early seating time

[pcur]

8 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

There is nothing wrong with wanting a table for 2, but the polite thing to do is request this ahead of time by calling RCI. Waiting until the day of the cruise to request a change creates unnecessary work, when a simple call before the cruise can address your preference. Additionally, if you request a move on the ship, it is likely you will be moved to a different serving team, which screws up tipping since RCI’s computer system allocates tips based on your original table assignment. We just had this issue two weeks ago on Enchantment. A couple wanted to switch tables with us to sit next to their friends on the second night of the cruise. We initially said yes, but the head waiter for our section asked us to please not move because it would mess up both the allocation of gratuities and the survey at the end of the cruise (if we switched tables the survey would not reflect this move). 

Interesting. Whenever I have changed tables, they update the system while I'm standing there making the request, so the system reflects the correct tip allocation.
 

I go in around 1pm on Day 1, which is when the dining rooms are open for change requests. This is true on all ships, so they avoid having to do it during the day 1 dinner rush in the evening.

 

I had zero results from advance calling or email, and we switched to the day 1 afternoon visit instead.

 

I also had some SERIOUS issues with the Enchantment dining experience last year: management and food quality. 

 

 

Edited August 11 by pcur

[cruiseboy89130]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

We initially said yes, but the head waiter for our section asked us to please not move because it would mess up both the allocation of gratuities and the survey at the end of the cruise (if we switched tables the survey would not reflect this move). 

What a rude dis-service by the head waiter! His survey and tipping is more important than the well being of the guest! Total no go! Hope you reported him to GS and the HD! 0 points for sure from me!

[PhillyFan33579]

23 minutes ago, pcur said:

I also had some SERIOUS issues with the Enchantment dining experience last year: management and food quality. 

This is an example of why I never pay attention to posts that say the staff was great on ship X when we were on it last year. The staff on a ship is constantly changing, so a year later the staff is vastly different. When we were on Enchantment last month I thought the food in the MDR was very good and the wait team we had was the best wait team I have experienced in 86 cruises. I don’t doubt your experience, but the staff you encountered was significantly different than the staff we encountered (and fortunately it appears we had a much better staff than you had). 

[PhillyFan33579]

26 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

What a rude dis-service by the head waiter! His survey and tipping is more important than the well being of the guest! Total no go! Hope you reported him to GS and the HD! 0 points for sure from me!

It worked out well for us because the wait team we had that cruise was the best wait team I have experienced on any cruise. If we had moved we would have had a different wait team. I am sure they would have been fine, but I would rank the wait team we had that cruise number 1 out of the 86 cruises I have been on. 

[pcur]

4 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

This is an example of why I never pay attention to posts that say the staff was great on ship X when we were on it last year. The staff on a ship is constantly changing, so a year later the staff is vastly different. When we were on Enchantment last month I thought the food in the MDR was very good and the wait team we had was the best wait team I have experienced in 86 cruises. I don’t doubt your experience, but the staff you encountered was significantly different than the staff we encountered (and fortunately it appears we had a much better staff than you had). 

You are correct.

 

My experience was after the "new" dining menus were started, and there were many complaints about the Enchantment at that time. I actually wrote a long post about my experience. My conclusion was the new menus, combined with new staff, combined with kitchen issues (we could not get a single hot dinner meal on a b2b cruise) were the culprits. I am very happy to hear the Enchantment has improved.