Spooky levels of personal service -- how do they do it?

[girlbomb]

Okay, I have trouble remembering my neighbors' names, and yet our servers and stateroom attendants greeted us by name every time we saw them, and they knew EVERYTHING about our stay ("Have a wonderful time at Palo tonight, Janice and William.") How do they manage to do it so consistently? How does one cast member offer me the same drink I ordered from a different cast member two days before? What kind of facial recognition tech and/or information sharing and/or incredible mnemonic methods are they using? I seriously wanted to check under Ryan's cart in the hall to see if Push the Talking Garbage Can was feeding him info or something.

 

[wilkeliza]

Cast Members habe access to your customer profile and well their job is to literally make you feel welcome and known so yes they remember names and faces as well as look at their table roster before service. No facial recognition needed on the drinks it is just on a "magic file" sonif you tell a server OMG this is my favorite drink ever they can mark it down and the next server you encounter knows. Same way even 2 years in between ships they know I like extra chocolate in my frozen coffee.

 

[FigmentSpark]

hehehe... just another reason to be nice back.

 

[darnheather]

I felt like a princess the entire stay. I loved the personal attention.

 

[girlbomb]

Cast Members habe access to your customer profile and well their job is to literally make you feel welcome and known so yes they remember names and faces as well as look at their table roster before service. No facial recognition needed on the drinks it is just on a "magic file" sonif you tell a server OMG this is my favorite drink ever they can mark it down and the next server you encounter knows. Same way even 2 years in between ships they know I like extra chocolate in my frozen coffee.

Yeah, it probably shouldn't be so surprising to me that some people are excellent at their jobs. Disney hires the best.

 

[girlbomb]

hehehe... just another reason to be nice back.

Agreed! And because all the other guests are being treated so well, everybody is nicer to each other. One of my favorite things about DCL.

 

[shoes99]

We arrived the first evening and we were seated at a 6 top. The server says "good evening Mrs XXXXX)
I'm thinking how did he know me. Then a few minutes later a family of 4 arrived. He greeted the MOM,
"good evening Mrs XXXXX.. They were from California, we were from New Jersey but we had the
same last name. We wound up bonding with the parents and had a great table.

 

[SteveMP]

Probably similarly how if you even just talk about stuff now you will magically see ads for the things or related items on your phone, facebook , etc.

 

[GPaLarry]

Our stateroom host, on our recent Alaska cruise, knew after the first day where we liked the face cloths, towels, remote, etc. He even improved our glass shelves in the bathrooms with folded facecloths and kept everything in place with each visit. I asked him later how he knew and he said he just adjusted to our routine like he would in his own home. Heard somewhere that the best hosts move to the top of each ship. We were in room 8006 and that might explain his excellence.

 

[darnheather]

Our stateroom host, on our recent Alaska cruise, knew after the first day where we liked the face cloths, towels, remote, etc. He even improved our glass shelves in the bathrooms with folded facecloths and kept everything in place with each visit. I asked him later how he knew and he said he just adjusted to our routine like he would in his own home. Heard somewhere that the best hosts move to the top of each ship. We were in room 8006 and that might explain his excellence.

Our hostess was like that. She noticed that my daughter always smelled of the lotion. But my daughter is frugal even with hotel things and only took a little bit each day so it wouldn't have to be replaced. At the end of the cruise the hostess gave her three pristine new bottles and made the trip 5 stars for my daughter. We were on the 5th or 6th deck. I cried when I had to say goodbye to her.

 

[Amandine]

I have been worried about how comfortable my 5 year old will feel, because he has a significant speech delay and often avoids talking to strangers at all because it's just so frustrating for him. I hope we have someone who makes him feel at home like some of the people mentioned here! Something like remembering his favorite drink would make him smile and relax so much!

 

[Dug720]

Our stateroom host, on our recent Alaska cruise, knew after the first day where we liked the face cloths, towels, remote, etc. He even improved our glass shelves in the bathrooms with folded facecloths and kept everything in place with each visit. I asked him later how he knew and he said he just adjusted to our routine like he would in his own home. Heard somewhere that the best hosts move to the top of each ship. We were in room 8006 and that might explain his excellence.

By "top" I think they mean to concierge. My best cabin hosts though were Deck 5 on the Fantasy and Deck 2 on the Magic. Each for different reasons.

Our host on the Magic (my parents were in the room next to me) was fantastic and did not even bat an eye when my dad requested a diaper genie for the depends he has needed since prostate cancer surgery (all clear) and it was in the room almost immediately. He also saw my luggage walking away on the last night and went after it, then searched for and found my Mom's piece that walked away.

My host on the Fantasy a couple of years ago was superb in every way. But her star moment was the day we had been in St Maarten and I had a couple of sunburned places where I missed with the sunscreen. I was heading up to the gift shop to buy the after-sun gel when she was setting up for evening service. We greeted each other and I said I was coming right back (I also had a cup to refill, so it could have been I was just going there) so she wouldn't start and then I interrupt her. She looked at me and said "Wait a moment. I will be right back." And reappeared in a few minutes with several of the after-sun tubes they get automatically in concierge. I hadn't even said anything about going to get some.

That is service!!

 

[tutumomickey]

2 years after a cruise, our former assistant server was manning our lifeboat drill and remembered us and called us by name. No facial recognition software there. many years later, over the course of several cruises , we have encountered him at breakfast and lunch in the dining rooms(never our primary server again). He always calls us by name and brings our favorite beverage, with a smile.I love Sudi!

 

[ACDSNY]

I agree it is kind of spooky. I'm terrible with remembering names and we've had several servers, asst. servers and Palo servers remember us. One even came out the side door of Triton's in the hallway to say hello when he saw us walking by.

 

[gary in florida]

Believe all stories. Back a few years ago, 2006 is a few years, we went on a cruise and requested the same server/asst. the first night he "recognized" us, I'm sure that he was "told" about it other then he mentioned the assistant was on vacation. The next night he told us he emailed the assistant and he recognized us by our name. Not sure if all were true, but sure made us feel good. During the cruises I know that they remembered us, we asked each night where they were assigned for breakfast and lunch the next day and tried to get them.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

I once had a room steward and his assistant call me by name - before we'd even been introduced. I was with my 17 year old god daughter and they knew who both of us were before meeting us (walking down the hallway). I was surprised. I guess that they get pictures of past cruisers. Either that or we were the only 2 people in their line of cabins they hadn't yet met. That was on Carnival.

 

[com_op_2000]

Went on a family cruise one year with DD, DSiL, DGS (Teen), DW and me had Typhoon from Turkey as our server. 16 months later DW and I made a last minute reservation, went to PC for embarkation lunch, Typhoon saw us walking up to PC, and he came out of line from where the servers were escorting the cruisers to their tables. He served us lunch. We went to the table assignment change meeting, requested Typhoon as our server and it was granted. Typhoon had gone home twice and gotten married during those 16 months, yet he still recognized us. He asked us about our DD and their family remembering that she was on our previous cruise.

 

[CamColt]

It amazes me how some of these Cast Members remember us after seeing so many people day in and day out. We have actually had bartenders come out from behind the bar (one during a cognac tasting seminar) to greet us....and the look genuinely happy to see us. Maybe it's a good act, but it does make us feel welcome and it's part of what keeps bringing us back to DCL. In fact we have a favorite server who we have sailed with 4 times now and requested her for our upcoming cruise. DS recently saw on instagram someone posted a picture of her, saying they had her the last week of her contract, so we assume she just got off for break. We were really upset we wont get to see her.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

We went to WDW one time and I didn't note my wife's shellfish allergy on the general reservation or the dinner reservation. We had mentioned on a cruise reservation several years before but never told WDW.

We went to dinner the first night and the server said they had a note about her allergy.

 

[FigmentSpark]

We went to WDW one time and I didn't note my wife's shellfish allergy on the general reservation or the dinner reservation. We had mentioned on a cruise reservation several years before but never told WDW.

We went to dinner the first night and the server said they had a note about her allergy.

That would have been embarrassing if it had previously been a now ex-wife's allergy that they noted.

Seriously, Disney takes customer service to the next level. Although there are probably days when you just want a do-over and hope they forgot you from last time.