Server Pressure for "Excellent"

[FJS961]

In my experience, the head server usually introduces themselves to us on the first night. They may or may not even look at us the rest of the cruise. Then they come around on the last night. For us, they have certainly been 'behind the scenes' and rarely engaging.

If our head server never even introduced themselves to us until the last night of the cruise asking for excellent comments and with their hand out looking for their 'tip' ... oh, don't get me started .....

 

[jcemom]

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.

Good tip, thanks!

 

[plutojudy]

I haven't read this whole thread yet but want to make a comment. Sorry if I am repeating something already said. Our servers were excellent so that wasn't a problem. What bothered me is that if I was unhappy with food selections or food in general I still had to give the food an Excellent rating otherwise it goes against the servers. Servers were great but how can let Disney know we don't like their meuns if it reflects on the servers???

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I haven't read this whole thread yet but want to make a comment. Sorry if I am repeating something already said. Our servers were excellent so that wasn't a problem. What bothered me is that if I was unhappy with food selections or food in general I still had to give the food an Excellent rating otherwise it goes against the servers. Servers were great but how can let Disney know we don't like their meuns if it reflects on the servers???

I give the servers excellent. And then on the comment card, I point out that while I felt the servers gave excellent service, the food selections (or whatever it was) was less than excellent.

 

[testtrackmaniacs]

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.

I started to do this the second night and next time I will. My waiter was quick to tell me that 'excellent' did not necessarily mean perfect blah blah blah blah...that speech got old quick.

I realize that their ratings affect how they move up in the ranks, but if the service is spot on then there really is no need to worry...just sayin...

I found it oddly amusing that the comment card asked if I had been pressured to give an excellent rating...I laughed when I read that. Pressured???Hardly. However, If it had asked if I had been harassed to give an excellent that might have been a different answer altogether...

 

[BethA]

I haven't read this whole thread yet but want to make a comment. Sorry if I am repeating something already said. Our servers were excellent so that wasn't a problem. What bothered me is that if I was unhappy with food selections or food in general I still had to give the food an Excellent rating otherwise it goes against the servers. Servers were great but how can let Disney know we don't like their meuns if it reflects on the servers???

I never know what to do about that. The food is good to very good but not always excellent. Servers told us it goes back on them so I wish they were 2 different categories. They do not prepare the food and do try to get you something else if it seems you are not happy

 

[wilkeliza]

I never know what to do about that. The food is good to very good but not always excellent. Servers told us it goes back on them so I wish they were 2 different categories. They do not prepare the food and do try to get you something else if it seems you are not happy

On our most recent cruise it has servers, food, over all experience. We listed the over all experience as excellent but the servers as good. I'm sure you could put the servers as excellent but the over all experience as very good or just plain good.

 

[plutojudy]

I never know what to do about that. The food is good to very good but not always excellent. Servers told us it goes back on them so I wish they were 2 different categories. They do not prepare the food and do try to get you something else if it seems you are not happy

Yes, the servers say the food reflects on them. I just feel the menus need improving even when our servers are excellent.

 

[FJS961]

Our best servers tended to know the food well and were good at steering you towards the better items and away from the not so good

 

[TDluvsDaisy]

Our best servers tended to know the food well and were good at steering you towards the better items and away from the not so good

This is exactly what our server did for us this last cruise. He didn't steer us wrong. He got an excellent.

 

[robhawk]

Our server made great recommendations also!
When I said everything was excellent the first night we got a big smile with a " that's what we strive for"
Never got the speech!

 

[anna08]

On our most recent cruise it has servers, food, over all experience. We listed the over all experience as excellent but the servers as good. I'm sure you could put the servers as excellent but the over all experience as very good or just plain good.

Just off the Fantasy and they have separated out food and service for the MDRs on the survey as mentioned above. It used to bother me too that the servers got lumped in with the food scores, but it is written differently now. We had great service, but the food was just ok to good.

 

[DakotaDisneyLover]

Something else I found interesting was that there were alot of the same menu items/choices on this cruise in Feb. 2013 that were on our two prior cruises in May of 2008 and Oct. of 2010.

Also, in hindsight, we should have asked to be moved to a different table after the first couple of nights - stupid us. Different servers would have made for a much more pleasant dining experience for us, as would a table in an area away from the crying baby we listened to EVERY night. These people had a very small baby that cried every night at least part of the time, obviously due to the loud noise in the dining room. The parents obviously thought they were entitled to bother everyone seated near them, and we were right next to them (two couples with 4 boys and 1 infant between them). Just plain rude. They ignored the 'looks' I gave them the first night or two, and would only take the baby out after it bawled continusously for 15-20 minutes straight. Of course they would bring it back in and it would start all over again most of the time..........mIsErAbLe DiNiNg ExPeRiEnCe!

 

[cleophus12]

I have always understood that the reason the food rating reflects on the server is because if you are unhappy, the server should bring you something else to make you happy. If he/she doesn't do that then he/she is to blame for our less-than-excellent dining experience.

 

[JnDRader]

We didn't get any pressure on our first cruise. But like other posters when they asked how we were doing I generally replied excellent. I get the dilemma they're in. If I get the hard sell this next time I'll politely let them know that about the only thing they could do to make me not have an excellent time is to keep badgering me.

We're stupidly easy to please. We don't expect or demand perfection and as long as they're trying to do an excellent job that's what I'll rate them at.

Honestly I'd rate them on their service and if they insisted on the hard sell I'd write that on the comment card. Feedback is the only way they learn.

 

[TDC Nala]

You can write whatever you want on the comment card. If there's not enough space you can attach a page. So you can write specifically that you didn't think the food was excellent (any of it) but your serving team was.

 

[lilpooh108]

Just off the Fantasy and they have separated out food and service for the MDRs on the survey as mentioned above.

 

[GoofyTwinDad]

I think alot of the pressure comes from the servers aspirations. On our first cruise our server made numerous comments each evening. On the last night he said he was trying very hard to get moved to Palo. The other ones who depend on the "excellent" ratings are the new employees on probation. Nothing like the pressure DCL places on their employees to uphold their standards. IMHO, the servers who have been with DCL for awhile and are happy with their current position don't need to give the speech to such a high degree as the scenarios stated above.

 

[the.carter.5]

thank you for the heads up...now I know before the cruise how to handle this

 

[alexandlillie]

These people had a very small baby that cried every night at least part of the time, obviously due to the loud noise in the dining room. The parents obviously thought they were entitled to bother everyone seated near them, and we were right next to them (two couples with 4 boys and 1 infant between them). Just plain rude. They ignored the 'looks' I gave them the first night or two, and would only take the baby out after it bawled continusously for 15-20 minutes straight. Of course they would bring it back in and it would start all over again most of the time..........mIsErAbLe DiNiNg ExPeRiEnCe!

So we have two small children who can be very disruptive at any dinner over 20 minutes, and we purposefully stayed away from the dining room for the first two nights....Then, I got THREE calls on the wave phone encouraging us to come to the MDR for the remainder of the cruise.

When I said that my infant and toddler might be disruptive, they basically said they were used to it, it's Disney, and we wouldn't be the only ones. I'm not saying that your neighbors shouldn't have taken more measures...but I will say we were strongly encouraged by cruise staff to come and stay at dinner - even when our little ones were crying/over active/disruptive...

In hindsight, I'm sure glad we didn't get "looks" after they encouraged us...or at least perhaps we were too busy with our 2 kids to notice them.