Head servers

[abitagirl916]

Just off The Fantasy yesterday, we had Plamen as our Head server. He came to our table multiply times during this trip. He helped serve one night when our main server was under the weather and had the night off.. I met him on The Wonder as our Server. It is nice to see them move good people up.

We had Plamen as our Head Server on the Fantasy last October. We saw him every night, sometimes multiple times. He always came by and made sure everything was okay. On the night they served lobster, he was the one who went to the tables and cut the lobster out of the shell. He was quite proficient in doing this too. Totally enjoyed interacting with him on our cruise and tipped him above the recommended amount. Would love to have him again as our Head Server on the Fantasy next year.

 

[mocodis]

We have been on the Wonder for several cruises. Our Head Server, is great and always stops by to visit and make sure we are happy with everything. I now request the same one, Deniz whenever we cruise on the Wonder.

 

[DahliaRW]

Just because you don't see someone a lot, doesn't mean they aren't working their tail off behind the scenes. There are lots of people that work on the DCL boats you'll never see or just plain not notice, especially the maintenance type people. But you'd be able to tell if they WEREN'T working, and the head server is like that.

The head server covers a large section of the dining room, quite a few serving teams. Your server and assistant server usually have 16 people split between 2 or 3 tables that they serve, so of course you see them more! But if things are running smoothly in the dining room as a whole, your head server is most likely making that happen.

When we were on the Fantasy our head server, Fitz, came over the first night to discuss my food allergy with me and to bring me a special dessert. He did come by several times throughout the cruise to make sure my food was being handled ok, but I also saw him stop by other tables and ask how things were going. On the semi-formal night, he went around and helped cut the lobster tails out of the shells at several tables too.

I'm sure we would have seen a bit less of him if I hadn't had the food allergy issue. But I will say, while I saw him stand and scan the dining room from time to time, he was never just standing around doing nothing. He was busy walking around, making sure things were ok, assisting server teams, etc.

 

[ocspartan]

Just because you don't see someone a lot, doesn't mean they aren't working their tail off behind the scenes. There are lots of people that work on the DCL boats you'll never see or just plain not notice, especially the maintenance type people. But you'd be able to tell if they WEREN'T working, and the head server is like that. The head server covers a large section of the dining room, quite a few serving teams. Your server and assistant server usually have 16 people split between 2 or 3 tables that they serve, so of course you see them more! But if things are running smoothly in the dining room as a whole, your head server is most likely making that happen. When we were on the Fantasy our head server, Fitz, came over the first night to discuss my food allergy with me and to bring me a special dessert. He did come by several times throughout the cruise to make sure my food was being handled ok, but I also saw him stop by other tables and ask how things were going. On the semi-formal night, he went around and helped cut the lobster tails out of the shells at several tables too. I'm sure we would have seen a bit less of him if I hadn't had the food allergy issue. But I will say, while I saw him stand and scan the dining room from time to time, he was never just standing around doing nothing. He was busy walking around, making sure things were ok, assisting server teams, etc.

Agree that there are many on board that work there tail off that you would never notice, but then all of those other positions don't require a tip...

Many have added that head servers do so many things behind the scenes, but I'm still not clear what specifically, no one has actually said what? What in particular are they doing that effects the dining experience behind the scenes.

Just trying to point out that if you don't have allergies or what not from my understanding the role is to play as host of the dining room welcoming you in making sure your questions are answered, guiding you through the dining experience, but all of that can only happen if they come around and talk to the guests...

If the hs doesn't come around until the last night when tips are coming around it seems like they'd be missing a huge part of what they need to do

 

[lbgraves]

Fitz goes above and beyond what I expect from a head server. He also started as a server, and I think that is why his teams work so well with him. He knows exactly what needs to be done firsthand. We always see him a couple times each night in the MDR and whenever he is working at Cabanas during breakfast or lunch he seems to find us as well.

 

[ScrappinGran]

We left the Fantasy yesterday. This was our second cruise. On our first cruise, I had many of the same feelings as the OP. We saw our Head Server once or twice, with cursory greetings at best. Never saw him anywhere else on the ship and can't even remember his name. Why the heck give him an extra tip? WHAT a difference THIS cruise! Our Head Server was Alberto, from the Philippines. He was AMAZING! After meeting him the first evening, we were surprised at how often we saw him outside of the main dining rooms and can only imagine what he does behind the scenes. We saw him working in Cabanas on more than one occasion, at an event in the Atrium one evening and at Flo's Cafe, hustling and serving the food alongside Flo's Cafe servers. On one particular time at Flo's...there had been a large grease spill at one if the frying vats. He was supervising the clean up. During this time, there were no chicken fingers or French fries available. There were complaints from guests, which he handled diplomatically...explaining the situation, offering to go get fries from Cabanas for them, etc. He saw me waiting for something from the grill, and asked where I was seated. I told him, and he said he'd bring my food to me when it was ready. I was waiting kind of in the middle of the grease spill issue. He took time from dealing with that, and did indeed personally bring me my food...when he very easily could have sent another Flo's Cafe server to do it.
After the first nights dinner and learning about our likes and dislikes..(my hubby and I were seated with 3 other couples) he had surprises for us every night. One night it was 3 plates of spiced shrimp, another it was plates of beautifully carved fruit, one night plates of chicken wings, (as he knew I am allergic to seafood and shellfish and didn't want to exclude me from the surprise treats) and more. One couple wistfully mentioned that they missed the coconut shrimp that used to be an appetizer. Lo and behold, on our second to last night...what appeared but the coconut shrimp! And again...remembering my allergy, he brought me my own plate of prosciutto and melon. Our favorite was the night he sent 2 large platters of lumpias to the table, a dish from his home country of the Philippines. My husband and I were familiar with lumpias, as when hubby was in the military we had a friend who made them often and shared them with us. We had not had lumpias in many many years...so that was a wonderful suprise!
It was wonderful that - with all his other duties, that he took the time to get to know all of us at the table, and gave us such outstanding personal service. THAT is what gave us a wonderful dining experience. And, on top of that, our Server and Assistant Server that were part of Alberto's team provided the same outstanding service. (Aleksander from Serbia and Nicole from Trinidad and Tobago) We hope the three of them will be there for our next cruise. Such hard workers who made us feel so special! They more than earned extra tips!

 

[TonyMouse]

Us they do so much behind the scenes. They make sure you food comes out promptly and the correct temp. Special diets are correct. They also over the buffet as well.they do a lot behind the scenes.

I've been on several different cruises with my family and there is a huge difference when you are dealing with better quality staff, especially headservers. It can sometimes make the difference in enjoyment

 

[DahliaRW]

The job description for head sever on the DCL jobs website is:

Provides leadership to a portion of dining room team (Dining Room Server, Assistant Dining Room Server and Dining Room Attendant). Ensures service standards are met. Manages all guest special requests and dietary needs within section of dining room. Oversees new hire training and ongoing service excellence training of crew. Conducts regular inspections within dining room. Ensures cleanliness of areas to uphold USPH and Disney standards. Also assists in overseeing fast food outlets and onboard/island buffets for breakfast and/or lunch. This position reports to the Restaurant Manager and has high guest interaction. This is a tipped position.

 

[Snurk71]

Just sharing our recent experience...

Had a couple of stop-by hellos, asking if everything was going well (it was), cut up DDs meal one night. I saw the head server helping teams with things like pouring wine or champagne.

Then on the last night my meal didn't arrive at the table with DW and DDs. I'm pretty easy going and assumed it would come out in the next few minutes. But within about a minute the HS was at our table asking what was wrong, said my meal didn't come out with theirs, and he stepped away from the table and I saw him on his phone. Then about 2 minutes later he was at our table with me meal apologizing all over the place.

So while he didn't appear to do much for us the other nights, he definitely sprang to action immediately when our appeared something wasn't going right.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-Note2 using DISBoards

 

[Luv2Diz]

The head server we had on the Wonder was Englebert. He checked on us every day and I think he did an excellent job in overseeing the dining room.

We also had Englebert and he did a great job overseeing our table.

We had George for our Magic cruise and he did an awesome job making sure DDs food allergies were tended to. She had a great dining experience. (Wish we could say the same for our 2nd Magic cruise when we had a different Head Server who wasn't all that interested.)

 

[closetmickey]

Was just looking at my April trip photos and was reminded of the name of our Head Server so now I can finally respond.....Anil!!!! He was incredible on our Fantasy cruise! Came by every night, sought us out at lunch and breakfast menus, really wanted to get to know us and do anything he could to enhance our dining experience. And on top of it- our serving team was Fantastic!! Anson and Maureen- would recommend them without hesitation! Hope someone is able to experience them soon. They were leaving for vacation as we debarked, but were both planning to renew their contracts......

 

[Freesia123]

We had Richard who was so excellent with my Dad. He got confused and had no idea where he was. Richard calmed him down, found the note in his lanyard saying which room he was in, called us and escorted Dad down to the room.

He was at our table every night after checking on everything. When Dad was under the weather he arranged for a steak and dessert to be delivered to him in his room. He was exceptional!

 

[Jsoenning]

Neko is amazing on Disney Magic. Our older daughter responded really well to him. We requested him and the other waiters for our 2nd cruise, and we received the royal treatment. He asked our daughter what she wanted each night for dinner - on or off menu it was provided.

Our daughter broke a plate one night and looked about to cry, and he came over and said not to worry, they had a closet full of plates.

Neko was so sweet to our daughter that on the 2nd cruise, 5 months later, we saw him on embarkation at Parrot Cay, and she walked up and told him hi.

Neko seemed equally engaged with all of the tables, stepping in and supporting the waiter / assistant waiter as needed (Andre & Erik, 2 different Andres; 2nd cruise the 1st Andre was on vacation; both excellent!).

I saw him working hard in the other dining locations for breakfast & lunch on sea days. He carried a tray for me, appearing as if by magic, when I was struggling to hold my 2-year old and carry the tray.

If we were sailing Magic again would request the team again for sure!

 

[jrabbit]

On our last cruise, the head waiter from our prior two cruises was in the same rotation. We saw him more than our assigned head waiter. But our assigned head waiter came to our table every evening. So we had two managers looking out for us ... NOTHING went even a little bit wrong. We felt like we should have tipped both of the head servers

 

[Snurk71]

Was just looking at my April trip photos and was reminded of the name of our Head Server so now I can finally respond.....Anil!!!! He was incredible on our Fantasy cruise! Came by every night, sought us out at lunch and breakfast menus, really wanted to get to know us and do anything he could to enhance our dining experience. And on top of it- our serving team was Fantastic!! Anson and Maureen- would recommend them without hesitation! Hope someone is able to experience them soon. They were leaving for vacation as we debarked, but were both planning to renew their contracts......

Anil was our HS too, but we had a different server team. We really liked Maureen though. She took our picture a couple nights at dinner and we talked to her in cabanas one day at lunch. She seemed like such a nice person.