Cruisegoer Posted January 23, 2016 #1 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Last week aboard the Liberty I found the service in the MDR to be poor, in general. We move our table once, partially because there seemed to be no assistant server and when our main server disappeared to go pick up all her tables food orders at once she was gone nearly 25 minutes. My bar beverage, a soda, was not delivered until after my entree and there were no signs of the assistant anywhere. Even once we moved our table the assistant server seemed nonexistent but this area seemed to have 2 main servers who shared their duties and oversight of the tables I their area. They made the assistant for both sections run the entree usually and take the dessert order. It seems that there is little uniform process and procedure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DebJ14 Posted January 23, 2016 #2 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Sorry you had such bad service. We had excellence service on the Freedom. Food not so hot, but the service was great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank12 Posted January 23, 2016 #3 Share Posted January 23, 2016 I think overall they do a good job but it definitely is not like it was 8-10 years ago. They used to have less tables per wait team which enabled them to be more attentive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellsd Posted January 23, 2016 #4 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Did you do ATD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jimbo5544 Posted January 23, 2016 #5 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Did you do ATD? You read my mind, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMAE Posted January 23, 2016 #6 Share Posted January 23, 2016 I remember our first cruise when we would show up for dinner the wait staff would greet and seat you, bring drinks and bread before you finished adjusting your chair. They would bring hot chocolate for my kids without asking. As I remember the service teams had three tables for two waiters. Now they are a team of three (sometimes) and they have five or six tables. They still do a good job today but it does not match the service that was in place when we first started cruising. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb at sea Posted January 23, 2016 #7 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Those days are long gone, I'm afraid....the cruise experience has been downgraded a lot in recent years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddybear231 Posted January 23, 2016 #8 Share Posted January 23, 2016 We had excellence service on the Freedom. Food not so hot, but the service was great. Same thing with us on the Pride. Our wait staff at dinner were terrific! However, the food was barely warm. Now our service for breakfast or brunch in the MDR was a different story. It seemed like it took forever to get a bowl of cereal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riclop Posted January 23, 2016 #9 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Last week aboard the Liberty I found the service in the MDR to be poor, in general. We move our table once, partially because there seemed to be no assistant server and when our main server disappeared to go pick up all her tables food orders at once she was gone nearly 25 minutes. My bar beverage, a soda, was not delivered until after my entree and there were no signs of the assistant anywhere. Even once we moved our table the assistant server seemed nonexistent but this area seemed to have 2 main servers who shared their duties and oversight of the tables I their area. They made the assistant for both sections run the entree usually and take the dessert order. It seems that there is little uniform process and procedure. They have too many tables is the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LREcruise02 Posted January 23, 2016 #10 Share Posted January 23, 2016 We were on the Conquest last month and had one of the best dining room services we have ever had on a cruise. Our waiters were wonderful and attentive, they remembered what we liked and had our kids drinks on the table when we sat down, and the food was quick and delicious! So the good service definitely still exists!! I think unfortunately it just is the luck of the draw on your wait staff. But if anyone is getting ready to sail the Conquest request Imade and Razvan!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DebJ14 Posted January 23, 2016 #11 Share Posted January 23, 2016 We have always found the service on traditional late dining much superior to that of ATD, so we get late dining on every cruise line that offers it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micahs Grandad Posted January 23, 2016 #12 Share Posted January 23, 2016 They have too many people to serve these days so service is not what it used to be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emod20 Posted January 23, 2016 #13 Share Posted January 23, 2016 We were on the valor in November the service and all the food were the best out of 6 carnival cruise. So good we became Facebook friends with one of our servers and keep in touch and we are going on valor again in April because he will still be on. Some of our crew friends now have messenger calls. I got a call from server the other night at 2am. And even did video call really neat to follow them . Also I think it still boils down to how you treat the wait staff. Not just tipping but treat.them with respect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkaymon Posted January 23, 2016 #14 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Last week aboard the Liberty I found the service in the MDR to be poor, in general. We move our table once, partially because there seemed to be no assistant server and when our main server disappeared to go pick up all her tables food orders at once she was gone nearly 25 minutes. My bar beverage, a soda, was not delivered until after my entree and there were no signs of the assistant anywhere. Even once we moved our table the assistant server seemed nonexistent but this area seemed to have 2 main servers who shared their duties and oversight of the tables I their area. They made the assistant for both sections run the entree usually and take the dessert order. It seems that there is little uniform process and procedure. Was this Anytime Dining or Early/Late Seating? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkaymon Posted January 23, 2016 #15 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Last week aboard the Liberty I found the service in the MDR to be poor, in general. We move our table once, partially because there seemed to be no assistant server and when our main server disappeared to go pick up all her tables food orders at once she was gone nearly 25 minutes. My bar beverage, a soda, was not delivered until after my entree and there were no signs of the assistant anywhere. Even once we moved our table the assistant server seemed nonexistent but this area seemed to have 2 main servers who shared their duties and oversight of the tables I their area. They made the assistant for both sections run the entree usually and take the dessert order. It seems that there is little uniform process and procedure. Was this Anytime Dining or Early/Late Seating? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
summersigh Posted January 23, 2016 #16 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Sorry you had such bad service. We had excellence service on the Freedom. Food not so hot, but the service was great. Same here ,,,, but fill in Sunshine for Freedom :D What's up with all the dishes swimming in tomato sauce? DH ordered an app that was a wrap with spinach and cheese .... served in a puddle of tomato sauce :eek: It seemed every night there were 3 or 4 items in that stuff ... then I went to the pizza bar one afternoon ... guess what the sauce tasted like??? LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfaaa Posted January 23, 2016 #17 Share Posted January 23, 2016 This is a common trend in hospitality industry and not just Carnival. Competition is intense and op costs including labor are going up. You either run a lean and mean operation or you risk not meeting the target budget and expectations on Wall Street. The other option is to raise the price but we all know the kind of moans and groans we will hear on cc if they go this route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moniquet Posted January 23, 2016 #18 Share Posted January 23, 2016 We had excellent service on Liberty, fixed late dining. Always there to greet us, pleasant and efficient. Better staff than Cunard. Not so good was breakfast service in the main dining room. I think anytime dining is the reason for haphazard service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franknberry Posted January 23, 2016 #19 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Another not so Brilliant cutback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickrate Posted January 23, 2016 #20 Share Posted January 23, 2016 We have always found the service on traditional late dining much superior to that of ATD, so we get late dining on every cruise line that offers it. I have to agree with the late dining. We only did early once in 23 cruises and that was when our granddaughters were crusing with us. At early, they have another service to get thru and must completely reset the dining room so, to me, it has a very rushed feel to it. At late, the waiters are much more relaxed. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moniquet Posted January 23, 2016 #21 Share Posted January 23, 2016 I noticed that some close to us on fixed dining arrived very late, as much as thirty minutes which I thought was very rude. Happened a few times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccersharon Posted January 23, 2016 #22 Share Posted January 23, 2016 We were on the Conquest last month and had one of the best dining room services we have ever had on a cruise. Our waiters were wonderful and attentive, they remembered what we liked and had our kids drinks on the table when we sat down, and the food was quick and delicious! So the good service definitely still exists!! I think unfortunately it just is the luck of the draw on your wait staff. But if anyone is getting ready to sail the Conquest request Imade and Razvan!! :) We had a great MDR experience on the Conquest as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jimbo5544 Posted January 23, 2016 #23 Share Posted January 23, 2016 I noticed that some close to us on fixed dining arrived very late, as much as thirty minutes which I thought was very rude. Happened a few times. It is one of my big pet peeves. I wish they would close the door at 15 minutes. It is rude and hurts everyone else's service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetsixteencruisers Posted January 23, 2016 #24 Share Posted January 23, 2016 The only time we had terrible service was with ATD. Never again! We prefer early seating. So far, with tradional seating, service has been awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LMaxwell Posted January 23, 2016 #25 Share Posted January 23, 2016 We had anytime dining on Victory last month; always arrived when the dining room opened. had a team of 3 but service was scattered. You could tell they were all running like chickens without a head. They tried hard. Service was acceptable, but inconsistent. It certainly was not the relaxed efficiency of days past. I sure do hope they get some more assistants or runners for the dining rooms. This is an issue on many cruise lines. On Royal Caribbean they overload the servers (poor service, sometimes downright bad) and then make them come beg for 10's on the survey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now