Bad Service In Dining Room

[luv4cruzan]

Has anyone experienced bad service from your waiters in the dining room?

If so what did you do about it?We were so dissapointed we did not go every night,and missed out on the last night.

[Cotton]

Nope, I've always had excellent service in the dining room.

 

IF I had a bad experience, I would have spoken with the Maitre d', but it would have to be really unacceptable service.

[CDRMark]

Define "bad".

 

Cheers

MarkB

[Terri102066]

On my cruise in July I had a wait staff that I personally did not think was up to standard. They were very slow and brought everyone the wrong desert on one evening. We all ordered the same thing and everyone received something else. I don't know if the kitchen was out of it or what. Then for desert if we ordered coffee or anything we may or may not get it in time to enjoy. The tables that this wait staff took care of was always the last ones out of the dinning room every night. Although I did not like my wait staff I did not let that hurt my dinner experience. My wait staff last October was so great I don't think anyone could meet the standard they set forth.

 

 

 

Terri

[Live_2_cruise05]

We have never EVER had a bad waiter! They have all been great to us!

[wolfjinxangel]

Nope, all the waiters I've had were EXCELLENT. :)

 

I wrote on the survey an extra comment at how wonderful our dining room waiters/matri'd were.

[spaceguy]

Yes, I have had bad service. Twice out of nine cruises.

 

Our last cruise in April we talked to the headwaiter and maitre'd about dining room and food issues. It didn't help. We went to the Cruise Circle on board rep for Princess and told her the list of specifics. She met with the maitre'd and chef. Things did not improve. I went back to her and gave her an update. She informed the hotel operations manager. Things did not change. We finally went to the Purser's desk and reduced the dining room portion of tips. I wrote Princess a detailed letter after the cruise. I got a generic response back from them.

[lablvr2]

I have been on 8 cruises - all RCI and only had one bad experience. We were at a table for 12 and only 6 showed up. Waiter kept taking orders but never submitted them to kitchen as he was *waiting* for the others. It was the first night, we were tired from flying in from upstate NY and hungry. I had seen how they handled this in the past and it wasn't like this, especially the first night. When we didn't return after the 2nd night, we got a call from the maitre d...I explained what happened. They sent chocolate covered strawberries to our suite. I still had no desire to go back to the dining room. We had a great time checking out the other dining options onboard. I'm glad we did!

 

Susan

[marvholly]

Yep. Carnival Triumph 12/99. Waiter and Assistant never refilled water or ice tea. Never refilled wine that was included at 2 dinners when other waiters nearby did refill. Brought hot soups just barley above room temp. Brought beef entrees ordered blood rare with NO even pink in them.

 

Put up with it for 2 nites. Went to matre D and insisted waiter be changed. to someone who either did understand basic food term english or gave a hoot (only possible sources of problems). Head waiter for our section took over our table. Guess who got the tip and who got stiffed.

[bobnsandi]

We've been on NCL three times now, with Freestyle Cruising. On the Star (foreign flagged) we

generally had pretty good service, but there were some outstanding

bad experiences, too. You don't have the same waitstaff from day to day,

meal to meal, so it is nearly impossible to point out the problem to management.

 

Our most recent cruise on the Pride of America was quite a

refreshing change. The waitstaff was largely new and overworked,

but they came through and really went the extra mile. If there

were any slowdowns, it was the kitchen (also new) not

keeping up to the pace of things. Some cruisers have complained

about 2 hour dinners, but we figure "we're on a cruise, where

are we going?". If you are in a hurry, there is always the buffet.

 

Our only "traditional" experience was on the Legend of the Seas,

and the waitstaff fell over themselves to take care of us.

Even when it was cattle-car dining (breakfast and

lunch) the service was uniformly good.

 

Our general observation is that the non-US staff usually

try to do a good job, but there are communications problems

that can try everyone's patience. No communications

problems on the PoAm!

[red knight]

Once on a sailing to Alaska on the Regect er I mean Regal Princess. The waiter was too busy trying to be buddy buddy with the table to remember who ordered what! He never even tried to remember names. If he only got two things wrong per meal it was remarkable! Mind you the whole ship was full of that level of ineptitude! One night at one of the lounges I got Vermouth when I ordered Dubbonet. Funny thing is my best Cruise experience ever was aboard a Princess and this Princess cruise was by far and away the worst!

[LoneStar72]

Had one bad one out of 4 cruises so far. It was on Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas. For some reason I never did figure out, the waiter got really hostile with me. After the first night of this, I spoke to the local Maitre D. No change the second night, so I spoke to the dining room manager. After no change the third night, we changed tables. On the last night, after tipping the wait staff at the new table, I made it a point to go over to the old table, and tip the assistant waiter only.

 

John

[Reese1717]

I never had a bad waiter.

[mymadel]

I can honestly say we have never had TERRIBLE waiters but the last cruise on the Summitt left a lot to be desired...we always go served last- and things were not up to snuff..it was not the waiters fault ( he was killing himself) but it was the asst.waiter ( He was doing nothing)...We always take our tips off and tip the next to the last nite..Our waiter got the bulk of the tip and the asst.waiter got a smaller portion..

 

I will NOT let the cruise take out the tips..tips are earned..not a given item..If the cruises want to take out the tips, then do it ahead of time and make it a NO TIPPING policy..I know for the most part, that when the crew knows that tips are included, they don't try as hard...

 

Go back to the old ways...tip the required amt and then add to it for good service...

 

 

A

[arby70]

We've only been on the one cruise so far, and our service in the dining room on the Infinity was absolutely fantastic!!! Both our waiter and assistant waiter bent over backwards for our table. Loved every minute of their dining service and tipped them accordingly (much higher than the suggested tip on Celebrity). I loved that cruise...

[Bethwte]

Once on carnival we had open seating for the first night, and that waiter was TERRBLE. Than goodness he wasn't our waiter for the week. He brought my father (who ordered his steak pittsburgh rare (black/burned on the outside, blue/raw in the middle)) a steak that was so well done it could have doubled as an oddly shaped door stopper, and he brought another woman at the table the entirely wrong dish. He was also very rude, and we saw him being very very rude to his assistant waiter as well.

 

Also, on American Hawaii, our waiter wasn't really bad, he just lacked personality. We've never had that before. We nicked named him droopy (as he resembled droopy the dog). He was very efficient, but I'd be amazed if he said two words other than what was absolutely necessary. Otherwise though, we've LOVED our waitstaff :D

[Cotton]

QUOTE=Bethwte]........He brought my father (who ordered his steak pittsburgh rare (black/burned on the outside, blue/raw in the middle)) a steak that was so well done it could have doubled as an oddly shaped door stopper./QUOTE

 

Beth, you do know you can send anything back for another order, right? I'm not familiar with 'pittsburgh rare', so maybe your waiter wasn't, either? Maybe it got lost in translation to the cooks?:confused:

[Bethwte]

Oh, he explained it... basically he said he wanted it very very rare, but chared on the outside if possible... and yes, he did send it back (just asked for very rare that time) as well done meat is just awful...

[Cotton]

Well, good. At least he did manage to get a rare steak. That, of course, does not excuse the waiter's rude behavior.

[Janet524]

Unbelieveably the worst dining room service we ever experienced was on Holland America's Maasdam last year. At a table of 6, the courses were served "scatter shot" - three or four appetizers coming out, then a wait for the last two; same thing with entrees, dessert. No amount of "encouraging" the waiters to serve everyone at the same time seemed to do any good. This was particularly surprising since we had sailed on the older Noordam the previous year and had experienced the best food and food service of any of our 20+ cruises.

[kakalina]

My worst dining experience was when I was seated alone at a table for 4 and the wait staff ignored me almost completly. I felt very alone and requested to be seated with someone - anyone but never was. I did go to the Lido buffet but I enjoy the dining room, usually

 

Trish

[sharonella]

We personally have always had excellent waiters.

 

Unfortunately, tho, on our first cruise, we were in a group of 30+, so ended up with 3 sets of waiters. Two sets were wonderful, one set did not have much personality & were very slow (maybe they were new?). They just weren't "go getters". Usually you see the waitstaff moving briskly around. These guys just seemed very "plodding & methodical" - kind of like they were afraid to forget something, or make a mistake.

 

One part of our group was always just getting entrees afte we had been served dessert. And it wasn't like anyone was late for diner - we all pretty much arrived for dinner on time, because it was the only time every day that the whole group was definitely together. I believe they spoke to the maitre d' about the problem, but the situation just never really improved. I think a few of them totally stiffed the waitstaff on tips. :(

[Koalagal]

Service at late dining was flawless...food was excellent, we gave both our waiters more than reccommended amount. But not as much as our room steward...he cleaned my toilet every day! They all deserved every penny we gave them. I am just hoping Carnival's Fascination next month is 1/2 as good...if they are equally good, I will be in 4 days of heaven!:D

[jazncruiser]

I have never had a bad service staff on any of the HAL cruise ships. This is more than likley due to we are very patient with anyone who may be new to the job they are doing. We never let a small mistake on a waiters part to cause stress or to anger us. We at some point are all new at doing something and may not be so good at it as others. Just be part of the waiters "training moment" and injoy your cruise. As far as rudeness goes,:mad: I would take the guy outside and have a little man to man talk and hope that he will be doing the "Lords work" the next time he comes to our table. May the ocean be smooth......steve

[CEV426]

.I know for the most part, that when the crew knows that tips are included, they don't try as hard...

 

Go back to the old ways...tip the required amt and then add to it for good service...

 

 

A

 

I couldn't agree more. I think I am going to withhold my tipping also on my upcoming Princess cruise. There is definitely a difference. But, does the staff know which passengers have withheld tipping till the end?