Disappointing dinner service

[BillO]

We had the worst dinner service on our most recent Disney Fantasy cruise. Our dinning time was 8:15 pm and on two of the four nights the main entree was served at 9:25 pm. The food was lukewarm at best. On the last night, the dessert menus were presented at 9:50 pm. We ended up skipping dessert the last night to have time to place the luggage outside our stateroom. This was our 19th cruise and never experienced anything like this.

 

[AquaDame]

We had the worst dinner service on our most recent Disney Fantasy cruise. Our dinning time was 8:15 pm and on two of the four nights the main entree was served at 9:25 pm. The food was lukewarm at best. On the last night, the dessert menus were presented at 9:50 pm. We ended up skipping dessert the last night to have time to place the luggage outside our stateroom. This was our 19th cruise and never experienced anything like this.

Did you speak to anyone - especially the head waiter - about your disappointment..? Eating that late would never work for us!

 

[justafigment27]

I’m sorry. We had a terrible dining experience on DCL several years ago and it really put a damper on the whole cruise. It was just that one time, but if it had been our first Disney cruise, it probably would have been the last. It’s one of those things you take for granted until it goes sideways (and, honestly, I feel like we should take excellent service for granted with the price DCL commands).

 

[Katesdad]

Over the 13 we have been on we have only had one that stands out as the "worst" dining service we could possibly have ever had experienced. Waiters were more interested in one table than the rest they had to work. Waiters weren't rude but defiantly weren't friendly. Food service suffered because of the waiter's lack of attention. We were 5:45 diners so they had to get us out of there which I am sure is why our dinner did not extend as long as the OP. We did not speak to the head waiter as he was no where to be found. This was the only cruise we did not put any extra cash in the tipping envelope for any of the dining room employees and commented on their bad performance on our evaluation card. ALL OTHER cruises have been great to exceptional service. Food on the other hand is defiantly going downhill.
Katesdad

 

[holula]

I’ve also had this once (and then a second time but not as extreme.) We spoke to head waiter on night one as the other table the team had were the only table the server (the assistant was fine) was paying attention to and it took 45 mins to even order food. Night two it didn’t improve and we had another team who covered half of that dinner. We did Palo/Remy the other two nights. It really does put a damper on that cruise and honestly it’s a big reason why the Dream is my least favourite (both of these were on the Dream about 11 years apart!)

 

[mousefan73]

Our Dream experience was like this on a European sailing.. 7 nights and every night it took at least 20 minutes to order and get our drinks... each night..that was the slow start.

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

We had something similar happen on our 7-night cruise on the Wonder in April. We had 1st seating, and the service was very slow each night. We were constantly one of the last tables to leave the MDR each night. It was almost like the server and assistant server were not in sync with each other. So everything was slow from the ordering to the drinks to the food to the dessert. They did get better as the cruise went on, but still never hit the standard that we had on previous cruises.

Psy

 

[bakerworld]

We've had a couple of poor experiences in the MDR of DCL on various ships. Sometimes I think the staff were trying too hard and some not enough. I really REALLY dislike the dessert joke. When we eat at the MDR I make 3 selections and one is dessert. DH likes to dine on our own. This really only was a good experience on one cruise. We stopped ordering special beverages - just beer or wine - so we can make a quick getaway. LOL. Good news for the waitstaff that 'reads' us correctly is a huge additional tip.

Long way of saying, I can understand your disappointment. We never talked to the Head/Checker guy because I didn't want the wait staff to suffer for my pickiness.

 

[tidefan]

Sigh... I so wish that Cabanas/MM was open for dinner. We would go there probably at least half of the time.

 

[MomOTwins]

We were on the Fantasy last week and noticed the same. Food just wasn’t as good as it has been in past. No magic tricks. Some mistakes in wrong thing brought. I suspect the Fantasy may have lost some more experienced staff to the Treasure.

 

[kiford]

We had a terrible assistant server on our Baltic cruise a few years ago. He simply couldn't get the orders right, and we had to leave one night before paying the bill because we had a tasting at 10:30 pm, and after asking three times, he still hadn't brought it by (paid it the next night). We complained three times over three nights to the Head Server, and he was eventually replaced (the assistant server, not the head server ); after the first night, they got some additional help, but he still couldn't keep up. We could not have been happier with him - the replacement was incredible. It pays to let the Head Server know when things are not up to par.

On our last Fantasy cruise (Jan 24) DH complained that his entree was lukewarm on the first two nights. The Head Server checked every single night after that to make sure it was at the right temperature (it was). While obviously, not all Head Servers are necessarily of the same calibre, for us, it was worth letting them know that things were not as expected, and they fixed our issues. Never be afraid to let them know politely that you have higher expectations, what the issue is and how you'd like it fixed.

 

[SnowWhite2]

I have started to have a "first night" talk sequence in the MDR. I tell them I've cruised many times on DCL and I know the excellence speech. If I don't get excellent service I will let them know so they can correct the situation and become excellent. Therefore, I don't need the excellent speech during the cruise. It has worked so far.

 

[BillO]

Did you speak to anyone - especially the head waiter - about your disappointment..? Eating that late would never work for us!

I didn't say anything the first time it occurred on the second night of dinner. Based on past experience, I thought it was a one-time hiccup! However, I did express my disappointment in the cruise survey.

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

I’ve also had this once (and then a second time but not as extreme.) We spoke to head waiter on night one as the other table the team had were the only table the server (the assistant was fine) was paying attention to and it took 45 mins to even order food. Night two it didn’t improve and we had another team who covered half of that dinner. We did Palo/Remy the other two nights. It really does put a damper on that cruise and honestly it’s a big reason why the Dream is my least favourite (both of these were on the Dream about 11 years apart!)

I agree. The Dream is our least favorite. We won't sail on it again.

We think the last voyage before the ships enter dry dock seem to have the worst quality food. Service is usually ok, it's the food prep and quality that suffers.

"They're cleaning out the freezer" was one passengers remark.

 

[RedHead0186]

I didn't say anything the first time it occurred on the second night of dinner. Based on past experience, I thought it was a one-time hiccup! However, I did express my disappointment in the cruise survey.

In the future, you may want to be sure you bring your concerns to the head server. Doing so gives them a chance to correct the issue. While putting it in the survey is one way of giving feedback, doing so can have a negative effect on their opportunity for promotion, assignment on newer ships, etc. I personally think it's a little unfair to 'ding' them on the survey without giving them an opportunity to correct what's wrong. And your type of situation is exactly what the head server is there for-to deal with issues.

We had a less than ideal experience a couple of cruises ago. We were concierge and had a one-bedroom suite, so took advantage of having the MDR meals delivered to our room a few nights. Despite explaining this to our serving team several times and assuring them us not dining in the MDR had nothing to do with their service, the main server continued to be overly attentive and be constantly seeking reassurance from us. I get that they are very reliant on tips and getting good reviews, so they get nervous when they think that's not going to happen (and I do put some blame on DCL for creating that mentality). But, we had told him several times it wasn't him, and he seemed not to believe us. Even the head server seemed a bit annoyed by this (based on comments he made to us). In that case, we did note that in our post-cruise survey because it did put a damper on our MDR experience, and we had communicated several times about it and the behavior continued. In that case I didn't feel bad putting that on the survey because we did give him an opportunity to improve (and he didn't).

 

[brentm77]

It's one of the reasons that I liked dining so much more on Celebrity. Four restaurants to pick from. Show up any time. If you happened to get a bad service team, you could just pick a different restaurant or ask for a different server the next night. But the service was actually excellent every night, easily matching the very best service we have had on Disney, and much better than the worst service. The rotational dining thing on Disney is fun for families with kids, but it's charm has faded for me, and the stale menus don't help. It's a big investment to make to gamble that you could have an entire week of bad service. It's not enough to keep us away from DCL, but it's a factor when looking at options.

Edit: I also dislike the strange insecurity and comments from the DCL servers when you decide to skip dinner and chill at the pool, or go to Palo or Remy. It's all just too close and personal for my taste for an entire week. The strange thing is that I used to like it, but I think that's because the service always exceptional on our first several cruises, and it was nice having them know my tastes. It's too hit or miss now - plus I am getting old and more introverted I think.

 

[Cassi Baskette]

We just had a bad experience on The Wish this past week. Had the 8:15 dining. Seating was two parties of 2 and a party of one by themselves. The party of One had food wrong EVERY NIGHT. I felt so bad for them. Food service was incredibly slow. On the final night ALL 5 of us got the wrong food. Cooked to the wrong temperature. Ended up missing the adult Halloween party because it was so slow. I’ve been on the Wish in April 2023 and it was excellent. Going again in a few weeks. Hoping it is a better experience. Went on Fantasy last October and it was so good.

 

[Cfabar1]

We had a bad crew on our recent Magic cruise… Was actually very surprised given the smaller size of our ship. We were appalled on many levels at how poor the service was. If it were our first DCL cruise coming back would have been an open question. That said, the food was the best we had had on any DCL cruise, so that was great!

We have had our best dining experiences on the Dream. I am sorry yours was not.