Begging and bullying from servers in the MDRs for excellent ratings on the end of cruise survey/comment card

[Pens Fan]

Really? We were in the Haven and never heard it once there. We never ate in the main dining area but did do the speciality restaurants. Of course, since there is no set time or table to eat you have different servers all the time so that probably takes some of the high pressure off.

Same. We've been on three NCL cruises and never once gotten the excellent pitch - and yet we find the service to be just as good as DCL. We've eaten in MDR's and specialty restaurants, but as you mentioned we always had different servers and it just never came up.

We've always gotten it on DCL, though and find it annoying. Some teams are more obnoxious about it than others. We did have one server who just made a big joke out of it. He basically told us on day 1 he was going to be using excellent all the time and boy did he, but in a hilarious way. It was the first time I really didn't mind it!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

And for what it's worth, my wife and I always rate the service as excellent (though it rarely is)

You're the problem.

If the service isn't excellent, don't say it's excellent. There's even a question that says "did you feel pressured to give an excellent rating?" Answer it honestly!

 

[holula]

I've never felt "bullied" or that they were begging, but some servers have been, shall we say, more deft with the issue. But even those who belabored the point, I don't want them to get dinged for working under a crappy setup like that. I hate the game, not the player.

One thing I do is when I get the first spiel, I tell them, "We know how you guys get evaluated, and I promise you that by default, we plan on giving you 'Excellents' across the board. If something happens whereby I might not want to give an 'Excellent,' I promise I will give you a chance to address it."

Ever since I started doing that, I don't think I've ever had a server repeat the speech.

This is basically what I do too, and it’s stopped the speech until the very last night and then normally it’s just a reminder to complete the comment card.

 

[Ronneeaght]

We did have one server who just made a big joke out of it. He basically told us on day 1 he was going to be using excellent all the time and boy did he, but in a hilarious way. It was the first time I really didn't mind it!

This is brilliant on his part. It keeps it on your mind, but in a way that acknowledges the broken system and brings you in on his side.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This is brilliant on his part. It keeps it on your mind, but in a way that acknowledges the broken system and brings you in on his side.

It's only a broken system because passengers lie on the surveys. If people answered honestly, the system would work perfectly.

 

[Ronneeaght]

It's only a broken system because passengers lie on the surveys. If people answered honestly, the system would work perfectly.

If people answered honestly Disney would get their stated purpose of the survey, which is hearing from their customers. If they used that information to penalize good servers for bad food, I wouldn’t consider that a working system.

 

[Karin1984]

It's only a broken system because passengers lie on the surveys. If people answered honestly, the system would work perfectly.

Then Disney would be able to use the survey for what a survey is intended for.

Disney likes to live in a dream state where everything is excellent. And to reach that magical place filled with kittens and unicorns they ask their employees to put pressure on their guests.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

If they used that information to penalize good servers for bad food...

They wouldn't.

Crew evaluations are on a bell curve. If the food at Animator's Palette is terrible, and people answer honestly that the food is terrible, Disney is going to get the message. They're not going to penalize the crew because even the top-rated servers will be getting bad food quality scores.

If people lie so that the average server receives 90% Excellent scores, Disney is going to expect 90% Excellent scores. If people start answering honestly so that the average server receives 75% Excellent scores, Disney is going to expect 75% Excellent scores. The benchmark shifts with the mean.

People talk like they've never worked in a business before and that Disney management are this evil group of people looking to banish servers back to Indonesia and take their jobs away out of cruelty, and that they just conduct these surveys to rationalize it.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Disney likes to live in a dream state where everything is excellent. And to reach that magical place filled with kittens and unicorns they ask their employees to put pressure on their guests.

That is false. They literally added a question to the survey asking if you felt pressure to give excellent scores to avoid this.

A server will "get in trouble" more for someone answering that they felt pressured than someone giving them less than excellent. If people ACTUALLY answered "yes, I felt pressured," the behavior would stop.

I know this is crazy to believe, but businesses ACTUALLY want to know what their customers think so they can improve their services and keep them satisfied (and coming back to spend more money). They have zero incentive to artificially inflate average ratings.

 

[Karin1984]

That is false. They literally added a question to the survey asking if you felt pressure to give excellent scores to avoid this.

A server will "get in trouble" more for someone answering that they felt pressured than someone giving them less than excellent. If people ACTUALLY answered "yes, I felt pressured," the behavior would stop.

I know this is crazy to believe, but businesses ACTUALLY want to know what their customers think so they can improve their services and keep them satisfied (and coming back to spend more money). They have zero incentive to artificially inflate average ratings.

Let's ask it here. We have heard plenty of people who say that they did feel pressured. People of DIS, what do you answer when Disney asks you if you feel pressured?

And there is an incentive: stakeholders like to hear good news.
If Disney can tell them that guests spend more than ever (because of increased prices) and the guests say they are superhappy, then you have happy stakeholders. And that is what it is all about.

 

[Mickey of the Villages]

It's very apparent that everyone here has different opinions on the food and service. . I see them as humans and prefer to treat them as such. Maybe that is why we have always had stellar service. We carry on a conversation with them. Ask about their day. Get to know them. I don't feel that they deserve such harsh treatments because of DCL policy or you don't want any interaction. You know going in that a survey will be mentioned. Why let it ruin your vacation? Why penalize the server? It's a 30 sec spiel usually on the last night. To those that don't want any interaction with them at a meal, politely tell them. Why dock them on the survey because you didn't speak up? They aren't mind readers and automatically know that you want nothing to do with them during the meal. As far as the food goes, they are cooking for the masses. It will never be perfect for everyone. Food is subjective and I realize that going in. I feel they do a great job with the number of people they feed at the exact same time. I think personal expectations can be set too high for some.

I'm not sure if you had a chance to read my whole post. We agree on many of your points.

You said, "why penalize the server?" and we don't. I wrote: "And for what it's worth, my wife and I always rate the service as excellent (though it rarely is) and always tip more than the recommended amount and/or bring gifts for our servers."

You said, "why dock them on the survey because you didn't speak up?" and we don't. We just don't eat at the MDRs.

You said, "As far as the food goes, they are cooking for the masses. It will never be perfect for everyone. Food is subjective and I realize that going in. I feel they do a great job with the number of people they feed at the exact same time." and I wrote: " In my experience the service is not excellent but not because of the servers. They are trying to feed hundreds of people at a time in a tightly packed catering hall setting and at times performing or dancing too. What does one expect? My issue is not with the service itself - it's with the system in which begging for excellent scores is required for the servers to feel safe in their position."

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Let's ask it here. We have heard plenty of people who say that they did feel pressured. People of DIS, what do you answer when Disney asks you if you feel pressured?

I'll answer first.

I've been asked, but never felt pressured. It was one request, only on the last night each time (3 sailings). I've always honestly rated service as Excellent, but have rated food quality less than Excellent several times. In the post-cruise online survey, I give more specific feedback on the food (shrimp are always rubber, lamb is always amazing, kids meals are embarrassingly bad, etc.)

If Disney can tell them that guests spend more than ever (because of increased prices) and the guests say they are superhappy, then you have happy stakeholders. And that is what it is all about.

1. Disney doesn't publish guest feedback scores. They're for internal use only.

2. If guests are unhappy, they won't "spend more than ever." Disney would rather know that guests are unhappy so they can fix it and get them to spend than pretend they're happy when they're not, which will have adverse financial impacts down the road.

 

[Mickey of the Villages]

You're the problem.

If the service isn't excellent, don't say it's excellent. There's even a question that says "did you feel pressured to give an excellent rating?" Answer it honestly!

No, you're the problem. See what I did there. Turned it around on ya.

But seriously.

I don't pay cruise fare to be part of the rating system of the servers. That's the responsibility of Disney.

Just my opinion.

 

[goofy4prez]

I'll admit, I'm usually one of those who will from time to time leave an excellent review when it has been just that, and not bother when it has not been so good. My first cruise with DCL was on the Fantasy in 2019, and with all the raving reviews of how great the Disney service is and how great the MDR food is, it was a major disappointment. While the food was average in the MDR, the two servers we had were terrible. And when I say terrible, I truly am not exaggerating. It was not until our final evening that we had good service from them. Imagine that. Now looking back, perhaps I should not have tipped them above the prepaid tip, which I did ( For another debate), and should have left an honest and candid review. I'm just not a big fan of leaving reviews. In every line of business whether selling Yo' Yo's, or dishing out fast food burgers, excellent service should be the norm rather than the exception. And I should finish with, common courtesy from the consumer should also be important. Both of these are a lost art in our culture today IMO.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I don't pay cruise fare to be part of the rating system of the servers. That's the responsibility of Disney.

The job of the servers is to make you happy. Disney can't assess that without your help. And if something makes you unhappy, you can't expect Disney to know that if you refuse to tell them.

 

[BamaGuy44]

We've done one RC cruise, one DCL, and one Princess. The RC was, by far, the worst in this regard. Conversations would go like this:
Server: "How was your appetizer?"
Me: "It was good, thank you."
Server: "Oh, was it not excellent? What can we do to make it excellent?"
Me: "Nothing, it was good..."
Server: "Was there anything wrong with it?"
Me: "No, not at all..."
Server: "Then surely it must have been excellent? We are not satisficed with 'good' and will bring you other appetizers until you feel it was excellent. Was this appetizer excellent or would you like a different one?"
Me: "Okay... it was excellent"
Server, to my wife, "How was your appetizer? Excellent?"... and then to each of our three daughters until everyone said the word.
Once everyone capitulated, he'd say, "Then you have no reason to check anything but Excellent on your comment card" Ugh. It really did want to make us avoid the MDR.

Our DCL cruise was better, in that we didn't get 'coached' after every course, but we did hear the speech a few times over the 7 nights and there were more subtle queues. "Ah, Coke... excellent, excellent..." like trying to burn the word into your brain.

Ok I’m an easy going guy, especially on vacation, but this would really grind my gears. Badgering my kids into saying the word “excellent” isn’t the same as being excellent. As politely as I could I would inform him we get it, and we don’t need to discuss it any more.

I wouldn’t threaten to give him a bad rating or withhold tip or whatever because that’s not my style, but we would definitely come to an understanding

 

[HappySailor3758]

Just a few words on some of the comments. DCL does not allow crew members to beg for Excellent on ratings. Policy is for a crew members to only use the word Excellent twice in a conversation during the cruise, not every day and certainly not related to how you should fill out the survey form. No crew member will ever loose their job if there should a complaint about food or service, just not true. If there is a warranted reason for complaint about service the crew member may end up having to go through some the training classes to bring him up to level. Pay attention to Cruise Directors during the cruise, they have the same rule. The word Excellent can only be used twice during the cruise. If your server team use pushing this you should make Guest Services aware. If you see the Hotel Director out on the floor you may ask him and you will get the same answer.

 

[Kwami]

Just a few words on some of the comments. DCL does not allow crew members to beg for Excellent on ratings. Policy is for a crew members to only use the word Excellent twice in a conversation during the cruise, not every day and certainly not related to how you should fill out the survey form. No crew member will ever loose their job if there should a complaint about food or service, just not true. If there is a warranted reason for complaint about service the crew member may end up having to go through some the training classes to bring him up to level. Pay attention to Cruise Directors during the cruise, they have the same rule. The word Excellent can only be used twice during the cruise. If your server team use pushing this you should make Guest Services aware. If you see the Hotel Director out on the floor you may ask him and you will get the same answer.

There are ways around saying "excellent", though. They say things like "5 out of 5" or "the highest rating" or similar.

 

[TiszBear]

Interesting thread. I was just on the Wish in July and our table had servers had 2 tables of 6 (next to each other and at a few tables with about 2 or 4 people) and never once did anyone mention the survey card. The only time it came up was the last night when the servers asked us if we will be at breakfast the next morning and if not to have safe travels and please don't forget to drop off your comment card in the designated boxes. On previous sails on the Dream and Magic, again never once did our servers mention the comment card. Also, our servers on the Wish were fantastic as was the head servers. I did notice that one of our head servers (there are two) remembered a few guests from one of the other ships, as did some of the servers.

Jennifer

 

[cschaaf]

Ok I’m an easy going guy, especially on vacation, but this would really grind my gears. Badgering my kids into saying the word “excellent” isn’t the same as being excellent. As politely as I could I would inform him we get it, and we don’t need to discuss it any more.

I wouldn’t threaten to give him a bad rating or withhold tip or whatever because that’s not my style, but we would definitely come to an understanding

I should have mentioned that the daughters were early to late teens at the time. We're all pretty much go-with-the-flow people so we quickly caught on that the easiest way to avoid things getting increasingly uncomfortable was just to say, "Yes, it was excellent," to anything we were asked.

It did put a damper on our dinners, though. We wanted to eat in the MDRs and not have a buffet for all three meals, so we just did what we had to do.