Food & Service - Anyone else disappointed?

[RJake1]

We've been on 5 or 6 (can't remember) DCL cruises and with the latest (July 30 West Coast) we were most disappointed in food and service. We had APL rotation.

Our wait staff was friendly but did not spend much time at all interacting with the children. On all the past cruises the wait staff really made the kids feel special but this team seemed too busy to bother. My DD was very disappointed.

The wait staff also disappeared for long stretches. Ordering a second drink was useless. By the time it came it was time for dessert and coffee.

One time I went to order the lower cal dinner (grilled salmon I think) and the waitress said no don't do that its so bland, blah blah. I thought that was out of line. People concerned about diet for whatever reason shouldn't be made to feel uncomfortable with their order.

The food overall was just 'ok' and not up to quality of past DCL cruises. Most times it was served not hot...not cold...just lukewarm.

I hope we just had a bad week (crowded ship, etc) and this is not indicative of a downward trend in quality and service for DCL.

Anyone else?

 

[staceymerrill]

Quite the contrary!!!!!

.....we thought the changes made to the menus from previous cruises on our recent 7- day back in May were extraordinary....more seafood and meat selections, and better overall presentation, freshly prepared and delicious...In fact, we used to lament about the chasm between the quality in the dining rotation restaurants and Palo....we thought DCL has closed that gap considerably now....What specifically did you not like about the food????

As for service.....The Head waiter is there to ensure nothing short of excellent service...if, for any reason, we were not satisfied with the performance of our waitstaff, we would have expressed our concerns immediately to the Head Waiter who I am confident would fix the situation .....

Sorry you were not satisfied....

 

[pppiglet]

We haven't been on any other cruises to compare the food with, but our June 11th cruise food was excellent!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

We just went in January and May and had excellant food and service, we have done 7 DCL cruises and all were great.
Maybe you just had an off week, however they should not of had an entire week like that. Next time alert your head waiter and it will be fixed what ever the problem is. That is his job. Dont be afraid to write DCL to voice your disappointment. If you write a constructive letter and explain the problems it will help them to make sure this does not happen again.
I have written about other things and have seen many possitive changes which I know have been brought about by the guests comments. Disney does listen, and takes every letter seriously. ( I have family that works for WDW so I know about these things first hand)
Just go to DCL official web site, and at the bottom of some of the pages it says contact us. Click on that and write them a letter.
Hope your next cruise is more up tp the Disney standard.
mom x4,grandma x4

 

[goofyguy7]

Sorry to hear your wait staff was not good; ours was great. They did spend time with the kids, they checked every few minutes to see if anything was needed, and most importantly they made sure we knew about the dessert buffet! They even told the head waiter that we did not know and he went and got a Navigator to show us were it was listed.

If they would not have said anything we probably would have missed it.

I miss the crusie (June 25th) but I still have the extra weight to remind me!

 

[Mickeyhugger]

I think we increase our chances of having a bad experiences with the more trips we take, and alas, this must have been your 'unlucky' trip.

Most likely, you'll have a better experience next time, (if it hasn't soured you wanting to book again, which, understandably could.)

The only thing I disagree with is the waitstaff suggesting not to order a certain dish. They might have really spared you from ordering something that tasted awful. On our first cruise, I was going to order a certain dish at dinner one night, and our waiter (who was GREAT) blatantly said, 'I really wouldn't order it if I were you. It's not that good tonight.' I was grateful I didn't waste my meal.

 

[giovanni11]

I have to agree with what you said, we were also on the July 30th cruise and we have cruised twice before. This is the first time that the wait staff in my opinion was not as good as before. The food was better then the other cruises but still not top quality. Strangely enough I experienced the same thing from our waiter when I ordered the Vegetarian meal. He kept telling me am I sure that is what I wanted. AS it was the vegetable curry was not too bad. I think when dining on the disney cruise or any cruise for that matter the wait staff is very important and when you get a not so good waiter it really puts a damper on things.

Mara

 

[macbaby]

I have to agree with you. I found the service overall to be fair, no exceptional moments at all with any staff. At lunch we even witnessed one dining room server pick up a bread plate and knife off a used table, wipe it off with the napkin and place it on a table set for dinner! Yes, we reported it, but still!! I also thought the food was ok, but not much better than what I have had served in the parks. Overall, I was disappointed - nothing that I wanted a second serving.

In somewhat defense, I have cruised on many lines over the last 2 decades. The service and food quality has declined across the board. Ahhh, I long for the days when we dressed for dinner every night and the waiters wore white gloves.

 

[florida-again]

I'm a little nervous about the things people have written about the waiters putting pressure on you to order/not order a certain dish. I think I could put up with it my BF's patience may waver after a while!

 

[mmouse37]

I'm a little nervous about the things people have written about the waiters putting pressure on you to order/not order a certain dish. I think I could put up with it my BF's patience may waver after a while!

It is not pressure....they make recommendations and suggestions.....you order what you want. They will definately advise you if they think a dish is not up to par that night, but the decision is ultimately yours....there is nothing to be nervous about....

MJ

 

[jhorstma]

The wait staff also disappeared for long stretches. Ordering a second drink was useless. By the time it came it was time for dessert and coffee.

Amen to that - we had the same experience. If you wanted a 2nd drink or a glass of wine with dinner you better have had ordered it when the first drink orders were taken or else you'd be stuck with water. I can't really fault the servers as they seemed to be sprinting to get all the food out, but any normal restaurant would have servers at your beck and call for addn' drinks. My other complaint was that you'd get all sorts of appetizers and extra desserts without asking for them, but the unique requests (e.g., dessert souffles when not on the menu) got blank stares.

But they did know how to repeat the line about "excellent" service.

 

[Contrariwise]

I'm a little nervous about the things people have written about the waiters putting pressure on you to order/not order a certain dish. I think I could put up with it my BF's patience may waver after a while!

My waiter did the same when I was ordering a vegetarian dish (maybe they're supposed to push the "main meals" and not the "lighter fare"?). He stopped me mid sentence and said "No,no, no. I can't let you order that." and moved on to my husband. I sat there confused for a moment, then he came back and said "And what would you like for your entree?" I was soo flustered!! I quickly just ordered the pasta. Uncomfortable!!!! I'd be prepared for this just in case- I had no idea this could ever happen (honestly would've preferred bad food over this bizarre exchange!). And if you're really nervous, just stick to the main menu LOL!

Oh, and we had 6 children at our table and interaction with the waiters was nonexistent. Took their orders (wrong on occasion) and that was it. We also only ordered drinks on the first night. We were never asked again (would've liked something different the other nights and tried to ask, but no luck. Only the drink from the first night came).
Special orders also didn't happen. DD6 tried to order spaghetti that wasn't on the menu (was the night before) and he just told her to order something that was on the menu. She sulked through the whole meal and only ate a mickey bar that night! Our cruise was at the end of July- 4 day.

 

[KEH]

My waiter did the same when I was ordering a vegetarian dish (maybe they're supposed to push the "main meals" and not the "lighter fare"?).

Well, they're going to have fun with us then because DH, DD and I are all vegetarian! LOL.

BTW, if they think the vegetarian choice counts as lighter fare, they're wrong - I was usually stuffed after eating mine!

 

[jlawall]

My opinion is that the food was better than ever. We had an experienced waiter was terrific (Dwight from Jamaica).

Our assistant server was not as good, we had a similar problem with the beverages. In his defense, I'm not sure if he was new, had too many tables or what but several of the people in my family were frustrated about drinks.

Overall, the DCL food service is getting better and better. After 5 cruises we have been happier with each one.

 

[inkkognito]

Don't worry about ordering the vegetarian dishes...my husband, who is a "meat and potatoes" man, just LOVES most of the veggie dishes on board. On one trip, he ordered them as research for our website, and he liked some so much that he orders them all the time now. The servers have never harrassed him for it
Barb

 

[gouodux]

Wow, we had a totally different experience than the OP. We too were on the July 30th Mexico cruise and had the same dining rotation - APL. We did have late dining and our servers were excellent. After the 2nd night we didn't really even have to order our beverages, they knew exactly what we wanted. Both totally interacted with our children to a great extent. Took photo's with them, gave them hugs every night . . . Including on the final night in AP, asking our girls to dance with them and whisking them away to have a great time. The girls totally enjoyed them and are even asking in they will be onboard our next cruise.

 

[mom+3girls]

I will be crusing in 3 weeks.

If someone complains about the service and it doesn't get any better should you deduct it from the tip or still tip the recommended amount?

For those of you that have received bad service have you left the recommended tip?

The business that I am in I receive tips, so by no means would I ever want to slight anyone on a tip unless of course I have received bad service.

I am just trying to find out what to do if I receive bad service on the cruise.
thanks

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Cruised DCL 4x. On our last cruise, our service was wonderful. Our food was not. The dinners were much worse tasting this past March than any other time in the past.

As an example - in spring 2002, out of 7 dinners, 6 were excellent and 1 was very good. In spring 2004, out of 7 dinners, 2 were excellent, 5 were not very good at all. Luckily, the combination of a few delicious desserts, great tablemates, and great service, made it a nice experience.

Tink

 

[LiserAnn]

I guess it's all who you get and/or attitude. We were on the July 30th cruise and we had Rodger from Jamaica as our server and Ever-Lee from the Phillipines as our asst. server. They were wonderful! Ever-lee took our drink orders the first night and then we had drinks for the rest of the week in an orderly fashion. Rodger made great food recommendations and was very attentive to the EIGHT children in our group and he insisted the adults sit at one table the kids at a different table...they took great care of our kids. I was very happy with them and their service.

Not every dish was outstanding, some were better than others; it all depended on what we ordered...much like in a restaurant. There have been times in a restaurant I ordered something I didn't like...the cruise was no different. Overall I was VERY happy with our food and the servers. Everyone has a different experience and that's how it goes (although re-using a plate is NOT acceptable to me either...yuk).......

 

[4formickey]

After 8 months or so on the boat ,I guess you would be" a little not so in the mood." Well maybe the staff was noit feeling good for that trip or some thing was not right in the food lamp that keeps the things warm. Go to cruisejunkie.com and read some of the reports that these cruise workers must do or put up with while they are at work serving you and me. Some times they must payoff supervisers to get bigger tables oor clean the higher cat. rooms. Some are sexual harressed or even raped and don't say any thing so they may keep their jobs. Before we point a bad finger at them we should walk in their shoes to find out what they must endure to stay on that boat or any boat.