Servers asking for an Excellent on comment card

[cwis]

Guests who won't answer surveys honestly have no one to blame but themselves.

"This meal is terrible. 5 out of 5 stars, highly recommend."

One year later: "Why won't Disney do anything about their awful food!?!?!?!?!?" Uh, because you keep telling them you love it.

Yes, but once again, it's not the purpose of the survey. I wouldn't even be surprised if they didn't care at all about the outcome and only once in a while “check it out” and blame the staff with the worst ratings.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Yes, but once again, it's not the purpose of the survey. I wouldn't even be surprised if they didn't care at all about the outcome and only once in a while “check it out” and blame the staff with the worst ratings.

That doesn't even make sense on its face. What possible reason could they have for doing this? Even if they're supervillain-style soulless capitalists, what nefarious motives could this possibly serve?

I know this is going to be shocking to some people, but Disney really does care if you have a good experience and when you don't, they want to make it right. Not because they're super kewl dudes who want to share the love, but because when you're happy, you spend more money, you tell your friends how much fun you had, and they spend money, and you keep going back vacation after vacation to spend even more money.

 

[brentm77]

I think you're overestimating your power. My last server has been with Disney for 22 years. I'm certain that at various points in those 22 years, there have been undercooked chicken breasts, overcooked pork loins, salty soup, crabby guests, dropped dishes, and slow service. Nobody is getting fired over one bad comment card, particularly if it relates to food quality as opposed to service quality.


If Server A is truly awful and gets fired, Assistant Server B is going to get promoted, and new Assistant Server C is going to get hired, allowing them to provide for their families.

I didn't mean to imply my one survey would get anyone fired. I meant the system is setup so that it doesn't take very many people saying service was "very good" for someone to be fired, which is ridiculous. The point I think most people are making is that a "very good" is the same as a "poor". So you can't give them a "very good" unless you would have been willing to give them a "poor", which isn't usually the case. On both my cruises we really did have 5-star service, so we didn't need to worry about overinflating our reviews.

But, I do get your point about non-honest surveys resulting in food remaining mediocre and the like. I will take that more into account when rating in the future.

 

[cwis]

That doesn't even make sense on its face. What possible reason could they have for doing this? Even if they're supervillain-style soulless capitalists, what nefarious motives could this possibly serve?

Inspire fear on crew.

They have a full department whose job is to run surveys. When they want to know, I mean really know, how people feel about their products and services: they'll know.

As a positive note, inspiring fear does help raise the bar up to the highest level, so, somehow, you have a valid point. By doing this, Disney is making sure they have a short-term solution that will guests more happy.

But that's not giving them a “clear” pictures about what's happening. And they know that. And it's fine.

 

[Kwami]

If your server sucks, you're not going to feel a personal connection to them.


Guests who won't answer surveys honestly have no one to blame but themselves.

"This meal is terrible. 5 out of 5 stars, highly recommend."

One year later: "Why won't Disney do anything about their awful food!?!?!?!?!?" Uh, because you keep telling them you love it.

You're being dishonest here. In the normal word, 4/5 isn't "sucks". Neither is 3/5, really. But if we rate our servers 4/5 or 3/5, Disney sees that as "sucks". Servers are expected to have a 95% average after each cruise, which allows for one 4/5 rating for every three 5/5 ratings. Anything less is considered unacceptable to Disney.

So, sure, if you have a terrible server, then you might not mind saying so on the survey. But in that case, you've probably already brought the problem to your head server or guest services or something.

In the 4/5 or even 3/5 case, well, I think you'll see a lot of dishonest 5/5 ratings.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

You're being dishonest here. In the normal word, 4/5 isn't "sucks". Neither is 3/5, really. But if we rate our servers 4/5 or 3/5, Disney sees that as "sucks". Servers are expected to have a 95% average after each cruise, which allows for one 4/5 rating for every three 5/5 ratings. Anything less is considered unacceptable to Disney.

So, sure, if you have a terrible server, then you might not mind saying so on the survey. But in that case, you've probably already brought the problem to your head server or guest services or something.

In the 4/5 or even 3/5 case, well, I think you'll see a lot of dishonest 5/5 ratings.

But the expectations are calibrated against an inflated base. Disney expects 95% BECAUSE people are answering dishonestly. If people started filling out the surveys like they were supposed to, and that drove the averages down across the board, Disney wouldn't maintain the 95% threshold because nobody would be achieving it. It's a collective action problem.

 

[MrMagoo]

Thanks for the tips!

We also request servers on the Fantasy. Our favorite server of all time has been Nelia Henry from St Lucia. She is beyond sunny all the time and loves us all from 6 months to 66!! I would advise anyone sailing on the fantasy to definitely request her!! You won't be disappointed!

A new poster here after just finding this site but a seasoned cruiser with 16 Disney only cruises!

We also just got off the Dream cruise of May 20-23 and were also on it in September, November, and January.
Each time we had different servers and most of them came from the Fantasy so your favorite Fantasy server may be aboard the Dream now. Do not know about the other ships and staffing. I believe Disney has changed many servers to different ships.
Also this last cruise or servers told us that they lost many to the Wish. I believe they may be trying to get some more experienced servers on the Wish and spreading out new servers among the rest of the ships. We did ask for a server we had in January but it wasn't fulfilled. We did see them on the ship though.

As for table and table mates, at this time they are still putting each cabin at their own table unless you are part of a group and only then are they putting different cabins at the same table. Saw many tables for 8 that only had 4 persons. This setup does make for very close tables!! We had never seen the tables so close together, couldn't hardly walk between them!