Dining Room service is awful

[Andi Land]

1 hour ago, Crew News said:

Hopefully, you utilized the "Let us know" feature of the Navigator app to express your displeasure.  It is my experience that doing so will get you a phone call response very quickly.

 

Some PG Managers and waiters come directly from land-based restaurants and have difficulty adapting to cruise dining operations.  Negative comments will play a major role in HAL not renewing their contracts.

Excellent advice!  I did not send anything through the app. We were a family of 6 and did our best to just enjoy the leisurely lunch. It was the last day of the cruise so we really didn’t have anything else planned. The big group that came in was at least 25-30 people and surely overwhelmed the cook staff. I will make a comment on my after cruise survey and see if I get a response to that. Thanks for the good advice. It’s much appreciated. 

[riffatsea]

Why would Holland h ave more trouble getting good  staff than Princess??

To me it is a poor management issue and not a hiring issue!

I would not make excuses for this

If I continue to read these horrible service descriptions I will just cancel our cruise

We enjoy having lovely leisurely dinners with great service

[Florida_gal_50]

43 minutes ago, Wakepatrol said:

Why is everyone in such a hurry? There!s nothing to do after dinner anyway 

It's not being in a hurry but I sure don't want to stand in a line 300 deep then wait again in the dining room.  Will this happen a lot?  Who knows.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, jimmy2x said:

So, we are booked for a b to b 21 day cruise on Rotterdam next February. The booking (thru a TA) has us listed for anytime dining. If you were us, would you try to get it changed to fixed?

It's a hard question as I'm not a fixed fan but I wouldn't want to be standing in a stupid long line nightly.  I do club orange whenever possible and I do a lot of specialty dining because I enjoy it but I don't want to deal with the precious little time I have off from work.

[oaktreerb]

1 hour ago, jimmy2x said:

So, we are booked for a b to b 21 day cruise on Rotterdam next February. The booking (thru a TA) has us listed for anytime dining. If you were us, would you try to get it changed to fixed?

Yes.  Fixed early dining fills up pretty fast.  It is easier to get late fixed dining.  If you can’t get fixed dining get to know the Maitre’d the first night and ask if it would be possible to have the same table for two each evening at the early seating.  That way you can just walk in and sit at your table.  If you do not arrive within 15 minutes of your time the table will be given to someone else, and give him the courtesy of letting him know when you will be eating elsewhere.  

[schildiams]

Is it possible to make reservations with anytime dining? If so, can it be done pre boarding or just we wait until debarking? We have successfully made reservations online for ncl and celebrity but not Holland. 

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, schildiams said:

Is it possible to make reservations with anytime dining? If so, can it be done pre boarding or just we wait until debarking? We have successfully made reservations online for ncl and celebrity but not Holland. 

This may well depend on which ship, which day, which hour, etc.  In theory you can make reservations but our experience on HAL (and other lines like Princess) is that Anytime reservations are more advisory then real.  At times there can be a queue for those with reservations and another queue for those without reservations.  When this happens, we have often found that the "without" line moves faster.  You will also find delays as the hosts try to deal with folks that "demand a specific table,"  "demand a specific waiter,"  "demand a specific size table,"  etc. etc.  The only good solution we have found to this problem is cruising on luxury lines where everyone can easily be accommodated at any time (when the MDR is opened).

 

My sympathy goes out to the MDR hosts who spend much of their working lives dealing with irate passengers who "demand" this and that.  Over the years we have made some friends among the hosts because we simply show-up and say, "we will share at any table."  The look of relief on the host's face makes our day and I sometimes think they are going to give us a tip (Passenger Appreciation).

 

Hank

[Ellencruise]

On NS last week, service was very good. Anytime dining we sat right away, no line. Finished in an hour every time. 

[Wakepatrol]

17 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

It's not being in a hurry but I sure don't want to stand in a line 300 deep then wait again in the dining room.  Will this happen a lot?  Who knows.

What time are you standing in a line with 300 people? I want to avoid this and eat later . Thank you

[Fred321]

Would never do anytime dining on any of the larger HAL ships. Have seen long lines and folks sitting around with beepers both before and after the pandemic. The newer dining rooms are just too crowded  for decent service when they are full. Not too mention too loud. It always seems to us that you are either waiting for someone to show up and take your order or having all of your courses delivered at once by harried staff. We always do late fixed seating. Not a fan of eating later but that just seems to us the best option to have a relaxing dinner with waiters that get to know what you want. I know folks want what they want when they want it but we would rather modify our behavior a little for what we think is a big reward.

[Florida_gal_50]

3 hours ago, Wakepatrol said:

What time are you standing in a line with 300 people? I want to avoid this and eat later . Thank you

I was sitting in club orange st 5:40. I was not in the line. I was at the window so I could see down the ship.  When I left it was still dam long.  One dude was saying even if you had a reservation it was still a 40 min wait.  This was the first night.  I haven't been back to club orange since that night.  No idea if it's still as bad but I suspect if you go later it will be better.  Hal doesn't have the staff to handle this load and they shouldn't allow it to be this heavily booked.  I've heard from a few staff I talk to there are a ton of complaints and they say they don't blame people.

 

[Wakepatrol]

2 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I was sitting in club orange st 5:40. I was not in the line. I was at the window so I could see down the ship.  When I left it was still dam long.  One dude was saying even if you had a reservation it was still a 40 min wait.  This was the first night.  I haven't been back to club orange since that night.  No idea if it's still as bad but I suspect if you go later it will be better.  Hal doesn't have the staff to handle this load and they shouldn't allow it to be this heavily booked.  I've heard from a few staff I talk to there are a ton of complaints and they say they don't blame people.

 

Perhaps we’ll be safe. I always used to see people with their faces pressed up to the dining room door at 5:00 waiting for them to open like they hadn’t eaten in a week

Thank you for the response

Edited November 21, 2022 by Wakepatrol

[Florida_gal_50]

6 minutes ago, Wakepatrol said:

Perhaps we’ll be safe. I always used to see people with their faces pressed up to the dining room door at 5:00 waiting for them to open like they hadn’t eaten in a week

Thank you for the response

And there might have been.  I just saw the line from my perch and thought what is going on.  Then I realized it was the line for the mdr. Yeah, sometimes it seems like people have never eaten before. 

[crystalspin]

40 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Yeah, sometimes it seems like people have never eaten before. 

It's that sea air! Makes you hungry... or even hangry!