Sabor? No more!

We had the pleasure of sailing on the first cruise after Navigator’s “revitalization;” and generally speaking, we were very impressed. Having sailed other ships immediately following drydock, I was prepared for unfinished construction, unavailable venues, and other growing pains. But for the most part she was all spiffed up and ready to welcome her first guests.

Navigator now boasts four specialty restaurants—Chops, Giovanni’s (which replaced Portofino’s), Izumi and Sabor. After viewing the menus, we chose to dine in Sabor featuring “modern Mexican cuisine.” We reserved a table for 3 people at 8:00 the second night, and were surprised to get a message the next morning—confirming a reservation for a party of 2 at 6:45! That error was quickly ironed out by a phone call to the Specialty Dining Department, and everything seemed to be set.

Sabor is the only specialty restaurant located on Deck 4, at the end of the Promenade just outside the theater, putting the entrance in a congested and noisy location. And once we stepped inside, the decibel level rose even higher. It’s an interior venue with hard, flat surfaces (not a square of carpet, draperies or tablecloths anywhere to absorb sound), and the recorded music was so loud we had to shout to be heard by the hostess. The dark walls and floors give the feeling of walking into a cave.

The restaurant was more than half empty when we arrived, and we were seated promptly. Fortunately the chairs were comfortable, because we waited nearly 30 minutes before a single staff member approached our table. No menus, no drinks, no waiters. Finally a “guacamole chef” appeared and quickly concocted some delicious dip, which would have been even tastier if we had been offered chips to scoop it up or even spoons to serve it! We called him back to the table, and he promised to find our waiter. A few minutes later another server delivered menus but just stared blankly when we explained we had no way to eat the guacamole, which we then feared might be the only food we’d see for quite a while.

Finally yet another server came to take our order, but was unable to answer very simple questions about the dishes. We wanted to try several options and were inquiring about serving sizes so we could decide how much to order. His ultimate response was, “Well, I ate two quesadillas for lunch.” Hmmm…very helpful!

After waiting another 15-20 minutes, two of us received our entrees---without any explanation of when we might expect our appetizers or our companion’s entrée. No sooner than we began to share two plates of tacos, yet another server mysteriously supplied one bowl of gazpacho. None of us had ordered soup, but we feared the chef might appear waving a wooden spoon and warning to eat what we were served because children in Mexico are starving!

We understood this was only the second night Sabor was open, and normally we would have written off the poor service. But we couldn’t help but notice a table of 8 officers (including the Food & Beverage Manager and Hotel Manager) was surrounded by waiters and cocktail servers the entire evening!

On our Mariner cruise several years ago we decided to try Chops for the first time. We were with another couple. I only saw 4 occupied tables(including ours) for almost our whole dinner. Unfortunately one of those was a table of Officers. Our service was terrible, all of the staff spent most of the time with the Officers. We are not needy people during dinner, but to have to flag someone down to get drinks or food is unexcusable. Neither us or our friends will ever pay for specialty dining again.

I am sorry this ever has to happen.

Because a new restaurant in its first couple weeks NEVER has any problems, either on land or sea, right? :rolleyes:

Here's hoping the kinks get sorted out - Sabor's menu looks great!

Because a new restaurant in its first couple weeks NEVER has any problems, either on land or sea, right? :rolleyes:

 

Here's hoping the kinks get sorted out - Sabor's menu looks great!

How does that RCI Kool-Aid taste?

Waiting 30 minutes before ANYONE came to the table is inexcusable. I don't care how many "kinks" there are in the operation how hard is it for someone to walk by and see if they can be of service?

I will say the OP is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more patient than me. After waiting about 5-10 minutes for someone to approach me I would have walked up the the hostess and asked if there was any staff members working that night. If nobody showed up within a couple of minutes I would have walked out...going directly to so Guest Relations in the morning and speaking with someone above the Customer Service Rep level.

 

We understood this was only the second night Sabor was open, and normally we would have written off the poor service. But we couldn’t help but notice a table of 8 officers (including the Food & Beverage Manager and Hotel Manager) was surrounded by waiters and cocktail servers the entire evening!

 

You should have walked over to their table and said "Excuse me. I am sorry to interrupt but you seem to have waitstaff members falling all over themselve to serve you. Would you be so kind as to ask one of them to see if the food we ordered 30 minutes ago is ready?"

How does that RCI Kool-Aid taste?

 

Waiting 30 minutes before ANYONE came to the table is inexcusable. I don't care how many "kinks" there are in the operation how hard is it for someone to walk by and see if they can be of service?

 

I will say the OP is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more patient than me. After waiting about 5-10 minutes for someone to approach me I would have walked up the the hostess and asked if there was any staff members working that night. If nobody showed up within a couple of minutes I would have walked out...going directly to so Guest Relations in the morning and speaking with someone above the Customer Service Rep level.

Because I make the (quite reasonable) statement that any restaurant in its early stages will undoubtedly have problems with decor, staffing knowledge, and the like, I'm drinking RCI kool-aid? I'd say you're very MUCH, MUCH, MUCH a little bit of a drama queen. I do concur that OP's wait was much - and I would have complained too. Just as my wife and I complained when we had to wait 20 minutes after finishing our meals before having to flag down a server to get our checks (OMG I complained! They may cut off my RCI kool-aid!:rolleyes:). But pointing out that Sabor is a new concept and some amount of growing pains should be expected. I never expect a new restaurant to have a 100% smooth service. Similarly I wouldn't swear off specialty dining forever because of poor service at ONE restaurant at ONE ship "several" years ago. That too, is being a bit overdramatic.

You should have walked over to their table and said "Excuse me. I am sorry to interrupt but you seem to have waitstaff members falling all over themselve to serve you. Would you be so kind as to ask one of them to see if the food we ordered 30 minutes ago is ready?"

Beat me to it, that was my thought too.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 via Tapatalk

Because I make the (quite reasonable) statement that any restaurant in its early stages will undoubtedly have problems with decor, staffing knowledge, and the like, I'm drinking RCI kool-aid? I'd say you're very MUCH, MUCH, MUCH a little bit of a drama queen. I do concur that OP's wait was much - and I would have complained too. Just as my wife and I complained when we had to wait 20 minutes after finishing our meals before having to flag down a server to get our checks (OMG I complained! They may cut off my RCI kool-aid!:rolleyes:). But pointing out that Sabor is a new concept and some amount of growing pains should be expected. I never expect a new restaurant to have a 100% smooth service. Similarly I wouldn't swear off specialty dining forever because of poor service at ONE restaurant at ONE ship "several" years ago. That too, is being a bit overdramatic.

I'd love to see you sit there for 30 minutes with no drinks, no food and no service and maintain the phony baloney sunny side up no matter what demeanor.

Any person with at least 2 working synapses in their brain would have been highly annoyed by this. Get real.

If they are not giving discounts and explaining up front that there may be some "kinks" I believe I should expect what I am paying for and they wish to be known for. I once stayed at a new hotel which actually ran out of towels! Their explanation was that they were full and not ready for so many guests. So why did they accept so many reservations? A hotel without towels and a restaurant without service are the same thing ... a very bad business decision.

I'd love to see you sit there for 30 minutes with no drinks, no food and no service and maintain the phony baloney sunny side up no matter what demeanor.

 

Any person with at least 2 working synapses in their brain would have been highly annoyed by this. Get real.

Did I say I wouldn't complain? No, to the contrary, I said that their wait was indeed long. But that I also would expect that with a new opening. No need to be a rude lout. If you expect a new restaurant based on a new concept to have a perfect service in it's first week, maybe somebody other than me needs to get real.

Did I say I wouldn't complain? No, to the contrary, I said that their wait was indeed long. But that I also would expect that with a new opening. No need to be a rude lout.

No need to be quite so obtuse, either.

Beat me to it, that was my thought too.

 

Sent from my Galaxy S4 via Tapatalk

Well, that makes three of us. Maybe it's the Jersey girl in me, and I'm really a very nice person, but I would never have tolerated this treatment. I'm very soft spoken but firm (DH tells me I can bring someone to their knees without speaking above a whisper - I prefer to think of myself as quietly assertive).

Stop it, children!

Everyone has a right to their opinion; no need to be nasty:mad:

New restaurant or not what the OP described is not acceptable. RCI usually places their better servers in specialty dining. This is a case of management not doing their job by being out on the floor insuring guests were taken care of and things were running smooth.

No way would I have set there that long. Someone would have handled it or I would have left.

I like the idea of going over to the officers table and asking them nicely if they'd mind sharing any of their waiters for a few minutes... They may be officers, but they are still employees and the "other tables" are still guests. I bet that would have set some things into motion.

Tom

How does that RCI Kool-Aid taste?

 

Waiting 30 minutes before ANYONE came to the table is inexcusable. I don't care how many "kinks" there are in the operation how hard is it for someone to walk by and see if they can be of service?

 

I will say the OP is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more patient than me. After waiting about 5-10 minutes for someone to approach me I would have walked up the the hostess and asked if there was any staff members working that night. If nobody showed up within a couple of minutes I would have walked out...going directly to so Guest Relations in the morning and speaking with someone above the Customer Service Rep level.

How does that RCI Kool-Aid taste?

 

Waiting 30 minutes before ANYONE came to the table is inexcusable. I don't care how many "kinks" there are in the operation how hard is it for someone to walk by and see if they can be of service?

 

I will say the OP is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more patient than me. After waiting about 5-10 minutes for someone to approach me I would have walked up the the hostess and asked if there was any staff members working that night. If nobody showed up within a couple of minutes I would have walked out...going directly to so Guest Relations in the morning and speaking with someone above the Customer Service Rep level.

30 minutes is my outside limit. I would normally be seeking some kind of assistance after 15-20. Even factoring in the new restaurant, with expected kinks to be ironed out, simple service standards (greeting, menu, water) should be higher and quicker.

We too have noticed a service vacuum when there is a table of officers present, on more than one occasion.

We board Navigator on Sunday, and our intent is to give Sabor a try. Stay tuned --

Sabor? No more!

I'm curious what you did about it other than post it here.

But we couldn’t help but notice a table of 8 officers (including the Food & Beverage Manager and Hotel Manager) was surrounded by waiters and cocktail servers the entire evening!

Huh, we ate at Chops the 2nd night and we too had a table full of officers being smothered by great service.... although our waiter and service was good but could have been better.

We know about the service, how about the food, we have to know about the food

Really, you sat there for 30 min

Not an acceptable wait on land or sea. No manager walking around to check on service is not acceptable either.

The last few cruises I have been taking my camera to dinner each night and taking pictures of our food. It makes nice memories.

If this was me in Sabor, I would have taken pictures of all the waiters hovering around the officers.......THEN I would have gone over to the table, played nice and asked if they could share one of the service staff.

I might have added that I can't wait to get home to write my review of the new restaurant on Cruise Critic.;)

Unacceptable. I would have given the staff one opportunity to fix the situation before getting up to leave, making very sure that those officers -- especially the very relevant Food and Beverage and Hotel Managers -- were aware of the situation. I don't imagine either officer would be satisfied with the service (or the lack thereof) OP received, especially since it's a brand new concept that they're just getting up and running.

And no, I would have no problem interrupting their dinner as politely as possible to address the issue. What OP described is clearly an outlier in specialty restaurant service on RCI ships.

Unacceptable. I would have given the staff one opportunity to fix the situation before getting up to leave, making very sure that those officers -- especially the very relevant Food and Beverage and Hotel Managers -- were aware of the situation. I don't imagine either officer would be satisfied with the service (or the lack thereof) OP received, especially since it's a brand new concept that they're just getting up and running.

 

And no, I would have no problem interrupting their dinner as politely as possible to address the issue. What OP described is clearly an outlier in specialty restaurant service on RCI ships.

If they complained, they may have at least had the charges removed but the OP never mentioned it.

Just wondering did you ever get your chips to go with the guacamole? Was it before or after it started to turn brown?

While the presence of these officers may have had wait staff fawn over them, neglecting the customers who are the bread and butter of the cruise line is unthinkable. Especially *if* the poor service was brought to the officers attention and they did not do anything to rectify the situation. I think the CEO of RCI would have a very different view of this poor level of service if nothing had been done after being confronted. Officers and/or Managers are employees of RCI, and at their level should be well aware of the paying customer. While I appreciate reading about these things so I am aware, the OP's experience of this shoddy customer service should documented as a complaint to the RCI head office.

FWIW

We actually asked why there was two tables of officers in Chops which were getting "extra service" and our waiter stated, "that is the new captain, chief engineer" and .... i forgot what the other was... he seemed nervous too. It does however seem backwards though, we are also guests and customers.

I really dont care if officers catch a break and dine, but don't make us pay for a lack of service.