Where has the MDR service gone??

[notyours75]

We took our first Carnival cruise 18 years ago on the then named Destiny. We had nearly every meal in the MDR with the same waitstaff and I remember the experience fondly. If we missed a meal and ate at the buffet on the lido deck I remember that being not so good. We cruised with Carnival every 2 or 3 years after that and the dining emphasis has slowly shifted from the MDR to the more casual options. Today food on the lido deck is MUCH better than our first cruise with a great deal more variety and flavors. Guys' burgers, need I say more? The addition of specialty restaurants further stratifies the options. In that same time service in the MDR has lets be honest, gone down, it was a trade off. I miss the relationship with seeing the same wait staff for each meal, but I enjoy the other options available to me.

 

Today I would not miss the evening meal in the MDR unless we were eating at a specialty dining option but I'm happy to have our breakfasts and lunches on the Lido deck. We do try to make the seaday brunch at least once because I do like eggs Benedict.

 

That being said I'm sad about the MDR but happy with the other options.

[PAPERBKWRITER]

sometimes illness forces the waitstaff to double up .not saying that was the case but i doubt if you saw anyone standing around. they work very hard.

[crusinpsychRN]

The only time we had terrible service was with ATD. Never again!

 

We prefer early seating. So far, with tradional seating, service has been awesome!

 

I just sat and sat and sat for ATD with no menu, no bread, no water, no waiter! I finally flagged someone down to get served.

 

Because so many times I've had food served tepid I now say something right away and things come the proper temperature. How does that happen?

[sweetsixteencruisers]

I just sat and sat and sat for ATD with no menu, no bread, no water, no waiter! I finally flagged someone down to get served.

 

Because so many times I've had food served tepid I now say something right away and things come the proper temperature. How does that happen?

 

We felt like they put us in a corner and forgot about us. I think that the waitstaff can't get a timing down with people coming in all over the place. Which we believe makes them very overwhelmed!

 

This is why ATD is not for us. We will not try again. No need to get frustrated with the staff that's is normally awesome.

[simplelife]

If service is bad, let the maitre 'd know.

[jinglesmountjoy]

I'm betting that the paid restaurants take all the top rated service staff. Within 5 years, I'm betting there will be no MDR with a la carte service... just an extensive buffet or family style at best.

[notyours75]

We felt like they put us in a corner and forgot about us. I think that the waitstaff can't get a timing down with people coming in all over the place. Which we believe makes them very overwhelmed!

 

This is why ATD is not for us. We will not try again. No need to get frustrated with the staff that's is normally awesome.

 

It seems like a vast majority of people complaining on CC about the service in the MDR (not the food itself) are ATD people.

 

While I don't have direct knowledge of this it would seem likely to me that the more experienced waitstaff will be in the assigned dining rooms because they are more likely to get extra tips directly from their guests that they've seen every night on a cruise. But that is just speculation on my part.

[WendyVF]

We have been cruising for some time and take several cruises a year. We always do a set dining time, not ATD, and we have noticed the service consistently getting worse. It's not for lack of the team trying, the cruise lines are just stretching the staff too thin. On our my recent trip over New Year's, most nights we were leaving the dining room with only 15 minutes until the next seating. It's hard to enjoy the singing and dancing when you are still waiting on your entrees. Unfortunately, it's not just Carnival. We were on Royal in October and it was just as bad there. I try to keep in mind that for the most part we are cruising for the same prices we paid 10 years ago so you have to expect them to be making the money up elsewhere.

 

I was very honest on the survey Carnival sent and let them know that the lack of staff was negatively impacting the overall cruise experience.

[riffatsea]

We LOVE ATD and have always gotten excellent service!

We find one wait staff group we like and make sure to get seated in their area every night so they get to know us well! The one time we started off with staff we didn't like we immediately went to the maitre d(and guest services) and magically the next night we had the best staff on the ship!!

I do not understand all these complaints??:confused:

Maybe we just have great karma??

[jacmo24]

We had EXCELLENT service on the Liberty on our last cruise. We found a team at ATD we liked night 2 or 3 and we stuck with them the rest of the cruise. It was one of the best MDR experiences we've had.

[riffatsea]

It is up to you to expect good service and see that you get it!

We would not "sit and sit" waiting to be served!

We'd have gotten up and gone to the podium to be reseated! I don't mean that we wouldn't wait a couple of minutes after being acknowledged by wait staff but we would not wait long enough to become upset by it!

[Bases5]

Another not so Brilliant cutback.

 

I'm not so sure this is a cut back,

Since we pay most of the wait staff salary's anyhow thru tips they may have gotten a raise.

The staff might have wanted this.

Edited January 23, 2016 by Bases5

[stargate fan]

We booked early assigned dining (too early) when we cruised with groups of friends, we booked late assigned dining (too late) when we cruised alone or with our kids. Then we tried Your Time Dining (YTD) when we sailed with my husband's mom, his sisters, and their husbands. It was not a pleasant experience at all. Maybe seating nine people was the issue.

 

Fast forward to August 2014, Legend, Panama Canal sailing. We chose early dining, which on that sailing was 5:45. We befriended two couples on the first day of the 13 day cruise so we switched to YTD for the third night so we could dine together. We had such amazing waitstaff that after the first night we requested to be seated in the same section. They learned our names the first night, and never forgot them. They brought our preferred drinks without us even asking. They made sure our bread basket was always full. Service was fantastic for the remaining 10 nights with YTD. We never waited to be seated.

 

We sailed Legend to Alaska in July 2015, again choosing YTD. The Maître d' was the same as on our cruise the year before and he remembered us and the one couple with whom we sailed Legend the previous year! He seated us at a table with another excellent wait team. We were seated in their section every night, again right away, and had an amazing week.

 

YTD is all we'll book now.

[NHNEV2003]

Six Carnival cruises--six great waitstaffs--never had a service problem with any of them.

[Cruisegoer]

Did you do ATD?

 

Late Seating, Silver Olympian dining room deck 4