After further consideration....the American Table is not good.

[ExFed drvr]

It didnt matter to us how the table was set up, or that the bread was just in a basket on the table since we were family. If I were sitting at a table with strangers I'm sorry but I would not want to share a bread basket......... to many ppl will use their fingers to grab a bun!!! Our biggest complaint was the lack of food choices on the American Menu !!

 

I agree, the lack of good food choices was a downer for me. Just had 29 days of American Table in the last two months and spent several nights eating in the buffet. The choices were about the same...Dennis

[ExFed drvr]

Just off the breeze:

 

Some observations about AT ----

 

Get rid of the wine bottle, water pitcher and square butter dish.

 

Waiters are now confused about their role, leading to who does what.

 

Maitre' D needs to look at this debacle of service and fix it.

 

Why dirty plates and silver on the table until the next course?

 

This should NEVER happen in any restaurant.

 

As for the food on the Breeze, TOO SALTY!!!!

 

Does no one taste anything in this kitchen?

 

Vegetables were inedible.

 

Food was only warm, never hot.

 

Coffee old when you eventually got it.

 

Lido is looking better and better. Sad to me.

 

I am just off the Dec.5 sailing of the Breeze also and agree with you 100%.. One thing they did that they did not do on the Triumph Journey was to place our silverware on our bread plate instead of the table...Dennis

[mapsmith]

I agree about Carnival and the cruisers they are aiming to serve. But such things are still taught - much to my childrens' chagrin. They are now 17 and 11, say yes ma'am and no sir when introduced to an adult, and you will find them in dress shirt and tie on elegant evenings. They are being introduced to the Steakhouse on our next cruise.

 

Do you have any suggestions as to how to keep a 17 year old boy from putting his elbow on the table and shoveling in bites of steak the size of a cow? I have tried stabbing his elbow with my fork and removing his food but nothing seems to work! His desire to feast is just too great....

 

 

Suggestion. a 17 year old cute girl.

[A&Jfamily]

Suggestion. a 17 year old cute girl.

 

Lol. He tried that last cruise...and she was so shy she fled when he tried to bring her into the dining room. He has to eat dinner with us, so he had to find her afterward...

[munchkin4]

We had a fun cruise on the Breeze over Thanksgiving week. My wife plans everything and did a great job. I had heard her mention the American Table and that is was coming out on the Breeze. I didn't think much about it. Now, having experienced it and had time to think about it, I am going to say that the American Table it is NOT A STEP FORWARD. I apologize in advance for the length and the poor grammar and bad writing in general, but here is the draft of the letter I will be sending to Carnival.

 

Let's discuss.....

________________________________________________________

 

Dear Carnival Guest Services:

 

This is kind of long and I apologize. As a fan of Carnival, I wanted to make sure I covered all my points.

 

We just got back from a great 8 day cruise on the Breeze for Thanksgiving week. We've cruised with Carnival now 7 times. We fly in from Chicago to Florida and have cruised from Port Canaveral and Miami. Our family is 4. Two 50 year olds, mom and dad, and 2 boys, 14 and almost 16. We really love the cruise line. We even have bought stock in it and continue to do so. We like CCL!

 

After getting home from our 8 day and getting back to "normal life", we all sat down and talked about the best parts of the cruise. There were many. The shows, our snorkeling excursion in Grand Turk, our room location in the Spa area. Good live music with a horn trio and a violin trio. The humorous Matt and his staff and the generally fantastic service.

 

But, there was one topic that we all agreed upon that was less than wonderful. Not terrible. It won't cause us to quit Carnival. We are booked on the Vista for December of 2016. The subject is the American Table experience.

 

We talked about our highs of the trip and food was a topic. However, the more we talked the more the topic of the dining room came up. We had Your Time dining and generally were in the first 30 people to the restaurant. We asked for the same wait staff as they were nice and friendly. We even got the same table right by the starboard windows. Our main waiter was Raj...short for Rajesh I believe. He was nice.

 

So, what could be wrong? Good food, nice staff...good table location...all good right? Well, not exactly. If I had to sum it up our main dining room experience on this cruise in one word I would say "awkward".

 

Awkward because the long time tradition and practices in the dining room have changed for the worse. I believe that the changes made to incorporate the American Table experience have damaged the Carnival brand and made it less than excellent. We came in with open minds. We tried to like it. It didn’t “wow” us though. Let's break it down...

 

Ambiance: In the former dining room, the tablecloths on the tables made the very elegant and classy Sapphire Dining Room into a spectacular venue. No tablecloths and there is something missing. It's like we wearing a tuxedo without a tie. Not fully dressed. It feels like I traded a fancy restaurant for dinner at the Olive Garden. Food might be good, but something is lacking in the presentation. In short, the lack of tablecloths contributes to the feeling that the dining room is not "special". It's not going to be memorable. It's just going to be good, not great.

 

I would go so far as to submit that there is a subconscious awareness of the tablecloths and the connotation of the experience being something "special". Something not ordinary. Something great. No tablecloths and it's just another table. Let's use this comparison: Morton's Steakhouse vs. Olive Garden. Both meals are good. Only one is great.

 

Waitstaff Confusion: It seems like the waitstaff is confused in their roles. For instance, there is a water carafe on the table. Nice. But, once empty, who comes to fill it? Our experience was spotty. Sometimes the 2nd waiter brought a full one, sometimes he filled glasses from his own and left the empty bottle alone.

 

With the prior dining room experiences, there was always an attentive waiter with a water pitcher happy to refill your glass. I miss that. It made me feel special. Like I was dining somewhere really great. My family agrees. And the old way gave us more opportunity to bond with our waitstaff. It made us want to tip them more at the end of the cruise. We got to know them. We liked them. We tipped them generously.

 

The American Table plan takes away much of that interaction. It is less personal. Less special. Are tips down for the waitstaff? I would not be surprised.

 

Place Setting: with the former dining room, there was a charger plate and a bread plate along with water and wine glasses and silverware. The napkin was on the charger. Your napkin was placed for you by the hostess. All of this meant "classy". You were being treated special. You were about to experience something special.

 

The new setting has a square bread plate, silverware and the water/wine glasses. A folded napkin is on the table. The bread plate being square is awkward in that everything else is round. It is larger than the old bread plate and take up more space. The tables are cozy and table space is limited. So, the bread plates are not an upgrade. Small point, but an important one as we shall see below.

 

With the place settings in the the former dining room plan, the wait staff removed used knives and forks between courses. It’s like they knew what you needed, anticipated your needs and were taking great care of you.

 

In the new set up, it's not clear what to do with the used knives and forks. In our experience, the staff didn’t always take your knife and fork. If you had them on the bread plate, they left them. If they were on the plate they were clearing, they took them. Then you didn’t have utensils. Sometimes they would bring new ones, sometimes not. If they did not notice, you were without. So, the guest had to ask for one. Awkward.

 

Cleanliness: with respect to germs, how can a guest be certain that the table is really clean? Maybe someone missed a spot when wiping it down. If I place my utensils on the table, I am subject to whatever germs may be there. If I place them on my bread plate, I'm safer...if the bread plate is truly clean.

 

I'm not a germaphobe, but people do think about these things. The table being covered in a white cloth gives one the impression that everything is spotlessly clean. As it should be.

 

The condition of the table at the end of our meal was sad. With the water condensing on the ice cold glasses and dripping on the table there was always a wet table. Combine that with some breadcrumbs, spills, drips, whatnot and you have a "hot mess" of a table. Something less than classy. Something you might expect elsewhere, but not in the MDR.

 

Dessert time used to be relaxing. I might even order coffee and linger a bit. But, with the table in such sad shape, it’s not enticing. Time to get up and go. It leaves a poor impression at a point where Carnival should want the impression to be stellar.

 

Bread Basket: The Bread Basket seems to be less than ideal. It has a variety of 3, possibly 4 breads or rolls. But, if the kids will only eat "plain" rolls, they are gone quickly, leaving the more exotic ones begging. No more is there a kind waiter to bring a nice selection of breads and rolls and place them on your bread plate. That always made me feel special. Now they just drop the basket and keep on moving. Again, interaction is lost with the staff, the guest has less choices, and the experience is lessened.

 

Also, the bread basket stays on the table. As said above, the table is small and space is at a premium. Our four person table often seemed too crowded with the square bread plate, the square bread basket and the other plates (all round btw). Odd combination really. And not classy. Again, are we aiming for Olive Garden or Morton's?

 

The Menu: I didn't mind that there were less choices. I still found the menu had enough choices for me. My wife mentioned that the Sides changed daily. Only slightly though. For instance, one day I asked for a baked potato. The waiter seemed stunned. It was on the menu a side the night before, so I assumed it was again. But, it was not. He got me one anyhow. Nice.

 

The 555 selections are a nice touch, but ultimately a flawed concept. We did not order them. We've been to 555 on every cruise since it was offered. We did not this time. But, we did not order from the MDR either.

 

It's a tough sell. A $20 charge in the MDR versus $35 for a full dinner in the 555 with the wonderful ambiance and personal attention to detail from the wait staff. It's a well intentioned idea, but not an upgrade in my mind.

 

Sauces: There were sauces on the menu under the main entree section. It seemed odd to me. Why would I want to second guess the chef? Do I need sauce? Is there something bland about my dinner? Are sauces the new "in thing"? Who knows? I just know that I looked at them and wondered why they were listed. And if you list sauces at all, why stop there? List lots of things a guest might want. Pickles? Olives? Sriracha? Spicy brown mustard? I just found the whole thing confusing. Why confuse me, I'm on vacation!!!

 

Conclusion: I believe that the former set up was better for the above reasons. Carnival tried, but missed. I think they tried to fix something that wasn’t really broken. It’s not too late though. Changes could be made. The tablecloths could come back. A better place setting could be implemented. Get rid of the bread basket. Give the waitstaff a chance to show their stuff and interact with the guests. It makes for a memorable experience not just an ordinary one.

 

And please don't get me wrong, our family loves Carnival. WE LOVE CCL! It's just that the new dining experience left a void for us. Our special time at dinner was just ordinary.

 

In our prior cruises, we would run around all day, doing things together or separate, but we’d always come together at dinner for something special. Something great. Something purely Carnival. The American Table experience does not meet our expectations. It's too ordinary.

 

Lastly, the current set up does the wonderful chefs an injustice to have their creations served in such a plain and ordinary atmosphere. And I am sure the waitstaff had more fun and did better with tips in the "old" setting.

_________________________________________________________

 

That's just my opinion. And truth be told, after the Vista, I am actually looking at RCCL and NCL as options. I think it's because of the dining downer of the MDR on Breeze.

 

I think you should also post this on John Heald's facebook page. You did a very nice job and I think he would appreciate this input.

[berniez]

A comparison to Olive Garden may be a little harsh. Olive Garden basically serves frozen food heated in a microwave and then served to you. Their food is ok. Not great. I never found the food to be that way on cruise ships. I know it is mass produced, but it is cooked on the ship. Not at some central factory, frozen, and then reheated. But the presentation is now like that of Olive Garden. Clearly an effort to cut labor costs, cleaning costs. The dining room is not really a dining room anymore, but just a place to have a sit down meal with a server. That is partially the cruisers fault. They no longer want to dress up for dinner, so why should carnival dress up the dining room. Except on formal night, most seem to be in shorts, crappy tee shirts or worse. If cruisers dress like that, why should Carnival bother making it a more formal dining room when everyone dresses down like that. I personally would never wear anything but pants and a golf shirt. But that is me.

Edited December 18, 2015 by berniez

[Galleon1234]

Yes, please post it on John's other site page with the "check mark".

[Athankfulheart]

We recently had our first AT sailing. We have sailed mostly Carnival but some RC and NCL. I am okay with the lack of table cloths, and the carafes had a cradle that they sat in, but I found myself tying a napkin around the carafe most nights to deal with the sweat.... We also had a hard time with the cluttered table. We had 7 people at a table for 6 with 1 tagged into the end of the table. After the first night of rearranging wine glasses out of our way, they should not have appeared again. It does feel a bit strange to set your utensils down on a bare table too. I don't need the table cloth for the ambiance factor, but it was missed for the practical reasons.....

 

I was disappointed in the menu, but my husband was happy with it.