Slow dining in Main Dining Room

[BlerkOne]

5 hours ago, asalligo said:

You are either not paying attention or are bad at seeing the signs in human behavior. They hate this. Most are dying inside when they have to do this. Clearly it is being forced upon them and you cannot ask them if they are cool with it because saying they are not would be the end of their jobs. 

Baloney. Try asking former employees Some are very proud of the moves they created that were adopted. Nothing is forced.

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

1 hour ago, Bollycats said:

I think dinner should be 45 minutes to an hour. Anything over that is just too long and there are many other things to do in the evening. Our breakfasts on the sunshine last week took a really long time whether it was a sea day or a regular day. I think they might have been a little understaffed.

Even breakfasts could easily take 45 min.  5 minutes to look at menu, 5 minutes to order, 10 min to prepare food (minimum for anything cooked to order), 20 minutes to eat and head out.

 

[shipgeeks]

Here's an idea.

We can say to our waiter:

"We're not in any hurry this evening" or

"We'd like to be out in time for the 9:00 show.  Can you......"

They are not mind readers.

[Bollycats]

1 hour ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

Even breakfasts could easily take 45 min.  5 minutes to look at menu, 5 minutes to order, 10 min to prepare food (minimum for anything cooked to order), 20 minutes to eat and head out.

 

No, it was more like get seated and wait about 10-15 minutes for someone to take our order. Then wait about 20 minutes or longer to get the food. On the Seaday Brunch I ordered the yogurt parfait for my "first course". It took about 20 minutes to come. The dining room wasn't real busy any of the mornings we were there, but I guess they were short staffed.

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

1 hour ago, Bollycats said:

No, it was more like get seated and wait about 10-15 minutes for someone to take our order. Then wait about 20 minutes or longer to get the food. On the Seaday Brunch I ordered the yogurt parfait for my "first course". It took about 20 minutes to come. The dining room wasn't real busy any of the mornings we were there, but I guess they were short staffed.

I agree, that is too long.  45 min in and out should be about right for breakfast. What you had is significantly more than that.

[Homosassa]

Just a note: The dining room is called the dining room, not the "Dew Drop Inn Gobble and Go."

 

Some may need to set their expectations and behavior to reflect the venue....

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

On 10/20/2022 at 11:23 AM, Colorado Cruzer said:

If there were better, faster options for dinner on lido, we would definitely not take the time for a long, poor service dinner. 

 

One hour or less is an industry standard for dining, even if it is 3 courses as some have stated. 

I do not consider the dining room to be a nice restaurant, it's more like a banquet hall. 

 

We typically avoid it if possible when there are multiple specialty dining options.  On smaller ships like the Miracle coming up for us, only one steakhouse so we will likely give the MDR a try again but if it's slow and the food isn't good, we'll try to eat early dinner before all the places on lido close.

Confusing. Lido takes1/2 the time.

[ray98]

On the Elation now.  The first trip to the MDR was great last night.  We were out in an hour or so and all the food was the correct temp. 

 

Brunch this morning was a different story.  Seated at 9am before it was really that busy.   The starter bagel arrived at 9:55, omelet at 10:20.

[shipgeeks]

On 10/20/2022 at 10:56 PM, Linguist208 said:

I don't mind a leisurely dinner in the MDR. But I can certainly do without the floor show. I know there are those who like it, but I can't imagine the staff REALLY enjoys the performances.

We've never had a waiter tell us they love it, but we did have one who told us she hated having to do it. She kept bringing us more extras as long as she could, then was made to stop doing her real job to dance in the line.

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

6 hours ago, ray98 said:

On the Elation now.  The first trip to the MDR was great last night.  We were out in an hour or so and all the food was the correct temp. 

 

Brunch this morning was a different story.  Seated at 9am before it was really that busy.   The starter bagel arrived at 9:55, omelet at 10:20.

No excuse for that brunch. 

[audcc77]

I grew up eating at the dinner table every single night.  
 
7 days a week.  

 

That’s how my DH raised our family as well.  I religiously made a nice meal.  
 

When we cruised as a family, I didn’t feel the need to spend 90 minutes in the MDR.  Why?  These are the same people I saw every night at the dinner table at home. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
 

I’m trying to get away from these people …  🙂

[Theicom1]

Haven't sailed CCL in a while, but now have a few coming up in the next couple of years.

 

The gist that I'm getting from this thread is that the theater shows are no longer one for each assigned dining time (2 per night) and are now just a single show.

 

My wife and I dine alone at a table for two, late dining. I'll have to adjust our nearly foolproof strategy for getting in and out in about 45 minutes.

[BlerkOne]

19 hours ago, audcc77 said:

I’m trying to get away from these people …  🙂

Separate vacations?

[BlerkOne]

23 minutes ago, Theicom1 said:

The gist that I'm getting from this thread is that the theater shows are no longer one for each assigned dining time (2 per night) and are now just a single show.

 

 

Still 2 per night (except for Welcome Aboard). Late traditional dining simply goes to the early show.

 

 

[WhaleTailFlCruiser]

On my last cruise on Elegant night #1 Dinner did take a solid like hour and twenty or so. I honestly don't care since I am on vacation. 

[Badfinger]

22 hours ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

No excuse for that brunch. 

 

That was our experience in June on the Breeze.  HORRIBLE brunch service.

[ChuckF]

1 hour ago, Badfinger said:

 

That was our experience in June on the Breeze.  HORRIBLE brunch service.

Just got on the Dream Saturday.  First night dinner was fine.  Well timed, the food was actually pretty good. Sea Day Brunch the next day was a different story.  Took a very long time to get the food.  It was so bad, my wife voluntarily wanted to go to Lido the next day.  First time that has happened in more than 125 nights cruising. 

[bguppies]

On 10/20/2022 at 1:13 PM, momof4boys said:

do ATD or early seating.....we always do early and miss nothing.   We have never had to rush back to the ship from our excursions and we have time to see every show and comedy club performance we want.

First dinner in ATD on the Sunshine last month, dinner was well over 90 minutes and we missed the start of the Welcome aboard show. (I really wanted to see the movie at 7PM, but that was a pipe dream for sure)

2nd night was decently paced.

The last night was super slow again and we missed the Rock show that night.

 

So clearly it is happening to some folks. Glad you've never missed a show, wish we could say the same.

 

Clearly the poor crew is understaffed and overworked. (our 3 servers were great and hustled their butts off, but they had too many tables to keep up with)

 

Maybe if Carnival wants to keep running with a skeleton crew to keep costs down, maybe they could quit wasting thier time with the singing and dancing and let them serve.

 

[BlerkOne]

56 minutes ago, bguppies said:

 

Maybe if Carnival wants to keep running with a skeleton crew to keep costs down, maybe they could quit wasting thier time with the singing and dancing and let them serve.

 

It is absurd to think it is a conspiracy by Carnival. Service industries worldwide are short staff.

[dolphinsfan246]

On 10/21/2022 at 8:12 AM, asalligo said:

You are either not paying attention or are bad at seeing the signs in human behavior. They hate this. Most are dying inside when they have to do this. Clearly it is being forced upon them and you cannot ask them if they are cool with it because saying they are not would be the end of their jobs. 

I understand what you are saying to a point. I’ve seen some crew members who really don’t look like they are that into it. Usually older more “mature” waiters.  But I’ve also seen the majority of them truly seem to enjoy it. I talked to one waiter about it a few years ago, asked him in his honest opinion if he really liked doing the “showtime”. He was a younger guy and he said he absolutely looked forward to it every single day. He said he used to work for Celebrity Cruises where he made way more money in gratuities, but he left that job voluntarily for Carnival because he actually enjoys himself and it doesn’t feel like work at all when he gets to have fun. 

[serene56]

we take early dining-  we are seated by 6 and walking out by 7:15 in order to get to the family friendly comedy.   I have seen people walk in to traditional dining about 6:30- 6:45 and expect instant service.      

 

[Joebucks]

I love my 6pm MDR service. Our wait staff is generally fantastic and we are eating appetizers within 15 minutes of arriving. Can never please everyone. For some it is too fast, for some it is too slow. 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

11 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 For some it is too fast, for some it is too slow. 

Not for me. 

 

For me it's too medium.