Server Pressure for "Excellent"

[WaltD4Me]

I just got off the Dream, it was my first cruise and of all the research I did, I did not hear about the excellent thing. The first two nights there was no mention of it...our servers were wonderful, really great with the kids especially. They were very attentive and funny and I had no complaints. On the 3rd night my SIL asked our assistant server how long he had been on the ship and how he liked it, that lead to more questions and then the thing about the excellent ratings. In fairness, my SIL started the conversation, but after that we got the excellent speech a lot from both the assistant server, main server AND head server. It was weird. I really don't know why they felt it was necessary because we actually applauded when they came to our table, but the last night they really, really stressed it. On the flip side though, I am glad they told us about it because I am a pretty hard grader. I can only think of a handful of movies I have ever given a 10 and because I wasn't thrilled with the food in the MDR's I might have gone with Very Good instead of Excellent which really wouldn't have been fair. The food thing wasn't the servers fault and I didn't complain or ask for anything different so it wasn't like they had the opportunity to have made it better. I did get a little annoyed with the excellent speech though, especially the last day, but our service was as close to excellent as I have ever had so they did receive an excellent rating. I only needed to hear the spiel once though and only from one person. I blame Disney for that though, much more so than our servers.

 

[jjje]

At our first dinner our server gave us a little speech about how he and our assistant server would be working to give us excellent service and he asked us to let him know if there was anything that needed to be addressed so that they could fix it and make it excellent. On the last night he mentioned the comment cards and said he hoped we would give them an excellent rating. I have to admit that if I had been considering giving them anything other than an excellent rating I would have felt a little uncomfortable being asked for an excellent. Luckily our service really was excellent and I was more than happy have our comment cards reflect that. We happened to run into our room hostess one night and she mentioned she would be leaving a comment card in our room and hoped we would give her an excellent rating as well. Again we were happy to do so because she really was excellent but I do think it is unfortunate that the crew is put in a position to beg for an excellent rating in the first place.

 

[chris31997]

This thread is excellent.

 

[fatfish]

We got the "excellent" speech several times during our 8 night. I never saw the comment card though. Where was it?

Regina, the comment card was left in your room on the last night. Its actually a whole form, much bigger than an actual card.

We were on the same cruise but luckily we did not get the "excellent" speech. I think it depends upon the individual servers or serving team. We had Luis from Portugal as our head server, and he truly was excellent. The only thing we heard was on the last night, when they reminded us to please fill out the comment cards and if we feel we had received excellent service to please rate them as excellent. I'm sorry you and your family had to endure the "speech".

 

[gunka]

After reading a similar thread before our last cruise I was waiting for the speech. The first night our server said something about providing excellent service - I told him I knew the drill and everything will be fine. It was never brought up again and they did provide excellent service.

 

[wcw57]

our server, Guiseppe, and the brand new asst server, Raquel, gave us "the speech" on the second or third nite. In summation, he asked if there was anything they could do to be excellent.

I said, "Yes. I would like to have hot coffee the same time as my dessert. Not before, because it's near impossible to get a second cup from you and certainly not after. At the same time"

well....that was easy!! each nite thereafter things were much worse..... until we had a substitute server one night...THEN it was excellent!

Anyhow, the moral is: a word to the wise is sufficient. Nobody said our server was wise.

 

[Justacruiser]

our server, Guiseppe, and the brand new asst server, Raquel, gave us "the speech" on the second or third nite. In summation, he asked if there was anything they could do to be excellent.

I said, "Yes. I would like to have hot coffee the same time as my dessert. Not before, because it's near impossible to get a second cup from you and certainly not after. At the same time"

well....that was easy!! each nite thereafter things were much worse..... until we had a substitute server one night...THEN it was excellent!

Anyhow, the moral is: a word to the wise is sufficient. Nobody said our server was wise.

I usually do not express to Asst server and Server complains to them. Like this post, I will ask them the second night for my coffee to be brought out closer to my desert. If they don't meet my expectations, I discuss with the Head Server. After that, my issue is with the Head Server and his/her staff.

I give anyone a second chance to redeem themselves, after a second time, I feel it is a habit and how they treat their assigned table.

I do try to realize those parties around me that have my service staff assigned to them too. Sometimes they overlook my DW and myself because there is larger table with more difficults cruisers than I and my DW.

Are the staff doing everything they can to better our experience and be efficient? I will preface to say that I and my wife drink alot during dinner. I want my diet coke and my wife wants her iced tea. Two cruises ago, the staff while polite and attentive, got my empty glass and my DW's glass and went to refill. They made that trip 5 times (just for us) during our dinner. The last cruise, the assistant server brought 3 each at the beginning of dinner and swapped them out as required. Also made the additional trip when required. But my point is...... is the staff friendly, have attention to detail skills, and look at ways to increase efficiency while providing outstanding service?

 

[wcw57]

i agree with that....i give extra credit to anyone who is in there swinging. Results may vary but effort is most important. I have been in customer satisfaction business my whole life (retail, ownership, sales, etc) and whenever I don't know something I say: I don't know but I'll find out and get back to you.

people are generally surprised by the honesty and appreciate the effort.

always an "A" for effort.

but, remember, there is also the Peter Principle: people rise to a position which they are incapable to perform and stay in that position.

 

[alexandlillie]

forgive me, if I've missed it....but what happens if they don't get "excellent"? or what happens if they DO? the consequences must be significant.

we were only in the dining room for 2 nights, and our waiter must've mentioned it three times AFTER i said everything was excellent and that i understood..plus the head waiter came over to mention it too....

 

[*pixie*]

We've been on the Wonder and Fantasy, and will be on the Wonder again this summer. First cruise on the Wonder, our servers were wonderful and there was absolutely no pressure. Never spoke to our head server, just occasionally saw him around the dining room. Second cruise on the Fantasy, we absolutely loved our head server, he was the highlight of our meals. We weren't sure what to think about our server and assistant server though. They were both so focused on their tasks that they didn't seem to want to have any sort of conversation with us unless it dealt directly with the service they were providing. Only once or twice did they relax enough that we could talk about how long they had been on the ship, etc. Every night though, we were told not to leave until our server had a chance to speak to us again. And every night, we were asked how our service was. We would reply, "great, good, etc." and each and every time our server responded with, "Good, but would you say it was EXCELLENT??"

It got to the point where I dreaded this last conversation each and every evening of our cruise.

 

[christie629]

Just off my first Disney cruise last week (Dream). I was unfamilar with Disney so I wasn't sure at first where the insistance on excellence was coming from until weeks end. If we responded, "it's good or very good", we got the insistent I'm not leaving until you tell me it was excellent.

Personally I did feel pressured to give an excellent rating. Was it excellent -- pretty close. A few of the dishes not excellent but not the servers fault.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I keep thinking I missed this speech on the Dream. But I think that was because they KNEW they were so far from Excellent that trying to get a rating beyond "bad" was going to be TOUGH LOL!

We didn't have problems with beverages being delivered late or early, we were allowed to have WATER! That was it. Nothing else was offered and the one night I tried to order wine the order was ignored! Head Waiter got a poor review and no tip (we complained he shrugged!) Waiters got the standard tip, poor rating and that was a gift!

 

[stmize]

Oh wow. That sounds like my carnival cruise this past June.

 

[dayvewc]

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

Bwha ha ha ha ha

Funniest comment I've read on here.

 

[jcemom]

You guys are making me nervous about our upcoming cruise lol. I really don't think I am going to respond out loud "Excellent!" when asked how our dinner was every night lol. That sounds so corny to me. I don't think I've ever used that word in conversation.

So I'm going to reply "Good" and the server is going to keep bugging me until I say "Excellent" which might be never.

 

[Justacruiser]

You guys are making me nervous about our upcoming cruise lol. I really don't think I am going to respond out loud "Excellent!" when asked how our dinner was every night lol. That sounds so corny to me. I don't think I've ever used that word in conversation.

So I'm going to reply "Good" and the server is going to keep bugging me until I say "Excellent" which might be never.

I bet you will use it! Or at least respond yes when they ask if you had excellent service.

watch, lol

 

[Scillycruisers]

We had a week on the Fantasy at the beginning of Feb and did not get the excellent speech once. In fact non of our wait staff even mentioned the comment cards, and it wasn't because the service was poor. I was more than happy to give excellent for most everything when I filled out the card. It was nice not to be pressured to!

 

[jcemom]

I bet you will use it! Or at least respond yes when they ask if you had excellent service.

watch, lol

 

[valee]

One our first cruise, we gave the table servers excellent ratings for their attentive service.
The Head Waiter was another matter - at our last dinner, a man in a server's uniform appeared tableside and gave the Excellent spiel. After he moved on to the next table, everyone at the table asked who he was and why he thought we'd give him an excellent rating for showing up and introducing himself. As we left the dining room, he was standing at the doorway reminding people to fill out their comment cards. I told him that we all felt we couldn't rate him as excellent because he hadn't provided any service to us. He got agitated, and said he couldn't give us excellent service if we didn't tell him what we wanted - throwing the blame back at us. I told him that no one had seen him before that meal, sowe had no idea what his role was supposed to be.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

You guys are making me nervous about our upcoming cruise lol. I really don't think I am going to respond out loud "Excellent!" when asked how our dinner was every night lol. That sounds so corny to me. I don't think I've ever used that word in conversation.

So I'm going to reply "Good" and the server is going to keep bugging me until I say "Excellent" which might be never.

The first time we get the "excellent" speech, I tell them, "OK, you've had your say, now I don't want to hear it again. If I do, it will affect the rating I give." We've had no additional speeches with this approach.