When did main dining room servers start taking care of 4/5 tables?

We just got off the Fascination and we had a great time with the exception of our main dining room experience. We had the early seating in the Sensation dining room and our service was slow and poor.

We had a head waiter and two assistants and they were taking care of 4 or 5 tables, including two 7 top tables and one 8 top. We had to ask for water, tea, bread, items were forgotten, entrees delivered wrong, and the servers in general seemed very frazzled. There is no way they can take care of that many people at once.

We just cruised this past March on the Fantasy and the service was mediocre, but it was terrible this cruise.

How in the world can a team of 3 be expected to serve that many people at once?

If anyone has any other Fascination questions, I can try to answer on the ride home.

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Cutbacks cutbacks cutbacks.

It used to be teams of two with fewer tables and went to teams of three with more tables.

I think it is a side effect of a number of things including Your Time Dining and more people wanting smaller tables.

This is just another example of the decline of Carnival. To describe Carnival as the Wal-Mart of cruising would be to insult Wal-Mart.

Carnival should fire their CEO and get back to what they had been in the past, a good value for the money.

I was just on Fascination a couple of weeks ago, also with early seating in the Sensation dining room. Our waiter (Ioan) and his assistants took excellent care of our group of 18 (2 tables) as well as several other tables, though I'm not sure exactly how many.

We had to ask for additional bread if we wanted it, but they didn't mind bringing it when we asked. They did a good job of keeping our glasses full and any errors in meals that were brought were taken care of quickly.

Maybe you just got a less-experienced waitstaff.

I had lunch in the MDR one day and found the staff to be much less friendly than what we had for dinner, so some of it may just be personality differences between staff members.

We had same cruise in July but ATD..No issues. Our server had about 4 tables and 1 every night was a 10 top. Could be maybe that team just didn't work well together.

Its been that way for at least a year.

Last cruise in january we were a table for 4 shared the head waiter and the two assts with 2 tables for 6 and 2 tables for 8.

I am guessing the workers have done it for quite some time as there seemed to be a rythm== one of the assts handled all the bread, water and drink requests, including condiments the other asst did the running for the food.

the head waiter made sure it all ran smoothly.

I do think it took a lot of time between courses== (the poor runner)

but we were always outta there in 1.30 minutes

We only use buffet these days, and this is one of the reasons. The last time we did the MDR, we only saw 1 waiter ever at our table, his English was so poor we could not communicate with him. We did request things from another tables waiter though.

We have ALWAYS (every single cruise) had exceptional service in the MDR for dinner! Our last cruise was 8 months ago, and same great service. We always do late seating, and I wonder if there are less people in the MDR then? So maybe the waiters are a little less stretched?

Our experience at breakfast has not been as positive, however. Our service then has only been fair-to-middling. On one cruise (inspiration, 2 years ago) the breakfast service was truly terrible -- I ended up grabbing the coffee pot and serving everyone (until I was "scolded"):rolleyes: The waiters just always seem tired and lackadaisical at breakfast.

I'd say that 4/5 was pretty good, My grandmother used to take care of 1/2 a diner when she was waitressing... and all day not just for 2 dinners. She managed it just fine. :p

I've only had problems once, on Liberty. I think a part of problems some people encounter is the type of people the waiter is catering to. We had a table very nearby that was clearly monopolizing the waiter, thus leaving us to do the waiting. I couldn't help but wonder if there had been some tipping going on, the waiter was way too cheerful to meet their needs while we sat there.

We had same cruise in July but ATD..No issues. Our server had about 4 tables and 1 every night was a 10 top. Could be maybe that team just didn't work well together.

Yes, I think part of the problem was the "teamwork"--this particular team of three didn't seem quite in sync. And the head waiter seemed frazzled trying to keep it all together.

I guess it is just a product of the cutbacks--when we sailed for the first time ten years ago, the service was impeccable in the MDR.

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I'd say that 4/5 was pretty good, My grandmother used to take care of 1/2 a diner when she was waitressing... and all day not just for 2 dinners. She managed it just fine. :p

But she didnt have to go as far to get food orders either

The headwaiter used to have time to get to know his passengers but now he has to hustle to keep up. Some can pull it off but many cannot keep up.

Just got off the same sailing this morning and had ATD in Sensation MDR. Our experience was much better. We only ate there on nights 1, 2, & 5 though, a party of 3. Night 1 we had excellent service and lived our wait staff. Unfortunately, DH never could seem to remember that we had to request for the same wait staff each night if we wanted to be seated with Seskan and his team again. And it seemed everytime we got in line for dinner DD needed to potty, so that is inevitably where I was each time he got to the front if the line and they took our name and room number. Night 2 wait staff I did not care for. They didn't even introduce themselves and had no smiles. Night 5 wait staff was also good, but not as great as night 1. At least Raja introduced himself, had smiles, and a little small talk unlike night 2 staff. But we never waited nore than an hour to finish our meal, including dessert. Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience.

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I think the major issue is the value of the US $. Since most (all) of the staff are foreign, the devaluation of the $ has left them with less income at home. To try to accommodate an adjustment in pay, Carnival has added more duties.

Where two waiters handled 18 guests in the past, now, 3 waiters are assigned 36 guests.

Some waiters purposely (IMHO) provide terrible service the first couple of nights so guests will eat at alternate dining locations. That reduces their work load but with automatic tipping, not the amount of money they make.

Carnival may have done something similar with the rooms because where they used to have one steward assigned to a bank of rooms, now, there are two. I assume they have more rooms to do.

I haven't noticed a deterioration in the room "service" that I have in the dining room.

I just got off the Dream and noticed something else that I believe is also economy related. The entire cruise staff was American! Usually, they are UK, Canadian, Australian or South African with an occasional European. Even one American on the cruise staff was rare. I guess these kids had problems finding other work.

I'd say that 4/5 was pretty good, My grandmother used to take care of 1/2 a diner when she was waitressing... and all day not just for 2 dinners. She managed it just fine. :p

I also think that people who are eating in the diner are not as high end as some cruisers-- I sat next to this couple one night-- oh mi gawd you would have thought she was the queen of england or something with the way they carried on-- her soup was not hot enough- her meat was not seasoned enough and on and on and on.

Originally Posted by wiskt

I'd say that 4/5 was pretty good, My grandmother used to take care of 1/2 a diner when she was waitressing... and all day not just for 2 dinners. She managed it just fine. :p

But she didnt have to go as far to get food orders either

Nor was she worried about her customers pulling their tips regardless of the service they received

I also think that people who are eating in the diner are not as high end as some cruisers-- I sat next to this couple one night-- oh mi gawd you would have thought she was the queen of england or something with the way they carried on-- her soup was not hot enough- her meat was not seasoned enough and on and on and on.

She must have been related to my Step Dad. He sounded just like that. I was so embarrassed and felt so bad for our poor waitress when they cruised with us on the Inspiration. Every night there were new and multiple complaints.

But she didnt have to go as far to get food orders either

I also think that people who are eating in the diner are not as high end as some cruisers-- I sat next to this couple one night-- oh mi gawd you would have thought she was the queen of england or something with the way they carried on-- her soup was not hot enough- her meat was not seasoned enough and on and on and on.

Ive watched those passengers also and just shake my head at them and laugh..

I wouldn't go as far as saying cruisers are "high end"... they MAY THINK THEY ARE :cool: The have's and have-nots that just expect all the time.

In a shared dining room there are no "personal waiters"

While I have been critical of carnivals foods and there March to cheaper foods they serve ...I must say in many cruises I really never had a big issue with the wait staff

We always get late seating , we do look forward to dinner as its not just chowing down for us . It's social , and catch up time

Our expectations is its about 1 3/4. To 2 hrs

Works for us and we haven't experienced delays

We always tip on auto tip so not sure if that has anything to do with it

While I have been critical of carnivals foods and there March to cheaper foods they serve ...I must say in many cruises I really never had a big issue with the wait staff

We always get late seating , we do look forward to dinner as its not just chowing down for us . It's social , and catch up time

Our expectations is its about 1 3/4. To 2 hrs

Works for us and we haven't experienced delays

We always tip on auto tip so not sure if that has anything to do with it

This is us, as well. The dinners in the MDR have been some of the highpoints of our cruises. We always assume dinner will take 2 hours; when we go out for a nice evening at home, it takes that long, too -- by the time you order a bottle or wine, etc.

We just returned from the Breeze, late seating (which was full). Our wait staff was off...or something was.....it seemd we got our starters...soup or salad and then waited for the entree....and then waited and waited to have the entree dishes cleared...........It is the cutbacks by management.....We also watched the table next to us (table of 10) each person ordered 3 or 4 starters and two entrees (sometimes 3) every night...........I don't know how these people were able to eat it all...

While I have been critical of carnivals foods and there March to cheaper foods they serve ...I must say in many cruises I really never had a big issue with the wait staff

We always get late seating , we do look forward to dinner as its not just chowing down for us . It's social , and catch up time

Our expectations is its about 1 3/4. To 2 hrs

Works for us and we haven't experienced delays

We always tip on auto tip so not sure if that has anything to do with it

We expect dinner take 2 hours and that is fine. However they do not have the time they used to in order to keep refilling water glasses and bread bowls.

As long as we have nice table companions not a big deal as we are too busy have nice conversations to worry about it.

I also think that people who are eating in the diner are not as high end as some cruisers-- I sat next to this couple one night-- oh mi gawd you would have thought she was the queen of england or something with the way they carried on-- her soup was not hot enough- her meat was not seasoned enough and on and on and on.

We had anytime on Legend a year ago, we sat at a table for 2 every night near the hostess stand, (due to hanicap person). Many times I chuckled to myself at some of the passengers demands they made of the Hostess, never saw anyone tip the lady, but she handled the rude folks quite well.