NORMANDIE DINING:

Where should I start? First off, the embarkation process was painful and slow. We arrived at the port at 12:00pm sharp and weren't able to actually board the ship until about 3:30pm. Keep in mind I have two small children and by then we were all starving. Couldn't they at least accommodate folks waiting that long? It's not our fault the ship was late back into port. Once we finally got on board, it was a mad rush to the buffet and if you didn't watch yourself, you would seriously get trampled on. I've never seen such mad hungry people in my life! It was like they had dumped a group of refugees off the coast of Ethiopia onto the ship! You would have thought the passengers hadn't had a decent meal for months. We take our time walking around and checking out the ship and arrive at the Normandie around 7pm for dinner. Dining was two hours and being that we were already put out by getting on board so late, I really didn't think it would be that big of an issue to arrive a little tardy for dinner. Boy was I wrong! The Russian female smug snob that greeted us on floor 2 rudely informed us we were too late to dine. Are you friggin kidding me? She then informs us we can only be served an entree and a dessert. Our table was at the very back of the room right by the prep stations and such. Not only was it impossible to hold a conversation, the table could barely hold our water on the table because of all the vibration from the ship. We would have been better off eating outside. It was like sitting on a wooden roller coaster. Then, I get served some sort of iron steak(more like horse meat)which you couldn't chew with a set of diamond plated chompers. It was like eating rubber not to mention it was ice cold. We weren't even asked if we would like a drink. Not that I mind water, but a choice of drinks would have been nice. Out of 3 or 4 dinners/breakfasts in the Normandie, I wasn't served one hot meal. Everything was cold. Even the Ceasar salad was pathetic. The service was nothing short of abysmal. God forbid you actually ask for a refill or an additional menu item! Our server acted as if he was being asked to help construct a Pyramid or something. Why should you have to ask for refills??? This place made Golden Corral look like a 5 star buffet. It's sad to say that my only positive experience from the Normandie was the melting chocolate cake. It was delicious. Also, the Maitre'D was non-serviceable. Rude, invisible and arrogant would best describe him. I think I saw him all of one time the entire week. When we asked him to have our dining time switched, we were given a sharp response of "No"! Unbelievable poor customer service. Our Maitre'D on RCC was amazing. Very friendly, accommodating and respectful. He was tipped handsomely. Unfortunately for Manuel, he was not tipped. I refuse to reward those who deliver sub-standard customer service. Debarkation was an absolute nightmare! Everything was so disorganized and unruly. Not to mention we were once again late getting back into port by 3 hours! Eventually, I ended up shoving my way through with all of the alleged VIP's, which weren't even being checked. At this point, I was ready to bull doze my way through like a mad man just to get off this thing.

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