The service left me Wondering.

[Hundredacre]

Totally agree with you. I talked about this in another thread when we got back from a cruise on the Wonder December 2015. Our service was so sub par across the board that we went from a diehard disney cruise family to meh. When we got home we canceled two future cruises with Disney (one this Summer and one next christmas) and replaced them with one celebrity cruise (first time on another line) and a totally new for us non cruise vacation. Our vacation last december was not ruined. But it was not the cruise line or disney that made or even helped make it a good vacation. More than anything, for the first time we felt like it was not worth what we paid.

 

[joni4122]

After our Wonder cruise in November 2014, I actually remarked to my husband that this must be the ship all the new people go to to train. It wasn't that they weren't nice, they just weren't "Disney" nice. It's like they were just learning the ropes. Room service and dining staff were pleasant enough but nothing stellar. Even the future cruise desk guy was overwhelmed. He was always too busy to book something for us or the computer was down, so we left a card for him to book a future rez. Oh he did all right. He booked for another family and used my credit card! It took longer than you would think to get that straightened out as well. Several customer service and ship-to-shore calls until my credit card was finally credited and a customer service supervisor had to rebook AND make an exception for us to get onboard booking discount as our reservation was never actually made onboard. It all worked out in the end but the feeling it left was that the Wonder was for the beginners.

 

[wilma-bride]

Just to present the other side of the coin, I was on the same cruise as MunFam (on the Wonder). Our room host was just OK (he did his job, to a point, and was polite but was not to the standard we have experienced previously). However, our servers and head server were AMAZING and the other staff on board we found to be excellent - personable, chatty, friendly but not overly familiar, entertaining and always remembered us. I was introduced to the bar tender in Diversions during our meet and greet on the first day, thanked him and his staff for the great job they did in putting up with us (there were hundreds of us there and it was a mad house) and every time I saw him from then on, he remembered my name and made a point of saying hello. Almost every single crew member I came into contact with on that cruise went out of their way to pass the time of day, even down to one maintenance guy who stopped and chatted to me as I was sitting alone on deck one evening.

Before you all start thinking I have "drunk the Kool-aid" or whatever the saying is, we have had poor service on DCL - terrible service (not life threatening/serious stuff like some others but serious enough to cause me to reduce the standard gratuity). And I am not a picky, hard to please person (yes, I know, even those people don't always recognise or admit that they are) - but I do expect my serving team to be in the dining room when I arrive and not have one of them turn up late, stinking of cigarette smoke - or disappear halfway through dinner and return stinking of cigarette smoke. I have been on a cruise where my daughter and son had an outstanding room host, while ours was fairly ordinary. I have even been on one Disney cruise where I never met my room host, not once, until the day we disembarked.

I guess my point is, we have had exceptional service from DCL crew and we have had poor service from DCL crew - but the exceptional service we have received has far and away outweighed the poor service. If the poor was the norm, we would not have returned again and again. If DCL hadn't set the standard so high on our first two cruises, we might not have been as disappointed with the servers on our third cruise (OK, scratch that - I still do not want the person serving me my dinner to stink of cigarettes). But subsequent serving teams have more than made up for that 'blip'. I do think the shorter cruises tend to be the ones where less than stellar service is experienced, purely because it is such a quick turnover, the crew almost don't get time to 'relax into it' before they are bombarded with the next set of guests and new demands. The longer cruises definitely seem to be better as far as service is concerned.

The only time I have experienced poor service, it was just that - poor. I personally wasn't treated badly, the staff member just didn't do their job very well. My response to that was reflected in my gratuity. The trouble is, people read on forums such as this about the 'special' things that have been done for them and 'pixie dust' and have come to expect the same, and then when they don't get it, they perceive that as poor service*.

*Disclaimer: Not always but sometimes that is a big part of the gripes you read here - take the 'having my drink waiting for me at the table' thing. The one and only time this happened to me, I hated it. I am the person who does not know what I want to drink ahead of time. And even if I do, I don't want to feel like my choice has been removed because a server has tried to predict what I might order. That is my personal view. I know some like it - my answer to that would be: tell your assistant server on the first night that you will always order the same drink and ask if they could have it waiting for you, if it is that important to you. Communication can nearly always solve most (perceived) problems.

Sorry for the long post, back to the regular scheduled thread.

 

[blondietink]

We also had a less than great experience on the Wonder. We have been on other cruise lines and frankly, the service was a lot better on the other lines. For the price, we were expecting a lot better service all around. The food was not really good, either. Just so, so. Of course the shows were great, and Castaway Key was terrific, but not worth twice the price. Most of the crew we talked to, (stewards, wait staff, etc) were long term employees, too. Even walking around the ship, none of the crew we ran in to were friendly or said hello. We probably will never be back unless there is a smokin' deal of some sort.

 

[Axelskater]

I understand the experiences change from ship to ship - but after sailing a "Classic" (Magic) and then a "newer" (Dream) Disney ship in the same stateroom class, I will stick to the Dream. I found the service and options to be far above the Magic; the one thing I skip on both ships except for maybe an occasional lunch, is the MDR. It was just subpar on both ships, though the adult dining was amazing. So we stick with other options on dining and I enjoyed the Dream so much, I have booked 2 more trips.

 

[FindMeAFishingSpot]

I'll agree that it's completely hit or miss. Our worst experience was on the Dream. We had a brand new Assistant Server who was pleasant enough, but miserably slow and was not on top of things at all. I don't think we had a drink refill the entire cruise without a substantial wait (if we got it at all). One of my favorite things about the Disney Cruise is always enjoying my dessert with a cup of hot tea - and I only got it once because he either forgot or was too slow and we needed to be somewhere. And as a result, the head server (who was not new), spent so much time trying to make up for the newbie that our interactions with him were also impacted (he was harried and doing way more than he should have been doing). This was last April and back on the Dream in February this year and had a wonderful serving crew. Unfortunately, the bad service was on our 7 day cruise - the longest of the 7 cruises we've taken.

 

[stitchlovestink]

In addition to that whole dining debacle, our room host was not nice at all. She serviced our room 3 times in a row and never left towels. Our rack was empty! We finally called and asked for towels. She refused to fill our ice bucket (saying to do it though room service), she did not give us our pirate night bandanas until the day AFTER pirate night (and only because we went to the desk to inquire about them)...when she did deliver them she literally threw them at me with no eye contact. It was awful. She left a "towel animal" in the shape of a toilet seat with chocolate turds on it. It was supposed to be "the crest of arendale" but I showed the picture to multiple passengers and guest services and they were all shocked. It looked NOTHING like the other towels left. I work in the travel industry, so I am extra understanding of situations like this...where sometimes things get missed or people have a bad day.

It went on for days and days and days. The night before we departed, she had the nerve to pull me aside and tell me she needed all 5's (or whatever high mark it was) on her review card so she would not lose her job! I was dumbfounded.

I do have to give credit to the characters, their handlers, the people in the show, the shutters photographers and the lifeguards on duty. They were all what we expected as far as DCL service was concerned.

With that kind of treatment, I would have been very tempted to say..."hope you enjoyed it while you were here because I only give HONEST reviews! So it won't be looking good for you!!"
I also would've been talking to the hotel mgr earlier in the cruise about the lack of appropriate service...and some of her responses!! I also would be adjusting her tip and I really don't normally advocate doing that, but I think she clearly deserved it!!

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Please don't think that this is aimed at any one poster, it isn't. I think many times service will/can be substandard for dinners because of the guests themselves. Pay attention, if any table shows up late it throws off the servers for the entire meal. The servers then get blamed for bad/slow service and it really isn't their fault. Have you ever noticed that many guests don't even interact with the CM's. It drives me nuts to see them taking orders, delivering food and drinks and notice the guests don't even bother to look them in the face and thank them. We are big on engaging them in conversation each and every night. We thank them for every step of the meal. We become friends and don't look at them as "help". As far as housekeeping have you ever peaked in a room when they were cleaning it? They aren't there to pick up our clothes off the floor. They are there to clean, vacuum and make the bed. Once again, engage them. After all, they are people, too. Remember this goes on for the CM's day after day, cruise after cruise and for some year after year. We all have to play a part in making our cruises "magical" just like the staff does.

 

[COASTIEandMATE]

Please don't think that this is aimed at any one poster, it isn't. I think many times service will/can be substandard for dinners because of the guests themselves. Pay attention, if any table shows up late it throws off the servers for the entire meal. The servers then get blamed for bad/slow service and it really isn't their fault. Have you ever noticed that many guests don't even interact with the CM's. It drives me nuts to see them taking orders, delivering food and drinks and notice the guests don't even bother to look them in the face and thank them. We are big on engaging them in conversation each and every night. We thank them for every step of the meal. We become friends and don't look at them as "help". As far as housekeeping have you ever peaked in a room when they were cleaning it? They aren't there to pick up our clothes off the floor. They are there to clean, vacuum and make the bed. Once again, engage them. After all, they are people, too. Remember this goes on for the CM's day after day, cruise after cruise and for some year after year. We all have to play a part in making our cruises "magical" just like the staff does.

Yes it is a two way street!! If they give you a great big smile - smile back!! As we say in Hawaii "it no broke your face!" And the Magic Words are still are PLEASE and THANK YOU Aloha, Karen

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Please don't think that this is aimed at any one poster, it isn't. I think many times service will/can be substandard for dinners because of the guests themselves. Pay attention, if any table shows up late it throws off the servers for the entire meal. The servers then get blamed for bad/slow service and it really isn't their fault. Have you ever noticed that many guests don't even interact with the CM's. It drives me nuts to see them taking orders, delivering food and drinks and notice the guests don't even bother to look them in the face and thank them. We are big on engaging them in conversation each and every night. We thank them for every step of the meal. We become friends and don't look at them as "help". As far as housekeeping have you ever peaked in a room when they were cleaning it? They aren't there to pick up our clothes off the floor. They are there to clean, vacuum and make the bed. Once again, engage them. After all, they are people, too. Remember this goes on for the CM's day after day, cruise after cruise and for some year after year. We all have to play a part in making our cruises "magical" just like the staff does.

I agree wholeheartedly, especially as someone who has been in food service for 30 years. With that in mind, on our particular cruise on the Wonder back in September, we encountered many CM's that even when we smiled, said Hello, etc., we were given blank stares from them. It was definitely an off cruise for them as far as I'm concerned but it did happen.

As far as the shape of some cabins, I'm shocked and disgusted the way some people leave them in the morning. I know, I shouldn't be looking in other cabins but we always stay in insides and I like to see how the good life lives.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

I know, I know. I agree. We shouldn't be peeking in other rooms, LOL. I can't help myself.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Please don't think that this is aimed at any one poster, it isn't. I think many times service will/can be substandard for dinners because of the guests themselves. Pay attention, if any table shows up late it throws off the servers for the entire meal. The servers then get blamed for bad/slow service and it really isn't their fault. Have you ever noticed that many guests don't even interact with the CM's. It drives me nuts to see them taking orders, delivering food and drinks and notice the guests don't even bother to look them in the face and thank them. We are big on engaging them in conversation each and every night. We thank them for every step of the meal. We become friends and don't look at them as "help". As far as housekeeping have you ever peaked in a room when they were cleaning it? They aren't there to pick up our clothes off the floor. They are there to clean, vacuum and make the bed. Once again, engage them. After all, they are people, too. Remember this goes on for the CM's day after day, cruise after cruise and for some year after year. We all have to play a part in making our cruises "magical" just like the staff does.

I definitely believe in being appreciative and kind to anyone taking care of me anywhere: from the attendant at the gas station to the check-out girl at the grocery store to the fellow who always takes care of our dry cleaning. I smile. I make eye contact. I say thank you. I express appreciation wherever I can. That said, I'm kinda over the whole get-to-know-you with the dining team, etc. on cruises. I'm not rude. I'm not unkind. If the servers want to tell me their life story I'll politely listen and engage. But I don't initiate this and would honestly rather avoid it. It was a novelty when we first started cruising with Disney but now I'd rather just check-out and keep it simple. Especially when we did the WBPC, when we skipped a MDR dinner the servers were so concerned and gushed over how they missed us. I felt guilty about not feeling like sitting through another long meal or being hungry at my assigned time to eat dinner. I'd rather not feel like I need to go to dinner out of obligation or guilt. So maybe for me it's best not to get personable. It's sweet that they express such concern but it can potentially tip into a negative thing, too. For me anyway, a little anonymity goes a long way.

PS. I've room-peeked, too. WTH are people thinking?!?! These people are not their mothers! I would be so ashamed if I left that kind of wreck. I totally teach my boys the same. It's disrespectful and unkind. Be helpful as a human always. Even when I had a cleaning lady at my home in the past, when she arrived everything was neat & tidy. I didn't have her making beds or washing linens or laundry. Nope. Just wanted the basic scrub, sweep, mop, dust done.

 

[hanscarlet]

We had pretty good service on both the Dream and the Wonder but thinking back on both and comparing the two, I liked the Wonder slightly better because our dining team. Our head server on the Dream was better for the main server and assistant server on the Wonder were way better. But our stateroom hostess on the Dream was way better than the Wonder, her name was Su and she was so sweet. We didn't do Palo on the dream but our Palo server on the Wonder was spectacular. I saw in the other FB group that he's pretty popular, if I heard his name I would remember him.

For me I think the experience on the Dream was more magical because there was so much to do and such an "exciting" exprience but then on the Wonder it felt more like a "home", more relaxed. We booked the Magic because we loved the smaller shop feel. They are all great so it's hard to compare but I do feel like we had less of a "personal" experience on the Dream. Food was so much better on the Dream imo though.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I definitely believe in being appreciative and kind to anyone taking care of me anywhere: from the attendant at the gas station to the check-out girl at the grocery store to the fellow who always takes care of our dry cleaning. I smile. I make eye contact. I say thank you. I express appreciation wherever I can. That said, I'm kinda over the whole get-to-know-you with the dining team, etc. on cruises. I'm not rude. I'm not unkind. If the servers want to tell me their life story I'll politely listen and engage. But I don't initiate this and would honestly rather avoid it. It was a novelty when we first started cruising with Disney but now I'd rather just check-out and keep it simple. Especially when we did the WBPC, when we skipped a MDR dinner the servers were so concerned and gushed over how they missed us. I felt guilty about not feeling like sitting through another long meal or being hungry at my assigned time to eat dinner. I'd rather not feel like I need to go to dinner out of obligation or guilt. So maybe for me it's best not to get personable. It's sweet that they express such concern but it can potentially tip into a negative thing, too. For me anyway, a little anonymity goes a long way.

PS. I've room-peeked, too. WTH are people thinking?!?! These people are not their mothers! I would be so ashamed if I left that kind of wreck. I totally teach my boys the same. It's disrespectful and unkind. Be helpful as a human always. Even when I had a cleaning lady at my home in the past, when she arrived everything was neat & tidy. I didn't have her making beds or washing linens or laundry. Nope. Just wanted the basic scrub, sweep, mop, dust done.

ITA. We're always polite etc. and we'll ask if they were able to get off the ship. Almost always we've been at least once to whatever country they're from so we'll talk about that. But I try not to get into too much personal conversation. I don't really enjoy small talk and on my vacation I don't want to feel obligated. Sometimes too much chit chat leads to feeling obligated to explain my meal choices and sometimes then the staff tries to go out of their way to "bring me something special" it's very uncomfortable for me if its not something I like or want as I don't want to offend.

I absolutely believe in treating everybody like a human being no matter what they do. However, I don't think I need to treat everybody like a friend. I think it's ok if people want to just go in to dinner and politely order their food. I don't think being polite means you have to strike up conversation every night.

Haha, I thought it was just me until I was chatting with the few other women in my office and one said "oh, I have to clean up the house tonight, the maid is coming tomorrow."

 

[Flossbolna]

That said, I'm kinda over the whole get-to-know-you with the dining team, etc. on cruises. I'm not rude. I'm not unkind. If the servers want to tell me their life story I'll politely listen and engage. But I don't initiate this and would honestly rather avoid it. It was a novelty when we first started cruising with Disney but now I'd rather just check-out and keep it simple. Especially when we did the WBPC, when we skipped a MDR dinner the servers were so concerned and gushed over how they missed us. I felt guilty about not feeling like sitting through another long meal or being hungry at my assigned time to eat dinner. I'd rather not feel like I need to go to dinner out of obligation or guilt. So maybe for me it's best not to get personable. It's sweet that they express such concern but it can potentially tip into a negative thing, too. For me anyway, a little anonymity goes a long way.

Yes, I feel exactly the same. In my opinion a really excellent server is one that can read your interest in personal attention and react to that. On my cruise on the Fantasy we had a team that was excellent at that. They were serving tables with very different guests and I noticed how over the course of the week they tailored their interactions more and more to the different guests. I was very fascinated by this. And they were the first servers who when we told them that we will be eating at Remy one night, did not tell us how much they would miss us (because, really, I am sure they are just happy that they have an easier evening if they have to serve less people and I at points felt that it turned even into a bit of "bullying" to not skip the MDR). We had originally planed to eat one night at Cabanas, because we really like eating there (at least we did on the Wonder and the Magic), but we never did, because we felt so comfortable with our servers! They truly earned that excellent rating.

However, I agree with the previous poster, if you want your servers to make a lot of conversation with you (the general you, not you personally sweetpee), you need to be friendly to them yourself, otherwise, why should they talk to you, if you actively ignore them...

 

[cgolf]

One thing that we noticed on our B2B on the magic last January, two different serving teams, is the responsibilities of the serving team appear to have changed. We noticed our server clearing the tables, getting drinks, and doing stuff the assistants did in the past. The first trip we thought it was the assistant, because they just weren't good, but on the second it was similar, but with a much nicer assistant. There was some discussion on CC about this and it sounds like something may have changed with how the service takes place, not 100% on this, but it was very different from the services that we have had in the past. They didn't have as much time to interact with each table as they had in the past, and it seemed like they were rushing to get us out of there, which was great for us.

My pet peave is the families that come in late and think nothing of it. We did see them start one family at the main course since they were so late.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Wow! We were on the Wonder, 4 nights beginning March 20, and we had excellent service, excellent crew member interactions and were so pleased with our meals.

We had asked for and had Desmond as our server, this was our 3rd cruise with him. His former assistant, Sheldon is now a waiter, and whenever we saw him, he was so cordial, he even came to our table to say goodbye on our last morning.

Our Palo experience was also excellent. We booked a cruise a year from now because we look forward to seeing the reimagined Wonder.

We were also on her last Southern Caribbean cruise this year, and had the same excellent experience! Desmond was on vacation, so we had a different, but equally good serve team.

Bobbi

 

[JoiseyMom]

I know that. We've cruised multiple times on other lines. I'm just disappointed that our experience was not up to the standard I remembered for Disney.

I have cruised 7 times (2 in concierge) and on my last cruise, which was a 15 nighter, I had issues I have never had before. I did get most of them fixed, and customer service on the ship bent over backwards, but it was disappointing in comparison to my previous cruises. I a still cruising this Nov. And, I did put all my comments on the comment card (added handwritten paper with all my issues) and I got a phone call from DCL asking questions. So I hope you told them. YOu can still do it, send them a snail mail or email. They want feedback, both positive and negative so they can fix what is wrong.

 

[hanscarlet]

One thing that we noticed on our B2B on the magic last January, two different serving teams, is the responsibilities of the serving team appear to have changed. We noticed our server clearing the tables, getting drinks, and doing stuff the assistants did in the past. The first trip we thought it was the assistant, because they just weren't good, but on the second it was similar, but with a much nicer assistant. There was some discussion on CC about this and it sounds like something may have changed with how the service takes place, not 100% on this, but it was very different from the services that we have had in the past. They didn't have as much time to interact with each table as they had in the past, and it seemed like they were rushing to get us out of there, which was great for us.

My pet peave is the families that come in late and think nothing of it. We did see them start one family at the main course since they were so late.

This happened on our last trip, there was a party of about 12, They kept coming in really late, like each party would arrive at all different times at the table and that really didn't bother me as much as the fact that they were letting their kids play together along side of the table, like completely inconsiderate of all of the other tables around, 3-4 rowdy kids playing in the blank space between their table and our table and one another... it just seemed like an uncoordinated, relaxed approached to dinner and I felt bad for our server team.

 

[C6PT7]

Couldn't this be easily resolved with disney just having the maitre 'd speak to the pax that are causing the disruption of either being late or disrespectful allowing their children to behave badly?
Or have the hotel manager send a letter tot there cabin ex.
"Dear XYZ,
Our dining times are X:00 - X:00 for your evening meal. Due to operational times and to keep a wonderful service for all of our passengers, we request that you arrive promptly at your assigned time.
If you wish to dine at a different time, we welcome you to use our your time dining at cabanas.
The hours are X:00 to X:00 and is located on deck x.

Your assistance in prompt arrival and making the dining experience magical for all of the passengers is greatly appreciated"

or

"Dear XYZ,
Unfortunately it has come to our attention from other passengers that members of your dining party are causing an unacceptable level of disturbance and disruption in the dining rooms.
We therefore request going forward that any children in your group be seated at the same table and accompanied and supervised by their parents or guardians.
This is to ensure the enjoyment and health and safety of all of our passengers and crew.
We trust that you understand and thank you for your assistance."