Anyone disappointed with the servers on the Fantasy?

[lakerz5]

We took our 5th cruise on Disney with the Fantasy and were very disappointed with our servers. They never remembered the drink of the day we ordered. I had a butter knife with butter on it dropped on my semi formal dress, my son had a coke spilled onto his lap and they both disappeared the last night so we had to hunt them down to give them their tip receipts. On that last night we watched other tables take pictures with their servers as we had done in the past, but we were just sitting there waiting for them to return so we could give them their tip receipts (We were in a separate smaller room with several other tables the last night & their other large table was in the larger room nearby). One night the asst. server got ticked when in the middle of a story he was telling us, he had to help the other table and we ended up leaving since it was after dessert..and he couldn't believe we didn't wait at our table for him to return and finish his story. They were the worst we'd ever had and there was no way we would give them an "excellent". We put "just ok" on the review sheet at the end of our cruise.

I'm wondering since we've rebooked for next summer if we can make sure we don't have these 2 next year.....

Anyone else with similar experiences?

 

[kimb96]

We had a bad team of servers on the dream a few weeks ago. Food order was wrong, never got our wine until the 2nd or 3rd course. Ds missed dine and play the first two nights because his food came so late. As in other tables were looking at dessert menus and ds did not have his food. Dh did say something to the head server and the service was much better the remainder of the cruise. I was so surprised, having heard so much good stuff about the servers with disney.

 

[afossett]

I recently went on the Fantasy and sort of feel the same way. I describe the meal service as Good but when they tried to make up from a mistake, it was WOW. They went out of their way to correct something they forgot which was good but really shouldn't have made some of the mistakes they did. I thought maybe there were new so I asked and one had been on cruises for 4 years and the other 9 so that wasn't it. They did ask me once if everything was "excellent, not good". Head waiter only showed up to take the lobster out of the shell and was right there when tips were handed out.
I know they try so hard and maybe it was just an "off cruise" for our team

 

[DreamGirl90]

lakerz5, are you willing to say who you had as your servers? I'd like to make sure we don't end up with them the next time we are on the Fantasy! THX

 

[madscrapper]

I recently went on the Fantasy and sort of feel the same way. I describe the meal service as Good but when they tried to make up from a mistake, it was WOW. They went out of their way to correct something they forgot which was good but really shouldn't have made some of the mistakes they did. I thought maybe there were new so I asked and one had been on cruises for 4 years and the other 9 so that wasn't it. They did ask me once if everything was "excellent, not good". Head waiter only showed up to take the lobster out of the shell and was right there when tips were handed out.
I know they try so hard and maybe it was just an "off cruise" for our team

This could describe our experience on the Fantasy last month as well - even to the head waiter and the lobster tail. Not that they were not nice, but they were definitely not what we had experienced in the past. I don't want to "out them", but were they from Peru and Spain??

I remember looking around the room at all the fun other people were having with their wait staff and really missed servers we had in the past. We did not have a bad experience, it's just that we were a little, I don't know what the right word is, wistful, envious, disappointed....it sounds funny but our dining experience was so amazing and positive before that we missed that on this cruise.

 

[DisneyOHFan]

Our server on the Fantasy was great, but the assistant server was absolutely horrible. I felt sorry for the server because he had to do all the work.

 

[disney1990]

I found that the Server and Assistant Server on the Dream had more tables to take care of than they did on the Wonder. They were just a lot busier. The Head Server even started helping out some of the teams in getting their food. Also, there are a lot of teams that are fairly new to the bigger ships.

That said, I would not have been happy to have anything dropped on our clothing.

 

[dylan'smom]

Our dining room experience was super disappointing on the Fantasy in July.

We were always waiting a super long time to order or receive items, were given the wrong utensils, wrong plates of food (sometimes we could just trade, but often they were from other tables), and even given the wrong menu a few times, never had anyone remember anything we liked, never received anything but blase attitudes, did the drawings for Animators but they forgot to turn them in, just didn't have anything remotely excellent - not even bandanas given to us on Pirate night - guess they never got around to it. This was our 17th DCL cruise & so it's not like we had nothing to compare it to...just sad for us, too.

Oh well.....worried about next time but hoping it is growing pains because our room host was just as bad -- took 3 days to get any ice delivered at all (we started getting it ourselves at the drink station though) & always opened the wrong beds at night (for the phantom child to sleep in?) & never turned down the room before 10 pm even though we made it clear we were on early seating. Never received a Navigator in the evening - ever - but sometimes we didn't have to get it from Guest Services but could find one in our fish in the am...sigh...

 

[U2FanHfx]

I would say out of the 6 cruises we have taken, only once would I say the servers were horrible. To the point that we reduced our tip (which we almost never do) and gave the extra to our stateroom hostess as he was EXCELLENT!

Our issue was both the speed and accuracy of service. They were quick to take our order but we were the first ones in the dinning room and almost always the last ones out it too so long to serve us. Plus, they screwed things up, didn't remember things or were just MIA for quite some time without "checking in". I'd say it's the law of averages and you are going to get that one time or another even on Disney.

 

[Tiger926]

We had the opposite experience on our Fantasy cruise 2 weeks ago. Our server and assistant were so good, that we gave them extra tips!

Our head server, like all of our cruises was useless though. Just a paid position and a way to garner extra tips without actually doing anything. On our last few days, he actually stopped saying hi to us - hubby says it's because he knew we were very satisfied with our serving team and told him how excellent they were.

Regardless, we all miss our serving team and will request them for our next cruise.

Sorry you had a negative experience, Tiger

 

[McNabrat]

We had the opposite experience on our Fantasy cruise 2 weeks ago. Our server and assistant were so good, that we gave them extra tips!

Our head server, like all of our cruises was useless though. Just a paid position and a way to garner extra tips without actually doing anything. On our last few days, he actually stopped saying hi to us - hubby says it's because he knew we were very satisfied with our serving team and told him how excellent they were.

Regardless, we all miss our serving team and will request them for our next cruise.

Sorry you had a negative experience, Tiger

Would you mind sharing who your servers were? Would love to request them

 

[tahoe9813]

They were the worst we'd ever had and there was no way we would give them an "excellent". We put "just ok" on the review sheet at the end of our cruise./

I've seen several people mention the review sheet. Does anyone have a copy, or can share the ratings?

Thanks.

 

[Tiger926]

Would you mind sharing who your servers were? Would love to request them

Sorry, I am not about sharing other peoples' names or personal info online without seeking their permission to do so.

Tiger

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Thank goodness for this thread! I was afraid it was me rather than poor servers.

We were on the 8/18-25 Fantasy. Our server was ok but he always seemed a bit arrogant and was usually busy scanning the room and/or other tables even while he was talking to us. Our assistant server was good but I don't always want a Sprite... sometimes I want a Coke or just water with dinner. I didn't like that he automatically brought out the drink that I had ordered on our first night (I know that's standard practice and not something that he did on his own so I'm not blaming him, personally).

Our head server did stop by very briefly a few times but he actually did help with a problem before I talked to him about it: my youngest brother (16) has a tree nut allergy. He can be around them but his airway closes if he even just puts a nut in his mouth. I had our TA note this on our reservation and we mentioned it to our server on the first night. Our server went over the menu with DB with care but, when it came to dessert, the rest of us got a menu to look over while DB was told he (server) would check with the chef as to what dessert(s) DB could choose from. Our desserts come out. We FINISH our desserts. Oh, look, here comes the server with something HE selected for DB. Now DB gets to eat his dessert while the rest of us watch him.

This first night, I just chalked it up to BEING the first night and figured that wouldn't happen again. I was wrong. Same thing happened on night #2. I was planning on saying something to the server when we were finished so that it wouldn't happen the next night, but the head server beat me to it. While DB was eating his dessert with the rest of us watching, I saw - out of the corner of my eye - the HS see our table and frown. He went over to the server and I heard him say "...all at the same time...." We got our desserts at the same time on night 3, 6, & 7 (we skipped the MDR on nights 4 & 5).

After having read all the "our server was amazing" stories, I was thinking it was just us. Honestly, on my next cruise, I may skip the MDRs on most nights (MUST go to animation show at AP!!) and just head to Cabanas. We got back on the ship a little too late for main seating on Costa Maya day (HAD to take showers before dinner! ) so the boys ordered room service and mom and I went to Cabanas where we had an AMAZING ribeye steak. We both agree that may have been our favorite meal of the trip.

 

[disneydreaming92701]

In june our serving team was excellent not as good at our last magic cruise but excellent non the less and the head server was awesome and spent to much time with our kids. On other cruises we never saw them.

 

[Tiger926]

Thank goodness for this thread! I was afraid it was me rather than poor servers.

We were on the 8/18-25 Fantasy. Our server was ok but he always seemed a bit arrogant and was usually busy scanning the room and/or other tables even while he was talking to us. Our assistant server was good but I don't always want a Sprite... sometimes I want a Coke or just water with dinner. I didn't like that he automatically brought out the drink that I had ordered on our first night (I know that's standard practice and not something that he did on his own so I'm not blaming him, personally).

Our head server did stop by very briefly a few times but he actually did help with a problem before I talked to him about it: my youngest brother (16) has a tree nut allergy. He can be around them but his airway closes if he even just puts a nut in his mouth. I had our TA note this on our reservation and we mentioned it to our server on the first night. Our server went over the menu with DB with care but, when it came to dessert, the rest of us got a menu to look over while DB was told he (server) would check with the chef as to what dessert(s) DB could choose from. Our desserts come out. We FINISH our desserts. Oh, look, here comes the server with something HE selected for DB. Now DB gets to eat his dessert while the rest of us watch him.

This first night, I just chalked it up to BEING the first night and figured that wouldn't happen again. I was wrong. Same thing happened on night #2. I was planning on saying something to the server when we were finished so that it wouldn't happen the next night, but the head server beat me to it. While DB was eating his dessert with the rest of us watching, I saw - out of the corner of my eye - the HS see our table and frown. He went over to the server and I heard him say "...all at the same time...." We got our desserts at the same time on night 3, 6, & 7 (we skipped the MDR on nights 4 & 5).

After having read all the "our server was amazing" stories, I was thinking it was just us. Honestly, on my next cruise, I may skip the MDRs on most nights (MUST go to animation show at AP!!) and just head to Cabanas. We got back on the ship a little too late for main seating on Costa Maya day (HAD to take showers before dinner! ) so the boys ordered room service and mom and I went to Cabanas where we had an AMAZING ribeye steak. We both agree that may have been our favorite meal of the trip.

Same cruise as us!

For future reference, when you have an allergy or dietary issue, you are to alert your TA, as you did, but he/she is then to alert Disney. Within a few days, you will then receive an email from the dietary specialty team at DCL, and upon boarding the ship, you are to present yourselves to whatever restaurant they tell you in email (it was Royal Court for our cruise), and once again, you sit down and go over your needs.

Then on the first night of serving, you alert your server team, including the head server (but they will probably already know), and then once again, you go over specific menu requests. It ensures that the right food is selected, and that the right timing of service is a priority.

I am sorry that you were not directed to the proper protocol in regards to your dietary concern. Our servers were awesome in working with us. They would bring us the next night's menu at dinner each night, so that we could pre-order our food and make sure there were suitable selections for us to consume.

As for Cabana's, we don't like it much at all. The meat seems to always be raw, and they have the same food over and over again, especially the crappy kids' food, yuck! Glad you enjoyed your steak! The best item we had there (and we only ate there 2 times) was a special order veggie sushi that hubby had the sushi chef prepare for me as a surprise as I love veggies, but am allergic to fish/seafood. Yummy!!

I hope your next cruise gives you a more suitable dining experience.

Tiger

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Same cruise as us!

For future reference, when you have an allergy or dietary issue, you are to alert your TA, as you did, but he/she is then to alert Disney. Within a few days, you will then receive an email from the dietary specialty team at DCL, and upon boarding the ship, you are to present yourselves to whatever restaurant they tell you in email (it was Royal Court for our cruise), and once again, you sit down and go over your needs.

Then on the first night of serving, you alert your server team, including the head server (but they will probably already know), and then once again, you go over specific menu requests. It ensures that the right food is selected, and that the right timing of service is a priority.

I am sorry that you were not directed to the proper protocol in regards to your dietary concern. Our servers were awesome in working with us. They would bring us the next night's menu at dinner each night, so that we could pre-order our food and make sure there were suitable selections for us to consume.

As for Cabana's, we don't like much at all. The meat is always raw, and they have the same food over and over again, especially the crappy kids' food, yuck! Glad you enjoyed your steak!

I hope your next cruise gives you a more suitable dining experience.

Tiger

We did all of this, as well. We just didn't get a pre-cruise confirmation email from DCL's dietary team. Every night DB selected his food for the next night but he never got to look at the dessert menu.

On the very first night, my mom looked at me and said "is it just me or is he kind of snobby?" The crazy late dessert for DB wasn't the only issue. One night it was DB's salad he almost didn't get; another night it was the coffee my mom didn't get (and she didn't realize it until we were ready to go); another night DS had to ask for his popcorn soup and mom had to ask for her coffee... We left the standard tips for AS, Server & HS. I had gone in to the cruise prepared to tip extra but we REALLY didn't see the need to by the end (except to our stateroom host - he WAS awesome.) It really was a shame that we left with a meh kind of feeling about the MDRs.

Hmmmmm, in the sake of fairness, I think I need to book another cruise ASAP in the hopes of getting a fantastic team!

 

[Floridagram]

This was our experience in May, on the fifth cruise of the Fantasy. Our server had come from the Magic and already did not like it and had requested to go back. He told us it was too far from the galley to the tables.

Our asst server had been a server on another cruise line, so he was having a hard time adjusting to his new role. The service was sketchy at best but what do you do? They do not really allow for you to give them a true assessment on the comment card.

 

[Tinknalli]

Our servers on the Fantasy were great. Tiziana from Italy and asistant Steffan.

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

We just got off the Fantasy on the August 25 - Septmeber 1, 2012 cruise and we had great servers

We had Curtis from Jamaica and Nicole from Trinidad. Our Head Server was Selo from Turkey and he visited our table of 14 every night. His name rhymed like "hello" so every night our table would say, "Hello Selo" and he would just smile

While speaking to our servers, they informed us that many of the new dining team members have cruise experience, but are new to DCL.

If we wanted to change our drinks which were waiting for us when we arrived, we just told them and they went and got it. Some of us changed our dinner request for things not on the menu and it was no problem. A few of us ordered two entrees each night with no problem.

We took pictures with them the last night and for the first time in five cruises, we got up early and went to our main dining room on the last morning just to spend a last meal with them.