Complaint Letter

[Chic]

My wife and I took the 4 day Disney Cruise in July and were unhappy with our dinner experience. We wrote a letter to Guest Communications expressing our disappointment with the service and food quality. We have cruised with Disney several times in the past and absolutely loved it but this particular sailing was a dud. To make a long story short, we had to wait approximately 90 minutes each night before receiving our entrees. We also had two separate nights when our food was either cold or very tough. Disney sent me a response letter indicating that they were surprised to hear my concerns because over 95% of the guests on our cruise rated their dining experience as good or above average. They also said that the problem could have been resolved if we would have notified our head waiter. The fact is, we did notify our headwaiter but it was too late to make us another entree because we had already been seated almost 2 hours. Disney also stated in the response letter that they could not make any considerations for our disappointments and hoped we would sail with them again in the future. Needless to say, we will never sail with Disney again and are really upset that they are not willing to compensate us for their short comings. Has anyone else had a situation similar to mine where guest relations just brushed off the concerns? It's almost like they just think I'm fabricating the whole story. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[eva]

I feel for you. I would not be happy waiting 90 minutes for my meal either. Did this happen every night of the cruise? Did the servers give any excuse as to why this was happening? Which night of the cruise did you speak with the head waiter? If you talked to him/her the first night and nothing was corrected the following nights, I would have been at Guest Services lodging a formal complaint.

 

[Empress Room]

I don't doubt for a moment that your dining experience was less than acceptable; however, exactly what kind of "considerations" do you seek? Some kind of refund or monetary compensation? That does seem to be a little unreasonable, particularly when their surveys showed a 95% satisfaction rate.

From my perspective, they did investigate your complaint and responded to you, albeit not to your satisfaction. From DCL's point of view, the surveys showed an overwhelmingly positive experience with yours being the unfortunate exception. DCL isn't in the business to give refunds, it's in the business to make money. And if it "compensated" everyone who felt less than satisfied - or represented that they were - it wouldn't be profitable very long.

I have always believed that every experience, whether a restaurant, theatre or theme park, is bound to have one of those "off" day(s), and it's not fair to judge generally based on that one unfortunate experience. Since you have sailed with Disney in the past and "absolutely loved it," it appears that this experience, for you, was the exception and not the rule.

Obviously, your hard-earned tourist dollars are yours to spend as you see fit, but a blanket "we will never sail with Disney again" appears somewhat shortsighted, particularly given your past positive experiences. I am not sure that Norwegian, Princess or Celebrity would have responded any differently - and probably wouldn't have sent you financial "considerations" either.

 

[crisi]

With Disney, you need to get satisfaction on the ship (hotel, park) not expect a letter to result in anything later. While I'm sure you aren't making it up, the sad reality is that a lot of people do use the "complaint discount" to try and get things out of a corporation - so as a general policy - Disney doesn't respond to those sorts of issues with any sort of compensation.

 

[pop5]

I,too, had a bad dinning experience on the Wonder in July. Our servers were rude and not very good. I had such a great cruise otherwise that I only complained on my survey and let it go at that. I would never say sail I wont sail with dcl again because of it. That would only be my loss-not Disneys. I personally think too many people today are always looking to be "reinbursed" for one thing or another.

 

[MSWint]

So sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with dinner ... we have never personally experienced anything like this ourselves, but I can see where you would be dissappointed.

Just curious, what are your expectations on "compensating you for their short commings"?


In my personal and humble opinion ... ones overall level of customer satisfaction (and therefore loyalty) is a very personal decision ... whether it is a meal out with the family at a local resturaunt, a show/movie, or a family cruise. Each of us has to decide for ourselves whether the event/outing/purchase/etc. meets our expectations or not ... and therefore whether we would consider doing it (whatever it is) again.

My family and I have never asked for compensation for anything that we have not been completely satisfied with (not even a meal at a restaurant), but that's just us, we simply do not go again ... we prefer to vote with our wallets.

Anyway, all I am saying (just my opinion) is that I think that you did the right thing by letting DCL know that you are dissatisfied (and explaining what you were dissatisfied with) and letting them know that you would not likely return due to your experience is enough ... not sure that Disney can compensate you in any way other than to take your comments into consideration. I do know for a fact that DCL takes your comments very very seriously, talking with our server and assistant server very candidly one day we found that most CM's are scared to death of bad/negative comments, they say that "their job depends" on these comments ... a couple of bad comments and a server will find themselves without work if you know what I mean.

... again, just my two cents ... not a flame.

 

[DCL Repeaters]

I find it hard to understand why you waited so long for your entree's without speaking up then and there. After seeing your fellow cruisers at tables nearby enjoying their entree's in a timely fashion why did you not speak up to your server, assistant server, head server or to the officer in charge of all of the dining rooms. If this failed, why didn't you immediately go to guest services to complain? If you're unhappy about something you need to speak up then and there and not stew about it and accept it for 4 nights and then go home and write a letter to complain and expect compensation.

 

[Chic]

As far as a time factor, we did mention our concerns to our servers whenever they came to the table. We typically saw someone about every 20 minutes. When ordering drinks, average wait time was the same. We were evidently on a 20 minute cycle with everyone. We mentioned the wait time to our head server the first night and he apologized but nothing changed. Another night, we mentioned our ribs were so tough that they couldn't be cut with a knife. Our head server then tried unsuccessfully to cut the ribs himself. When he couldn't, he asked what else would we like off the menu. Unfortunately, there were no other choices on the menu that appealed to me this particular night. As far as compensation, I would expect some sort of possible discount as an incentive to try the Disney Cruise again. After receiving poor service and food, why would I spend the extra money to cruise with Disney? After all, you're paying for the "Disney" difference.

 

[eva]

If you had this happened multiple nights, why weren't you at Guest Services lodging a formal complaint? The main reason that DCL is not doing anything about it, is because there really is no way to fix the problem now. It needed to be addressed then.

 

[mom+3girls]

I don't think you should expect anything for the bad service or food. I just think you can expect that DCL will take your comments into consideration. I think when most people complain they do it so that it will not happen again not to get compensated.

I fell over a very large stroller that was in Treasure Catch when I cruised in 2005 injured my back had to go for PT for several months. I wrote Disney a letter with a suggestion that they limit the size of strollers allowed on the ship and the places that strollers can go, I did not expect Disney to compensate me at all. I am cruising later this year and you can bet I will be watching for those stollers when I am walking around and I hope Disney has put in some restrictions however I don't think they have but I will not let it cause me to stop cruising with them.

 

[dahuffy]

If you had this happened multiple nights, why weren't you at Guest Services lodging a formal complaint? The main reason that DCL is not doing anything about it, is because there really is no way to fix the problem now. It needed to be addressed then.

You could have eaten at the buffet,Plutos,room service,Pinnochios. When we took our first cruise with DCL (a 3 nighter),we missed our first night in the rotation in order to go to Palo. When we went to dinner the second night, the wait staff was rather rude,so we chose not to eat in the dining room on our last night nor did we tip the wait staff. That didn't stop us from going on a 7 day 2 years later, nor will it stop us from going on the 15 day repo next year.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

We had to wait what seemed like an eternity for our dinners last Sept on the 10 day Wonder. We were always the last out of the restaurants. We chose not to complain to anyone. We are the kind of people that goes with the flow. But I certainly understand how upsetting it is to wait. It got to be a joke among our 7 adults. I think that if it happens this time that we will tell the server that we need to pick up the speed of the dinners due to our toddler grandkids.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We had a sucky dining experience on carnival (more of a server, matre d' issue--the food itself was fine. How we were treated--not so fine.)

I mentioned it in passing to our TA when inquiring about another matter that occurred during our cruise.

We got an apology letter, future cruise discount, and a check for $250 to go to dinner to make up for what happened on our sailing.

The fact that Disney rebutted with "most people don't have a problem" (paraphrase) was their way of saying they don't believe you. Pretty sad if you ask me.

It was our honeymoon and new to cruising so we just didn't know any better. We were just going to vote with our pocket book. So I can understand not making a complaint on the ship. The one time I spoke up--the moody matre d' reduced me to tears. (I tried not to cry--but could not help it when he snapped at me.) I didn't mention this to my TA--just the snappy part. But I didn't bother having anything else fixed during the cruise. We did make a statement with our tip though.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

As far as compensation, I would expect some sort of possible discount as an incentive to try the Disney Cruise again. After receiving poor service and food, why would I spend the extra money to cruise with Disney? After all, you're paying for the "Disney" difference.

I'm not sure it is worth a future discount. If only your dinners were ruined, does it really justify a 10% discount on a future cruise?

We didn't expect anything from Carnival. We got it b/c we were treated extreemly rudely.

Being on the latter end of the serving cycle isn't the end of the world. It is a shame they didn't have your food prepared well.

A letter of a apology that didn't discount your experience as though it didn't happen as you witnessed...would have been sufficient

 

[disneyelaine]

Disney Cruise Dining Room food just is not that great IMO. Nevertheless, we have cruised with them 7 times. Palo's is excellent & DCL breakfest buffet in Parrot Cay is wonderful. DCL's chilled soups are wonderful. But the entrees just do not cut it if you are looking for upscale type food. That said, we cruise DCL for other elements that we enjoy. But when we want very good "grown up" food, we cruise Holland America. Btw, on our last DCL trip in August, my husbands meal was just awful tasting. He mentioned to the waiter about how he thought it was going to be prepared. In just a few seconds the head Chef was at our table!! Our waiters and service was just wonderful, but for the most part I think DCL entrees taste just like they are, well, mass produced. But Pluto's has a killer hamburger!

Having cruised Holland America twice, I'd say their dining room meals are comparable to Palo's.

 

[disney1990]

As far as a time factor, we did mention our concerns to our servers whenever they came to the table. We typically saw someone about every 20 minutes. When ordering drinks, average wait time was the same. We were evidently on a 20 minute cycle with everyone. We mentioned the wait time to our head server the first night and he apologized but nothing changed. Another night, we mentioned our ribs were so tough that they couldn't be cut with a knife. Our head server then tried unsuccessfully to cut the ribs himself. When he couldn't, he asked what else would we like off the menu. Unfortunately, there were no other choices on the menu that appealed to me this particular night. As far as compensation, I would expect some sort of possible discount as an incentive to try the Disney Cruise again. After receiving poor service and food, why would I spend the extra money to cruise with Disney? After all, you're paying for the "Disney" difference.

I can't believe that you would say that you will never cruise with Disney again. Especially, since you said that you had cruised with Disney before and not experienced any problems.

One thing to remember, if you do not like what is on the menu of the restaurant you are dining in, you can always order something from one other the other restaurants.

When we cruised in July, our table mates often ordered from one of the restaurants that we had been in previously.

 

[grizbuzz]

If I were managing a customer complaint department, I would not be happy with the letter that was sent out to you. It almost sounds as if the person who wrote the response letter is debating you, as opposed to listening.

I don't know that customers should expect to be compensated by Disney for writing complaints, but I think they should expect to be listened to seriously, thanked for taking the time to write feedback, assured that issues will be looked into and told that Disney appreciates their business. Why ask for feedback if you're not willing to take it?

 

[Babs417]

You can make some of the people like you some of the time but its hard to make them like you all of the time.

 

[paulgraff]

I am going to say what everyone else is dancing around (my flame suit is on)

YOU ARE JUST TRYING TO GET A BIG DISCOUNT OFF OF YOUR NEXT CRUISE BY COMPLAINING ABOUT SOMETHING AFTER YOUR CRUISE WHEN YOU SHOULD HAVE COMPLAINED ABOUT IT ON THE CRUISE.

Where is you spine, sitting in your chair waiting for your dinner for 90 minutes each night.... sorry I am not buying it, you just want a big discount on your next DC.

PG

 

[yndygo]

My wife and I took the 4 day Disney Cruise in July and were unhappy with our dinner experience. We wrote a letter to Guest Communications expressing our disappointment with the service and food quality. We have cruised with Disney several times in the past and absolutely loved it but this particular sailing was a dud. To make a long story short, we had to wait approximately 90 minutes each night before receiving our entrees. We also had two separate nights when our food was either cold or very tough. Disney sent me a response letter indicating that they were surprised to hear my concerns because over 95% of the guests on our cruise rated their dining experience as good or above average. They also said that the problem could have been resolved if we would have notified our head waiter. The fact is, we did notify our headwaiter but it was too late to make us another entree because we had already been seated almost 2 hours. Disney also stated in the response letter that they could not make any considerations for our disappointments and hoped we would sail with them again in the future. Needless to say, we will never sail with Disney again and are really upset that they are not willing to compensate us for their short comings. Has anyone else had a situation similar to mine where guest relations just brushed off the concerns? It's almost like they just think I'm fabricating the whole story. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Well, I'll admit I never bothered to contact them.
We had the absolute worst service ever in 15 years on the Wonder 3-night in March.
I'm sort of wondering if you had the same server - I wish I could remember her name, but I've thankfully blanked it out - we were at Table 16 tho - and they kept calling it "Sweet 16" and I wanted to correct them.

I'm glad you stood up to them - I'd say call back and ask to talk to a supervisor.

Good Luck!!!

People never believe us when I tell them how awful our server was on the Wonder... seriously - 90 minutes sounds right - we had to leave before dessert and eat in the dark at Animators Palate.