Dream Server - Please Help Advise!

[Napoleon Dynamite]

Who did you have on the Wonder?? In November we had Norbert.... Not my favorite server. I forget the girls name who was helping him.

Katrina was the assistant server, but I don't know the servers name. He didn't leave much of an impression for me to remember, and we literally saw him yesterday lol

 

[scrapycruiser]

We always request Mario Bonilla, aka Super Mario ! We've been on 18 Disney cruises and Mario is the best !!!

 

[sefowler1]

We just had 2 back to back cruises with 2 different teams. Both were excellent. First cruise, the server was Cokorda with an assistant, Daki. They went by Coco and Daks. I can't remember where either were from. They played games with the 6 year old in our party, cut up his food, and did a great job keeping him happy and entertained. On our second cruise, we had Clayton from Jamaica, and Kateryna (Katty) from Ukraine. They were both so sweet and friendly. Our friends were not on this cruise, so I don't know how they would do with children. They were respectful of our wishes to just eat and get out to the activities.

 

[Cwusinbunny]

We are just off the dream - our team was Safet from Croatia and Santiago - Safet was absolutely amazing - there wasn't enough that he could do - he gave us good recommendations - got my son out of his shell - just truly amazing!

 

[MrsMang]

Also we, 90% of the time, are traveling as a couple so we sit with table mates. I find making requests throws off who you get seated with. I've just personally decided to go with the flow on the dining assignments as it tends to go better for us personally (better service and better table mates). Again, just me personally.

My husband and I are traveling just the two of us on a 4 day cruise in October - we are a little nervous about how the seating with other couples or families would work out. Do you have any tips for what to expect? We were leaning towards maybe requesting to be alone, but we see where it could be fun if the table mates work out. Also, do the servers seem less likely to do fun stuff when it's a table of adults? Is it always just other couples seated together?

 

[clten]

My husband and I are traveling just the two of us on a 4 day cruise in October - we are a little nervous about how the seating with other couples or families would work out. Do you have any tips for what to expect? We were leaning towards maybe requesting to be alone, but we see where it could be fun if the table mates work out. Also, do the servers seem less likely to do fun stuff when it's a table of adults? Is it always just other couples seated together?

First, Welcome to the boards.

If you want to have tablemates or not is a decision only you can make. But for us, the traditional cruise dining (being seated with others) is one of the best parts of cruising. We have made great friends with some of our tablemates that DCL has just randomly picked for us and others we've enjoyed talking with through the cruise but didn't have long connections with. We've also had others that were not so great but those we think of as theater and sit at dinner and just enjoy the show! Usually they do try to seat you with like travelers so if you are adults only, you'd most like be seated with only adults. I do think they try to match ages as best they can as well. Don't know what their formula is but we've found it's a good match more often that not.

If you think it is something you might enjoy, go for it. If you find it isn't for you or you happen to get tablemates that really would disrupt the enjoyment of your vacation, you would still have options -- you can ask the Head Server to reseat you and if you're really uncomfortable with running into them ask if you can be reseated at the opposite dining time or in another rotation; or you can use alternative dining for your meals -- Cabanas for at least the 2nd and 3rd nights or the Quick Service or Room Service.

 

[MrsMang]

First, Welcome to the boards.

If you want to have tablemates or not is a decision only you can make. But for us, the traditional cruise dining (being seated with others) is one of the best parts of cruising. We have made great friends with some of our tablemates that DCL has just randomly picked for us and others we've enjoyed talking with through the cruise but didn't have long connections with. We've also had others that were not so great but those we think of as theater and sit at dinner and just enjoy the show! Usually they do try to seat you with like travelers so if you are adults only, you'd most like be seated with only adults. I do think they try to match ages as best they can as well. Don't know what their formula is but we've found it's a good match more often that not.

If you think it is something you might enjoy, go for it. If you find it isn't for you or you happen to get tablemates that really would disrupt the enjoyment of your vacation, you would still have options -- you can ask the Head Server to reseat you and if you're really uncomfortable with running into them ask if you can be reseated at the opposite dining time or in another rotation; or you can use alternative dining for your meals -- Cabanas for at least the 2nd and 3rd nights or the Quick Service or Room Service.

Thank you! This is so helpful. I think we will give it a shot. On a past cruise on RC the dining situation was much different, but one night we did end up with another table of folks we enjoyed talking with. I was just worried about being forced into it in a sense - but it does sound like they try to make it enjoyable and there are options, so we'll leave it and see what happens!

 

[ajgardner]

So, just an update...we just got back from our cruise and had chosen not to request anyone. We probably should have and will next time. The service was great, so nothing to really complain about. However, we are a family that likes to joke around, chat and laugh with our servers; ours were very serious the entire time regardless of how much we would try to engage with them. Don't get me wrong, they were friendly and polite...but when you look around to all the other tables with their waitstaff laughing, dancing and joking with them, it's a little disappointing. It's not like it ruined anything or made a negative impact, but more interaction would have made the cruise even better. Perhaps it's because our kids are in the Edge/Vibe age bracket?

 

[chaseg03]

Hello - This will be our 4th Disney cruise coming up in April. I did not request servers for any of our past cruises because I felt pretty confident that we would like whoever we got. This was the case for the first two cruises. Our last cruise, our servers was absolute duds....no jokes, no magic, no riddles/brain teasers, no cutting kids' food, etc.. They were very professional and got the job done, so we can't complain and it didn't ruin anything for us - it just left us a little underwhelmed and disappointed. I'm not sure if we should just go with the flow again or try to request someone?
Does anyone have suggestions of a server who would be on the Dream that would bring back that "wow" feeling?

We LOVED Carlos and Manuel. They were great, friendly, knew what they were doing. We became very close even on a four night cruise. Have fun!

 

[Trera]

We are boarding the Dream for a B2B this week and am hoping that we get Kemar from Jamaica again. We have had him numerous times and always enjoy our cruises with him.

 

[taggie4]

So, just an update...we just got back from our cruise and had chosen not to request anyone. We probably should have and will next time. The service was great, so nothing to really complain about. However, we are a family that likes to joke around, chat and laugh with our servers; ours were very serious the entire time regardless of how much we would try to engage with them. Don't get me wrong, they were friendly and polite...but when you look around to all the other tables with their waitstaff laughing, dancing and joking with them, it's a little disappointing. It's not like it ruined anything or made a negative impact, but more interaction would have made the cruise even better. Perhaps it's because our kids are in the Edge/Vibe age bracket?

Who did you have? We had a similar experience in being disappointed. Our first cruise was a 7 day on the Magic and the service was amazing. Then we did a 4 night on the Dream and the service lacked all of the Disney magic It was super disappointing. Until this board I did not know you could request but I think I will for our next cruise.