Terrace Cafe-Marina: stressed service dynamic

[snohflake]

Hi all. I recently came back from a wonderful Meditteranean cruise on the Marina. The food was terrific, our butler was top notch, and while the food at the Terrace Cafe was quite tasty the service was poor to odd.

 

Trying to get beverage service was challenging. The wait staff typically was watching for vaguely frantic direction from managers vs scanning the dining room for eye contact with guests. Service with a smile was the exception (except for Osmar!) and there was a general vibe of anxiety on the part of the waitstaff. The managers did a lot of frenetic pointing, ordering, etc and the staff looked like they were not just stressed, but nervous and cowed. :( Waves was just as bad, if not worse.

 

I typically left feeling annoyed (though full :D, loved the carving station). Service was particularly bad if I went to the cafe solo. I would try to get the attention of the wait staff and I felt invisible. Larger tables appeared to get quicker and more focused attention. I thought it was just me but another person noted the same when he went by himself to the cafe. It started to become a joke. Are you thirsty? No, not me. Great, let's go to the Terrace! :p

 

The unhappy service definitely prevailed at the grill station. Never got a smile there.

 

I really did enjoy the cruise and I thought service in all other areas to be terrific. Our butler Ismail was the best of any cruise, including Crystal. He was a true highlight for us. He would appear out of nowhere at times when we were in public spaces of the ship to see if we needed anything, and he did it in a casual happy way.

 

Has anyone else noticed the above/had similar experiences?

[LHT28]

Sorry to hear that

We have not encountered that type of service the wait staff have always been right there to take drink orders

Maybe new waitstaff ?

 

There is one manager that seems to just take his title too seriously.... he just manages

He would not clear a table if he was standing on it unlike the other managers

 

Hopefully it is an anomaly

 

Lyn

[snohflake]

 

There is one manager that seems to just take his title too seriously.... he just manages

He would not clear a table if he was standing on it unlike the other managers

 

 

Lol!

[ronrick1943]

Have to say never had bad service like that.

 

Rick

[Almagetty]

We are also recently off Marina, and we had nothing but smiling, gracious and prompt service in every venue on the ship, including Terrace and Waves.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[snohflake]

We'll be sailing on the Riviera in April so it will be interesting to see if we note any difference, but it sounds like we just hit the cafe/grill at odd moments. It typically coincided with the presence of 1 particular manager. Maybe he's not a staff favorite. :)

[llarsen]

We sailed on the Marina this last October. We have sailed on Regatta for four other cruises, but this was the first time on Marina.

 

While the ship was amazing in every way, the Main Dining room and Terrace Cafe were not. We are not picky, but couldn't help but notice the difference from our other cruises. In the Terrace, we actually experienced very helpful waiters who wouldn't even let me carry my own plate to my table, lol. But they seemed to need direction from others, rather than know what they should be doing. They were trying very hard, but were "off" in comparison to our other trips.

 

The Main Dining room was worse. We gave it three trys and then gave up and ate in the Terrace. We asked for a different table each time, but it didn't seem to help. They mixed up our orders, forgot our beverages, dropped silverware, gave us German menus, the coffee was undrinkable. Someone mentioned they had new trainees so it made sense. We still enjoyed the wonderful food Oceania continues to offer. With all their fumbling around, they still had the other cruiselines beat!

[pacheco18]

If fdr reads this thread that manager has a problem.

 

I think the experience in the Terrace is unusual. We avoid the GDR for the reasons u mention and others

[true45]

On our recent October sailing on Riviera service at the Terrace was wonderful except one time. Don't know what happened or why but some people got offered beverages, some didn't, some complained about the time to get their ordered alcoholic beverages served after ordering. We were not offered beverages at all while those around us and arriving later did -- we got up and asked at the counter and got them.

[beachkid2009]

We sailed on Marina in September (Baltic Cruise) and had a completely different experience in TC. The staff was attentive, helpful and wonderful to deal with. The only delay we had was regarding a special bottle of wine we order that was in another cellar. They explained the delay up front and our wait was less than 10 minutes.

 

Jamie, was one of the managers on duty regularly and he was fantastic. We've seen him in action on other cruises and I can't say enough good things about him or his crew. I hope your next experience is better.

[wallen]

Had a very similar experience last April on Marina. Almost impossible to get coffee refill at Terrace breakfast. Mentioned it on mid-cruise survey. Got stopped leaving Polo Grill the next evening and got an apology from the manager. After that we got special attention every morning ... but it shouldn't require complaining and it shouldn't be by exception ... waitstaff needs to constantly be scanning their tables to see if anybody needs anything.

 

(love Oceania despite this!!!)

[no fuss travel]

We did a B2B cruise from Papeete to Sydney. There was a huge changeover in staff in Auckland, and yes we noticed for the first two days after that the service was not as good in the TC or GDR. After that it was back up to the usual standards with smiling, attentive service. I guess they need a couple of days to get used to the new managers and new personnel.:confused:

[qldtraveller]

Hi

We did a response form based on a very similar issue on Marina last May.

The staff were not their wonderful smiling selves due to pressure from the managers in the Terrace. Noted most Terrace Managers were Eastern European and ran the area in a strict armed forces manner. We mentioned it verbally to desk after staff were chastised for talking to us one evening and in our notes at end of trip.

Also they were somewhat confused on their roles as we would have 3 wait staff and then 1 and they changed locations every 20 minutes.

People are correct. Check out the managers they seem to be the crux of the issue.

Never seen it on Nautica or Insignia.

[Mura]

We are on MARINA right now (Day 5 of an 18 day cruise, Barcelona to Rio) and I can't say we've run into any of the problems mentioned. Service has been friendly and efficient. We've had a couple of lunches in Terrace, and 3 dinners so far. We had nothing to complain about.

 

Hope we're just lucky!

 

Mura

[ronrick1943]

Mura, nope, that's the way it should be all the time!

Rick

[Mura]

Rick,

 

I should have phrased my comment differently! We've never had anything but friendly and efficient service on any of O's ships, so I don't think we were "just lucky" at all. But if prior complaints had been valid, then perhaps we could have been lucky. But I don't think we were. It was SOP.

 

Mura