When did main dining room servers start taking care of 4/5 tables?

[DebJ14]

They'll keep cutting until people stop booking.

Why wouldn't they? If I ran a business, I'd push it to see how far I could get without losing profit.

 

It's been over a year since I sailed CCL, but I never had a bad dining room experience on a CCL ship. The dining staff on out last cruise was exceptionally awesome as a matter of fact, and we were a table of 12 (or was it 10??? Either way...). I do however, believe the OP.

 

I think you will find that if you cruise CCL now you will see a big difference in the dining room experience.

 

We had terrible service on the Freedom in May to the point where we ate in the buffet for dinner (which we had never done before) and in the Steakhouse. When we did go back to the MDR on day 5 we found the waiter had been replaced and service was slightly improved the rest of the cruise. Seems those at surrounding tables pitched a fit. The Freedom had a lousy Maitre'D who was not circulating in the dining room and helping out.

 

On the Magic Aug 4 we had horrendously slow service. In fact one night we waited one hour and fifty minutes for the main course to be served. We were never once offered seconds on bread, rarely had water glasses refilled and were only offered coffee on 3 nights. Things ran so slowly that they were changing the tables for the next seating as we tried to gobble our food and get out before late dining started. We had a 6 year old and an 8 year old with us. They practically fell asleep waiting for their food. The waiter never engaged them, nor bothered to learn their names. In fact he rarely spoke to any of the people in his section. When he was working meals up in the Lido he appeared to not recognize anyone and never said hello.

 

This was our third cruise on the Magic and I think alot of it has to do with the Maitre'D. We sailed before with Ken Byrne and Elvis and they were both on top of things and were out and about in the dining room visiting the tables every night. If they saw a plate that needed to be cleared or water to refresh they took care of it. This last Maitre'D, Fernando, was practically invisible. He was at the door when people arrived, but then did a disappearing act. We wanted to speak to him at the end of dinner several times, but he was not at the podium, nor anywhere else in the dining room. I guess that's why Ken and Elvis were both attacked by staff - they are demanding. They may be tough on the staff, but we had some of our best service ever in their dining rooms.

[DebJ14]

They do now have more tables to serve than they once did.

Also, cabin stewards have more cabins to clean ..... :(

 

LuLu

~~~~

 

Yes, but the stewards can "hire" helpers. We have not noticed cutbacks in service in the staterooms like we have in the MDR. Our stewards have always made it a point to greet us when they saw us and always asked if we needed anything.

 

I do hate that they are not refilling the mini-bar every day. We drank all the diet coke, Sprite, wine and Champagne the first day when we had the whole family in for sailaway and it was never replaced, in spite of asking that it be done.

[missabbi]

This is just another example of the decline of Carnival. To describe Carnival as the Wal-Mart of cruising would be to insult Wal-Mart.

 

Carnival should fire their CEO and get back to what they had been in the past, a good value for the money.

 

I just hate Carnival being called that. We just got off the Pride. The food on the Lido and in the dining room was very good, and so was the service. Maybe it was just this team of workers that were slow. Ours were great!

[halos]

I think you will find that if you cruise CCL now you will see a big difference in the dining room experience.

 

.

 

I believe you...no doubt. However, my last CCL cruise (April of last year) will be my last until I read that things have turned around. Until then, the other lines get my vacation dollars. CCL lost me prior to dining room service being horrid.

[vacruizer]

The most disturbing phrase in this whole scenario is

that the servers in general seemed very frazzled.

 

Frazzled = Stress = Unhappy Ship. :cool:

 

 

 

By complete contrast, we were on VALOR back in June

and the overall impression was that of a Happy Ship!

MDR service was excellent: no complaints, no stressed-out waiters.

OK maybe our bus-boy Yusuf was a bit hurried on occasion

but not all the time and every evening!

 

 

I don't like reading about workers being so stressed-out that they show it. :cool:

 

.

 

Like any business, I think it all depends on management. I've been on ships where you could tell the crew was unhappy, then a few months later a different ship with and it was completely different. I've even noticed it on the same ship a year apart- but a different hotel director. Sometimes management attitude makes all the difference.

[Elaine5715]

Last cruise, my waiter team had two big tables of all familiy members besides my table. Both those tables, people seemed to think they were at home and showed up whenever. Two would show, then couple more, each ordering, all on different courses, then as most were on dessert. Sleepy or Drunky would show up looking for dinner.

And yes, the last night those tables were half empty.

[Bob NC]

We just got off the Fascination and we had a great time with the exception of our main dining room experience. We had the early seating in the Sensation dining room and our service was slow and poor.

 

We had a head waiter and two assistants and they were taking care of 4 or 5 tables, including two 7 top tables and one 8 top. We had to ask for water, tea, bread, items were forgotten, entrees delivered wrong, and the servers in general seemed very frazzled. There is no way they can take care of that many people at once.

 

We just cruised this past March on the Fantasy and the service was mediocre, but it was terrible this cruise.

 

How in the world can a team of 3 be expected to serve that many people at once?

 

On land one person can take care of 4 tables.

 

But, on land people aren't expecting to be treated like royalty and to be served 4 appetizers, 3 main dishes, and while I'm at it I'll have the molten cake, creme brulee and the bread pudding.

[stlouistravelers]

Anytime I go on a cruise I go on Caribbean time. It never seems to pay to be in too big of a hurry on a ship (unless there is a disaster).:)

[gaint030]

just got off the fascination aug 15 and have no complaints of the mdr staff we had early seating in the imagination dinning room and ate there every night our wait staff had 3 10 top tables and did an excellent job every night i'm not sure of our head waiters name but I think he asked us to call him Nego, him and his staff did a fantastic job by the second night he knew all are names(I think that had to do with my nephew having a pink Mohawk) if I do this same cruise again I hope to have them again they were fantastic. sorry yours was not as great of an experience as mine hope you have better luck next time

[beacha]

We just disembarked the Pride this morning. We had a great experience in the dining room. Our waiters were wonderful. One difference that I noticed was that there were 3 waiters for our table. Everything worked like a well oiled machine.

For breakfast, however, it was very different. Service was slow and they didnt't seem to care if we were served coffee or juice.

[kangaand2roos]

We were on the Glory for our first cruise last week. We had requested a large table, but were given a table for three for just us (is was me, my husband and 21y/o son). Since this was our first cruise, we don't have any others to compare it to, but we had excellent service. I have no idea how many other tables they had - at least 2 other large tables. Someone offered us bread every time we took a bite. Our water glasses never went 1/2 down. My son has a large appetite and he ate two meals each night - but after reading on these boards I had him order the two meals together - not wait to finish one. They brought them both out at the same time, would deliver all other meals and then just bring him over the 2nd meal. The waiters came over and chatted, knew all of us by name, the head waiter even did magic tricks at our table for us. They do work hard. I couldn't believe how well they still managed to chat, smile, and be so pleasant with all of that work. One thing that my husband pointed out was the team work. Although they took every opportunity to chat with passengers, the only conversation between each other was short quick direction - no small talk amongst themselves.

 

On the same time as you and we also had excellent service. Yudi and his team were wonderful. Bar service was a tad slow, but like some posters here dinner on a cruise, to us is an experience and I expect iit to take up to 2 hours.

[soccersharon]

On the same time as you and we also had excellent service. Yudi and his team were wonderful. Bar service was a tad slow, but like some posters here dinner on a cruise, to us is an experience and I expect iit to take up to 2 hours.

 

Exactly! I think our society is used to "fast food" and dinner on the run. Not sure how some people expect the same kind of fast service when the wait staff is serving starters, entrées, and deserts. 1.5 to 2 hour dining service is normal.

 

As I mentioned, I have yet to have any issue with any of the wait staff I have encountered. All wonderful!

[imnance]

I'd say that 4/5 was pretty good, My grandmother used to take care of 1/2 a diner when she was waitressing... and all day not just for 2 dinners. She managed it just fine.

 

Exactly.

 

I am a server. If I was on a team of three and had 4/5 tables to take care of, even if 2 were 8's and one was a 7, I wouldn't know what to do with all the extra time I had on my hands.

 

As for running far for the food, my restaurant has 2 floors and an outdoor patio. The only dining room that is fairly close to the kitchen is on the first floor. The upstairs dining room and the patio are a haul, including 16 stairs from the downstairs to the upstairs. Often, at lunch, we have tables on the first floor and the patio at the same time. Also, our kitchen is far from the well oiled machine that is found on a cruise ship. :)

 

If 3 servers can't take care of 4/5 tables in a timely and efficient manner (barring any snafus from the kitchen), then there is something wrong with the way the cruise line has them doing their job. Three servers for 4/5 tables is more than enough.

[Blk_Amish]

They'll keep cutting until people stop booking.

Why wouldn't they? If I ran a business, I'd push it to see how far I could get without losing profit.

 

It's been over a year since I sailed CCL, but I never had a bad dining room experience on a CCL ship. The dining staff on out last cruise was exceptionally awesome as a matter of fact, and we were a table of 12 (or was it 10??? Either way...). I do however, believe the OP.

 

Not always about cutbacks. People could stop being so greedy and order less. Some go with the buffet mentality, give me everything that there is. Cruising has become a cheaper vacation and the MDR a lesser experience. Maybe it should go back to what it used to be. You wait until you were old, retired, cost a fortune, then you can recall every moment of the dining experience with fondness. Maybe not, I can stick a cracker in my bussom and snack until the meal comes. I don't pay the big, mega, bank breaking bucks for my cruise, so not expecting top notch anything but I have had wonderful experiences.

 

.

[kybluecruiser]

We just got off the Fascination and we had a great time with the exception of our main dining room experience. We had the early seating in the Sensation dining room and our service was slow and poor.

 

We had a head waiter and two assistants and they were taking care of 4 or 5 tables, including two 7 top tables and one 8 top. We had to ask for water, tea, bread, items were forgotten, entrees delivered wrong, and the servers in general seemed very frazzled. There is no way they can take care of that many people at once.

 

We just cruised this past March on the Fantasy and the service was mediocre, but it was terrible this cruise.

 

How in the world can a team of 3 be expected to serve that many people at once?

 

If anyone has any other Fascination questions, I can try to answer on the ride home.

 

 

 

 

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Not doubting your experience but I haven't had the same experience. Every cruise I've been on the wait team has been very attentive. From the head waiter knowing our preferences, to the assistant waiter remembering to bring my milk with my dessert when I forgot to order it without asking, to the bar waiter having our cokes ready when we would sit down and keeping them filled. I haven't had a bad mdr experience with the new system or old.

[Aplmac]

Not doubting your experience but I haven't had the same experience.

Every cruise I've been on the wait team has been very attentive. From the head waiter knowing our preferences, to the assistant waiter remembering to bring my milk with my dessert when I forgot to order it without asking, to the bar waiter having our cokes ready when we would sit down and keeping them filled.

I haven't had a bad MDR experience with the new system or old.

Same thing here.

 

Wondering what the complainers find to complain about

We've done ten cruises now... and no probs yet

What is wrong with us??

 

.

[kangaand2roos]

Same thing here.

 

Wondering what the complainers find to complain about

We've done ten cruises now... and no probs yet

What is wrong with us??

 

.

 

I agree. I have had servers that have varied from very good to unforgettable (Tyrone on the Celebrity Mercury...Annika almost cried when she realized we wouldn't seem him after the cruise!), but never anything worse than that. I have never tipped ahead of time ( other than my auto tips) but have treated my servers like the human beings that they are. We are friendly and polite and don't make unreasonable demands. I have never seen servers congregating and not doing anything.

 

There have been small glitches in service, and I agree that bar service is a little slow, but as I said before, we expect dinner to take 1 1/2-2 hours.

 

As far as the comparison to working in a diner, a server in a diner may have a similar number of patrons as dining room waiters do, but they don't have them all sit down at the same time and have every course at the same time. They also usually have people to bus the tables and fill water and coffee.

 

I don't doubt that some people have had bad service, but that has never been my experience!

[RhodyChief]

Part of the problem is that some people treat the MDR staff as servants rather than waiters. I cruised on the Inspiration in 2011 and the table next to us treated the staff like they were second class citizens. Demanding, never satisfied and always having to make things difficult. People like this can affect the demeanor of the staff and can cause a lack of quality to their other tables. I'm sure some will think that they shouldn't be affected by one bad table, but put yourself in their shoes and see how you would handle being treated like that.

[kangaand2roos]

Part of the problem is that some people treat the MDR staff as servants rather than waiters. I cruised on the Inspiration in 2011 and the table next to us treated the staff like they were second class citizens. Demanding, never satisfied and always having to make things difficult. People like this can affect the demeanor of the staff and can cause a lack of quality to their other tables. I'm sure some will think that they shouldn't be affected by one bad table, but put yourself in their shoes and see how you would handle being treated like that.

 

Exactly!

[funinthesun1964]

I know in Sept. 2009 on Splendor, we had two person wait team with excellent service. I think also on Fascination in Feb. 2011 had two person, but the service was not quite as good. Since then, we have had three person wait team always, with the service better at times than others. Worst MDR service ever was on Glory July 2012. We gave them two nights, then went to buffet the rest of the cruise.

[dabear99211]

We just got off the Fascination and we had a great time with the exception of our main dining room experience. We had the early seating in the Sensation dining room and our service was slow and poor.

 

We had a head waiter and two assistants and they were taking care of 4 or 5 tables, including two 7 top tables and one 8 top. We had to ask for water, tea, bread, items were forgotten, entrees delivered wrong, and the servers in general seemed very frazzled. There is no way they can take care of that many people at once.

 

We just cruised this past March on the Fantasy and the service was mediocre, but it was terrible this cruise.

 

How in the world can a team of 3 be expected to serve that many people at once?

 

If anyone has any other Fascination questions, I can try to answer on the ride home.

 

 

 

 

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I think the service is pretty much always great, 4 to 5 tables, = say about 35 people at $5.50 = $192.50 per day for a 3 person team, for the hours in a day they put in, they are just trying to make a living, any less tables would only hurt their earnings.

[Elaine5715]

I think the service is pretty much always great, 4 to 5 tables, = say about 35 people at $5.50 = $192.50 per day for a 3 person team, for the hours in a day they put in, they are just trying to make a living, any less tables would only hurt their earnings.

 

Factor in the breakfast and lunch shifts for that $5.50 per person..that is part of the recommended daily amounts.

[MrPete]

I think the service is pretty much always great, 4 to 5 tables, = say about 35 people at $5.50 = $192.50 per day for a 3 person team, for the hours in a day they put in, they are just trying to make a living, any less tables would only hurt their earnings.

 

Those tips are daily for three service meals. It's $5.80 per person per day, to tips per meal are a little under $2 per meal.

 

Some forego those served meals and serve themselves up in the lido restaurant, but usually do not alter their tips for such.

[jiggs]

my advice would be travel with a toddler and get there on time. I see the struggles more when all tables arrive at once. We are early and decide quickly on what we want. Once the order is in the system everything seems to run smooth. We get our apps and then our entrees come up with the companion tables apps and salads.

 

bread and water usually refreshed so much its sometimes an annoyance.

[christyran1228]

We are still sitting on the Elation waiting to debark ... our servers were wonderful, but I definitely think they were spread way too thin.

 

 

 

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