Appetizer Order Sequence

[ano]

I just got off a cruise on the Escape, and it seems that on each cruise another nicety of cruising has disappeared, or is this just my imagination?

 

On the last 20+ cruises I've gone on (NCL, Princess, Celebrity, RC, Carnival) what was always the case, was at dinner, when you ordered two appetizers and an entree, they would serve you one appetizer, and when you finished it, they would remove it and bring the second. When you finished that, they would take that then bring your main entree.

 

This last cruise, I would get both appetizers at once, and sometimes my entree before I was even done with the appetizer. I saw others even get their entree BEFORE their appetizer. The wait staff seemed more short-handed than in the past.

Edited October 2, 2018 by ano
spacing changes

[PelicanBill]

Yea. I find the service to be very lacking at times in the dining rooms. On Breakaway the last few years I saw this happen as well. And place settings wrong. And water not refilled without asking. Waiters reaching over people to get another person's plate. Unfortunate. At other times, service is good. But I even saw misses in service in the specialty restaurants, where it should be top notch. One night in Cagney's our entrees took an hour to arrive. We didn't ask for anything special. After 40 minutes I asked... and 20 minutes later they arrived. As if they put it in at the time I reminded them.

[cliffd64]

I have not yet experienced that .... I certainly would not accept any entree before my appetizer on a ship or on land... that is just poor service.

 

I have also never been delivered an entree in a MDR or Specialty restaurant until indicating I was done with the previous course the proper way, but maybe I have been fortunate that way. Places like Blue Lagoon, O'Sheehans etc... well, it's a lot more casual... but usually htere is not an expectation of a multiple course meal either.

[BirdTravels]

We have never seen that.

 

There have been cases when we told the waiter that we were in a rush to go and see a show and to bring out food ASAP, but they have always sequenced foods for one course at a time.

[NLH Arizona]

I've never had it happen, but if it did, I would ask them to take one back and bring it when I'm finished with the first one. If they brought my entree before finishing appetizers, I would do the same thing.

[Rockwife]

This last cruise, I would get both appetizers at once, and sometimes my entree before I was even done with the appetizer. I saw others even get their entree BEFORE their appetizer. The wait staff seemed more short-handed than in the past.

 

We only dined in the MDR a few times last week and did not experience this happen. However, our server in the Manhattan Dining room was not very well trained in regards to wine offerings. We ordered a bottle of the Terrazas Malbec, which was listed on a special table tent promoting the wines and events of Chef Aaron Sanchez. She told us "Those wines are only served on the 8th floor." We guessed she meant the Cellar Bar and thought how strange it was that they would advertise wines on every table in the dining room that they could not serve.

 

Instead of arguing with her, we just found where it was listed on the regular wine menu and ordered it. Ha! When she brought it to the table I quietly let her know the wine was the same as the one on the table tent and she kindly thanked me for filling her in. I have no idea how many people she steered away from those wines, but it was fairly humorous to us and no big deal. Terrazas might think otherwise!

[ano]

We experienced it at all dinning rooms, Manhattan and Taste/Savor. I would say the service was good, or at least they were trying hard with the staffing they had, but definitely understaffed.

 

 

One big positive was nobody tried to take our picture at dinner. Pictures in the photo gallery were $25 each, and when we were there, the place was empty. They had two "portrait stations" in the atrium, with few to none takers. I bet after the refurb in 2020, the photo gallery will be cruise history.

[kochleffel]

On the Epic in April, whenever anyone ordered two appetizers or two main courses, they were served sequentially, not simultaneously. I didn't happen to see anyone order two desserts.

 

One night that worked out badly for me. One guest at our table ordered two main courses, and it seems that NCL servers are not supposed to take dessert orders until everything from the main course(s) has been cleared away. I asked the dining manager later and he confirmed it. This delayed the dessert service and made me slightly late for a show - I left for the show when dessert orders had still not been taken at curtain time.

 

The dining manager told me that servers are supposed to ask if anyone has show reservations. It is possible that our server did and that someone else answered, incorrectly, for the whole table, a large group. However, that evening all our orders - wine, appetizers, and mains - were mixed up, with wine and cocktails being delivered to people who didn't order them, wrong appetizers and main courses, and so forth, so I am inclined to think that we had a below-par server. It was the only time in that cruise that I experienced any errors in the MDR service.

[vince_g]

I've never had it happen, but if it did, I would ask them to take one back and bring it when I'm finished with the first one. If they brought my entree before finishing appetizers, I would do the same thing.

 

 

So they could microwave it before bringing it back out. LOL...

[LrgPizza]

I've never seen this. I actually would prefer getting both apps at once, since many of them take about 2 minutes to eat, then you wait 15 minutes for the next. I'd rather move things along, but I've never been that fortunate. I would not, however, like to get my entree before appetizers.

[Aesop081]

Having more than one plate of anything delivered is poor training. During our Panama Canel trip during the cruise officer briefing we were told they had about 40% of their crew just out of the training system and had as many as two trainees per experienced crewperson in certain areas. And at times the eagerness of the new crew was wonderful, other times it met with annoying experiences. And on our last cruise we sadly experienced just that in the dining room. Now I will go out there and say we also had fantastic service, it really mattered what table we were sitting at. With freestyle comes the lack of familiarity that we used to treasure as the week or 10 days went by and you became "friends" with your table staff.

 

One case of bad training ( I won't call it bad service because the individual was...untrained) was when my wife ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio and when the wine arrived, not only looked wrong, but smelled oaky. We tasted it and sure enough it was a definite Chardonney. OK, so far just a first world problem of getting the wrong wine, but, when challenged about it the server said that, "yes it wasn't Pinot Grigio because they had no more in the restaurant, but a white wine is a white wine so this should be good." ....No, no it isn't!

[lizp]

We only dined in the MDR a few times last week and did not experience this happen. However, our server in the Manhattan Dining room was not very well trained in regards to wine offerings. We ordered a bottle of the Terrazas Malbec, which was listed on a special table tent promoting the wines and events of Chef Aaron Sanchez. She told us "Those wines are only served on the 8th floor." We guessed she meant the Cellar Bar and thought how strange it was that they would advertise wines on every table in the dining room that they could not serve.

 

Instead of arguing with her, we just found where it was listed on the regular wine menu and ordered it. Ha! When she brought it to the table I quietly let her know the wine was the same as the one on the table tent and she kindly thanked me for filling her in. I have no idea how many people she steered away from those wines, but it was fairly humorous to us and no big deal. Terrazas might think otherwise!

 

Ugh, I had a similarly frustrating thing happen on the Jade.... There was a particular wine I loved that was priced within the beverage package by the glass. It was on ALL the standard wine menus. About half the time when I'd ask for it at dinner, I'd be told they couldn't serve it in the dining room because they didn't have it on hand. Ok fine, I guess?? On another cruise our beverage waiter would literally go to a specific bar to get my husband's mojito made by his favourite bartender, but you can't go up a flight of stairs for my glass of wine? I started bringing 2 glasses to dinner with me after that happened a few times.

 

Went to the Italian restaurant for dinner and requested this wine -- it was even an Italian wine! -- to be again told they didn't have it on hand. I asked if they could send someone to the bar I knew had it on hand (I'd just had a glass before dinner! Should have brought one with me!) and they refused. I was a bit taken aback... and literally got up, left my party at the restaurant, walked to the bar myself to order a glass.

 

After that they "magically" had the wine I wanted for refills throughout dinner.

[rtkenmore]

Oh the first world problems you people deal with... Where is the eye roll gif when you truly need it.

[lizp]

:rolleyes:

 

 

^^ Here's your emoji!

 

But yeah, totally first world problems, no denying that!

 

But.... When the menu states one thing (that a certain wine is available, for example!), and then you are told that the thing is not actually available, when you know for a fact that it is.... aren't you going to raise a flag?

[newmexicoNita]

I have not yet experienced that .... I certainly would not accept any entree before my appetizer on a ship or on land... that is just poor service.

 

I have also never been delivered an entree in a MDR or Specialty restaurant until indicating I was done with the previous course the proper way, but maybe I have been fortunate that way. Places like Blue Lagoon, O'Sheehans etc... well, it's a lot more casual... but usually htere is not an expectation of a multiple course meal either.

Totally agree. The only time I can remember feeling rushed or having a similar experience was on our last Dawn cruise. It was the one of the few nights we ate in the MDR I t was Prime Rib night. I don't remember entree coming before we finished our appetizers or salads, but I do remember it felt very rushed, as it was Prime rib night. Of Of course Modeno's can be the same. They bring each meat sample out when it is ready. If you are not ready that is too bad.

[MIA-CRUISER]

We only dined in the MDR a few times last week and did not experience this happen. However, our server in the Manhattan Dining room was not very well trained in regards to wine offerings. We ordered a bottle of the Terrazas Malbec, which was listed on a special table tent promoting the wines and events of Chef Aaron Sanchez. She told us "Those wines are only served on the 8th floor." We guessed she meant the Cellar Bar and thought how strange it was that they would advertise wines on every table in the dining room that they could not serve.

 

Instead of arguing with her, we just found where it was listed on the regular wine menu and ordered it. Ha! When she brought it to the table I quietly let her know the wine was the same as the one on the table tent and she kindly thanked me for filling her in. I have no idea how many people she steered away from those wines, but it was fairly humorous to us and no big deal. Terrazas might think otherwise!

 

Terrazas is my favorite wine! Good choise!;)

[mdsgu]

We were last on NCL on Escape in 2017. The specialty restaurants we ate at (Le Bistro, Cagney's, and Moderno) were very good and the service was excellent. We ate in the MDRs (Taste, Savor, and Manhattan) were we found the food to be ho-hum and the service average. It seems on NCL, if you want "good" food and service, you're going to have to pay for it. We'll see if the trend continues next month on Breakaway.

[PTC DAWG]

This may be a side effect of free style dining...I know I, for one, do not like a 2 hour meal. Maybe people are asking to speed things up...I could see the confusion trying to keep all parties happy. IF I'm not done with an app, and my entree is ready and hot, I say bring it on. Be it in Cagney's or the MDR. I fully realize that I am probably in the minority on this.

[LrgPizza]

This may be a side effect of free style dining...I know I, for one, do not like a 2 hour meal. Maybe people are asking to speed things up...I could see the confusion trying to keep all parties happy. IF I'm not done with an app, and my entree is ready and hot, I say bring it on. Be it in Cagney's or the MDR. I fully realize that I am probably in the minority on this.

No, I'm with you.

[NLH Arizona]

This may be a side effect of free style dining...I know I, for one, do not like a 2 hour meal. Maybe people are asking to speed things up...I could see the confusion trying to keep all parties happy. IF I'm not done with an app, and my entree is ready and hot, I say bring it on. Be it in Cagney's or the MDR. I fully realize that I am probably in the minority on this.

I don't like 2 hour meals either.

[lumpkin8]

And I like when multiple appetizers come at the same time, if more than 1 per person are ordered. We often do this to share all of them, and it is more fun if all are on the table at the same time. We usually tell the waiter this when ordering, to bring them all at once and we are all sharing them.

[mjkacmom]

And I like when multiple appetizers come at the same time, if more than 1 per person are ordered. We often do this to share all of them, and it is more fun if all are on the table at the same time. We usually tell the waiter this when ordering, to bring them all at once and we are all sharing them.

Same here! Family of 7 with adventurous eaters (athletic teens/young adults with hearty appetites). We also don’t want to spend 2 hours eating, bring them all out!

[newmexicoNita]

Oh the first world problems you people deal with... Where is the eye roll gif when you truly need it.

Love it: too many people forget little things should not bother them so much: there will come a time when truly big things will be part of life: that is he time to complain and be bothered. :rolleyes::halo:

[Maraprince]

I don't like 2 hour meals either.

 

 

Especially when half the time is spent waiting for the food to be delivered to the table!:( If you are dining in a speciality restaurant I can see it since the food is more upscale than the meals served in the MDR. And if you should have to send something back because it is the wrong item or it is not prepared properly, the waiter seems to disappear to who knows where! Now you are talking about another 20 mins. before he returns again.

 

MARAPRINCE

[DMH15]

I like things delivered as they come out of the window... not after it has been "waiting" under a heat lamp for other items to be prepared.

 

 

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