Thoughts About Staffing Changes

[gotomu212]

I've been reading all of the reports (good and bad) for recent Magic, Wonder, and Dream trips. Regardless of the fact that everyone has different expectations, tolerance points, and opinions and the fact that everyone's experience differs by their assigned serving team, it does seem that there have been more reports of declines in services recently when compared to last year. I shake off a few bad reviews and even my own experience as a "one-off" but I think there is a lot of validity in recent experiences on the ships.

I've heard that a third of the Magic staff and a third of the Wonder staff went to the Dream and that half of the Dream staff is new to Disney. So 1 in 3 people on the Magic/Wonder and 1 out of every 2 on the Dream are brand new! It feels like instead of loading up the Dream with experienced people, the effect was to bring the customer service down in all 3 ships.

I know a new ship has to be staffed and it does take time to train everyone up, but with the Fantasy coming in a year I worry that they'll be a repeat of staff being shuffled and every ship suffering. I don't think there's an easy answer, but I was wondering about others' thoughts.

 

[PrincessYessenia]

I am also worried about this. I've heard so many complaints about this already and it worries me. I do understand that a lot of it depends on your attitude and how you deal with different situations. On the other hand I would hate to experience some of the things others have had to deal with. I think most of the new cast members are probably not well aware of the "Disney difference." Perhaps with more experienced staff there may not have been so many problems on the recent Dream sailings. I can't speak about the Wonder or Magic because I personally haven't heard anything about problems on either. So I don't know, but can only assume the same. The older staff would probably know how to better handle situations.

It's one thing to be trained, and another to actually have to work with all of the guests, all the requests, all the mishaps, etc. There is no excuse for it but in their defense I will say that training and actually working greatly differ. If that makes any sense

 

[Subi WRX]

Personally, I feel that Disney touts the "Disney Difference" ad nauseum. We expect it, and we pay dearly for it compared to other cruiselines. I too have been reading what seems to be a healthy number of threads talking about the declining service of late.

They had better shape up soon (regardless of training, and the new ship) or they will no longer be able to command their premium over other cruiselines. We have always rationalized the price of DCL because of the high level of service we receive. We are not high maintenance by any means, and it doesn't sound like a lot of the folks reporting service issues are either. One can only hope that the cruisers who have had issues make their voices heard on their end-of-cruise comment cards and/or write to DCL HQ directly.

Apologists will forgive DCL their growing pains with a new ship in the fleet. But DCL had about 10 years to prepare for this. OK, i exaggerate, but the new ships were announced a while ago. If service has declined now, imagine when the Fantasy comes into service next year?!

The Mouse only gets them so far.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

I agree that DCL has some growing pains going on and hope they have a quick learning period. How do you prepare for staffing a ship years in advance? Hire people, train them up to snuff and then fire them with a promise to re-hire when the ship sails? There's no guarantee that they will retain their skills.

Stripping the original ships to the bone makes NO sense whatsoever. Then you have 2 REALLY crappy ships and one so-so because you're still going to have to hire more people. Then the complaints would have been 10X worse. The older ships booking would suffer causing DCL to significantly raise fares on the new ones and possibly consider sidelining/retiring the old ships. That would put them back at square 1 of a 2 ship fleet with limited itineraries.

Folks need to give DCL a chance to properly ramp their people up, which requires serving REAL guests and not just practicing. They'll weed out the folks who can't cut it and bring in more....which will result in MORE complaints as they learn. Getting a new ship 100% smooth is not an overnight/1 week/2 week process.

In closing, for those that have a less than acceptable cruise please continue to let DCL know. This helps them identify problem performers as well as make tweaks in the overall experience to benefit all.

 

[Happy Goofy]

We jsut got off the Panama Cruise aboard the Wonder. Over the years we have spent 60 days aboard Disney ships- usually the special or longer cruises. This last trip was one of the worse in terms of service and communication. Our dining room servers were not in any way up to Disney standards. THere were many nights when our drinks arrived halfway through our meal, our water glasses were never refilled and we got the wrong entrees. Our waiters were new and we did not say anything beccause we realized they were "training" and it wasn't their fault. I did send DCL a four page letter with my conerns aboard the Wonder. Like someone said we paid for the so call "Disney Magic" and it was not there.

Communication was also a problems there. The people at Guest Services were new and did not know what they were doing. You could never go there and get an answer rignt away.They always said we will get bacvk to you. We never knew about the Dessert Buffet one night and on the Mexican night they had a show on deck but no buffer afterwards. Everyone was disappointed.

I am a true Disney fan but I don't like to spend money for quality I did not get.


We nev

 

[crainbow]

Stripping the original ships to the bone makes NO sense whatsoever.

We were on the Magic last week. The crew was not stripped to the bone. Our head server (Brian) had 2 years with the Magic, our favorite bartender has been with the Magic for 12 years, the Stateroom attendant had 6 years with the ship. The assistant server (Pedro) had been with the ship only 2 weeks, but did an outstanding job. All the entertainment people I chatted with had multiple years with the company.

During the Galley tour the Head Chief of Palo, Ken (30 years at sea, 4 or 5 with Disney) explained that there is turn over every week as contracts expire. He had only been on the Magic a couple of weeks, but had come from the Wonder.

Everywhere we turned we were met by exceptional service, except for keeping the kids out of the Adult pool area as they searched for their parents that had abandoned them in one of the other pool areas.

Regards,
Chuck

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

We were on the Magic last week. The crew was not stripped to the bone. Our head server (Brian) had 2 years with the Magic, our favorite bartender has been with the Magic for 12 years, the Stateroom attendant had 6 years with the ship. The assistant server (Pedro) had been with the ship only 2 weeks, but did an outstanding job. All the entertainment people I chatted with had multiple years with the company.

During the Galley tour the Head Chief of Palo, Ken (30 years at sea, 4 or 5 with Disney) explained that there is turn over every week as contracts expire. He had only been on the Magic a couple of weeks, but had come from the Wonder.

Everywhere we turned we were met by exceptional service, except for keeping the kids out of the Adult pool area as they searched for their parents that had abandoned them in one of the other pool areas.

Regards,
Chuck

I made that remark in response to something the OP said. I was not implying that it had happened.

 

[Happy Goofy]

We jsut got off the Panama Cruise aboard the Wonder. Over the years we have spent 60 days aboard Disney ships- usually the special or longer cruises. This last trip was one of the worse in terms of service and communication. Our dining room servers were not in any way up to Disney standards. THere were many nights when our drinks arrived halfway through our meal, our water glasses were never refilled and we got the wrong entrees. Our waiters were new and we did not say anything beccause we realized they were "training" and it wasn't their fault. I did send DCL a four page letter with my conerns aboard the Wonder. Like someone said we paid for the so call "Disney Magic" and it was not there.

Communication was also a problems there. The people at Guest Services were new and did not know what they were doing. You could never go there and get an answer rignt away.They always said we will get bacvk to you. We never knew about the Dessert Buffet one night and on the Mexican night they had a show on deck but no buffer afterwards. Everyone was disappointed.

I am a true Disney fan but I don't like to spend money for quality I did not get.


We nev

 

[Beachmum]

This is a Disney problem and not a new staff problem.

A new Nordstrom (another company known for service) opened blocks from my house. The service has been not quite up to par, but the apologies have been frequent and genuine. We've been quizzing the staff, and many are from other industries, not just new to Nordstrom, but new to retail. Still, after only a few months, the store is fabulous and the service is, as expected, very good.

I'm surprised that Disney isn't able to do this as quickly. I would assume that in this economy and for a company with benefits such as Disney, that there'd be a lot of people who would want to work there. I'd also assume that DCL would simply double-up on staff in key positions for a few months before launching the Dream.

(Perhaps they should hire me for staffing planning.)

 

[dsnydaddy]

I honestly think that the staffing problems will be short-lived. Adding a third ship was a HUGE change for a small cruise company. There is and expected drop in efficiency when a change that massive is made to a company. That said, one the staff get into their groove they will be right back at that high level of service. Those who don't like the job will go elsewhere and those who do will excell. I was amused by the previous poster who stated that they were "Surprised that Disney isn't able to [bounce back in a few months] as quickly. Remember that the Dream just went online 1 month ago. That's hardly enough time to recover from such a restructuring.

 

[Goofy4Disney99]

We also just did the Wonder Panama Canal cruise. We have spent 90 nights on Disney ships over the years and I must say that our service experience on this cruise was probably the best ever. Our servers were amazing - and so much fun. And our stateroom attendant was by far the best we've ever had. I think it's a crap shoot as to what level of service you will experience. We were very fortunate. There were many grumpy passengers on the PC cruise and thankfully I never experienced any of the things they were complaining about.

 

[kcashner]

A lot depends on your definitions. The onboard crew in any given week increased from 2000 to 3500 in December. Disney realized that this would be happening and started training for it about 2 years ago. Unfortunately, the training schedule (more time off for long term employees) caused some to choose to not renew contracts.

What constitutes "new?" First contract? Less than a year with DCL? There are MANY DCL CMs with 5+ years of experience, and a few remaining from 1998. There are also many with less than a year of experience. And yes, training continues at an increased pace in preparation for the Fantasy, so we will be dealing with the "growing pains" for at least another 18 months or so!

Of course, the other thing that has happened is that those shorter contracts to allow more employees to train have gone back to normal contracts. And some "newbies" have experience elsewhere, some are just plain good from the beginning...and some will never "get it."

What I noticed on our last cruise was that there was a great deal of emphasis on training and that many people had been promoted to higher positions (we've seen this a lot over the last year or so!) I had a brand new server at lunch one day--21 days with the company. He was excellent. I had a second contract assistant who was far better than the server she was working with (and I've heard that she's been promoted to server) While I'm sure that you may encounter some people who don't know what they are doing, I'm confident that this is being quickly rectified. If you need/want something, ASK. And if your server doesn't cut it, tell the head server.

 

[LKFan]

We just returned from a 7 night trip on the Wonder. We did a tour called something like "Art of DCL." It was an interesting tour.

We arrived a little early for the tour and the CM/guide said that the ship had been receiving uncharacteristically poor reviews and that they were trying to figure out why. He commented that he thought that west coast cruisers were more critical than those on the east coast. He also said that there were more people cruising without children on the MR cruises so they needed to make sure they provided more adult entertainment.

He explained that it is difficult to keep people entertained and happy when the first two days are at sea. I commented that it is cold on deck and people are looking for indoor activities. He said that, after an active day at port, people are tired and are much more easy going.

This CM commented (as did many other CMs) about how wonderful the PC cruise was. His take was that the staff and crew really got to know the passengers well and, because of that, it was easier to provide good service. That was followed by the nightmare cruise to nowhere where no one got to know the crew/staff.

That said, our stateroom was dirty from the day we arrived until the day we left. The comforter was stained and torn. The crescent chair had a large (maybe 9" in diameter) stain where someone had spilled milk or another beverage on it. Both the comforter, as well as the chair, should have been noticed and cleaned or replaced before we arrived.

The room in general was more beaten up and falling apart. This was a 9B cabin and our last cruise on the Wonder was a cat 5 so maybe the lower rooms have less upkeep and more entry level stewards.

 

[moomy-san]

The room in general was more beaten up and falling apart. This was a 9B cabin and our last cruise on the Wonder was a cat 5 so maybe the lower rooms have less upkeep and more entry level stewards.

I have heard (so not fact, and possibly fiction) that the higher the category, the more experienced the room host. If that IS the case, I have no idea why we weren't over the moon with our room host when we were in a 4A. He just did the job- no small talk, didn't try to learn our names and didn't do anything extra at all. That being said- our room WAS tidy and clean when he was done and really that's all I was expecting.
I am sorry to hear your room wasn't up to par.

 

[LKFan]

I have heard (so not fact, and possibly fiction) that the higher the category, the more experienced the room host. If that IS the case, I have no idea why we weren't over the moon with our room host when we were in a 4A. He just did the job- no small talk, didn't try to learn our names and didn't do anything extra at all. That being said- our room WAS tidy and clean when he was done and really that's all I was expecting.
I am sorry to hear your room wasn't up to par.

Yes, our last cruise steward was great! He knew all of our names on the first day and engaged the kids in conversation about what they did each day. His name is Neil and he is still on the Wonder (6th floor).

On this cruise, my husband learned our room steward's name but since my kids and I never saw him, I wouldn't be able to pick him out in a line up.

 

[kcashner]

I have heard (so not fact, and possibly fiction) that the higher the category, the more experienced the room host. If that IS the case, I have no idea why we weren't over the moon with our room host when we were in a 4A. He just did the job- no small talk, didn't try to learn our names and didn't do anything extra at all. That being said- our room WAS tidy and clean when he was done and really that's all I was expecting.
I am sorry to hear your room wasn't up to par.

While it is true that the more experienced hosts with the best reviews will get promoted to Concierge level, the logic that the most experienced get the best categories is only true to a point. For instance, the host doing a cat 5 or 6 room is also doing the cat 10 or 11 across the hall.

 

[waltsgirl]

When the Wonder and Magic were new ships weren't all the stafff new??