Dining Room Issues and thoughts...

[tasmith09]

Just got off the Valor from the Western Caribbean route Sunday. We had an excellent cruise! Fantastic customer service, gorgeous weather, and perfectly calm seas:)

There was one thing that I noticed that bothered me a little, and I'm wondering if it is normal.

We had early seating for dinner and were always there on time if not a few minutes early...others were not. Every single night there were people sitting down closer to 6:30 than 6, not just 1 or 2..more like 12-15 at tables near us. A few nights, there were multiple people coming in and sitting down at 6:45...seriously?? I mean, I thought our wait staff was stretched pretty thin as it was..I didn't think it was fair for them to have to take peoples orders for their first course the same time they took our dessert orders.

As a side note, we had Edin and Alvin for our wait staff and LOVED them! They really made our dinner times really enjoyable.

Our Matre D got up and gave a small speech every night during the meal and stood by the front door greeting people as they came in and enforcing the dress code every night as well.

Also, I had read on the boards that people do not generally dress up for dinner anymore, so not the case on our sailing!! Most everyone was dressed up really nice on the elegant nights, including many full length gowns and suits. Even on the casual nights, most women had on cocktail length and sundresses, it was kinda nice not to feel out of place all dressed up every night:)

Sorry if this is all a little random, just wanted to share some of my opinions.

We did have an excellent cruise and I am happy to try and answer any questions about the ship if anyone has any:)

[Room Service!]

Glad you had a good cruise (is there such a thing as a bad one?) :)

I don't think everyone is aware that being late to dinner messes with the order of things.

[irishlizz]

Maybe the people coming late had YTD?

 

Just got off the Valor from the Western Caribbean route Sunday. We had an excellent cruise! Fantastic customer service, gorgeous weather, and perfectly calm seas:)

There was one thing that I noticed that bothered me a little, and I'm wondering if it is normal.

We had early seating for dinner and were always there on time if not a few minutes early...others were not. Every single night there were people sitting down closer to 6:30 than 6, not just 1 or 2..more like 12-15 at tables near us. A few nights, there were multiple people coming in and sitting down at 6:45...seriously?? I mean, I thought our wait staff was stretched pretty thin as it was..I didn't think it was fair for them to have to take peoples orders for their first course the same time they took our dessert orders.

As a side note, we had Edin and Alvin for our wait staff and LOVED them! They really made our dinner times really enjoyable.

Our Matre D got up and gave a small speech every night during the meal and stood by the front door greeting people as they came in and enforcing the dress code every night as well.

Also, I had read on the boards that people do not generally dress up for dinner anymore, so not the case on our sailing!! Most everyone was dressed up really nice on the elegant nights, including many full length gowns and suits. Even on the casual nights, most women had on cocktail length and sundresses, it was kinda nice not to feel out of place all dressed up every night:)

Sorry if this is all a little random, just wanted to share some of my opinions.

We did have an excellent cruise and I am happy to try and answer any questions about the ship if anyone has any:)

[devinc]

These days, I usually only see or hear from the Matre D on the last night.

[tasmith09]

Maybe the people coming late had YTD?

 

The way I understand it, thats in the other dining room. I believe the Washington is all traditional dining.

Normally, I don't let little things like this bother me, I just felt so bad for the waiters who had too much to do already without having to serve people dinner 45 minutes late and be ready for the next dinner on time...

[okwriter]

In my opinion, the late diners were downright RUDE! :mad: Maybe they should just close the door 15-20 minutes after assigned dining time starts.

 

Having read the other post, I suppose it's possible those people could have had Anytime Dining, but usually those tables are somewhat separate from the assigned diners.

 

Isn't it great seeing everyone dressed up? :) That's been my experience on elegant night. I think some people stretch the truth a bit when describing how tacky people look in the MDR. I haven't seen anyone posting pictures of what they "claim" to have seen... ;)

[tasmith09]

Maybe the people coming late had YTD?

 

Also it was the same people at the same tables everynight who came in late, wasn't a new group changing tables...definitely a traditional dining setup.

[jayscore]

I thought , at one time, the MDR doors were closed like 15 minutes after dinner started........:rolleyes:

[iTouch]

Maybe the people coming late had YTD?

 

Nope us anytimers have a separate dining room on the Valor........thank god for anytime......no issues and don't have to hear issues.....

[B and C Blake]

Also it was the same people at the same tables everynight who came in late, wasn't a new group changing tables...definitely a traditional dining setup.

 

ATD on Valor is in Lincoln deck 4.

 

I wonder if they were the same folks who were late in Washington when we sailed in late August, LOL

 

We encountered the same thing. There was a 6 top next to us and every night 3 were 30-45 min late.

I'll admit we were late every night 5 minutes because of the crowded area on Deck3.

 

And yes I do agree that the dress code was enforced at least at early Washington MDR.

[KansasK]

I wonder what happens when the late large group is still seated when the next seating begins, since that table might be assigned at the later seating. Or do they not let people in until the early seating is clear?

 

I also enjoyed hearing that people dressed nicely for dinner and even dressed up for the elegant nights. I'm curious to see if our upcoming cruise is also less casual than I've been led to believe on some threads on these boards. We sail on Oct. 22 on the Carnival Freedom. :)

[DEBnGAB]

nope us anytimers have a separate dining room on the valor........thank god for anytime......no issues and don't have to hear issues.....

 

+1....

[Billzilla66]

Glad you had a good cruise (is there such a thing as a bad one?) :)

 

Yup, the Titanic was a bad cruise.:p

 

Anyway, I can understand forgetting the time once or twice, but not every night. Then it's time to buy a new watch.:rolleyes:

[theneals4]

Yup, the Titanic was a bad cruise.:p

 

Anyway, I can understand forgetting the time once or twice, but not every night. Then it's time to buy a new watch.:rolleyes:

 

 

Yeah i heard a lot of complaints about the Titanic! LOL!

 

When i was on the dream, we were ATD and we were in the crimson dining room. So i never got to experience what happened to you. But i would think, they would close the doors after a few minutes. Because people coming in and out like that is just rude.

 

We will be late dining on the next cruise and it will be interesting to see if this happens.

 

I am glad that you had a great cruise other than that :D

[wendymac]

Also it was the same people at the same tables everynight who came in late, wasn't a new group changing tables...definitely a traditional dining setup.

 

We had YTD on Freedom this past May and we were in a totally different dining room from the assigned dining.

[Shake-n-Bake]

To B and C Blake, I just came off the Valor on Sunday, by the way the same cruise as tasmith09, and had ATD and every night was seated in Lincoln Deck 3 over on the left hand side. Agree with everything okwriter said. It is rude to come late everyday to dinner. If you are people that are constantly late, and those people know who they are, that is a good reason to try ATD. :D

[idiebabe]

Just got off the Valor from the Western Caribbean route Sunday. We had an excellent cruise! Fantastic customer service, gorgeous weather, and perfectly calm seas:)

There was one thing that I noticed that bothered me a little, and I'm wondering if it is normal.

We had early seating for dinner and were always there on time if not a few minutes early...others were not. Every single night there were people sitting down closer to 6:30 than 6, not just 1 or 2..more like 12-15 at tables near us. A few nights, there were multiple people coming in and sitting down at 6:45...seriously?? I mean, I thought our wait staff was stretched pretty thin as it was..I didn't think it was fair for them to have to take peoples orders for their first course the same time they took our dessert orders.

As a side note, we had Edin and Alvin for our wait staff and LOVED them! They really made our dinner times really enjoyable.

Our Matre D got up and gave a small speech every night during the meal and stood by the front door greeting people as they came in and enforcing the dress code every night as well.

Also, I had read on the boards that people do not generally dress up for dinner anymore, so not the case on our sailing!! Most everyone was dressed up really nice on the elegant nights, including many full length gowns and suits. Even on the casual nights, most women had on cocktail length and sundresses, it was kinda nice not to feel out of place all dressed up every night:)

Sorry if this is all a little random, just wanted to share some of my opinions.

We did have an excellent cruise and I am happy to try and answer any questions about the ship if anyone has any:)

 

We saw the same thing on the Freedom a month ago. The Waitstaff is stretched thin especially since they went to a 3/2 System (where they are covering so many tables in a section instead of a Head Server and an Assistant only having 3 or 4 tables). We saw people walking in 1/2 hour - 1 hour late every night and it really put the Waitstaff "in the weeds". It was the same people, too! The cruise lines are so afraid to offend that they don't say a thing. Problem with this is it affects the flow and the service is affected for those that show up on time. There was a time and not that long ago when if someone was 20 minutes late they would not be served.

 

We are living in an era of "entitlement" and "no one is going to tell me what to do, etc." Until the Cruise Lines gets some b*#ls and tells these rudies "be on time or no service...kitchen closed" I guess this is how it is going to be! The Waitstaff suffers and the people who show up on time suffers. Wonder why you get cold food sometimes....this is why! They are taking orders instead of running the food that is waiting to be served that was already ordered.