The food on the fantasy was really bland…

[Kwami]

Well not totally out of their control. I remember my first night on the Fantasy, I ordered a lobster pasta and our server (politely) stated that was not very good and suggested two other options. I thought that was kind if weird and borderline rude so said I still wanted the pasta (I thought lobster = yum, pasta = yum, how bad could it be?) but when the entrees came, our server brought out his recommended dish anyway in addition to the pasta. I took one bite of the pasta, realized it had zero flavor, and ate the second dish he brought which was very tasty. From that point on I always ordered what he recommended and had great meals. He even brought me my favorite dessert on the trip from another kitchen on the last night of the voyage as a special farewell treat. So I do kind of see what the servers mean when they say they are responsible for making sure we enjoy our food. But I agree the kitchen should be held accountable as well.

I think this is something better addressed with a conversation with the “head server” when he visits your table, so you can balance critiquing the food with making clear your server team still bent over backwards to make sure you had a good meal despite kitchen missteps.

Both my wife and my mom have tried to order that pasta on different cruises and two different servers have also recommended against it and brought both the pasta and something else. If it's so bad, then why is it still on the menu??

 

[MomOTwins]

Both my wife and my mom have tried to order that pasta on different cruises and two different servers have also recommended against it and brought both the pasta and something else. If it's so bad, then why is it still on the menu??

That's crazy, lol. I can see how they want to keep a lobster dish on the menu because other cruise lines have "lobster nights" and so cruisers expect some kind of lobster dish, and lobster pasta is a way to make the lobster dish more affordable on a large scale. But you'd think they'd at least tweak the recipe a bit if everyone knows it is a dud.

 

[Kwami]

That's crazy, lol. I can see how they want to keep a lobster dish on the menu because other cruise lines have "lobster nights" and so cruisers expect some kind of lobster dish, and lobster pasta is a way to make the lobster dish more affordable on a large scale. But you'd think they'd at least tweak the recipe a bit if everyone knows it is a dud.

It's not even really lobster pasta. It's pasta in a tomato-based sauce with some lobster juice and one tiny little bit of lobster meat on top.

Disney does have a lobster night on the 7-night cruises (Captain's Gala), but nothing for the shorter ones.

 

[brentm77]

It's not even really lobster pasta. It's pasta in a tomato-based sauce with some lobster juice and one tiny little bit of lobster meat on top.

Disney does have a lobster night on the 7-night cruises (Captain's Gala), but nothing for the shorter ones.

I always assumed the lobster pasta/soup was the left over meat from lobster night. But if they offer it on shorter cruises, with no lobster night, maybe I'm wrong?

 

[Kwami]

I always assumed the lobster pasta/soup was the left over meat from lobster night. But if they offer it on shorter cruises, with no lobster night, maybe I'm wrong?

It's offered before lobster night, though.

 

[Chilbert]

It's offered before lobster night, though.

So it's left over from the previous cruise ?

 

[DLgal]

I fill out every survey I get honestly. It's not my problem if anyone gets "dinged" by a less than excellent rating. If people don't fill out the comment cards truthfully, nothing will ever change.

I make sure to give my servers tips that are above and beyond...when they have actually earned it. I don't go on cruises to feel sorry for people and be charitable. I am paying for an experience and I tip accordingly, not based on how I personally feel about my servers/stateroom hosts and their financial situation. I get very turned off by the begging and servers who do that will get the minimum tip and no more. They know they aren't supposed to be doing it.

 

[HeatherLassell]

I fill out every survey I get honestly. It's not my problem if anyone gets "dinged" by a less than excellent rating. If people don't fill out the comment cards truthfully, nothing will ever change.

I make sure to give my servers tips that are above and beyond...when they have actually earned it. I don't go on cruises to feel sorry for people and be charitable. I am paying for an experience and I tip accordingly, not based on how I personally feel about my servers/stateroom hosts and their financial situation. I get very turned off by the begging and servers who do that will get the minimum tip and no more. They know they aren't supposed to be doing it.

Agreed. Nothing I hate more than the last dinner when they tell you 50 times how everything must be excellent before they give you the cards.

 

[holula]

Which specialty restaurants did you try? We get 2 free dinners at 2 restaurants. We definitely want to go to Le Bistro and then can't decide between Cagney's, Ocean Blue, or Texas Q Barbque(I think that's the name of it). The Mexican restaurant also looks really good. So many yummy options!

I didn’t like Le Bistro on NCL. Cagney’s was amazing. Loved Moderna too. But my favourite is the Teppanyaki.

 

[Dug720]

Agreed. Nothing I hate more than the last dinner when they tell you 50 times how everything must be excellent before they give you the cards.

My cards have always been left on my bed by my stateroom host who I practically never see.

 

[HeatherLassell]

My cards have always been left on my bed by my stateroom host who I practically never see.

Ah yes. It's been so long since I cruised. I have to say the worst was the 11 night Southern Caribbean. Our servers basically repeated and repeated abut the excellent thing for 10 minutes during the last dinner.

 

[brentm77]

Ah yes. It's been so long since I cruised. I have to say the worst was the 11 night Southern Caribbean. Our servers basically repeated and repeated abut the excellent thing for 10 minutes during the last dinner.

I've only sailed DCL twice so far. Has anyone seen a pattern of the worst servers being more aggressive with the speech? Since I had heard about it before my first DCL cruise, I politely mentioned it early on and said I would let the server know if anything wasn't a 5 so he could fix it before I did the survey. He was grateful, never gave me the speech, and was so exceptional at his job that I never considered giving him less than a 5. The next cruise, the server mentioned it once, and I said I was aware that anything short of a 5 was considered poor by Disney and he was earning a 5 already, so he never mentioned it again. That was another case where the server would have received it regardless.

But I suspect the better servers don't need to be as aggressive. Is that true?

By the way, this isn't only a problem with DCL. Car dealerships and many call centers, like Delta, pretty much penalize anything short of perfect. I often tell the person helping me they are getting a perfect score, just to relieve the pressure (and maybe get a little extra help if I have more requests).

 

[HeatherLassell]

I've only sailed DCL twice so far. Has anyone seen a pattern of the worst servers being more aggressive with the speech? Since I had heard about it before my first DCL cruise, I politely mentioned it early on and said I would let the server know if anything wasn't a 5 so he could fix it before I did the survey. He was grateful, never gave me the speech, and was so exceptional at his job that I never considered giving him less than a 5. The next cruise, the server mentioned it once, and I said I was aware that anything short of a 5 was considered poor by Disney and he was earning a 5 already, so he never mentioned it again. That was another case where the server would have received it regardless.

But I suspect the better servers don't need to be as aggressive. Is that true?

By the way, this isn't only a problem with DCL. Car dealerships and many call centers, like Delta, pretty much penalize anything short of perfect. I often tell the person helping me they are getting a perfect score, just to relieve the pressure (and maybe get a little extra help if I have more requests).

Worst part was they were actually great serving staff. I think we all loved them. (& we were a group of 18!) After that last meal my opinion soured though.

 

[supergirl04]

It's not even really lobster pasta. It's pasta in a tomato-based sauce with some lobster juice and one tiny little bit of lobster meat on top.

Disney does have a lobster night on the 7-night cruises (Captain's Gala), but nothing for the shorter ones.

That lobster pasta is disgusting. Never again will I order it.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Well I guess as a collective we have to know to just fill out the slips however now and we tip them and then some - it sucks but maybe we as the community need to do it and maybe disney will take it off their responsibilities.

do you think Managment tells them to tell us the speal? It’s too common for it not to happen

 

[Dug720]

I will just say, "the speech" is not Disney exclusive. I've gotten it on Holland, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. I actually got it every time I ate dinner in one of the MDRs on Celebrity Edge because they have 4 dining rooms, but servers do not rotate - so if you have Select dining (whenever you choose) and go between them, you're going to have different servers every time, so they don't know that you've gotten it.

The only way I've heard people able to avoid it is when they dine exclusively in specialty restaurants and avoid the MDRs.

 

[lwilliam]

Noticed this time, (24 DCL), evertytime I wanted to order seafood, scallops, etc, it was in a tomato sauce. I love seafood but steered away from it. I remembered how good the tangled pasta was with scallops in Rapunzel’s..no tomato sauce. The last night on the Fantasy, I looked forward to the Parmesan coated chicken with Alfredo noodles, the noodles were bone dry.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

The last night on the Fantasy, I looked forward to the Parmesan coated chicken with Alfredo noodles, the noodles were bone dry.

I had the same dish. The chicken wasn't dry (which is a little unusual), but the noodles were pretty bad. My server looked at it as he served it, and said "hold on, let me get you some more sauce"

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

While I've always been generally happy with the food on board, I do wish they would change up the menus. Seems that they have been the exact same for years. I had hoped that with being shut down for so long, they might take the opportunity to add some new items. Keep the favorites, maybe remove the not so popular options and add some new things.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

While I've always been generally happy with the food on board, I do wish they would change up the menus. Seems that they have been the exact same for years. I had hoped that with being shut down for so long, they might take the opportunity to add some new items. Keep the favorites, maybe remove the not so popular options and add some new things.

The problem being - what are the "favorites"? Because I'm fairly certain that each entrée has people who like it.