Bad service toward end of trip?

[milepig]

I’m posting since this is the third time this has happened to us. It seems to especially affect the Veranda. 

 

The experience is, great service and then about 3 days before the end there is a steep nosedive. 

 

The last two breakfasts it seems like no one is working, no one pouring coffee, no one taking orders. Tables sat uncleared and what seemed like a host of servers is down to almost no one. Yesterday to find anyone I had do sit with my menu over my head for 5 minutes waving it before someone wandered by. The few who are working seem to be mostly staring off the side or walking around not making eye contact. The one who greeted me by name every time is sullen. 

 

Lunch yesterday was a joke. Scheduled until 2, the salad bar was mostly emptied and then cleared away by 1:45. The buffet sat there empty except for dead minute steaks that no one wanted to touch. The ice cream ran out. 

 

Today was also also pretty much the same. No one walking around taking orders, no one taking drink orders (until today they brought my drink as I was sitting down) we had to go back to the bar. We wanted rose, they were out and we were told there was no one to go get more. 

 

Just night and day, and not for the first time. Everyone was grumbling about it. 

 

Has as anyone else noticed this phenomenon?

[avalong]

Wow. That's bad. We have not experienced anything to the degree you describe. I think there's always a little let down toward the end of a cruise, but what you're experiencing sounds extreme.  I do seem to recall the service in Veranda on Windspirit being somewhat uneven. There were a couple of times that the service was poor, but I don't recall it being at the end of the cruise.  I will say that I thought the service was a bit better overall on the Windsurf than on the Windspirit, especially at the pool bar. On the Windspirit there was very seldom anyone coming around to take your drink order. You had to go back to the bar yourself to place your order.

Sorry you had this experience. Bummer.

 

 

[susiesan]

What ship are you on and where?

[ridethetide]

20 minutes ago, susiesan said:

What ship are you on and where?

Milepig was on the Wind Spirit in Tahiti.

[milepig]

46 minutes ago, ridethetide said:

Milepig was on the Wind Spirit in Tahiti.

 

46 minutes ago, ridethetide said:

Milepig was on the Wind Spirit in Tahiti.

Yes. I was, or technically still am. I think what struck me was the night and day difference. Some of the best service ever on WS and then, boom. In general we didn’t have an issue with drinks service and in the afternoon someone would even circle through Veranda and upfront taking orders, maybe every 30 minutes. Then the last 2 days nothing. 

 

BTW. the WS brass boarded in Bora Bora. 

[Del Rio]

Milepig have you approached management to express your concerns?  As you and I know from experience, WS upper onboard staff is easy to find and seldom runs from passengers expressing dissatisfaction.  While I have never sailed with you, I know your Windstar history likely means you are not an invisible passenger.

 

And do you get the impression at all that front line staff is getting distracted by the presence of WS brass?  The WS brass tends to travel a lot more than most cruise line management, so I would think line staff does not get rattled by their presence.

[CruiseOrLand]

We just returned from a pair of Star Legend cruises, with a Fleet Captain (?) aboard for most of the days, and a brand new Captain of the ship. Anyway, service was uniformly excellent throughout both 10-day cruises.

[new_cruiser]

3 hours ago, CruiseOrLand said:

We just returned from a pair of Star Legend cruises, with a Fleet Captain (?) aboard for most of the days, and a brand new Captain of the ship. Anyway, service was uniformly excellent throughout both 10-day cruises.

My recent cruises were on Star Legend too and that matched my experience too.

 

The one exception was the first couple of days of the cruise in Alaska. I was on the ocean crossing from Japan and the first Alaska cruise. When we got to Alaska, they were running both Amphora and Veranda for breakfast and dinner due to the cold weather. It was understandable since usually only the Veranda is open for those meals and it seemed to take a couple of days to get staffing adjusted for dual operation of the venues. 

[milepig]

5 hours ago, Del Rio said:

Milepig have you approached management to express your concerns?  As you and I know from experience, WS upper onboard staff is easy to find and seldom runs from passengers expressing dissatisfaction.  While I have never sailed with you, I know your Windstar history likely means you are not an invisible passenger.

 

And do you get the impression at all that front line staff is getting distracted by the presence of WS brass?  The WS brass tends to travel a lot more than most cruise line management, so I would think line staff does not get rattled by their presence.

 

No real chance onboard, toward the end of a cruise the staff is always very busy and distracted, but it will certainly be made known to WS though direct contact and the survey. I also don't want to get specific crew in trouble as is seemed like something else was going on to cause the general issue. If anything, i think there was a bit of extra work for the brass- meeting to provide food for, group lunches, private party, etc.As I said in my OP, this is a phenomenon we've noted on several occasions, service begins as top notch and they fades toward the end.

 

But, we're still WS fans and have just booked our next adventure - look for the Cyber Monday post.