Server Pressure for "Excellent"

[AquaDame]

Maybe they can tell that we are content with their service.

Maybe...? Our servers always seem pained that we don't eat a lot. Sometimes they bring us extra food and seem to get worried when we don't touch it (if we wanted it, we would have ordered it! We're stuffed to the gills!)

 

[cruiser21]

As a platinum, I have never been pressured, ever, and on any cruise line. I guess the word "pressure" is left up to the individual for interpretation. Was it mentioned, yes. Did I feel pressured? Nope.

Op was one that used the term pressure. I agree with pressure is up to interpretation. I've never felt pressured either. I just don't like it; therefore I don't take the time to fill out the surveys.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Maybe...? Our servers always seem pained that we don't eat a lot. Sometimes they bring us extra food and seem to get worried when we don't touch it (if we wanted it, we would have ordered it! We're stuffed to the gills!)

It's crazy I know. When they do that I feel the need to put at least a dent in what they bring out. Never been disappointed but sure have walked away stuffed!

 

[over50visits]

You will have exactly the experience you expect to have. We have always had fantastic dining experiences, with no pressure at all, and we always will in our upcoming cruises. It feels so much better to enjoy our servers, not make demands on special treatment, and treat them royally (no threats if they don’t act the way we want), because (surprise!) we get treated the same. Dining on DCL is a genuine pleasure.

 

[KashasMom]

You will have exactly the experience you expect to have. We have always had fantastic dining experiences, with no pressure at all, and we always will in our upcoming cruises. It feels so much better to enjoy our servers, not make demands on special treatment, and treat them royally (no threats if they don’t act the way we want), because (surprise!) we get treated the same. Dining on DCL is a genuine pleasure.

I don't even understand what that means. When our head server told us about his need for an excellent rating FIVE out of SEVEN nights, I can assure you that was not the experience I expected to have!! I just won't listen to it anymore. Disney KNOWS this is happening, knows people lie when asked if they were pressured (maybe they should ask if you were hounded to death instead), yet they still use this B.S. vanity metric.

 

[KashasMom]

One funny thing on our last Fantasy cruise. We were a party of 10 and every night someone didn't eat/like something. Sometimes only a bite or two was eaten and NOT ONCE did the server ask if something was wrong or if the person wanted a replacement. That's what a GOOD server would have noticed/done. But you can bet we still got the speech multiple nights.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

knows people lie when asked if they were pressured

Hopefully, not everyone lies about it. I don't.

Yes, I've checked that I felt pressured, on those cruises that I was. Yes, I inform servers after their initial delivery of the excellent speech that it's the last time I want to hear it, and I will let them know what, if anything, needs to be fixed.

But, the excellent speech, in my experience isn't delivered as often as it was when we first started cruising. And, when it is, it seems to be the newer CMs that we get it from.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

You will have exactly the experience you expect to have. We have always had fantastic dining experiences, with no pressure at all, and we always will in our upcoming cruises. It feels so much better to enjoy our servers, not make demands on special treatment, and treat them royally (no threats if they don’t act the way we want), because (surprise!) we get treated the same. Dining on DCL is a genuine pleasure.

Beautifully stated and I agree with everything you said.

 

[cmwade77]

Did you mention them by name on the survey? That leads to extra time off/promotion opportunities and other good things.

Most definitely, although our server was leaving at the end of our cruise for time off and the assistant was going to be as well, but ended up having to stay another cruise because weather caused it to where he wouldn' be able to get home, so they had him stay another week so he would be able to travel home safely, I believe they adjusted his return date accordingly as well.

 

[cmwade77]

I have had servers ask if there is anything they can do better, but that was with a group of people and one was getting very visibly upset with how slow service was and it was indeed slow. But I blame that more on the fact it was a large group and have figured out that I really wouldn't want more than about 6 people to a table again, it just makes it hard all around.

 

[cmwade77]

Hopefully, not everyone lies about it.

I don't, if I feel pressured (And once I did feel pressured, but not from the dining staff, it was someone serving me a drink), I check the box and I write down the name(s) of those who did the pressuring in the comments.

I also write down the name(s) of those that do a great job and go above and beyond. Additionally if it is some I can tip I will do so.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

One funny thing on our last Fantasy cruise. We were a party of 10 and every night someone didn't eat/like something. Sometimes only a bite or two was eaten and NOT ONCE did the server ask if something was wrong or if the person wanted a replacement. That's what a GOOD server would have noticed/done. But you can bet we still got the speech multiple nights.

But you can look at it a different way. The people not liking something could speak up. The server isn't a mind reader and A LOT of cruisers waste so much food so it isn't really unusual for them to see full plates. Even here on the board people say they order several things to "try" them so you know a lot gets wasted. I've witnessed it. Huge pet peeve of mine. Only order what you can eat and not waste.

 

[cmwade77]

But you can look at it a different way. The people not liking something could speak up. The server isn't a mind reader and A LOT of cruisers waste so much food so it isn't really unusual for them to see full plates. Even here on the board people say they order several things to "try" them so you know a lot gets wasted. I've witnessed it. Huge pet peeve of mine. Only order what you can eat and not waste.

I generally agree with the only order what you can eat, but we have dietary needs that mean we order food the night before and while something may sound good on the menu, sometimes it is so bad it isn' good, so there are times we order multiple items because we aren' sure if one will be good or not and don't want to end up not getting something edible for us.

So I say don't judge, you don' know what that person's situation is, they may have ordered something and found it disgusting, so they ordered something else. They may have a situation like mine, there may be other circumstances that led to it, who knows.

Luckily with Disney most food doesn' go to waste, it gets recycled into compost, animal feed, etc. whenever possible, so you can take a little comfort in that much at least.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

I generally agree with the only order what you can eat, but we have dietary needs that mean we order food the night before and while something may sound good on the menu, sometimes it is so bad it isn' good, so there are times we order multiple items because we aren' sure if one will be good or not and don't want to end up not getting something edible for us.

So I say don't judge, you don' know what that person's situation is, they may have ordered something and found it disgusting, so they ordered something else. They may have a situation like mine, there may be other circumstances that led to it, who knows.

Luckily with Disney most food doesn' go to waste, it gets recycled into compost, animal feed, etc. whenever possible, so you can take a little comfort in that much at least.

Don't worry. I understand things happen. Funny story, on our last cruise our server advised us not to order a certain dish but 3 out of 6 of us went against his recommendation and all 3 sent it back. We should have listened and he jokingly said "I told you so". I love the servers with a sense of humor.

 

[Dug720]

Most definitely, although our server was leaving at the end of our cruise for time off and the assistant was going to be as well, but ended up having to stay another cruise because weather caused it to where he wouldn' be able to get home, so they had him stay another week so he would be able to travel home safely, I believe they adjusted his return date accordingly as well.

As long as they remain with the company and return after their vacation, it will still carry over that you listed them by name. Those things don't reset at the end of a contract.

 

[cadien]

Since the servers aren't robots, it's pretty clear that some will overdo the speech and some don't. If you personally haven't experienced it, that doesn't make everyone else liars.

The one thing I (politely) explain at the beginning is that we have no interest in wasting food so please don't bring us anything we don't specifically order. Including last nights drinks.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

The one thing I (politely) explain at the beginning is that we have no interest in wasting food so please don't bring us anything we don't specifically order. Including last nights drinks.

This happened to us and took us by surprise. We didn't realize that after the first night the server would just automatically bring us our drinks as ordered the previous night. Trouble is, some in our group don't order the same drink every night. (Weird, I know). So we had to explain that to them on night two. I know they were just trying to help, and I hope we didn't break their rhythm too much by having to ask some of us about drinks every night, but it was a nice treat to have different drinks different nights.

 

[grantclaire]

I am starting to see other companies asking for comments about service, the local cable company and my bank have started asking me for ratings ie " are you more then satisfied with the service today " or " would you rate my service as excellent?" On DCL I have started on the first night by telling the head server that we have always had excellent service (which is true) and the survey will filled out so no worries! This seems to help.

 

[Jess_S]

This happened to us and took us by surprise. We didn't realize that after the first night the server would just automatically bring us our drinks as ordered the previous night. Trouble is, some in our group don't order the same drink every night. (Weird, I know). So we had to explain that to them on night two. I know they were just trying to help, and I hope we didn't break their rhythm too much by having to ask some of us about drinks every night, but it was a nice treat to have different drinks different nights.

I was surprised by this as well. I didn't realize that there are people who do order the same drink every night because everyone in my family varies their choices from day-to-day. When we showed up on night 2 and there was a little cup of milk for my son, I felt bad about the wasted time and effort because he was in a juice mood that night. We really threw the servers off on night 3 when we requested the wine menu after ordering no wine the previous 2 nights.

Since the original thread was about whether we had pressure to give an excellent review, I will note that we actually had the opposite. Our assistant server actually seemed to think we would give him less than an excellent. (Something about his expression when he said he valued honest feedback). I wondered if maybe others had given him bad reviews in the past. But we actually did think that he and the rest of the team were great. They even brought a special meal for my son one night since the kids menu has limited choices for vegetarians.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I've heard it from Toyota, Honda, Olive Garden, State Farm, etc. Please only give us the highest rating, or let us know if anything is less than perfect. When it comes to the Service Department at the Auto Dealerships, it does give me a bit more leverage than usual, so that is nice. They can't just say, "This is our service, take it or leave it," anymore.

I got this at the dealership as well, they guy said "hey, if you fill out this form-they look at it as a binary, if it's not a 10 it's a 0" a lot of companies are doing this and it sucks.

One funny thing on our last Fantasy cruise. We were a party of 10 and every night someone didn't eat/like something. Sometimes only a bite or two was eaten and NOT ONCE did the server ask if something was wrong or if the person wanted a replacement. That's what a GOOD server would have noticed/done. But you can bet we still got the speech multiple nights.

Ugh I have the opposite experience and it's worse than the speech. I know they want to please people, but they go so over the top that I feel like I have to please them or make sure they're ok during my dinner.

I don't generally like cruise food and don't eat that much in comparison to the average I guess because by night two I'm playing "cut the food up and move it around so it looks like I've eaten more" so I don't get the third degree. I'm not hungry or I'm full is not an acceptable answer-you have to go through declining a whole list of other foods they want to bring you. It's extra horrible when they show up with something anyway and it starts all over when you don't eat that.

And Mickey help you if you ask about a dish or change your mind halfway through ordering! "Why don't you want this? We can change it? We'll make anything!" Omg I just changed my mind and great now I have three dinners and I barely wanted one.