Server Pressure for "Excellent"

[stmize]

On our first cruise on the dream sept 2011 we got excellent service but never the excellent speech. However on the dream in jan 2013. We got the speech not the service.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

On both of our cruises we had the servers ask us to record excellent if they felt we had been treated in such a manner. I think the one time mention is fair enough especially after they have delivered. Honestly, I have given 7/8 a score of excellent so far as well as one epic fail. I would completely object to someone asking at the beginning of a cruise though and take that into account on my card.

 

[bahacca]

This is great info for me to have. We are going on our first DCL cruise in a few weeks. I do have a special request, so I'll be sure to drop the "excellent" when I make the request the first night and hopefully won't have to hear it. To me, people who ask for a certain rating are doing so because they are attempting to compensate for their inadequacies they know they have. If you want me to give you an excellent rating, BE excellent. Let your SERVICE speak for you, not your lips.

 

[erinfarber]

If the service isn't excellent I won't rate them excellent. No matter how many sob stories they have.

There is a space on the comment card that asks if you felt pressured to give certain ratings. Make sure you mark that. Apparently DCL knows it is a problem.

I agree with this completely. If you are turned off by your waiters and their suggestions for an excellent rating, or simply feel like you are being pressured in any way, You absolutely have to mention this on the comment card. You may not agree that a comment card is the best solution, however, it is very effective. There is a reason Disney has just been awarded so many top honors for cruise ships. I know many people are uncomfortable with confrontation, I believe this is why the comment card is so effective. It is an opportunity to voice any displeasure you may have, and give Disney the opportunity to correct the problem, without having to confront any one individual. Please always fill out your comment card and be honest in your remarks. Disney does pay crucial attention to these cards and it would make all your future cruises far better, if Disney KNEW what is was that made your cruise anything less than wonderful. Just my thoughts.

 

[neg58]

On both of our cruises we had the servers ask us to record excellent if they felt we had been treated in such a manner. I think the one time mention is fair enough especially after they have delivered. Honestly, I have given 7/8 a score of excellent so far as well as one epic fail. I would completely object to someone asking at the beginning of a cruise though and take that into account on my card.

That's how I took our server's speech on the first night last time. He was telling us he wanted to earn an "Excellent" from us at the end, so please let him know what he could do to earn that.

I filled out the card, complemented many CM's, and then missed the box to leave the card as the disembarkment was quite hectic. Oh well.

Nancy

 

[lbgraves]

If you want me to give you an excellent rating, BE excellent. Let your SERVICE speak for you, not your lips.

ITA with this. Last cruise it became painful by the 4th night with the server coming to the table asking if everything was excellent. He was horrible so everyone avoided eye contact and he just stood there smiling. I talked to one of the head servers we know about our issues with him, and we didn't see him again the rest of the cruise.

 

[dahuffy]

oops

 

[clten]

Here's how I've chosen to deal with the excellent speech over the years. On the first night when they ask how things are, I tell them they were fine or good or whatever I think of the nights service (that night is never excellent -- too much time on introductions/who does what, etc.). I then jokingly add that if we start too high this early in the week, they have no room to improve and that I'll let them know when they hit excellent. Never get the excellent speech after that.

For everyone who thinks DCL is unfair, how do you think they should get feedback from their guests? It is the guests who don't give honest feedback who make the system unfair. Say my server is very good, but not quite excellent even though they worked hard, and I rate them as Very Good, and an average server who gives a good sob story and pressure to give excellent ratings gets them from guests. Now the actual very good server is looked at by their boss as being not as good as the fake excellent. So the boss gives the fake excellent an extra afternoon off or the preferred schedule on the next cruise. It would really demotivate me if I was the server who worked hard and "only" got very good knowing there were others being rewarded for not working hard and not even trying. So next cruise, I might not work so hard on service and work harder on my sob story. Who loses? The guests who have either of these servers on the next cruise.

 

[DH6230]

Our servers were awesome. On the last night they just said that it was a pleasure to serve us all week and if we feel they gave us excellent service to please fill out the comment card as excellent. That was it 30 seconds. My wife and I are simple people and we were treated like a King and Queen. This was the case on both Disney cruises we have been on. I am certain everyone in their section felt the same way.

 

[dahuffy]

I am not a fan of the excellent speech either. The other new thing that i am not a fan of is the automatic gratuities. I believe that this will lead to not as good service over the long-term. I understand the reason why this was implemented! I think I've sat with table mates that have not tipped their servers. On the other hand, people don't like to get the excellent speech either, And it will cause some cruisers to score everyone and everything down if they get the excellent speech too much. Maybe the best way to evaluate servers would be to have DCL count up everyone's tips to see how they did for that cruise. You would assume that the better servers got more tips and the not as good servers and did not. DCL could then also monitor how many people are not tipping. That is probably a better measurement of how the server is really doing.

Since when did they start doing this??? You used to have the "Option" to prepay the tips or not.

 

[emma'smom]

So...my take on this is that there really is a LOT riding on the ratings---and this is their career. I think they just want us to know how important those ratings are to their livelihoods. It's not just fun little survey to them. Begging for unfair ratings, not cool---but letting us know that the difference between good and excellent makes a huge difference to them is valuable to know if one is just checking off boxes rather quickly with a "there's always room for improvement" mentality. True--in everything this is the case---but unless there was a true issue, I think they just want us to know that card might not be the best place to note this.

 

[DH6230]

Since when did they start doing this??? You used to have the "Option" to prepay the tips or not.

We went on a cruise in February 2012 and the tips weren't automatic. When went on a cruise in February 2013 and it was automatic on your room charges. So I would say just in the last year.

 

[lbgraves]

They started this on the Magic last year with the Med cruises. It was due to tipping not being part of the European culture since the servers get paid a regular wage. I had been told by a couple servers we have known for years they went to the Med not expecting as much in tips because of previous experience there on DCL. After the Magic returned to PC, this was done on all the ships. You can go to GS to have the tips removed if you want to adjust them or tip with cash.

 

[tryin]

We got the "excellent" speech several times during our 8 night. I never saw the comment card though. Where was it?

 

[dahuffy]

They started this on the Magic last year with the Med cruises. It was due to tipping not being part of the European culture since the servers get paid a regular wage. I had been told by a couple servers we have known for years they went to the Med not expecting as much in tips because of previous experience there on DCL. After the Magic returned to PC, this was done on all the ships. You can go to GS to have the tips removed if you want to adjust them or tip with cash.

Thank you for the explanation Lisa.

 

[barbarasc]

I work for a company that puts a great deal of importance on survey ratings.....and to put it mildly if my rating is not a 10 is might as well be a 1. Anything less than a 10 (or excellent) is unacceptable in my employers view. So I more than others might understand the speech. One has to remember that it is human nature to right what as WRONG and not was has Fabulous about an experience

 

[jrabbit]

As I stated earlier, I am not a fan of the "excellent" speech, but I am going to defend it here a little bit.

I am going to assume (yep, its a problem) that the shorter the cruise, the more you get the "excellent" speech because they are "reinforcing" to you that they are there to help make your cruise excellent - and if they do that for the first 3 nights, well on the Dream that's every night or 3 out of 4. On a 5 night cruise that's 3 out of 5 nights - still over half of the time. On a 7 night cruise its a little under half the time. I expect that on our upcoming 14 night cruise we will be asked / told about the excellence on the first 3 nights then again at the end of the cruise which will be only 4 out of 14 nights or about 25% of the time and it won't seem like a constant pounding of the issue.

Hopefully our servers are reasonable. On our 11 prior cruises most of the serving team members have been terrific, but a few - not so much. The ones that don't speak up so we can hear them are the ones I have the most issues with.

 

[over50visits]

Hello Everyone!

I can tell you this much, I am going on a first cruise with my daughter in July. And if I get a "excellence speech" I will notate it on the card and not give them an excellent rating.

Looks like you will not give them an excellent rating, because you will get the "speech" in some form. Too bad for them!

 

[DakotaDisneyLover]

Great comments and advice - thanks for sharing your experiences, and for letting me vent! If we ever decide to take another Disney cruise, I will definitely take the advice provided and "nip" the excellent speeches in the bud! Live and learn I guess!

 

[allears]

Looks like you will not give them an excellent rating, because you will get the "speech" in some form. Too bad for them!

Everyone needs to lighten up. Just let your team know that you know about them shooting for an excellent and in most cases they will let it drop and strive to do that.

On the other hand when they are soliciting your feedback they really want to know if they are doing everything they can to make your experience, dare I say excellent. Let them know what's is and isn't, give them a chance to hit that mark. Rather than do what we see here a lot and post a thread about how disappointed they were about something