Pushy Drink Vendors

[ncovert]

You are a nice guy....I think I would have found one of the guys in the white uniforms and

had a word with him and the server. Being rude to a traveler is unacceptable!

 

This was the tip I was thinking of. Each of the major areas on the ship have a "manager" and if you could not find them/it continued to occur there are also "hotel managers" that are responsible for making sure this type of things does not occur. In 2010 we went on two separate Elation cruises and the lido manager rode his employees (on both cruises-I love to people watch). Scrub this, clean that, don't let those under 18 year old's in the serenity area this - very much attending to the order of his area... I am not for getting anyone in trouble or jeopardize their position on board, but i you really felt like they were inhibiting you from enjoying your time certainly reach out to these supervisor types.

[silvercrikhix]

Very annoying, OP, that they pestered you so badly!

Have to agree with the MDR being very difficult to get a cocktail.

We are lucky if we get one ordered and delivered!

Twice we ordered and never got the drinks :mad:

 

What the heck is up with that Carnival?

We would probably order 2-3 each if we could get some service.

That has been very annoying & baffling, why would they not have service during dinner?

Just insane to us, they are missing out on at least our tables liquor sales, very night!

Edited August 5, 2014 by silvercrikhix

[sailor_jimc]

The reason they are pushy is that the bar waiters ONLY get tips. (or at least a majority of their income is tips. So the more they sell the more money they make. It provides a really good incentive for them to be pushy. And of course that means they want to sell the high dollar drinks since they get the most tips from them.

 

My solution for my non drinking wife is to provide a tip for the water. They don't mind bringing a water if they know they will get a tip for it every so often.

[stargate fan]

Is it just me, or have bar waiters been extra pushy lately?

 

Never really noticed it before, but we had a couple of rude bar waiters on board the Magic.

 

One was at Red Frog. Kept insisting that my wife order the fishbowl drink, even though I politely declined and let him know I wasn't drinking that evening. We said no thank you a few times, he kept touting the benefits of it, finally gave a bit of an annoyed look and dropped the niceties, started acting disinterested and mumbled back our order as he was caking off.

 

I got dehydrated drinking only beer in Jamaica, and needed to rehydrate on something other than booze, and he didn't seem to understand the concept of why someone on a cruise wouldn't want to just drink into oblivion. He came back 20 minutes later with 1 drink and no water. I asked him again for the ice water. He came back with 1 small cocktail glass of tap water, no ice, set it down without even acknowledging us and walked off. I assume he was upset we didn't order the fishbowl drink.

 

I got up and walked to the bar myself and finally got what I ordered.

 

Had similar, albeit not so pronounced experiences with other waiters in various places. One was up in the Serentiy area, waiter seemed annoyed that I wanted 1 beer, and the ladies I was with didn't want any alcohol. He kept insisting, and I kept politely declining, informing him they arent big drinkers. Then he was insisting i order a bucket of beer. I didn't want 4 beers where 3 get hot before I drink them.

 

Another was in the ocean plaza area, similar situation.

 

The waiters just seem dumbfounded that someone would be on a cruise and not drinking booze 24hrs a day. I was trying to be nice about it, but after a day or two of it, was getting kind of annoying.

 

Just figured i'd vent. I don't recall this level of drink hawking on our 5 other cruises. Maybe I was just being too sensitive…who knows.

 

We sailed Magic in April. We spent every night in the Red Frog Pub. We did not experience anything like what you described and every night I only drank water. The servers were very polite and friendly all week long and never once were any of them pushy.

 

As for Serenity, we had the opposite-there was never a server around so we had to go to the bar to get our drinks.

 

When did you sail? Maybe there were different crew members on your cruise than on ours?

[NavyCruiser]

We don't drink, but have friends who drink alot & their complaint is not having enough servers come around often enough.

 

We just know up front that how most cruise lines make money is by pushing alcohol onboard, so we already pre-set our smiling "No, Thank You's" whenever they come by (just like going to Carrib port markets). No big deal.

 

There are lots of water & ice tea stations around the ship. If you're thirsty for non-alcoholic drink, just go get it yourself instead getting it from the bar...

[JohnSpo]

True about so few bar waiters in the MDR. I just tell my head waiter what my drink order is and they make sure it is taken care of immediately.:cool:

[MimiMia]

I had an encounter with a very pushy waiter in the comedy club on Valor. I mean every 5 minutes he was at our table, mind you the show hadn't started yet. Then when he came over it was almost like a guilt trip to get us to purchase. We actually left the show because it became that obnoxious to us.

[PlanoTim]

True about so few bar waiters in the MDR. I just tell my head waiter what my drink order is and they make sure it is taken care of immediately.:cool:

 

That’s what we do too. We had any-time dining and were never seated in the same section all week. We had pretty good service from the Head Waiters and their assistants. Most times the MDR bar staff took our wine/drink orders pretty quickly. If they didn’t, we just told the waiter and he took care of it.

[Shipbound]

The moment you step on to the ship they are right there pushing the foo-foo drinks. Don't go to the Lido and sit because they're out in full force. Even sitting around the pool they are there bugging you. I've never purchased a drink from any meandering waiter, we always go straight to the bar and watch them mix the drink making sure they put booze in it.

 

Actually those foo-foo drinks that are pushed when you get on the ship are probably the strongest drink you will get for the week!!! I think the mix drinks that are served on the ships are weak that is why I stick to beer. Besides that is how the cruise lines make their money by selling booze.

 

Gary

Edited August 5, 2014 by Shipbound

[Cruise-Crazy]

Can't remember any pushy waiters. My main complaint is the lack of bar waiters when I want something. :eek:

[southbayer]

I had a guy like that... Seems like he was everywhere I was during different parts of the day... Kept pestering me for a drink.. I finally had it after three days into my 9 day cruise, and reported him to the food and beverage manager...

 

He never bothered me again... I saw him on day 7, and he humbley walked over to me and asked politely if I would like something. Guess he got the message, and I ordered a beer and that was it.

Is it just me, or have bar waiters been extra pushy lately?

 

Never really noticed it before, but we had a couple of rude bar waiters on board the Magic.

 

One was at Red Frog. Kept insisting that my wife order the fishbowl drink, even though I politely declined and let him know I wasn't drinking that evening. We said no thank you a few times, he kept touting the benefits of it, finally gave a bit of an annoyed look and dropped the niceties, started acting disinterested and mumbled back our order as he was caking off.

 

I got dehydrated drinking only beer in Jamaica, and needed to rehydrate on something other than booze, and he didn't seem to understand the concept of why someone on a cruise wouldn't want to just drink into oblivion. He came back 20 minutes later with 1 drink and no water. I asked him again for the ice water. He came back with 1 small cocktail glass of tap water, no ice, set it down without even acknowledging us and walked off. I assume he was upset we didn't order the fishbowl drink.

 

I got up and walked to the bar myself and finally got what I ordered.

 

Had similar, albeit not so pronounced experiences with other waiters in various places. One was up in the Serentiy area, waiter seemed annoyed that I wanted 1 beer, and the ladies I was with didn't want any alcohol. He kept insisting, and I kept politely declining, informing him they arent big drinkers. Then he was insisting i order a bucket of beer. I didn't want 4 beers where 3 get hot before I drink them.

 

Another was in the ocean plaza area, similar situation.

 

The waiters just seem dumbfounded that someone would be on a cruise and not drinking booze 24hrs a day. I was trying to be nice about it, but after a day or two of it, was getting kind of annoying.

 

Just figured i'd vent. I don't recall this level of drink hawking on our 5 other cruises. Maybe I was just being too sensitive…who knows.

[GUT2407]

I usually have a bottle of water with me when I hang out on deck, so all I do is point to that and the waiter moves on.......I don't drink beer or booze, but have never felt hassled by any waiter when I use this tactic. Sometimes I wagged a finger "NO" if he's loud.....use the same tactic in ports when someone offers weed: No No No I don't smoke it no more.......easy peasy

 

 

I'm tired of waking up on the floor

No thank you please it only makes me sneeze ,.,.