Have your servers ever "begged" for a good review on the survey?

[wwwosie]

I mean the assistant server ... when I would make small talk and ask how she was doing ... actually wrinkled her nose on several occassions and said "hmm not that great" ... ! and was kind of a downer ...

Well... she was being HONEST

Our assistant server was also not happy on his cruise but it didn't really affect the service and we didn't get the speech. The only reason I know the assistant server wasnt' happy was becasue he shared with me in Spanish when I asked him directly how he liked working on a cruise ship.

Although I wasn't wowed by our servers, it seemed that the people in front of us were having a blast with theirs. That said, my DD10 was the only kid at the table and they did take good care of her (We were on a mom-daughter trip... just the two of us).

Our head server was really nice, she even gave me a button to take to my DH (who was left behind in California) congratulating him on our recent wedding anniversary...

I sort of remember the speech but that didn't affect my rating of the team. I did give outstanding marks to two other Cast Members who went out of their way to make DD's experience great.

 

[disneylove69]

The first few nights I had problems of just getting food and when I did get it the temperature was cold. I let the Head Waiter know and she brought the Head Chef out so I could explain my problem. After that I had prompt and hot food. I gave great scores and the last morning we went for breakfast saw the waiter for two seconds and he was gone. No seconds on juice.

 

[jilljill]

The first few nights I had problems of just getting food and when I did get it the temperature was cold. I let the Head Waiter know and she brought the Head Chef out so I could explain my problem. After that I had prompt and hot food. I gave great scores and the last morning we went for breakfast saw the waiter for two seconds and he was gone. No seconds on juice.

That is not uncommon on the last morning for b'fast. They try to push you out of there rather quickly to turn the ship over for the next guests. I usually order 2 juices right off the bat.

 

[Deb T.]

On a 3-night cruise in April '07, DH and I were seated at a table for 6 with four college-aged girls who were on spring break. Each night, our service was mediocre at best. On the last night, our server went into a very long speech about how important it was for all of us to give him and his asst. server excellent ratings. Then, he went around the table and asked us, one by one, to tell him the rating we were going to give him! Of course, we all answered "excellent", but in reality gave him lower marks AND noted his behavior on the bottom of the comment card.

I agree with the statements mentioned already about how a good server team does not need to beg for good ratings. We've been on 8 Disney cruises and have had some great servers and some poor servers. As long as the servers are doing the best they can and have been nice to us, we give them excellent ratings.

 

[Cap'n Boris]

As a past crew member (not F&B) I thought it might be worthwhile to mention how survey results are weighted by management.

In no way am I condoning or pardoning poor service or behaviour. This situation is not unique onboard, but is far more visible in the dining room.

Performance ratings are usually calculated not on the poor-excellent scale but purely on the number of 'excellent' responses received.

Unfortunately many managers (especially in the highly competitive dining rooms) then consider a response of "Good", even from every guest on a cruise, to be a failure to achieve "excellent".

If you then realise that a contract of straight "excellent" responses can be written off by a single negative comment you can realise how some F&B staff get so nervous around comment time. Some handle the stresses better than others (ie the ones who seem completely nonplussed by the whole affair).

Once again, I'm not trying to excuse poor performance or defend the "excellent" rating system.
I just thought that, as DISers seem to be far better informed than your average cruiser it was worth explaining that there IS a marked difference between "good" and "excellent".

Hopefully that makes things as clear as the water at CC.

Cheers.

 

[anna08]

Having not cruised yet (only a short time left until the Wonder!), my only experience with this has been with the service and sales departments of Toyota and Lexus. It comes across very inappropriate to me for the employees to tell me that I need to evaluate them any way other than honestly and makes me a bit disgusted. I am in a customer service field and it is a reality that there will be customers whom you can't make happy. I have rarely ever had to apologize for my service, as I always try to treat the consumer like I would want my family member treated. If someone is working hard and has the right attitude, I'm very forgiving. Sadly, I just don't think the average worker cares that much.