to regular dining while on board

 

I do think they are understaffed...we had a very nice waiter but his assistants were just not good. Some have luck with the anytime dining but if you look at it realistically there must be times when it is just hectic and impersonal.

 

 

Hope your next cruise is better !!!

[RWolver672]

I agree with you. I never understand the rush to finish dinner. We make this into an event each night and never finish in less than 2 hours. We usually travel with several friends and we catch up on each others day over dinner. Several bottles of wine later, we have had a nice social evening!!

 

I am going to try my best to be polite here so that it isn't taken in the wrong context. By stretching out a meal more than the normal time it should take, it puts a strain on the wait staff that have to get ready for the next seating. Several times we have seen where as soon as a table is empty, the wait staff will start breaking down the setting and get ready for the next group to come in. If you have the later seating, the staff still needs to clear the tables, then head to their other jobs.

 

For catching up on others days and socializing over wine, we have always found a nice quiet spot outside the lobby on deck 3. There's never anyone out there. Spent many hours out there talking with our group and it doesn't hold anybody up from doing their job.

[justlaff69]

For the courteous answers, thanks, if this happens again, we will address the issues while at sea.

 

For the others, I wasn't on here to complain I just wanted to see if others had the same issues and how they resolved them.

 

I generally don't complain b/c I'm on vacation and having a good time.

Really didn't want to get the Head Waiter in trouble when it seemed to be an Asst problem and complaining about someone who will be serving my food the next day doesn't seem to be the best idea. If I knew they'd move us to a different server, I probably would've spoken up on the 2nd night.

I heard from others that they had been wait-listed for early dining, thus I was less inclined.

 

For those making comments about rushing through dinner:

We had a table for two, after spending the whole day together, there's not a lot of catching up to be done.

Plus, the show and other event we wanted to attended usually started at 8. Since we do wear slacks to the MDR, it's nice to have time to run back to the room to change back into cruise wear.

My time line of 7:15 may have been off, but the tables below and behind us where being served dessert before we got our main course.

 

We didn't let it bother us too much because we did have time.

On the last night we attempted the Lido buffet, as suggested, but the meatloaf was cold and really really spicy. Still got to the MDR on time and skipped dessert as nothing seem to catch our fancy.

 

Thanks to the nice CC posters, we know what to do if it happens again.

 

Good luck to you and may the odds be ever in you favor :D

[lovecarnival]

My husbamd and I cruised on the Freedom in May. When were able to go to our rooms and I lied down on the bed to read my Funtimes when I got up I could hardly move. I had such a terrible pain in my lower back. We told our room steward about the bed being so hard and he brought us a new mattress and a really nice egg crate. The bed was so much better thanks to our room steward.:)