The service left me Wondering.

[hanscarlet]

The above recommendation would require us to complain about it though right? IDK, I am the non confrontational type and figured we're supposed to ignore it because kids and Disney. Would Disney really say something about it though? They were a large table and I think the serving team really depended on them for tips since there didn't appear to be another table in their group.

 

[C6PT7]

The above recommendation would require us to complain about it though right? IDK, I am the non confrontational type and figured we're supposed to ignore it because kids and Disney. Would Disney really say something about it though? They were a large table and I think the serving team really depended on them for tips since there didn't appear to be another table in their group.

Thats why I said head server who is not really as dependent on tips as your server or asst. server or the hotel manager who is salaried.
And you do not have to be confrontational to speak to a staff member about someone elses behavior if it is negatively affecting you. I also said in the what they could say that other passengers had made complaints, or in the case of not showing up on time, then the cruise line should make up the difference if the tips are removed. the staff should be able to do their job without additional complications from passengers showing up late and maybe the this is my vacation attitude would be different going forwards for those that either didn't care, or didn't think it was that big of a deal?
As long as it is polite I see no problem, but IMO disney should do it for the good of everyone aboard, pax and staff!

 

[COASTIEandMATE]

I am aware that not everyone wants to go to the trouble, but we always request our favorite server on the Wonder as soon as we are paid in full. We can't request a certain rotation since we will have our favorite severs rotation, but we have been very happy with this! The one time that I forgot to do this we got a server that was so lax that I complained to the officer in charge of the wait staff and then lowered the tip accordingly! The MDR Servers can really make or break our enjoyment of the cruise!

 

[cgolf]

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.

I normally don't mind it at all, until it impacts our service. Unfortunately it was a larger group, so it impacted the flow of our meal and really seemed to add some stress to our server. Overall we dealt with it and enjoyed our meals, but this was the first trip where we noticed this impact our service, other than just thinking how could domeone show up so late for a dining time.

 

[stitchlovestink]

Thats why I said head server who is not really as dependent on tips as your server or asst. server or the hotel manager who is salaried.
And you do
not have to be confrontational to speak to a staff member about someone elses behavior if it is negatively affecting you. I also said in the what they could say that other passengers had made complaints, or in the case of not showing up on time, then the cruise line should make up the difference if the tips are removed. the staff should be able to do their job without additional complications from passengers showing up late and maybe the this is my vacation attitude would be different going forwards for those that either didn't care, or didn't think it was that big of a deal?
As long as it is polite I see no problem, but IMO disney should do it for the good of everyone aboard, pax and staff!

But the cruise line is not going to take up the responsibility of making up tips for those that have removed them. That is opening a HUGE can of worms for them!! What reason will be next as to why they should be making up for tips that have been removed?

 

[hanscarlet]

Thats why I said head server who is not really as dependent on tips as your server or asst. server or the hotel manager who is salaried.
And you do not have to be confrontational to speak to a staff member about someone elses behavior if it is negatively affecting you. I also said in the what they could say that other passengers had made complaints, or in the case of not showing up on time, then the cruise line should make up the difference if the tips are removed. the staff should be able to do their job without additional complications from passengers showing up late and maybe the this is my vacation attitude would be different going forwards for those that either didn't care, or didn't think it was that big of a deal?
As long as it is polite I see no problem, but IMO disney should do it for the good of everyone aboard, pax and staff!

The other thing I think about with this - how does this affect the people for second seating? When I think back on my example with it being a party of 12, the potential for the lateness factor - would this impact people on second seating? Would second seating people have to wait? I have never done second seating before but would be curious if they get stuck waiting.

 

[C6PT7]

But the cruise line is not going to take up the responsibility of making up tips for those that have removed them. That is opening a HUGE can of worms for them!! What reason will be next as to why they should be making up for tips that have been removed?

I think they should and would IF they introduced a new policy system of being tougher on people that are turning up late or causing a disruption in the mdr's.
That would only obviously apply to those passengers that were reported and sent letters to, not just any serving team that got their tips removed.

 

[C6PT7]

The other thing I think about with this - how does this affect the people for second seating? When I think back on my example with it being a party of 12, the potential for the lateness factor - would this impact people on second seating? Would second seating people have to wait? I have never done second seating before but would be curious if they get stuck waiting.

I would think it impacts on the turnaround of the restaurant massively for those staff.
They may have a 20 or so minute break between services and that could easily be erroded but latecomers requiring those staff to stay behind to reset their tables.
And also say they would finish a regular service at 11pm after clearing and cleaning, if those that turn up late or hang around past the norm of enjoying a coffee, that could also impact on their finish time that evening before an early start the next day I would think?

 

[hanscarlet]

I would think it impacts on the turnaround of the restaurant massively for those staff.
They may have a 20 or so minute break between services and that could easily be erroded but latecomers requiring those staff to stay behind to reset their tables.
And also say they would finish a regular service at 11pm after clearing and cleaning, if those that turn up late or hang around past the norm of enjoying a coffee, that could also impact on their finish time that evening before an early start the next day I would think?

Yea when I used to work in the restaurant industry we couldn't stand people like that. We had couldn't leave and clean the place until every guest was gone

 

[stitchlovestink]

I think they should and would IF they introduced a new policy system of being tougher on people that are turning up late or causing a disruption in the mdr's.
That would only obviously apply to those passengers that were reported and sent letters to, not just any serving team that got their tips removed.

But they won't. Disney takes a TOTAL HANDS OFF approach when it comes to parents and kids unless it presents a SAFETY issue. Unless someone is potentially going to get hurt, They aren't going to step in. Parents will fight it and Disney will cower.
Short of kids climbing on things where they could fall and blatant issues like that, Disney just doesn't get involved in telling parents how to parent even when it affects others around them. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I know that's their policy. Have family that are CMs.

 

[RedSox68]

I've honestly found Disney service/crew to be just as hit and miss as other lines.

Maybe I've just had several "not the norm" experiences, but I struggle to see where Disney service is miles above anybody else.

I've fantastic service both on and off Disney and pretty crap both on and off.

I just got back yesterday from a Princess cruise that probably had the best service I've had on any ship.

I agree -- Disney or not, we have had some lousy room stewards and some odd servers who were distracted by the end of their contract coming up and forgot about their tables more than once! I should also mention that we were talking to a server on our Fantasy cruise and apparently the Wonder is the "newbies, trainees" or those who don't work well on the longer itineraries. Our server started on the Wonder and quickly moved up, but said that the Wonder has such a huge turnover of passengers every 4 or 5 days that it is hard to keep up with set ups and preparations and really no time to get personal with anyone as you are already thinking about the next cruise. Not sure if that makes sense, but that's the feeling we got the first time we went on the Wonder after having cruised 7 days on the Magic. Night and day when it came to care and service.

The sad thing was the Wonder did a 10-day in 2006 and it was worse because the staff were not used to keeping the passengers for such a long period of time and we actually had some rude treatment by servers and staff during that cruise which was quite shocking. It felt like they were unhappy to be doing such a long run and it may be why they've never done it again

 

[Flossbolna]

The sad thing was the Wonder did a 10-day in 2006 and it was worse because the staff were not used to keeping the passengers for such a long period of time and we actually had some rude treatment by servers and staff during that cruise which was quite shocking. It felt like they were unhappy to be doing such a long run and it may be why they've never done it again

The Wonder does a lot of longer cruises. The 7-night Alaska cruises, the 14-night Panama Canal cruises, she did 7-night Southern Caribbean cruises recently. It might have been true in 2006, before the Alaska seasons started, but I think now the Dream is the only ship that does excusively short cruises.

 

[RedSox68]

The Wonder does a lot of longer cruises. The 7-night Alaska cruises, the 14-night Panama Canal cruises, she did 7-night Southern Caribbean cruises recently. It might have been true in 2006, before the Alaska seasons started, but I think now the Dream is the only ship that does excusively short cruises.

True, before the new ships the Wonder was the only ship sailing twice a week. I'm sure the crew onboard now are used to longer sailings and hope they are enjoying them more.

 

[Flossbolna]

True, before the new ships the Wonder was the only ship sailing twice a week. I'm sure the crew onboard now are used to longer sailings and hope they are enjoying them more.

We were on the 2014 WBPC and the Wonder crew was awesome!

 

[RedSox68]

We were on the 2014 WBPC and the Wonder crew was awesome!

I hope to do another Panama Canal cruise. Loved our time at Disneyland, too.