Polite way to talk to servers about "excellent"

[Drew770]

This upcoming cruise is our first Disney Cruise and our first cruise ever. It is good to know about the comment cards and the "excellent" speech.

I have been in many situations where this is the norm. I have to say though, I appreciate the difference between a server saying "What can I do next time to make it excellent?" as opposed to "If you don't mark it excellent we suffer."

You can ask me all you want what you can do to make the next round better. That is very much appreciated. Trying to guilt me into doing something though just turns my stomach.

 

[Bonniec]

That's really sad. Part of my issue is my hubby and one kid are hamburger eaters. They are not into "foo-foo" foods. Our plan is to go to the MDRs and try new things. I've never had escargot and want to try. I imagine DH and DS won't eat half of what they try and will just get room service later. But that's how we will want it. It's nothing against the servers or the chefs.

So I think I will just tell the waiters flat out that I will write excellent even if we don't eat it and don't worry.

 

[miry]

I know we got the speech about how they wanted to make sure our service was excellent on the first night and reminded us to fill out the survey on the last night. I remember our server using the word excellent quite a bit but I don't remember any pressure or thinking anything of it. Truthfully it reminded of when everyone used to use the word awesome when I was a teenager or how my son and his friends constantly say epic. We've been on three so far and I really never felt pressure or uncomfortable with anything like that.

 

[clten]

We are quite accustomed to the "excellent" speech. Here's how we handle it. We expect that in the beginning we will get some type of speech about the team trying to provide excellent service. We hear the speech, let them know that we are aware of the comment card that will be coming and assure them that if we need anything, we will certainly let them know. Then if we get the "how were things tonight" and the server who wants that answered with excellent only, when they try to prod us into saying excellent, I tell them, "we can't just jump right into excellent this early in the cruise, we need to have room for improvement and I'll let you know when we've hit excellent". That usually gets them to back off from expecting us to answer "excellent" every night. Usually we start off "good", somewhere along the line when we have a great service will bump it up to "very good" and at the end (only if I intend to give them an excellent rating) tell them that things were in fact "excellent".

We have talked with several servers that we have gotten to know through the years. Yes, for some reason, they are accountable for the ratings you give to the food. Doesn't make sense to me but that's the way they do it. Our servers have explained it that they are responsible to make sure there is something that you enjoy but seriously, sometimes there is just not anything that is "excellent" to choose from and it's not worth the effort of making special requests. Unfortunately, if we really think the server when above and beyond to try to make it excellent, we will mark everything as excellent and then give notes about the food. But if they only take into account the ratings, they will never improve the food. So we try not to give too many false ratings just to help out the servers. We usually rate the food as it should be rated and make positive comments about our servers so they are not reprimanded for not trying to make it excellent.

 

[kathi]

I flat out tell them that I understand they are concerned about their comment card; but that I do not wish to be pestered or reminded my entire cruise. I assure them they will get an excellent rating if they provide me with great service and do not pester me about the card. I assure them I will let them know if I have any concerns or needs they are not meeting.

I find direct honesty is the best policy. I paid a lot for my vacation and I absolutely have no interest in being irritated with "excellent" comments at every meal.


Oh - and I totally agree that the wait staff should not in any way be responsible for the food rating in the MDR. I do not find the food in MDR "excellent" most of the time. I find the food in Palo and Remy excellent and MDR food good to very good with a few big misses. It's mass cooked food and unlikely to be "excellent" on a regular basis.

 

[DVCNuts]

We had a bad serving team on the Wonder too, back in April. I think the "A" team went to the Dream. Many of the servers on the Magic and Wonder are newer. They won't learn unless they get the right kind of feedback. Simply saying excellent doesn't send the feedback that they need.

It's a tough job. They work insane hours. I could never do it. That said, I have no problem telling a pushy server to stop doing something that I find annoying, or telling the head server to tell him.

 

[kcashner]

We were on a Celebrity cruise last week. The food was MUCH better than on DCL--it was a lot more like the food on the Magic 10 years ago, but even better. Food quality on DCL has decreased over the years.

The service on DCL (sort of an average of our 25+ cruises) is better than on Celebrity. And on BOTH lines we were told that our food quality ratings are attributed to the serving team. Makes no sense and doesn't seem fair to me. However, on the DCL comment card, I rate the server in both areas and put food quality comments on the back.

 

[over50visits]

Hi all! When we were on the Magic in May our servers were constantly harassing us to rate the food/service "excellent".... Thanks for any advice!

I feel sorry for the servers...The problems they have if one single guest marks anything but excellent are unfair and unreasonable. DCL places huge pressure on them to receive excellent ratings, and i understand why they sometimes manifest that in their conversations with us.

It's okay. My advice is to understand their work environment, be gracious, and accept their comments. It's only words. I would discuss problems with the head waiter if service were bad or there were problems the servers could not solve, but complaining about their use of "excellent" could actually hurt them. Every server so far has been wonderful on our cruises, and I'll cut them the slack of letting me know how I can help them succeed.

 

[officereg]

As someone who has worked in the hospitality industry for 15 years, I can tell you that Excellent or 10 is the only score that matters. Surveys are a little misleading, in most a good or 9 holds the same point value as a poor or 0.
Although I could imagine how annoying the constant reminder would be, the servers are trying to engrain the word Excellent in your mind so that is what you think of when the survey comes around.

 

[MiaSRN62]

I'm in the healthcare field. They are giving surveys out to patients about their hospital experience and are expecting all "excellent" scores from the nurses and ancillary staff as well. It's SO unrealistic.

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[luv that cruise]

I too hate hearing the "excellent speech". The service IS usually excellent but the food is good most of the time, not excellent. A few years ago we started keeping a log to write down comments thru out the cruise. Good things, excellent things and things that weren't so excellent. Disney is good in giving credit to people so we always include a name when we can. We attach our notes to the comment card. Year after year I comment that I would like the comment card available earlier on my cruise - to give me time to thoughtfully complete it. But instead, they wait til the last day when I am bummed about having to get off the ship, stressed trying to pack, and annoyed that I have to answer too many questions and resentful because i want to be doing fun things on my last day. I have commented before asking for more space to write in comments. Instead I feel like they don't provide the space because they don't want to take the time to read my comments. They would rather have a computer read my survey.

But to address the issue of the "speech" - we play along with it. We usually start throwing the "E" word around before they do and then it usually becomes a joke and keeps the mood light.

 

[Disneygal19]

We got off the 7 day Alaskan in July. Our poor little server did this to us everyday.

We endured it...but it was really annoying. Whenever we said good, he would say, "Can it be more excellent?" I then put him up to it. Whenever he asked, I'd think of something better he could do for us--another dish to try, a soda refill. That usually quieted him down.

We tipped him over and above the suggested amount, and would have done so even if he wasn't trying so hard.

This was our 4th cruise and it was the most persistent we've ever encountered.

It was also clear that our server and assistant server didn't get along that well. One time the server said something like, "Did I forget your cheese?" And the assistant server muttered, "You probably forgot to ask." Overall, it seemed like there was a lot of friction between the serving teams and between our head server and his employees. Our server was clearly afraid of our head server.

We also saw a server at Parrot Cay at yelled at by the head server. That was distasteful and I wish they hadn't done that in front of guests. It was at the end of lunch service. The server was stripping the tables to prep for Pirate night. He had 3 tablecloths off of 3 tables in a row. You could see the wood on the tables. The head server came over to him and said sharply, "Did you go on vacation last month?"

Server: Yes.

Head Server: Do you think things changed when you were on vacation?

Server: (silence)

Head Server: Your tables are naked. Guests do not want to see naked tables. Things aren't different just because you went on vacation.

Server: (sad silence)

I was in shock. Not that employees shouldn't be reprimanded, but at least not in front of guests while they're eating.



It seems like the servers are really getting alot of crap from DCL management for guest satisfaction, but maybe they should overhaul the morale of the team dynamic. That way we won't get pestered about "excellence."

We sadly witnessed this as well. We just had the best server ever on the Wonder Hans!! He was fun no pressure to put excellent ratings. Hugs each night and always found us on the ship just to say hi.

But our head waiter OMG I hates him. He was nasty to the severs and talked to them like they were stupid. Our nights were great til he did his rounds and after he got his tip he was gone. It's the head waiters who need to learn how to do things right

 

[over50visits]

I'm in the healthcare field. They are giving surveys out to patients about their hospital experience and are expecting all "excellent" scores from the nurses and ancillary staff as well. It's SO unrealistic.

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The fault here lies in the Disney management team, not the servers. And "every cruise line does it" never, never excuses anything that should not be done. I feel sorry for the servers.

I believe you tend to have the experience you expect...we expect great servers, and seems like we always get them. We treat them with respect, don't make demands, genuinely care about how they feel and what their story is, and trust me you get it all back in spades. DCL management chooses the easy way out by demanding "excellent" ratings instead of more difficult but more meaningful performance measures; the poor servers are stuck with it. Let them give their speech and keep using the word. Enjoy it, they will to, and your experience will be fantastic.

 

[insureman]

We have sailed on 11 DCL cruises since 2004 and I would say about about 75% of the time we have had the"excellent" speech. I usually nip in the bud before they finish the first sentence by telling them we have sailed before and know how important the comment cards are.

 

[tastefullyjenn]

Ooooh yeah. We were on the same cruise as the OP and we got lots of mentions and at least 2 conversations about the importance of "excellent". I wouldn't quite say its annoying but it is noticible and really is counter-productive. I think I'll try to take an early stance on it next go around maybe by saying, "Relax. We know about the comment card. Keep things going good without the spiel and your excellent will happen."

I absolutely LOVE this wording and am going to borrow it!

 

[ScottakaMickey]

Yes we have been getting this speech more over the years. Worse so far was on our Fantasy cruise. Tey just didn't get it. I think they thought being HYPER friendly meant excellent service. It doesn't and it was made worse when the excellent speech finally came.

For me I don't want to hear it, I want to experience it!!! If I hear it even once, then it wasn't excellent service and they must know it. Yes, I get that a lot of people don't say anything, but then give a bad rating and they are trying to not have that occur, but there are better ways that this can be dealt with then giving or asking or talking about an excellent rating. IMHO

 

[dwg]

We were on the 8/5 Magic cruise and heard the excellent speech every night. It did not bother us. These speeches are the companies fault for treating anything less than excellent as failing. I get the same speech every time I bring my cars in for service.
I feel these surveys do not allow the customer to be honest.

 

[Tehanna]

DH suggested (in jest) that we turn it into a drinking game.

 

[design_mom]

Aw, I'm sorry to hear about everybody's experience. On our cruise, our server mentioned it, but it was in a polite way. He basically just said, "I want you to feel like you received excellent service, so if there's anything we can do differently to ensure you have an excellent experience, please let us know so we may do it."

The only time I felt like they were "pushy" at all was when my daughter decided she had to go to the bathroom during dinner, even though I'd just taken her prior to entering the restaurant. (Ugh!) There was a line in the ladies room and we were gone a while. By the time I got back, my food was cold and it was not good cold. Our assistant server was practically frantic that I didn't want him to bring me something else! Really, I am fine!

 

[Mickeyhugger]

It's okay. My advice is to understand their work environment, be gracious, and accept their comments. It's only words. I would discuss problems with the head waiter if service were bad or there were problems the servers could not solve, but complaining about their use of "excellent" could actually hurt them. Every server so far has been wonderful on our cruises, and I'll cut them the slack of letting me know how I can help them succeed.

I think this is the NICEST response I've read yet. I'd rather humor them and say excellent, than to 'think' one is being helpful by being direct. IMHO, it's still rude, and that can be demoralizing. I'll send emails to DCL to let them know the food is mediocre, but that the service is above and beyond, and that I TOLD the servers I said 'excellent.'