Fixing Britannia Restaurant

[Crouton]

How will firing shipboard employees help in the Britannia? The problems seem to persist when staffs are rotated (or jump ship), to me that suggests that the staff are not be the cause of the issues.

I had decided to avoid being specific since it's a personnel issue and only my opinion, but since you have called me on it... I will reply in general terms.

 

I don't know if you have been aboard QM2 yet, but the Maitre D' staff and assistants were literally and figuratively handling the brunt of "front of room" service issues and problems. IMHO, there was an attitude, a smarminess, and a tension among them which was neither genuinely reassuring to me as a passenger nor condusive to creating a healthy (even enjoyable?!) working evironment for the waitstaff, who, it seemed to me, were under an extraordinary amount of pressure from at least three sources (maitre d', kitchen, and passengers) without a lot of relief. My sense was that the visible (to me) Brittannia management was not committed to the ship and the passengers in such a way as would promote long term service improvements; indeed, they seemed to only be putting out fires and heaping additional stress on the waitstaff.

 

I am trying to put words to elusive and intangible human factors here (something which I actually can be fairly good at btw), and, as I've repeatedly said, I know zero (zilch...nada) about restaurant management, let alone on ships.

 

Also, I said that I believed that the firing of the management (if true) was a necessary step, but only one of many whose chronological order I have no desire to propose or predict. No doubt your points about shore based personnel are also valid and I hope you will contribute more of your expertise and/or perspective.

 

Crouton

 

P.S. IMHO

 

P.P.S. IMHO!

[highcbob]

Crouton, or anyone else that has sailed QM2 in Britannia.

Did you ever happen to come across a wonderful Maitre D

by the name of 'Odette'? She was a transfer ( against

her will ) from the liner "Caronia".

 

I ran into her while taking a short-cut through the

"Britannia" restaurant one evening. Wonderful and friendly

attitude. Hope she stays on with Cunard.

 

Just wonder if anyone else has had the pleasure.

 

Bob.

[desirod]

My Maitre D' was on the Rembrandt when I sailed her and performed excellent service in a less than state of the art ship.

 

Our waiters tried hard. However, they could not compensate for a slow kitchen, and faulty table assignment software.

 

I deduce from the conversation that it is an upper management problem.

 

With my organizational behavior hat on, it is management that is the problem not so much the worker bees. Apparantly the restaurant managers on the QM2 were in over their head and brought in the wrong underlings.

 

Come on, most budget cruise lines perform seamlessly what Cunard cant. It aint rocket science.

 

Most workers do a good job with the proper training, skill matching, compensation, and reward systems.

 

Example: The GM Fremont plant was their worst with the lowest quality, worst labor relations, and lowest productivity. Toyota took it over in 1985 to build the Chevrolet Nova and the Toyota Corolla. Within a year it became GM's best plant and is turning out Corolla's and Chevy Prisms today. Both are cars of very high quality.

 

How will firing shipboard employees help in the Britannia? The problems seem to persist when staffs are rotated (or jump ship), to me that suggests that the staff are not be the cause of the issues. Perhaps the design of the galley, waiter stations or restaurant as a whole is causing problems.

 

Firing staff is easy and gives the illusion of progress. Unless the Cunard management are sure these staff were causing (or not addressing) the problems nothing will improve by removing them.

 

Best wishes, Stephen.

[cheshire]

I have recently returned from the QM2 sailing to Athens. Prior to sailing I posted my concerns on the service standards being reported from Britannia.

 

I have to say that my fears were totally unfounded. The service in the restaurant (2nd sitting) was completely to my satisfaction. Service times were appropriate to the meal i.e casual, formal or informal. At no time did we feel we were waiting for food rather the time between courses allowed us to savour the surroundings and enjoy conversation with our fellow table guests.

 

The standard of food served was generally very good. All meals were hot and well presented. Portion sizes were adequate for my liking bearing in mind you have so mnay day time eatinf options that to serve larger portions would be somewhat wasteful. One night we we selected the sole as a main course and were offered another one if we reqiuired. in fact at any time you may have two main course if you so desire.

 

Lunch and breaklfast service was also to a high standard though on ocassion we did firn the breakfast service to be variable on certain tables.

 

My parents dined in the Princess grill and found the service levels to be of ahigher standard as you would expect though on the night they dined with us in Britannia they too agreed that there was nothing that could be faulted.

 

In general I found the whole crew on QM2 to be trying their hardest in the circumstances to improve standards and meet customers expectations.

 

My ONLY criticism of the onboard service is the lack of clotted cream for Britannia guests when having afternoon tea. In general QM2 is offering Americans a Disney Epcot version of Britishness. Cunard head office need to review their communications policy but that's another story.