Disney Wish - Dining rooms felt rushed

[tgarre06]

We just got off the Disney Wish yesterday and had a great time. One thing that was consistent at every meal was hectic dining that felt really rushed, like as soon as they gave us the menus they literally asked 1 minute later for our order. Then we would receive our appetizer and our entree would be served within minutes after. The servers were lovely and kind, so I don’t knock them for this. I don’t remember it being this rushed when we went on Dream 8 years ago, but I was traveling with a toddler and in the thick of it, so I may just not have noticed or remember. Is this how Disney dining rooms tend to be, or are some ships more mellow and less rushed than others? We want to book another Disney cruise, and I just wanted to see if there was any difference between ships.

 

[NAB]

It’s because of the dinner shows , they even ask what you want for dessert.

 

[5Texans]

Which dining time did you have? I felt that there was more rush in early dining. Of course, if there’s a show, then that will dictate pace.

 

[tgarre06]

2nd dining

 

[OhThePain]

All mass-marketed, family-oriented cruise lines are like this now. More people voiced their opinions that MDR dinners were taking up too much of their time, so now they try to get people in and out as fast as possible. It is also why a lot of cruise lines have more space vested for quicker sit down meals.

I personally miss the days of 2+hour dinners, where formal nights for men meant tuxes and semiformal meant suites (as a teen I hated those nights), some dishes and deserts were prepared table side and after dinner drinks and coffee and cappuccinos were the norm. Now my wife and I (no kids) are basically rushed in and out of any MDR or specialty restaurant in 45 minutes. At least with the dinner shows on DCL, things are not as rushed as they are on the other lines.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Maybe I'm just hungrier than the average bear but I fully prefer this.

 

[buzzrelly]

We just got off the Treasure and I commented that the dining rooms were so rushed and yet the service so slow. Like the servers gave us our menus and came back two minutes later for our orders and then also needed to know what our dessert order was! We were like,”Oh my gosh! Ok, let me look again first a sec!” And then the meal dragged on and on and it took forever to get a refill of our sodas, never mind asking for more salsa for the chips. Not a great experience. Things were slightly better after that first night but the servers seemed STRESSED throughout the cruise.

 

[tgarre06]

We just got off the Treasure and I commented that the dining rooms were so rushed and yet the service so slow. Like the servers gave us our menus and came back two minutes later for our orders and then also needed to know what our dessert order was! We were like,”Oh my gosh! Ok, let me look again first a sec!” And then the meal dragged on and on and it took forever to get a refill of our sodas, never mind asking for more salsa for the chips. Not a great experience. Things were slightly better after that first night but the servers seemed STRESSED throughout the cruise.

This is exactly how our dining was on the Wish. Hurry up and order, wait forever for refills or replenishment of anything. And it was not due to the servers slacking or hanging around, they were constantly hustling. I’m from the Boston area and live a very fast paced life where I’m constantly doing 5 things at once and eating standing up, so for me to feel like something was rushed means something.

We are consider the smaller Magic. Can anyone comment on if due to it being smaller and more intimate it is a little less rushed?

 

[SnowWhite2]

I’ve never felt rushed on any of our cruises. We normally have main dining.

Our last DCL cruise was a disaster service wise as all of the servers tables spoke only Spanish and he didn’t. The assistant serviced those tables and the main server did our table. We were on a B2B2B so we had been with this team for over a week. Also people came to dinner whenever they felt like it. So people would come in to 5:45 dinner at 6:30 or 7 pm. Not just one table but at least a dozen groups would show up after 6:15/6:30pm. The one time people showed up at 7pm the head server wouldn’t seat them. Not sure what was said but it was ridiculous how late people strolled in for dinner. That cruise left from San Juan and many of the people only spoke Spanish. Animator’s palatte with an area that only spoke Spanish left poor Crush with no one to interact with! I didn’t realize at the time that the entire section only spoke Spanish. I didn’t want to interact with Crush as I wanted to let the kids do it. I would have done it if I knew they didn’t know what was going on!

 

[tvguy]

Interesting based on comments on these boards over the years. The frequent comment is that dinner takes too long. A lot of folks seem to have fast food expectations. Been years since we cruised Disney, and that was on the Magic and dinner usually was 2 hours. That was quick based on my cruises on other lines. My first cruise, they only had one seating, at 6 pm, and dinner was a 3 1/2 hour 12 course production. And that ship had no alternate dining options. It DID have a Midnight buffet that went until 2 am.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Was on the Treasure in January. 5 of us friends at the table. Didn’t seem any different than any DCL main menu experience. The salsa was definitely replaced for us in the Coco restaurant when the chips were served!

 

[Kwami]

I was on the Wish last month and I didn't feel rushed. I don't think any dinner was less than 90 minutes and there were always plenty of people still there when we left each night. We had the second dinner seating.

We are consider the smaller Magic. Can anyone comment on if due to it being smaller and more intimate it is a little less rushed?

On my last Magic cruise, they combined everyone into a single dinner seating at 6:30pm and it was crazy. The tables were too close together and some of them didn't have the usual signs to mark the table number. The piano music in Lumiere's didn't happen. The servers were so busy that we never had time to talk to them at all unless we were ordering something. No puzzles or origami or any of that fun stuff.

So, I guess it depends on how full your cruise is. We were on a repositioning cruise, so there weren't enough guests to justify two dinner seatings, but there were obviously too many guests for just one. Unfortunately, Disney chose what worked best for them rather than what worked best for the guests.

 

[katyringo]

I was on the Wish last month and I didn't feel rushed. I don't think any dinner was less than 90 minutes and there were always plenty of people still there when we left each night. We had the second dinner seating.


On my last Magic cruise, they combined everyone into a single dinner seating at 6:30pm and it was crazy. The tables were too close together and some of them didn't have the usual signs to mark the table number. The piano music in Lumiere's didn't happen. The servers were so busy that we never had time to talk to them at all unless we were ordering something. No puzzles or origami or any of that fun stuff.

So, I guess it depends on how full your cruise is. We were on a repositioning cruise, so there weren't enough guests to justify two dinner seatings, but there were obviously too many guests for just one. Unfortunately, Disney chose what worked best for them rather than what worked best for the guests.

We leave on a magic repo cruise in 12 days. I will be pretty upset if this happens. Our cruise seems full tho. Only inside cabins left.

 

[Kwami]

We leave on a magic repo cruise in 12 days. I will be pretty upset if this happens. Our cruise seems full tho. Only inside cabins left.

Ours was the NY to San Juan cruise a few years ago. We were indeed quite upset! Not just because of the extra chaos at dinner, but because the changes completely messed up our first day plans. The cruise started on Halloween and we wanted to dress up for dinner, but there wasn't enough time. If we'd had our usual 8:15 dinner time, then everything would have worked out great!

Oh, well. It was still a great cruise otherwise!

 

[Agent 86]

We are consider the smaller Magic. Can anyone comment on if due to it being smaller and more intimate it is a little less rushed?

We haven't cruised on the Magic for a while, but for our recent cruises on the Wonder, the second sitting didn't feel "rushed".

But, we were often scrambling to look at the menus quickly to order, it took a long time to get drink refills, etc and the food itself took quite a while to come out. So, the "ordering" felt a bit rushed, although we got comfortable asking for an extra 5/10 minutes. But, the food and drink service itself was ... quite slow. This wasn't due to the servers - they seemed to be working very hard (at least it appeared so to me). We were often one of the last ... 5/10 tables to leave, despite always arriving on time.

Given the "shared table" arrangements for most, I do think they need to allow more time for guests to exchange pleasantries, etc. It seems a bit rude to get to the table and immediately pick up the menu and "ignore" your fellow diners. I guess we could try to circumvent that by reviewing the menu on the app, but I want to spend less time on my phone, not more!

 

[Flossbolna]

I think they are so quick with the orders because many people will have looked at the menu in the app and will already have made a decision. So, these people would complain when given 10 minutes to read through the menu. In my experience you can communicate your speed preferences clearly to your servers and the good ones will adjust to have the speed to your liking.

 

[Racer X]

Agreed - same with the Dream. It felt like the Hunger games in there... I think that the servers have more tables (imo) and they are bouncing around all over the place. I don't mind not sitting for 2 hours but it is not even close to a relaxed environment.

 

[tgarre06]

Cracking up with the Hunger Games analogy

 

[Racer X]

Cracking up with the Hunger Games analogy

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

Walking into the MDR and the maitre' d greets you: May the odds be ever in your favor