Summit 5/25 Sailing

[Eleris]

We are presently on the ship and after a slightly delayed boarding due to a major cleaning all seems to be going well.  We are still in sanitation mode and are unable to do typical dining things for ourselves but all in all this is a minor inconvenience compared to contacting noro.  I do have a question because I am a bit off balance by what happened last night.  Some background to know, friends of ours surprised us and showed up on this sailing to our delight.  We had dinner with them in Tuscan Thursday night (first night of the cruise) which was fantastic but wear your stretchy pants because it is a lot of food. Friday we were at sea, and they wanted to just head to the buffet for dinner since they are not fans of the long hour and half dining experience.  Saturday was a Bermuda day and although the weather was up and down after running all day again, we joined them at the buffet.  Sunday, we found our table in the main dining room, and we were seated.  This is the 8:30 assigned seating. We arrived at our table for two which is a row of 4 tables for a total 8 people in the row. 

 

The next thing that happened has shocked me because never in 24 years of cruising has anyone been so rude.  The waiter approached us and said "nice of you to finally show up".  He did not welcome us, he did not introduce himself, and he continued this cold shoulder throughout the dinner.  When dinner was served, he placed the other 6 meals on the tables in the row we are part of, and the assistant waiter brought mine and my husbands out.  He never asked if we needed anything else or how our food was. 

 

Before you ask, we were not late for dinner, we just had not gone to the main dining room because we had done other things which last time I checked this is still my right to do especially with the dining packages.  We are going to go back again tonight and give the waiter another chance because everyone has a bad day sometimes this was just very unexpected.  Not sure what I will do if this is a repeat performance.  The rest of the staff has been fantastic and fun to speak with.

[ymncruise]

I’d ask to be seated elsewhere. Who needs that attitude on vacation. 

[cruisestitch]

Have you spoken to the onboard staff about this?

[Eleris]

I agree we do not need an attitude on vacation, but it is a first for me after 24 years of cruising I just was waiting for the punchline because I assumed it was a joke at first.  Since his service/attitude had not improved and I asked my DH what he thought his response was we don't need to go again.  

 

Before we take it to a higher level, I think we might try again tonight to see if his attitude improves. I know you don't get a second chance to make a first impression, but I am willing to try to let this go since there is a lot of time left on the cruise.  There are many available tables in the dining room at this scheduled seating so I am sure we could get another table easily.  

 

I know our recent Royal cruise many dinners did not show up the first few nights and the staff was more than welcoming when they did so this really just surprised me that he would be affronted by us not attending a few nights.  

[Charles4515]

25 minutes ago, Eleris said:

I know our recent Royal cruise many dinners did not show up the first few nights and the staff was more than welcoming when they did so this really just surprised me that he would be affronted by us not attending a few nights. 

Not exusing them but as a courtesy when I have assigned seating I always let the servers know  know we won't be showing up. Either the night before or I call up the dining room. However with all the dining options the servers should be used to people not showing up. Since you have a table for two I agree with the suggestion to ask to be moved.

Edited May 29, 2023 by Charles4515

[Hawkstar33]

Usually about mid cruise, we get a call in our room from MDR, asking where we have been.  We do half our nights at specialty dining, and the other half in the buffet.   Just not our thing...Attitude such as that, would guarantee an equal if not better response from me.   

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, Eleris said:

We are presently on the ship and after a slightly delayed boarding due to a major cleaning all seems to be going well.  We are still in sanitation mode and are unable to do typical dining things for ourselves but all in all this is a minor inconvenience compared to contacting noro.  I do have a question because I am a bit off balance by what happened last night.  Some background to know, friends of ours surprised us and showed up on this sailing to our delight.  We had dinner with them in Tuscan Thursday night (first night of the cruise) which was fantastic but wear your stretchy pants because it is a lot of food. Friday we were at sea, and they wanted to just head to the buffet for dinner since they are not fans of the long hour and half dining experience.  Saturday was a Bermuda day and although the weather was up and down after running all day again, we joined them at the buffet.  Sunday, we found our table in the main dining room, and we were seated.  This is the 8:30 assigned seating. We arrived at our table for two which is a row of 4 tables for a total 8 people in the row. 

 

The next thing that happened has shocked me because never in 24 years of cruising has anyone been so rude.  The waiter approached us and said "nice of you to finally show up".  He did not welcome us, he did not introduce himself, and he continued this cold shoulder throughout the dinner.  When dinner was served, he placed the other 6 meals on the tables in the row we are part of, and the assistant waiter brought mine and my husbands out.  He never asked if we needed anything else or how our food was. 

 

Before you ask, we were not late for dinner, we just had not gone to the main dining room because we had done other things which last time I checked this is still my right to do especially with the dining packages.  We are going to go back again tonight and give the waiter another chance because everyone has a bad day sometimes this was just very unexpected.  Not sure what I will do if this is a repeat performance.  The rest of the staff has been fantastic and fun to speak with.

I would definitely stop by the Maitr'D and discuss the situation with him and ask for a different waiter.   That behavior is totally unacceptable and should not be tolerated.    I assure you the Maitr'D will be apologetic and take immediate action.

 

 

[dlh015]

Absolutely no excuse whatsoever for that behavior. Period. As soon as that sentence came out of his mouth, I would have immediately requested to be moved. 

 

Strongly suggest speaking to the M'D...I wouldn't want any other folks to be treated that way...

[Eleris]

Just finished our 2nd meal in the main dining room. The waiter opened with "thank you for coming back".  I am not sure if I should read into that because half of me thinks he is glad to see us and the other half feels as if chastising us did the trick. The service was better and there was a more pleasant tone in general which confirms the attitude from last night was deliberate.  

 

I am not sure what we will do about tomorrow or the rest of the trip so maybe for now we will just sleep on it.  Life is too short to be unhappy.  Sadly, the people next to us are so much fun and we end up laughing the whole time.

[RichYak]

11 minutes ago, Eleris said:

Life is too short to be unhappy. 

Agreed and I'd let it go. Every night you don't show up equates to a little less gratuity $$ in your waiter's pocket. Not your problem for sure and doesn't excuse last night's behavior, but that's the context.

Edited May 30, 2023 by RichYak
clarity

[dlh015]

1 hour ago, Eleris said:

Just finished our 2nd meal in the main dining room. The waiter opened with "thank you for coming back".  I am not sure if I should read into that because half of me thinks he is glad to see us and the other half feels as if chastising us did the trick. The service was better and there was a more pleasant tone in general which confirms the attitude from last night was deliberate.  

 

I am not sure what we will do about tomorrow or the rest of the trip so maybe for now we will just sleep on it.  Life is too short to be unhappy.  Sadly, the people next to us are so much fun and we end up laughing the whole time.

It's a shame that you should spend any time second guessing the motives of your waiter. 

 

Enjoy the cruise with your friends and your dinner neighbors and give no further thought to your waiter. 

 

However, I would still make it quite clear to the M'D that this person did not enhance your dining experience in a positive manner.  

 

 

[wwcruisers]

6 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

I would definitely stop by the Maitr'D and discuss the situation with him and ask for a different waiter.   That behavior is totally unacceptable and should not be tolerated.    I assure you the Maitr'D will be apologetic and take immediate action.

 

 

Absolutely! That waiter clearly needs an attitude adjustment.

[homedepot124]

We were just on the May 15-25 sailing of the Summit and our MDR experience was also less than stellar.  Even though we were confirmed for first seating, when we went to deck 5 the first night we were told there were no tables available because they had 600 people confirmed on first seating and only 400 seats available.  So that night we did my time dining on deck 4.  After checking the second night we did have an assigned table for the rest of the cruise.  The service was hit and miss.  One night we waited 20 minutes after ordering desert and then gave up and left.  Another night we ordered ice cream for desert and gave up after waiting 15 minutes for it.    I know they are busy but desert should be the easiest of all the courses. 

 

On our cruise the nurovirus outbreak started on day 5 and the serve yourself buffet stopped after

breakfast on day 6. 

[Eleris]

Sorry to hear that your experience wasn't much better.  If the virus is still on board, I am not aware of it because they are cleaning and keeping items in lockdown so that seems to be helping.

 

Tonight was an eye opener for us when we went to Qsine for dinner.  We have never done the new Petit Chef menu and were big fans of the old Qsine menu so we figured we would give it a try since the food in the main dining room has been less than acceptable.  The service I have already covered in my original post so I will leave that alone.

 

For anyone sailing to Charleston on the next trip pay attention to what I am about to say, we were charged sales tax on our dinner tab in Qsine for Charleston SC.  I had the restaurant manager explain this to me and while we are in port any items you purchase on board the ship, we were told would be billable with a sales tax for Charleston's pocket.  If you have a drink on a drink package that does not apply.  If you have a drink and pay for it that will be taxed.  Our dinner in Qsine was hit with sales tax and that is a first for me.

 

I think I am more annoyed that we did this as a last-minute reservation when coming back to the ship and the Qsine people were trying to convince passengers to give it a try and they did not mention this additional charge.  I am not one of those people that appreciates deception whether intended or not.  

 

I was informed that this is not the case in Newport are Martha's Vineyard with the restaurants or other purchases and this is just a SC thing.  If you pre-paid for dinner packages I think you will be fine, but you may want to check before you dine.  

 

 

[Cachecara]

On 5/30/2023 at 4:24 PM, homedepot124 said:

We were just on the May 15-25 sailing of the Summit and our MDR experience was also less than stellar.  Even though we were confirmed for first seating, when we went to deck 5 the first night we were told there were no tables available because they had 600 people confirmed on first seating and only 400 seats available.  So that night we did my time dining on deck 4.  After checking the second night we did have an assigned table for the rest of the cruise.  The service was hit and miss.  One night we waited 20 minutes after ordering desert and then gave up and left.  Another night we ordered ice cream for desert and gave up after waiting 15 minutes for it.    I know they are busy but desert should be the easiest of all the courses. 

 

On our cruise the nurovirus outbreak started on day 5 and the serve yourself buffet stopped after

breakfast on day 6. 

We were on the same cruise.

We found the service to be very good in all areas and were very happy with the crew, as always.  
Our dinners in the MDR were over all good.  The OVC had very little day to day variation whether it was breakfast or lunch and so became a bit stale, but I never left hungry or disappointed.  Personally, I like having the crew reinforce hand washing, serve the guests etc.  JMO
The one negative was Tuscan Grill.  We are used to good Italian restaurants, we live in NNJ.  The calamari was so bad, we didn’t bother.  It was thickly coated and deep fried. Like eating a calamari funnel cake. My fillet was over cooked to well done.  But again, I wasn’t cooking or cleaning up and anyone can have an off night.  We’ve eaten at Tuscan several times in the past and been pleased, so I’m hoping it was a one off. 

Food is so subjective. 

 

[AlaskaNewbie68]

We were on the "noro" cruise, May 15-25. We were unscathed, thankfully, but also if the past three years have taught me anything it's WASH YOUR Hands/DO NOT Touch your face. I really wish all cruise lines would strictly enforce the handwashing BEFORE there is an outbreak, not after. I was relieved when they stopped allowing passengers to use tongs, beverage machines, etc. 

 

We had a fantastic cruise (first time on Celebrity)  with great ports and the service was great...except for ONE waiter in the MDR who just seemed by annoyed all the time. Wonder if it's the same one the OP had an issue with.