Dining Room Head Server

[Susan in Maine]

I notice that Disney expects tips for the Dining Room Head Server. Now, I don't begrudge tips for those who earn them, but I'm interested in how much this individual does.

I've been on cruises where the Head Waiter was a great help, and very involved, and I've been on others where we only saw this individual when it came to tip time. If the head waiter doesn't do as much, I'd rather give that money to my waiter or assistant waiter!

Can anyone tell me what it's like on the Wonder?

Thanks!

 

[reveric]

We were on the Wonder in early October and we saw our head waiter once. She didn't do anything for us (except grill us as to why we missed dinner the first night when we were at Palos). That's just our experience though.

I've noticed other posters who really had great things to say about their head waiter.

 

[inkkognito]

Out of 26 cruises, it seems like when we first started sailing, the head servers were not as visible (with a couple of exceptions). But now they are almost always very helpful and attentive. There have been several times where we have tipped them over the recommended amount (and once, a long time ago, we tipped under because we never saw them at all...I think that was the only time we've ever tipped less).
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[SueEllen]

Our experience:

First cruise--4 day Wonder--didn't see the head server at all until final night. Didn't tip!

Last cruise--7 day Magic--AWESOME head server. She was there every night, checking on us. Got the baby food ASAP. Offered any assistance she could provide. Got us early seating for several nights (even though it was FULL, she made a table for us with our servers!) She went way above and beyone--Tip--over and above the recommended!!!

I guess it depends on the person. Our last experience was much better than the first.

Sue Ellen

 

[Cruise]

This comes up from time to time and, since you asked .... I'll throw in my two cents on the "Head Server tip" debate.

If I never see my head server on the cruise, then that means he/she did their job perfectly. The Head Server oversees many servers in the dining room. They make sure the servers do their jobs correctly. If it just so happens that a problem comes up, then the Head Server will address the problem and hopefully resolve it. If no problems are encountered, then that means the Head Server caught everything before I got there...because problems always happen somewhere.

If my Head Server comes by and happens to say hi or wants to participate in a little chit-chat, then hey...that's fine too. But, like I said - for me, personally - seeing this person every night doesn't mean they didn't do their job for me... or any other cruiser using a server under their supervision.

My opinion

Julie

 

[tstobb]

I tend to agree with Julie BUT on our last cruise, our head server made sure we got escargot at Palo and did his best to get me fresh berries (he even brought the lid from the container to show me) even though their entire stock had gone bad so he was tipped "above & beyond"

 

[markºoº]

The head server acts like a director and is there is ensure everyone's meal goes as smoothly as possible. They must supervise every server and assistant server as well as coordinate with the kitchen. Also, they address problems and special requests.

Since DCL suggests we tip the head server, they must factor tips into the head server's compensation. Whether DCL should just pay them and not expect tips is a separate discussions. But, based on this, I think it is only right to tip the head server unless you felt you had poor service from either your server, assistant server or kitchen.

I felt that the suggested $15 tip for our 4 night cruise (4 people) was not really a big deal. Since our head server did interact with us (especially our children) and did respond to a special request (even though he could not fullfill it, we did give him extra money.

 

[gometros]

Julie makes an excellent point, something I never thought of. I will have to keep that in mind for our net cruise.

However, in our case, we didn't have to make that determination. We had Sid as our head server and he was wonderful. He stopped by to say hello every evening and went the extra mile to find us an round table when we complained that a rectangular table was not conduscive conversation at a table for 8.

I honestly cannot remember back to our first two cruises, which could be good or bad depending on how you want to look at it.

 

[Bosjoe]

gometros,

We had Sid also.. He was Great.. everytime he saw us he greeted us and asked how everything was going. he saw us on the pool deck and throughout the ship and he always remembered us, evan he tried to pull the Boston accent.
The Boston group. He definately was the best head server
I ever had. So he got more then the recomendation tip.

But I understand the original posters question. Some DO NOT deserve it. If they only come around the last night looking for thier
tip, then they better think again.

Joe

 

[Cindyluwho]

When we took the Disney cruise last November we had Gonzalo as our head server. He was amazing! He went out of his way to make sure everything was perfect. After I raved to our tablemates about the chocolate souffle at Palo's, the next night he brought one for every lady at our table. He also hand delivered a "personal note" from Mickey to our 8 year old daughter (that we had given him earlier), thanking her for sailing on the ship. He deserved the larger than requested tip we left for him, he was the greatest!

 

[llachance]

We had Sid as our Headwaiter on our first Magic cruise. We were disappointed to find out that he was on the Wonder when we came for our second cruise. Our headwaiter the second cruise was alright but certainly no comparison.

 

[Janet in WI]

Our Head server was constantly around on our October 19th Cruise. We had a table problem because our travel agent ended up linking our party of 12 with friends of my sister (a party of 5)who happen to be travelling the same time we were. They had us at 3 tables with each family being split up. We talked to Christopher and he handled everything. We also had 4 birthdays in our group and he gave each of them their cakes. He joked with us (even pretended to trip and almost drop the cake in my lap). My brother was in a wheelchair and he helped him out of the restaurant on several nights. He was the best head waiter that any of us ever had and he certainly earned his tip.

 

[jkester]

We saw Sid on our last cruise on the Wonder and he said that he had left the Magic so that he could see more of his family. They live in Port Canaveral and since the boat comes back 2 times per week, instead of just the 1 time on the Magic, he has more visiting time with them.

He was outstanding as a head server- he brought Palo's souffle on our last night (a special request) and was so attentive to everything!!! We'll miss him next month when we go back on the Magic.

Rhonda

 

[inkkognito]

We have had P.J. from Gold Coast Australia and Rita from Brazil several times and they are great--they always come over to see us, even if they are not our head waiter...we also like Paul from Scotland. And when we had Kapur (I think I'm spelling his name wrong) from India, he would come over to see if we needed anything even if he happened to see us at breakfast or lunch, not just dinner.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[onemichelle]

We also had Paul from Scotland on our four day Wonder cruise and he was very friendly and helpful. The thing that really stood out though was that he noticed one night when my 3 year old dd was screaming in Parrot Cay. He came over to see if he could help. Seem that Wendy Darling had come in to mingle with the guests and my daughter saw her and got hysterical (she was afraid of all the "costumes")! Paul discreetly and quickly hurried Wendy and her handler to the other side of the room. Needless to say it was much appreciated by all, especially my dd!!

 

[my3kids]

After reading these boards I was fully expecting to not see the head server until the last night. We ended up having a wonderful experience with ours. We had Adrian on the Magic. He came by every night. The first night said to be sure to come to him if we thought anything could be improved upon, if we had any special requests....etc. He stopped by to chit chat daily. He saw us around the ship and spoke to us. Asked us where the kids were one day when he saw us at lunch alone. Just a very nice person.

I asked Adrian about his duties. He told me there are 3 head waiters per dining room. So 1/3 of the servers and asst servers report to the head waiter at each restaraunt, I assume.

 

[Lisa F]

Sid is the best! We knew him as the maitre d' at Palo on the Magic last january and were surprised to see him as a head waiter on the Wonder on our $99 cruise. He was wonderful and professional at Palo but he seemed to let loose a lot more as a head waiter (in a good way) and seemed to be having a much better time. He wasn't OUR head waiter but he did greet us on our first night in Tritons and he REMEMBERED us from the Magic last year!!! I couldn't believe it. At that point it was 9 months ago and I'm sure he sees thousands of people. I was really sad that he wasn't our head waiter, but my inlaws took a disney cruise after we had so much fun and THEY had Sid! They loved him too. I wonder if he knows he has a fan club on the disboards?!?

Lisa

 

[psimon]

We also had Adrian on the 11/2 Magic. He stopped by every night to make sure everything was up to snuff (boy was it ever ). He chatted with the kids, brought the anniversary cakes for both my parents (50'th) and us (20'th) on different nights, led the servers in song when he delivered the cakes and even pulled the lobster tail out of it's shell (I probably could have handled that ).

I had no problem leaving the suggested amount for him.

Paul