Where has the MDR service gone??

[Cruisegoer]

Last week aboard the Liberty I found the service in the MDR to be poor, in general. We move our table once, partially because there seemed to be no assistant server and when our main server disappeared to go pick up all her tables food orders at once she was gone nearly 25 minutes. My bar beverage, a soda, was not delivered until after my entree and there were no signs of the assistant anywhere.

 

Even once we moved our table the assistant server seemed nonexistent but this area seemed to have 2 main servers who shared their duties and oversight of the tables I their area. They made the assistant for both sections run the entree usually and take the dessert order. It seems that there is little uniform process and procedure.

[DebJ14]

Sorry you had such bad service. We had excellence service on the Freedom. Food not so hot, but the service was great.

[Frank12]

I think overall they do a good job but it definitely is not like it was 8-10 years ago. They used to have less tables per wait team which enabled them to be more attentive.

[shellsd]

Did you do ATD?

[jimbo5544]

Did you do ATD?

 

 

You read my mind,

[JMAE]

I remember our first cruise when we would show up for dinner the wait staff would greet and seat you, bring drinks and bread before you finished adjusting your chair. They would bring hot chocolate for my kids without asking. As I remember the service teams had three tables for two waiters. Now they are a team of three (sometimes) and they have five or six tables. They still do a good job today but it does not match the service that was in place when we first started cruising.

[cb at sea]

Those days are long gone, I'm afraid....the cruise experience has been downgraded a lot in recent years.

[teddybear231]

We had excellence service on the Freedom. Food not so hot, but the service was great.

 

Same thing with us on the Pride. Our wait staff at dinner were terrific! However, the food was barely warm.

 

Now our service for breakfast or brunch in the MDR was a different story. It seemed like it took forever to get a bowl of cereal!

[riclop]

Last week aboard the Liberty I found the service in the MDR to be poor, in general. We move our table once, partially because there seemed to be no assistant server and when our main server disappeared to go pick up all her tables food orders at once she was gone nearly 25 minutes. My bar beverage, a soda, was not delivered until after my entree and there were no signs of the assistant anywhere.

 

Even once we moved our table the assistant server seemed nonexistent but this area seemed to have 2 main servers who shared their duties and oversight of the tables I their area. They made the assistant for both sections run the entree usually and take the dessert order. It seems that there is little uniform process and procedure.

 

They have too many tables is the problem.

[LREcruise02]

We were on the Conquest last month and had one of the best dining room services we have ever had on a cruise. Our waiters were wonderful and attentive, they remembered what we liked and had our kids drinks on the table when we sat down, and the food was quick and delicious! So the good service definitely still exists!! I think unfortunately it just is the luck of the draw on your wait staff. But if anyone is getting ready to sail the Conquest request Imade and Razvan!! :)

[DebJ14]

We have always found the service on traditional late dining much superior to that of ATD, so we get late dining on every cruise line that offers it.

[Micahs Grandad]

They have too many people to serve these days so service is not what it used to be

[emod20]

We were on the valor in November the service and all the food were the best out of 6 carnival cruise. So good we became Facebook friends with one of our servers and keep in touch and we are going on valor again in April because he will still be on. Some of our crew friends now have messenger calls. I got a call from server the other night at 2am. And even did video call really neat to follow them . Also I think it still boils down to how you treat the wait staff. Not just tipping but treat.them with respect.

[sharkaymon]

Last week aboard the Liberty I found the service in the MDR to be poor, in general. We move our table once, partially because there seemed to be no assistant server and when our main server disappeared to go pick up all her tables food orders at once she was gone nearly 25 minutes. My bar beverage, a soda, was not delivered until after my entree and there were no signs of the assistant anywhere.

 

Even once we moved our table the assistant server seemed nonexistent but this area seemed to have 2 main servers who shared their duties and oversight of the tables I their area. They made the assistant for both sections run the entree usually and take the dessert order. It seems that there is little uniform process and procedure.

 

Was this Anytime Dining or Early/Late Seating?

[sharkaymon]

Last week aboard the Liberty I found the service in the MDR to be poor, in general. We move our table once, partially because there seemed to be no assistant server and when our main server disappeared to go pick up all her tables food orders at once she was gone nearly 25 minutes. My bar beverage, a soda, was not delivered until after my entree and there were no signs of the assistant anywhere.

 

Even once we moved our table the assistant server seemed nonexistent but this area seemed to have 2 main servers who shared their duties and oversight of the tables I their area. They made the assistant for both sections run the entree usually and take the dessert order. It seems that there is little uniform process and procedure.

 

Was this Anytime Dining or Early/Late Seating?

[summersigh]

Sorry you had such bad service. We had excellence service on the Freedom. Food not so hot, but the service was great.

 

Same here ,,,, but fill in Sunshine for Freedom :D

 

What's up with all the dishes swimming in tomato sauce? DH ordered an app that was a wrap with spinach and cheese .... served in a puddle of tomato sauce :eek:

 

It seemed every night there were 3 or 4 items in that stuff ... then I went to the pizza bar one afternoon ... guess what the sauce tasted like??? LOL

[sfaaa]

This is a common trend in hospitality industry and not just Carnival. Competition is intense and op costs including labor are going up. You either run a lean and mean operation or you risk not meeting the target budget and expectations on Wall Street. The other option is to raise the price but we all know the kind of moans and groans we will hear on cc if they go this route.

[moniquet]

We had excellent service on Liberty, fixed late dining. Always there to greet us, pleasant and efficient. Better staff than Cunard.

 

Not so good was breakfast service in the main dining room. I think anytime dining is the reason for haphazard service.

[franknberry]

Another not so Brilliant cutback.

[quickrate]

We have always found the service on traditional late dining much superior to that of ATD, so we get late dining on every cruise line that offers it.

I have to agree with the late dining. We only did early once in 23 cruises and that was when our granddaughters were crusing with us. At early, they have another service to get thru and must completely reset the dining room so, to me, it has a very rushed feel to it. At late, the waiters are much more relaxed.

Pat

[moniquet]

I noticed that some close to us on fixed dining arrived very late, as much as thirty minutes which I thought was very rude. Happened a few times.

[soccersharon]

We were on the Conquest last month and had one of the best dining room services we have ever had on a cruise. Our waiters were wonderful and attentive, they remembered what we liked and had our kids drinks on the table when we sat down, and the food was quick and delicious! So the good service definitely still exists!! I think unfortunately it just is the luck of the draw on your wait staff. But if anyone is getting ready to sail the Conquest request Imade and Razvan!! :)

 

 

We had a great MDR experience on the Conquest as well.

[jimbo5544]

I noticed that some close to us on fixed dining arrived very late, as much as thirty minutes which I thought was very rude. Happened a few times.

 

It is one of my big pet peeves. I wish they would close the door at 15 minutes. It is rude and hurts everyone else's service.

[sweetsixteencruisers]

The only time we had terrible service was with ATD. Never again!

 

We prefer early seating. So far, with tradional seating, service has been awesome!

[LMaxwell]

We had anytime dining on Victory last month; always arrived when the dining room opened. had a team of 3 but service was scattered. You could tell they were all running like chickens without a head. They tried hard. Service was acceptable, but inconsistent. It certainly was not the relaxed efficiency of days past.

 

I sure do hope they get some more assistants or runners for the dining rooms. This is an issue on many cruise lines. On Royal Caribbean they overload the servers (poor service, sometimes downright bad) and then make them come beg for 10's on the survey.