Server Pressure for "Excellent"

[manateesmom]

Ali came to our table every night. He made sure we were very happy. On nights we went to Palo they asked if we had any problems.

Maybe I'm just fussy, but this is one of the things that bugs me about dining rooms on cruise ships. I love for my room steward to be attentive and to be sure that everything is just right. But I don't need the third degree from my wait staff any time I decide to skip the MDR for dinner. Every ship I've ever been on, if I do a late excursion and have dinner elsewhere, it's always some big production when I come back, like I was literally Amber-alert "missing" in action and the wait staff was afraid I'd starve to death or something. There's always some big interrogation about where I was and if it was because I was unhappy with them. And I always hear way too much about the wait staff's personal lives and tragedies.

I find the whole dining experience, on pretty much every cruise ship, to be like a very clingy/stalky boyfriend/girlfriend. When I'm present, thank you for noticing if I need a drink refill, and for bringing me more of the rolls I like. But my whereabouts when I'm not at dinner are none of your business, and the insecurity about whether I like you enough just makes me uncomfortable.

Also, to me it doesn't suggest that "we want you to have an excellent experience," it suggests that the ship is kind of out-of-control and someone needs to be constantly policing and checking up on the level of service. When I dine at a great restaurant, there aren't multiple people interjecting themselves into my dining experience all the time to get reassurance that they're doing their jobs correctly. It's almost like, "if you have to ask, then you're not being excellent."

 

[pjacobi]

It's not just Disney or other cruise line, it's ***all*** businesses wants Excellent rating on comment cards.

It's the latest management fad from Dilbert's pointy-haired boss.

One day, somebody will write a new popular management book, starting a new fad and "Excellent" will long be forgotten.


-Paul

 

[over50visits]

Who should instruct DCL to do this?

Walt!

 

[Madzac]

It's not just Disney or other cruise line, it's ***all*** businesses wants Excellent rating on comment cards.

It's the latest management fad from Dilbert's pointy-haired boss.

One day, somebody will write a new popular management book, starting a new fad and "Excellent" will long be forgotten.


-Paul

This is so true. I work in a medical clinic. There is a huge push for patient satisfaction. And of course, its a goal to have patients be well cared for and treated well. We do that and should do that. And someone can have a fine expereince in the clinic but is it excellent? If I go in with a bladder infection and get my meds and everything goes fine, the visit is fine, right? Well if we dont get 5's on our survery it affects bonuses and pay, etc.

Also, some people are harder to satisfy than others... some people may not give an excellent no matter what. "excellent" vs "very good" are subjective.

I dont know what the answer is. We wouldnt think of telling our patients to give us all 5s on the survery. But it sure is frustrating when you work your tail off and cant get what I feel is a hard to attain score. So while I dont like that the servers do this, I guess in some ways I can understand.

 

[JKSWonder]

Our servers were very nice, didn't push for excellent the whole week, but on the last night, our head server did make a big push for it and it was uncomfortable being forced to listen to the spiel. It was my intention to give him an excellent review all along and it was actually the big push on that last night that made me re-think. I did end up giving an excellent rating, but that last night did give me pause about that for a moment.

We do surveys for my office that I send to clients to ask about their experience with us. I never make a "push" for a good rating for myself. I just tell them we are conducting a survey of all clients and would appreciate their input as we hope same will help us to improve client services in the future. That's it.

I wouldn't mind if the server just reminded us on the last night to fill out a comment card before we disembark, but they shouldn't push for any particular rating.

 

[mmmears]

I find the whole dining experience, on pretty much every cruise ship, to be like a very clingy/stalky boyfriend/girlfriend.

This line you wrote literally had me laughing out loud. Thanks for the giggle -- but I do agree with you. Our servers seemed a bit put off that DH and I went to Palo one night for dinner -- even though my DM and DD went to the MDR.

 

[Justacruiser]

Excellence is the small stuff!

Last month on my cruise, It was the Semi-formal night with the lobster. I was torn between steak and lobster and my server had to have heard my undecidedness. I ordered steak. I was brought out both steak and lobster. Not asked for, but appreciated. And yes, I finished the steak and lobster.

 

[kalc12345]

Ali came to our table every night. He made sure we were very happy. On nights we went to Palo they asked if we had any problems.

Our table mates had a child who was very allergic and the team made sure everything was always proper.

This family told us how they never go out to eat because of the risk and even brought a weeks worth of food for their son. After talking with the chefs it was not a issue and they were so happy and relaxed they had a great time. Even letting the son stay in kids clubs for a extended time which they had never done in the past!

Sometimes your servers maybe helping a family like that and it may take away from your service a little.

We had Ali on a previous cruise. Our son has some food allergies. Ali shared with us that he himself had some serious food allergies. He was SO GOOD with making sure our son had safe food. I think with him having allergies it made him more aware and sensitive to that issue.

 

[erinfarber]

We have RARELY had any issues with service or dinner. The few times...a gentle word to the waiters produced wonders. They work so hard, and seem to genuinely want to please us. We treat them with a lot of respect, don't ask for special things that would take them a lot of time, and always ask how THEIR day was. Guests probably have the experience they expect to have, and we have had a ball every single time.

I like your advice as far as asking the servers how their day was. I have only done 1 Disney cruise ( actually our first cruise ever) and the service was very good, not great. But it never occurred to me to ask them how their day was. I was so focused on making sure they took care of us. It never occurred to me to actually be human and respond with ... Well how was your day? This is excellent advice. Not because asking how their day was would reflect better on our service, But because , I actually do care about their day, and I am very embarrassed to admit, I never asked. Lesson learned. Thank you.

 

[Wadekind]

We just had these three also and I had to really think about if they ever mentioned excellent. They did mention the comment cards at the end and they always ask if there was anything they could do to improve and if there was any problems.

Ali came to our table every night. He made sure we were very happy. On nights we went to Palo they asked if we had any problems.

Our table mates had a child who was very allergic and the team made sure everything was always proper.

This family told us how they never go out to eat because of the risk and even brought a weeks worth of food for their son. After talking with the chefs it was not a issue and they were so happy and relaxed they had a great time. Even letting the son stay in kids clubs for a extended time which they had never done in the past!

Sometimes your servers maybe helping a family like that and it may take away from your service a little.

If $12 per day for tips is to much then maybe cruising isn't for you? These people work hard and long days.

You nailed it here. Nothing like stiffing some 3rd world workers out of $400 (or less) after you just spent thousands of dollars and a week lounging around demanding perfection. A previous poster was complaining about tips after spending 20k.

 

[MyYearWithTheMouse]

It's not just Disney or other cruise line, it's ***all*** businesses wants Excellent rating on comment cards.

It's the latest management fad from Dilbert's pointy-haired boss.

One day, somebody will write a new popular management book, starting a new fad and "Excellent" will long be forgotten.

Exactly, and that day won't be soon enough for me. I think the Excellent speech is totally inappropriate, I refused to give it as an employee and cringe when I get it as a customer, BUT I understand WHY people give it.

I believe it's a flawed business model (particularly a 5 or 0 policy), but it is the model these employees have to work under. As such, I would really encourage people to think about if they're not getting excellent service, reporting it to a manager or guest services while you're still on the cruise and something can be done about it. Maybe the cast member just needs a little more training, maybe he or she needs to be let go. Either way, being vague or checking a box on a comment card does not help improve anything. If you're going to give a low rating, please be specific about why so changes can be made to improve service for other guests.

 

[justmestace]

Who should instruct DCL to do this?

Corporate. There's always someone at the top of the line who issues the instructions on what the crew should and should not be doing.

 

[hezzie]

Exactly, and that day won't be soon enough for me. I think the Excellent speech is totally inappropriate, I refused to give it as an employee and cringe when I get it as a customer, BUT I understand WHY people give it.

I believe it's a flawed business model (particularly a 5 or 0 policy), but it is the model these employees have to work under. As such, I would really encourage people to think about if they're not getting excellent service, reporting it to a manager or guest services while you're still on the cruise and something can be done about it. Maybe the cast member just needs a little more training, maybe he or she needs to be let go. Either way, being vague or checking a box on a comment card does not help improve anything. If you're going to give a low rating, please be specific about why so changes can be made to improve service for other guests.

We had a terrible assistant server on our Dream cruise and made the mistake of commenting to the Head Server! The Assistant Server then started asking us why we didn't like him and the Head Server felt compelled to share all the challenges of managing on a cruise ship...needless to say we dreaded going to dinner!

It was the first time that happened in a number of cruises, but it really put a damper on our cruise and makes me want to request servers for our upcoming cruise.

 

[N365PA]

If its not excellent (has been all but once), I say so. Dream Maiden Voyage. They got a scathing review. We had a horrible server team.

I also write letters after the cruises to praise the better castmembers we run into.

Clint

 

[neg58]

This is so true. I work in a medical clinic. There is a huge push for patient satisfaction. And of course, its a goal to have patients be well cared for and treated well. We do that and should do that. And someone can have a fine expereince in the clinic but is it excellent? If I go in with a bladder infection and get my meds and everything goes fine, the visit is fine, right? Well if we dont get 5's on our survery it affects bonuses and pay, etc.
.

I'm not sure the best way to get repeat business at a hospital is by giving them excellent service. Seems they'd be back faster if you screwed up a few meds or left a sponge in after surgery.

Nancy

 

[4mousefans]

Our group is pretty laid back...we appreciate all the little extras that make DCL our line of choice. I had read the disboards and was aware that there was this desire by the servers to be "excellent" so on the first night, as we introduced ourselves we also commented that we just knew that this would be the most excellent experience ever. While both servers routinely asked if things were meeting our expectations, we didn't hear the "excellent" speech until the final night and that was only to tell us that if we felt the dining experience was excellent to please note it on the comment card. I would have felt very uncomfortable if our experience would have been like some of the previous posters.

Our servers went above and beyond...I had coconut shrimp on the second night and that wasn't on the menu but someone in our party mentioned my love for it...ditto for a few favorite desserts and ceasar salad. After the first night, our table of nine had our preferred drinks waiting. A member of our party had fairly significant allergies and each night, menus were provided so that he could choose his meal for the following night and the rest of us were encouraged to sneak a peek as well. We had a totally enjoyable dining experience and were often the last ones to leave the late seating...often the crew was over at our table area---not just our servers but others, the chef (on two nights) and the head server---laughing and sharing stories. We even had a gentleman from a neighboring table ask if his party could join us because we looked like we were having so much fun...and without more than one bottle of wine between all of us!

It is experiences like this that make me loyal to DCL...and while not everything always goes the way we anticipate or would like, overall I would rate our experience in six cruises as "excellent".

 

[MillauFr]

Its Disney's screwed up rating system that is the problem. As someone said if they gets 9/10 the boss is wondering why they didn't get 10. They should be giving them congrats for getting 9s instead of a lecture on how they can get it up to 10. Face it Disney cruise ships are huge and the servers have way too many tables to give the personalized service that would warrant a 10. You don't expect to go to Applebees and get 10 service nor should you on a Disney cruise. If I wanted 10 service I would cruise on a luxury cruise line like Seabourn not a mass market line like Disney.

 

[devon311]

Just got off of the Disney Fantasy 3/2 - 3/9/13 sailing. This was our second DCL trip. I remember nothing special from our previous servers and remember receiving adequate, at best, service. This trip was the polar opposite!

We had the pleasure of Saul and Alex (and Liam as head server) this past week. Saul quietly, but ver pleasantly, served us all week, even humorist my brother-in-law's requests for multiple entrees. And Alex was superb! While he told us early on that this was his first cruise, his still did a great job as assistant server. And he did a phenomenal job of entertaining my 6 yo nephew, making numerous origami animals and showing him several magic tricks. Isaac asked daily when he could go see Alex and wondered what he would show him next. We've all continued to talk about how much we miss him and wish we'd gotten his contact information.

We were also quite impressed with Liam who didn't just "supervise," but jumped in when something needed to be done--clearing plates, refilling drinks, etc. he also spent a lot of time chatting with us and playing with Isaac.

While they did both mention the comment cards on the final evening, we were able to stop them and assure them they'd be receiving excellent ratings. Their service, attentiveness, and genuine kindness this past week was greatly appreciated.

 

[Lobofan5]

This thread is excellent.

 

[queenofeverything]

I do hope that most people understand that "excellent" does not mean perfect. Expecting perfection in anything (including oneself) will only lead to disappointment. To me, an excellent server is one that tries very hard to please me, to make sure that I have what I need and has a friendly personality. There will always be things that don't go right and are out of their control. That does not mean that the service was not excellent, just that is was not perfect. We have never been disappointed on our 3 cruises on the Magic by any crew member. We have found them to be delightful and eager to make sure we were having a wonderful vacation.