Service in MDR

[mompolo]

We have been on 4 Celebrity cruises and 1 RCL cruise. On Celebrity the waiters in the MDR were fantastic - they knew what we drank (usually iced tea) and it was waiting for us each night (after the first night). Also, they refilled our drinks without ever asking.

 

On RCL, it was the exact opposite. We had to ask for it every night (usually about 10 minutes after we sat down - when the waiter made it over to our table) and rarely were able to get a refill in a timely manner.

 

I found the service on Celebrity to be far better than RCL - in pretty much every aspect of the cruise.

 

We are sailing the Valor in September for our first Carnival cruise - I know each waiter is different, but will be happy or disappointed in the service in comparison to our other cruises.

[firefly333]

You do know that Celebrity is owned by RCL and is their step up cruiseline from RCL?

 

I too would expect Celebrity service to be better than on RCL...

 

On Carnival they now wait on many tables, more than in the past, so the waiters can barely keep up. Iv had times where they took my tables order after two large tables and waited almost 15 minutes every night to get my order taken (Im always on time).

 

Iv had some really fun waiters on Carnival, but feel you need to be patient. Allow extra time. They will get to know you want iced tea after a night or two. Iv also had to ask 4 times for ice tea before they brought it .. it just varys by how many others they have to wait on.

 

sometimes you get lucky and people are off to the buffet and its not so busy and they can give you better service, sometimes not.

[cruisenanny]

I think overall Celebrity has the most refined waiters of any line we have ever sailed (only 5 or 6 & never a luxury line). RCI has always been hit or miss for us. I posted because I was just reading my journal from my last Carnival cruise (long time ago) and one of the things I talked about was our EXCELLENT waitstaff. Hopefully you won't be disappointed:)

[Alwaysundecided]

I have sailed both Celebrity and Carnival.

I have always enjoyed the service on Carnival. After the first night, they always had our drinks waiting for us, and they always had my five year old (at the time) daughter's food waiting for her every night (she always ate the same thing). I have always found them to be top notch.

[Rock_Dr]

On Celebrity, I was always amazed how they remembered. Next week will be my first on Carnival. I'll have to wait and see.

 

Dave

[QLUVS2CRUZ]

It depends on the waiter, but when we sailed on the Valor, both our head waiter and asst waiter had our drinks waiting every night, and knew what we wanted after dinner (hot tea, espresso, etc.)...they were awesome!!! I think you should expect the same service on Carnival (might not get it, but I would expect it.)

[cb at sea]

The aim of all of the cruiselines is to have flawless service....I don't think you'll have a problem! If you're really concerned, tell your servers what drinks you'll be doing each night, if thats a huge issue for you.

[zqvol]

We have been on 4 Celebrity cruises and 1 RCL cruise. On Celebrity the waiters in the MDR were fantastic - they knew what we drank (usually iced tea) and it was waiting for us each night (after the first night). Also, they refilled our drinks without ever asking.

 

On RCL, it was the exact opposite. We had to ask for it every night (usually about 10 minutes after we sat down - when the waiter made it over to our table) and rarely were able to get a refill in a timely manner.

 

I found the service on Celebrity to be far better than RCL - in pretty much every aspect of the cruise.

 

We are sailing the Valor in September for our first Carnival cruise - I know each waiter is different, but will be happy or disappointed in the service in comparison to our other cruises.

 

 

Carnival wait staff has fewer passengers to serve than in the past, and the service is still bad. You will get water refills, but tea is not going to happen unless you get really lucky.

[mompolo]

Thanks for your responses -

 

I'm not really worried about it - but when we sailed RCL, it was very noticable to me the difference in service.

 

I'm looking forward to our cruise - I know we're going to have a great time!!

[QLUVS2CRUZ]

Carnival wait staff has fewer passengers to serve than in the past, and the service is still bad. You will get water refills, but tea is not going to happen unless you get really lucky.

 

Totally untrue in most cases...I'm sorry you had bad service if this happened to you. As I said earlier, we always had our tea waiting at the table on the Valor.