Two days into the cruise our waiter disappeared and was replaced by our former busboy. We were told that our previous waiter was sick, leading us to assume that he would return and that the horrible replacement was temporary. The new waiter, Marvin, could not comprehend the English language well enough to bring us drinks, take our orders correctly, replenish the bread ever, or bring us the plate of cheese each night.
It was commonplace for us to wait over an hour before even getting our soup. And that is a long time without replacement bread or drinks either. Instead of having a friendly interaction with the waiter and utilizing dinner to discuss the day with our friends, our main conversation centered upon the horrible service, and how shortchanged we felt. Our interactions with our waiter were awkward at best.
From the start of Marvin's reign as waiter, we either never had sugar on the table for the tea or it would be taken from us without warning and given to other tables. When we asked for the sugar back, we had to wait for Marvin the waiter to steal it from a different table. We started putting sugar packets under our plates just so that when Marvin took the container we would not be completely stuck for a half hour. The fact that we had to go to such trouble is just ridiculous. This lack of class and manners was certainly a surprise for a restaurant, let alone a restaurant aboard a very expensive cruise that my friends and I paid full price for.
Over the course of the week we missed the dances put on by the waiters, we ate later than everyone else, and we even missed the champagne toast! As we watched the other tables rejoice with their waiter smiling and drinking champagne, our waiter had not even filled our champagne glasses. Two minutes later he ran in and filled them, too late; these are the types of mishaps that are not forgivable.
I can vouch for my friends and me when I say that we felt totally shortchanged. Night after night we waited through three hour dinners, not getting refills on water or tea, having dirty dishes left in our faces for up to a half hour, watching other guests enjoy their waiters and develop camaraderie, while we had a horrible experience for the majority of our trip.
Here's our favorite part, where Marvin goes totally nutso about the bread basket. Maybe by this point he was trying to get removed from emergency waiter duty?
After two nights we were pretty sick of the horrible service, but still grinned and bore; it hoping that our "sick" waiter would return. Finally on formal night our waiter committed what I consider the most disrespectful display I have seen in any restaurant ever. He asked if I was finished with the bread basket, which still had bread in it. I told him clearly and to his face that I was not finished with the bread and that I wanted to keep it. I know that he heard me; he was looking directly at me. He grabbed the bread basket and replied that he wanted to see if the table next to us wanted it. He then walked it over and offered it to them, although they already had a full basket of bread. When they refused it he returned it to our table and walked away with no apology or acknowledgement.
On the last day of the trip, the sick waiter mystery is solved, which unfortunately left Krista and her friends feeling even more ripped off:
Finally on our last night we walked in, and upon seeing that our "sick" waiter had still not returned, we asked to have our seat changed. It was our last night there; our entire week had been nothing but atrocious dinner conduct. If the Maitre De did not accommodate us we would have had no choice but to go to the buffet, it was so awful that I could not stand another night of horrible service. The Maitre De only then informed us that the first waiter was getting surgery and was not returning. Had we been told that in the first place we would have changed days ago!
Krista sent a very detailed letter to Costa Cruises including the above paragraphs and more, and asked for a partial refund. According to her boyfriend, who sent us the tip, "We got a very cookie-cutter response from them a few months later saying they would forward our complaints to the appropriate departments, but would not try to correct the situation."
(Photo: ThisParticularGreg)
]]>@cccdude: Well...yeah...but your choices are somewhat limited if you don't want to pay extra for the premium restaurants...and you also get to roll the dice and have a crapshoot for awful service for every meal :-)
]]>Don't mind him, he's from Barcelona.
]]>At no time, however, would I have spent hours of my vacation grumbling and spreading around my anger. There are some things that are out of our control, but we can control our own attitude. Why make a bad situation worse by choosing to complain throughout the entire vacation?
That being said, I do feel for Krista, as she did not get the enjoyable vacation advertised. I hope Costa Cruises is embarrassed about their horrible service and treatment of their customers, and that they respond with a sincere apology and a refund.
]]>This does not excuse the waiter from removing it without permission or the other rude behaviors, but please try to remember that customs may be different when travelling in foreign countries.
]]>BTW if someone is getting surgery, they are sick.
And maybe he was "sick" by the OPs definition, and ended up getting surgery.
]]>"CAPTAIN RUNS AMOK
Divorces, Randomly Remarries All On Board.
New couples locked into cabins for remainder of trip."
(Now that's "misappropriating your bread basket." Good Lord, what have I just said?)
]]>My only complaint about the Alaska cruise was that the nightclub was pretty empty because there weren't too many teens/20somethings on the cruise, but frequently I was so wiped from the shore excursions I was asleep early anyway. Or watching my straight-arrow aunt try to gamble.
And our poor waiter on that cruise, who was fantastic, had to put up with us constantly sending drinks to "Turd Ferguson" and with one of my cousins who has a disability that includes, among other things, inappropriate but hugely amusing outbursts. He was a star, took great care of us, and was tipped accordingly.
]]>Yo ho yo ho, and a bottle of... balsamic.
]]>"lets go hang out on a boat!"
no, thanks.
take t-pain
]]>this sucks and everything, but she should have said something the moment it became a repeated incident
]]>Plus since they use fixed menus how long it takes your food to arrive isn't based on the cooks (typically) but instead on your waiter and his table management skills as he isn't onlyhandling your table.
With our two tables we had one good and one bad waiter. On a couple of the nights the table with the good waiter was finishing up their main dishes when the bad table got their salads.
]]>That picture is enough to convince me to start saving and searching for the perfect carbo-high-seas vessel.
]]>One of the reasons I will never go on a cruise is that you are stuck. If the food or service sucks you have no where else to go. It doesn't excuse bad service but, buyer beware. They should have brought it to someone's attention the first night
]]>OH NOES!
]]>Cape Horn probably has a lot of cheap boats, too. But mainly due to shipwrecks, not piracy.
"Horn of Africa", I recently learned, is called such because it resembles the short of a goat or sheep (if the rest of Africa is the nose of said animal, I suppose).
That's all the useless knowledge I have for today.
]]>@nerdtalker: My father took a cruise on Costa once and his description of the service and the quality of the cruise mirrored this lady's experience.
Needless to say, he nor I will never book a Costa cruise.
]]>I liked it well enough.
]]>Yes, you can sue for things other than torts, but there still has to be damages. The damages were poor dinner service - which the cruise line was not made aware of until the last day. I wouldn't trust the attorney who picks up the sword for this cause.
]]>For those not familiar with our new most favorite reformed terrorist state, Libya still officially calls for the destruction of Israel. So you think non-Jews have a chance to visit a historic city? Jah, unless you're American - American passport holders aren't welcome in Tripoli either. So much for our new friends.
When Costa reforms it's anti-Semitic, anti-American view of the world, I might consider them. Except I hear their food sucks. So never mind.
]]>I am confused. Could you not have asked the people at the next table for some sugar.
Who wants to get to know the waiter? I've only been on two cruises and I did not get to know the staff. The waiters brought the food, and drinks and were otherwise invisible except when needed - just like a restaurant that does not float.
I don't want to chat up the waiter, or watch him dance.
If the service is substandard, and there is an alternative as you mentioned why not take the alternative. Will they not bring food to the cabins on these ships, they do on the ones on which I have cruised.
]]>IANAL...
]]>(ducking for cover)
]]>I went on a cruise with this cruise line in February and I have to say it was the worst cruise I have ever been on. The ports of call were good but the experience on the boat was absolutely terrible. The food was awful along with the eating times. I would have to say one of the highlights was our waiter and helper, they made the dinners experience enjoyable even though the food was mostly awful. Room service was a joke. Even worse you had to deal with a bunch of extremely rude Europeans. My 10 year old asked me if they ever said excuse me or always pushed people out of the way. The best part about the cruise was that we rocked the casino for a very large bounty.
]]>Hear hear. Why wait so long before they said anything?
That guy is the worst waiter ever.
]]>@sirwired: then their new waiter would have spit in the food
(But talking to the captain nicely is definitely warranted.)
]]>Not that I'm blaming the customer, but I am curious - why didn't they take a more active stance in this problem?
The first night I'd have been all "Well, it happens. I'll roll with the punch." Night two would have been sending up red flags all over the place, and at the START of night three, when Waiter 2.0 reported for duty, I'd have been out of my chair like a rocket and talking to the Maitre D', the guy who signs the Maitre D's paycheck, the guy that signs HIS paycheck, the captain of the boat, and the head chief until I got things resolved to my satisfaction.
]]>The bread incident, however, is amazing. Absolutely incredible.
After the first night of that, you should've raised hell with the maître d. I consider even one night of such service and a 3 hour dinner inexcusable.
]]>Holy crap! I'd so sue them out of the water.
]]>