What would you have done?

[Robwerks]

In all of our cruises we have twice encountered service very similar to that described by OP. We went to guest services and had gratuities for the head waiter removed and given to the assistant waiter. GS assured us this could happen and would be done.

 

Did this happen in reality? I do not know. But we felt better in speaking with GS and having gratuities adjusted to our liking. I would like to think this happened.

[nealstuber]

I think you handled it just right. Bottom line is most get to make a living wage when we do a mediocre job. What you ended up with is mediocre as is the standard tip. No sense trying to change the world on your vacation.

The MD went above and beyond so any extra tip that might have gone to an outstanding wait staff went to him. All is well in the world as far as I'm concerned.

 

 

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Edited September 6, 2016 by nealstuber

[First and Ten]

I would have requested that the tip for the waiter be removed. If GS would not just do it for one, than I would remove them all and see how fast they will work with you. It's not your problem to fight for what is right. You had poor service in an industry that is supposed to cater to you. You are the customer.

 

So you would run the risk of penalizing all of the servers and stewards for the entire week and deny them their money based on the actions of 1 person, on 1 night.....yea, that sounds reasonable :rolleyes:

Edited September 6, 2016 by First and Ten

[ray98]

I would have requested that the tip for the waiter be removed. If GS would not just do it for one, than I would remove them all and see how fast they will work with you. It's not your problem to fight for what is right. You had poor service in an industry that is supposed to cater to you. You are the customer.

 

Exactly. Some forget that. I am pretty dang generous when it comes to tipping, on a ship or off, but to get that generosity the server has to hold up their end of the bargain.

 

I am generous but I also am not afraid to hold those who don't perform accountable. That is the only way the system can work, rewarding poor service simply passes the poor service to the next customer.

[Oppalopa]

This is one of the reasons we only do YTD!

IF we get bad service one night we can request a different wait staff the next night.

I would have complained directly to the maitre d and asked to be moved but since you didn't do that then what you ended up doing with tips seems just fine to me.

I would have asked to be moved also.

[GradUT]

Why not ask? It actually might make HIM feel better knowing that someone cared. Its called being a nice human being.

 

Or it's called being a nosy busybody. :)

 

But seriously, not everyone feels comfortable explaining their problems to the perfect stranger they are serving dinner to.

[English-Greg]

Today I actually got the survay from Carnival and named names. I hope they address it.

 

I am under the impression that these folks rely on the tips to make a wage. After seeing the lines at GS on the day gratuitys are posted on previous cruises of people taking this money off their account, I was not able to let myself think others would have suffered for the sake of one individual. Guess I did what I thought was right under the circumstances. I do however think that Carnival and other cruise lines should pay their staff a decent wage and have gratuitys built into the price. In the scheme of things, it really is not that much more money when all said and done.

[ScottsSweetie]

I would never, ever cancel gratuities due to mediocre service by one person.

Did you even think to ask the server what was going on?

Maybe he was in the middle of a divorce, or had a sick relative... you never know. Or maybe just asking him about how he was doing, if he was feeling okay, might have changed his attitude.

Punishing everyone to spite one person is childish, IMHO.

 

Really? Would you ask a wait person at a land restaurant if they had a personal problem? Or the sales clerk at Sears? Or the clerk at the courthouse?

 

I've worked in many positions - I've always been expected to check my personal problems at the door and not have them spill over to my work. It's called being professional.

[evandbob]

Today I actually got the survay from Carnival and named names. I hope they address it.

 

I am under the impression that these folks rely on the tips to make a wage. After seeing the lines at GS on the day gratuitys are posted on previous cruises of people taking this money off their account, I was not able to let myself think others would have suffered for the sake of one individual. Guess I did what I thought was right under the circumstances. I do however think that Carnival and other cruise lines should pay their staff a decent wage and have gratuitys built into the price. In the scheme of things, it really is not that much more money when all said and done.

 

 

Sounds like the same thing I did on the 1 Valor cruise (out of 7 on that ship) that the MDR staff were laggards. I had late dining and got our entrees after the staff entertainment. I did NOT lower tips, but I named names to GS and on the post cruise survey.

 

Since staff have told me that positive remarks about their service are quite helpful in their career advancement, I figured negative remarks would target the offender and not penalize others.

 

Good job!

[cdamion]

We had this issue in June of last year on Breeze. Night 1 we complained to the Maitre D, not really better service. Night 2 we complained to guest services and the waiter and Maitre D bent over backwards to make things right. Service was like it was back on my first Carnival cruise. It was the first time I had to complain on a cruise. No attitude from the waiter, he somewhat apologized and was friendly and super efficient the rest of the cruise.

[ABQrobin]

Or it's called being a nosy busybody. :)

 

But seriously, not everyone feels comfortable explaining their problems to the perfect stranger they are serving dinner to.

 

Just saying "is everything okay? You seem a little distracted..." That is the tactful way of letting them know that things are not going well. If they say "No problem" and blow it off, then you have your answer. If they respond "I am so sorry, I will try to do better" then you can accept that too.

What is wrong with being NICE to people? Are you above them? I certainly am not above caring about another human being and making sure they are okay.

[ABQrobin]

Really? Would you ask a wait person at a land restaurant if they had a personal problem? Or the sales clerk at Sears? Or the clerk at the courthouse?

 

I've worked in many positions - I've always been expected to check my personal problems at the door and not have them spill over to my work. It's called being professional.

 

yes, I would and I have.... people are people and it is important to care. You would be surprised at how fast things can turn around by just giving a smile or a concerned inquiry. I am not ABOVE the people who work on the cruise ships so I don't treat them like it. I have been there, working at minimum wage back when I was younger, and had to put up with rude people with a smile. Sometimes it was hard. Sometimes I got blamed for bad service when it wasn't my fault, too. A smile would go a long way.

[Homosassa]

We had this problem on a Liberty cruise. First night service was so-so.

 

The second (formal) night was horrible. We waited for 45 minutes for our appetizers and they were all wrong. Then we waited, and waited, and waited for the next course. It came - cold and wrong.

 

Asked to speak to the head waiter and the maitre d'. We were ignored.

 

Other people were finishing dessert and our main course still hadn't come out. No one paid attention to our requests.

 

Finally my sister had it. She left the dining room and went to the atrium where the captain was doing the Captain's meet and greet thing. She buttonholed him and told him the whole story.

 

The Captain actually came back to the dining room with her, checked on the food service at our table (still no main entrees two hours after entering the dining room). He then pulled the maitre d' to the table and told him to personally take care of us and to make sure we had a new table and server for the rest of the cruise.

 

Not only did we have superb service at our new table, we were also given complimentary wine each evening and the option of ordering at no charge either the lobster tails or from the Steakhouse menu each evening.

[Mikew0805]

I would never, ever cancel gratuities due to mediocre service by one person.

Did you even think to ask the server what was going on?

Maybe he was in the middle of a divorce, or had a sick relative... you never know. Or maybe just asking him about how he was doing, if he was feeling okay, might have changed his attitude.

Punishing everyone to spite one person is childish, IMHO.

 

Out of curiosity... why is it childish? It happens every day/month here in the United States, and I do not see people going to bat for it. It's something like this "If my employer/site/department/team as a whole does not meet certain service standards, it does not matter that I did 150% of what was expected of me, the entire team does not get a bonus."

 

Sorry, I think removing the gratuity for sub par service should be the norm. If I had subpar service at home at a restaurant..do you really thing I would still tip 20%? Nope.. my money is not handed to me, I work my butt off for it, and so should everyone else.

[Mikew0805]

why should it be incumbent upon the op to ask the waiter why he was giving such poor service? Everyone needs to act professionally in his job no matter what's going on in his personal life.

 

like!!

[Jjzbl]

On our last cruise the waitstaff for our table in the MDR were all friendly, great with our kids, very attentive, and handled our food allergy wonderfully. There were clearly some personality issues within their group of 3 that created some problems for us due to their apparent unwillingness to communicate with each other. Some items that we ordered never came, some we got 2 or even 3 of. It gradually got worse and by the end of the week you could cut the tension between them with a knife. A few times we would hear them bickering with each other.

 

Never once did we consider removing their gratuities, we simply did not tip them anything extra as we have for our waitstaff on all of our previous cruises. They still did a good job and my kids loved them, they just didn't provide the exemplary service we'd received in the past.

 

That being said, if we got service on the first night like we had on the last night, i would have asked to be moved. I would not have tolerated the thought of a whole week of that.

[First and Ten]

Out of curiosity... why is it childish? It happens every day/month here in the United States, and I do not see people going to bat for it. It's something like this "If my employer/site/department/team as a whole does not meet certain service standards, it does not matter that I did 150% of what was expected of me, the entire team does not get a bonus."

 

 

 

Sorry, I think removing the gratuity for sub par service should be the norm. If I had subpar service at home at a restaurant..do you really thing I would still tip 20%? Nope.. my money is not handed to me, I work my butt off for it, and so should everyone else.

 

 

"sub-par" being he key. It's also very discretionary. Some people have the expectation of being treated like royalty and if they aren't, they consider the service not up to standards. That is an unrealistic expectation

 

 

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Edited September 6, 2016 by First and Ten

[Mikew0805]

"sub-par" being he key. It's also very discretionary. Some people have the expectation of being treated like royalty and if they aren't, they consider the service not up to standards. That is an unrealistic expectation

 

 

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Agreed.

[LMaxwell]

Step 1 - Go straight to Maitre D for resolution. Hopefully that is all that is necessary.

 

Step 2 - go to GS and provide the name of the waiter and remove that portion of the tip.

 

Leaving a tip in place for bad service only legitimizes bad service and it will continue. I wouldn't penalize others. I would reward anyone else that stepped in to make things right.

[simplelife]

I would have given a cash tip to the assistant maitre 'd who helped you, and kept the automatics gratuities on (as many are affected their removal). I would have filled out a comment card with the specific names of the waiters who were sub par and the one who helped you. This information is used to determine assignments, promotions, etc.

 

 

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[LMaxwell]

Some people have the expectation of being treated like royalty and if they aren't, they consider the service not up to standards.

 

Getting a hot dinner in under an hour is not the same as expecting to be treated like royalty. The OP's expectation seemed pretty reasonable to me and not demanding of special treatment. Expecting adequacy does not mean someone is high maintenance.

[Herfnerd]

"sub-par" being he key. It's also very discretionary. Some people have the expectation of being treated like royalty and if they aren't, they consider the service not up to standards. That is an unrealistic expectation

 

 

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Service not up to standards - I would not accept sub par in a restaurant on land, not sure why it would be any different in a cruise. I tip accordingly and complain if the situation warranted it

 

I didn't see anything that made me think the OP expected to be treated royally, either

 

 

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[tony9toes]

Out of curiosity... why is it childish? It happens every day/month here in the United States, and I do not see people going to bat for it. It's something like this "If my employer/site/department/team as a whole does not meet certain service standards, it does not matter that I did 150% of what was expected of me, the entire team does not get a bonus."

 

Sorry, I think removing the gratuity for sub par service should be the norm. If I had subpar service at home at a restaurant..do you really thing I would still tip 20%? Nope.. my money is not handed to me, I work my butt off for it, and so should everyone else.

 

I agree. We save our vacation time and our money so that my family and I can take what is in my opinion a higher end vacation. Lets face it, this is very expensive. Why should we except sub par service with a smile and a "How's your day going"? Withholding a certain percentage of the overall tip is reasonable with a complaint to GS about the specifics. Again, my opinion.

[First and Ten]

Getting a hot dinner in under an hour is not the same as expecting to be treated like royalty. The OP's expectation seemed pretty reasonable to me and not demanding of special treatment. Expecting adequacy does not mean someone is high maintenance.

 

You love trolling my posts Maxwell....I wasn't addressing the OP's post, I was responding to another post. Reading comprehension is a wonderful thing, try it sometime. Like I said, it goes back to expectations. Dinner in the MDR takes 1.5 - 2hrs (if the food is cold, that is another issue). If people are annoyed that they are at dinner to long, that typically isn't a waiter issue, that is the way dinner in the MDR is set up. If the expectation is you will be in and out of the MDR in under 1 hr, that is an unreasonable expectation

Edited September 7, 2016 by First and Ten

[LMaxwell]

You love trolling my posts Maxwell....I wasn't addressing the OP's post, I was responding to another post. Reading comprehension is a wonderful thing, try it sometime. Like I said, it goes back to expectations. Dinner in the MDR takes 1.5 - 2hrs (if the food is cold, that is another issue). If people are annoyed that they are at dinner to long, that typically isn't a waiter issue, that is the way dinner in the MDR is set up. If the expectation is you will be in and out of the MDR in under 1 hr, that is an unreasonable expectation

 

No trolling. If my dinner takes an hour to arrive and it is cold and the waiter has a bad attitude they aren't getting rewarded by me. Leaving tips in place for subpar service legitimizes it. You can try reading as well my first post how I would deal with it. You just came in here talking about people wanting to be treated like royalty. So how would you handle the situation of the OP?