Server Pressure for "Excellent"

[KashasMom]

I got this at the dealership as well, they guy said "hey, if you fill out this form-they look at it as a binary, if it's not a 10 it's a 0" a lot of companies are doing this and it sucks.



Ugh I have the opposite experience and it's worse than the speech. I know they want to please people, but they go so over the top that I feel like I have to please them or make sure they're ok during my dinner.

I don't generally like cruise food and don't eat that much in comparison to the average I guess because by night two I'm playing "cut the food up and move it around so it looks like I've eaten more" so I don't get the third degree. I'm not hungry or I'm full is not an acceptable answer-you have to go through declining a whole list of other foods they want to bring you. It's extra horrible when they show up with something anyway and it starts all over when you don't eat that.

And Mickey help you if you ask about a dish or change your mind halfway through ordering! "Why don't you want this? We can change it? We'll make anything!" Omg I just changed my mind and great now I have three dinners and I barely wanted one.

The people at my table did not like the food that they left so that's why I thought the server should ask.

 

[KashasMom]

Since the servers aren't robots, it's pretty clear that some will overdo the speech and some don't. If you personally haven't experienced it, that doesn't make everyone else liars.

The one thing I (politely) explain at the beginning is that we have no interest in wasting food so please don't bring us anything we don't specifically order. Including last nights drinks.

Thank you for saying that! All too frequently on this board that is how people react.

 

[Dug720]

Thank you for saying that! All too frequently on this board that is how people react.

It does go both ways though. I have clearly said I am not in anyone else's skin so I can't say what they did or did not experience. BUT there are as many people who insist that those of us who haven't felt pressured are lying.

 

[aliceinvunderland]

We weren’t pressured much by our servers, but our room host “suggested” several times that we should give her an excellent rating because “there’s a competition.” She gave excellent service, so I rated her as such, but the constant reminders got a little annoying.

I was actually more put off by the sudden lack of excellent service by our servers at breakfast on departure morning. I had given them excellent ratings (because they were really good) AND additional tip money, but they were borderline rude as they were rushing us out the door. I understand that they’re in a hurry to turn the ship around, but I definitely felt like they had gotten what they were wanting (rating and money), and had no desire to give good service anymore. We didn’t even get a wave goodbye.

 

[jrabbit]

...
Personally, I think Disney is missing an opportunity with their stance on surveys. How can they use metrics to improve it they don't want to hear that they are less than perfect? But if they only want to use surveys to find the most egregious problems (that cause people to give less than a five) so be it.

Most company surveys from either 0 or 1 to 5 or 10 are really only Pass / Fail. If they don't receive the highest score it's a FAIL (even if you just give a 9 out of 10).

So unfortunately when filling out surveys, It's always the top score unless the person fully sucked. And that is really sad - because IF you could give an accurate score it would be of more benefit to the company vs everyone loves us all of the time.

 

[jrabbit]

We weren’t pressured much by our servers, but our room host “suggested” several times that we should give her an excellent rating because “there’s a competition.” She gave excellent service, so I rated her as such, but the constant reminders got a little annoying.

I was actually more put off by the sudden lack of excellent service by our servers at breakfast on departure morning. I had given them excellent ratings (because they were really good) AND additional tip money, but they were borderline rude as they were rushing us out the door. I understand that they’re in a hurry to turn the ship around, but I definitely felt like they had gotten what they were wanting (rating and money), and had no desire to give good service anymore. We didn’t even get a wave goodbye.

I've heard this story several times here over the years. I have yet to experience it on 20 DCL cruises. There's always been time for hugs handshakes and a final picture with our serving team that last morning.

 

[jrabbit]

I have had servers ask if there is anything they can do better, but that was with a group of people and one was getting very visibly upset with how slow service was and it was indeed slow. But I blame that more on the fact it was a large group and have figured out that I really wouldn't want more than about 6 people to a table again, it just makes it hard all around.

Unfortunately, most serving teams have a 4 top, 6 top and a 8 top - so one of the tables will always be frustrated with slow(er) service. Then again you might have been at the table for 14 or 16 - and that IS an experience!!

 

[jrabbit]

But you can look at it a different way. The people not liking something could speak up. The server isn't a mind reader and A LOT of cruisers waste so much food so it isn't really unusual for them to see full plates. Even here on the board people say they order several things to "try" them so you know a lot gets wasted. I've witnessed it. Huge pet peeve of mine. Only order what you can eat and not waste.

That's DW's thoughts as well. But if you could see what gets "wasted" back in the kitchens - you wouldn't worry about what you are wasting any longer. There' no getting the "wasted" food to the children of Africa, China or where ever anyway.

 

[jrabbit]

Don't worry. I understand things happen. Funny story, on our last cruise our server advised us not to order a certain dish but 3 out of 6 of us went against his recommendation and all 3 sent it back. We should have listened and he jokingly said "I told you so". I love the servers with a sense of humor.

It was the Pasta Dish in .... I forget what restaurant it's in. MOST returned dish in the fleet. Two people ordered it at our table, and our server insisted that they order a second entree. One person actually loved the dish the other described it as VILE.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Crew members come from different countries, are far from home and at the mercy of us. I am quite lenient in my interpretation of "pressure."

 

[jrabbit]

Don't you just hate it when someone is reading the thread and just starts responding to comments without reading the whole thread first and has like 5 posts in a row

 

[KashasMom]

It does go both ways though. I have clearly said I am not in anyone else's skin so I can't say what they did or did not experience. BUT there are as many people who insist that those of us who haven't felt pressured are lying.

I haven't seen that. But there are plenty of people who insist that because it hasn't happened them, that it doesn't happen at all. Those who believe the DCL is perfect...and by no means is that only on this thread.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

It was the Pasta Dish in .... I forget what restaurant it's in. MOST returned dish in the fleet. Two people ordered it at our table, and our server insisted that they order a second entree. One person actually loved the dish the other described it as VILE.

HILARIOUS, yes. It was the pasta dish!

 

[gatordoc]

I have on several occasions shared the following quotation in one of the blank spaces on the survey form. They probably don't read it or care about it, but I believe in it and it makes me feel better to include it. It's from a writer and management consultant named Tom Peters.
"Excellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement."

 

[FigmentSpark]

We weren’t pressured much by our servers, but our room host “suggested” several times that we should give her an excellent rating because “there’s a competition.” She gave excellent service, so I rated her as such, but the constant reminders got a little annoying.

I was actually more put off by the sudden lack of excellent service by our servers at breakfast on departure morning. I had given them excellent ratings (because they were really good) AND additional tip money, but they were borderline rude as they were rushing us out the door. I understand that they’re in a hurry to turn the ship around, but I definitely felt like they had gotten what they were wanting (rating and money), and had no desire to give good service anymore. We didn’t even get a wave goodbye.

I did notice this, too. Our servers were very nice on the last day, but they forgot to bring some items (we never did get them, but whatever) and actually acted more like a regular serving team than a team that was afraid we'd report them for any little thing. I'd rather have to remind them to bring something than feel like if I asked again they'll break out into tears in fear of their jobs.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

On our last cruise , we didn't get the speech but rated the entire dining team excellent. They really went out of their way. I have 8 allergies and several other intolerances. The kitchen and dining staff went out of their way to get me things I could eat, including getting food from the other restaurants menus as I liked them and could eat them. Then even got things for my sister from other menus. She didn't ask, they just knew how much she liked them. They also made me special dessert each night as I was very limited with their desserts except for 1 brownie which I didn't care for much and quickly become monotonous. They were amazing and never gave us the 'excellent speech'

Our first cruise, our dining team was mediocre. They were nice enough but spent so much time with other tables instead of us (it was just the two of us at one table). They didn't engage us very much at all. We had to constantly flag them down for drinks, they weren't very accommodating to my allergies (which didn't worry me much at the time) Then on the last night, our server spent the longest time with us for the entire cruise to really push us to rate them excellent. We didn't.

 

[KashasMom]

Our first cruise, our dining team was mediocre. They were nice enough but spent so much time with other tables instead of us (it was just the two of us at one table). They didn't engage us very much at all. We had to constantly flag them down for drinks, they weren't very accommodating to my allergies (which didn't worry me much at the time) Then on the last night, our server spent the longest time with us for the entire cruise to really push us to rate them excellent. We didn't.

Same thing happened to us as a family of 3 on our first cruise.

 

[cruiser21]

Most company surveys from either 0 or 1 to 5 or 10 are really only Pass / Fail. If they don't receive the highest score it's a FAIL (even if you just give a 9 out of 10).

So unfortunately when filling out surveys, It's always the top score unless the person fully sucked. And that is really sad - because IF you could give an accurate score it would be of more benefit to the company vs everyone loves us all of the time.

This is why I stopped filling them out. I don't want to give false ratings nor do I want to see anyone lose their job because of a stupid survey. Who gives paper surveys anymore bedsides Disney? Who does anything by paper anymore for that matter? They are at least 20 years behind. Also they need to do away with the envelopes. I find that to be way more pressuring than the excellent speech. I feel like they expect us to tip extra. DCL needs to raise the gratuities to match the other cruiselines and get rid of all the silliness.

 

[wombat_5606]

DCL needs to raise the gratuities to match the other cruiselines and get rid of all the silliness.

They are in line with the others. Most are between $13-14. Some gratuities can be changed on other cruise lines, some can't .

Also they need to do away with the envelopes

I agree with your statement, in a manner of speaking. I think they should say the envelope is needed if you wish to add cash to increase your tip. Those people who go to GS to increase/decrease their tip, don't need it. No one needs to use the envelope if they agree to the standard tip. The CMs get their tip whether you use the envelope or not and I don't think a lot of cruisers know that.

I don't want to give false ratings nor do I want to see anyone lose their job because of a stupid survey

I don't fill out the survey, either, unless something is particularly good or particularly bad. And I don't fill out the entire survey. I feel like DCL knows what kind of product they have. They are only interested if it's better or worse than you expected.