Is having a "friendly" server that important?

[CRB#33]

I've seen a lot of post lately about people not having friendly servers.

Personally, I really want an efficient, pleasant server. If he/she isn't the most jovial, that won't bother me at all. It's family time after all, the one time when I'm hoping we can all sit down together and talk about our days.

Has the experience for most people been that they are not efficient either? That would really bother me!

 

[Drez]

On our first cruise (October 2000, 4 day wonder) we had a really crappy server. He didn't seem to care about anything.
On our second cruise (October 2001, 7 day magic) we had a EXCELLENT server and assistant (Sylvester and Gregor).

I feel it's important to have a set of servers, or at least the main server, care and be very friendly. Otherwise it makes your dining experience less than it should be.

 

[Hopkins]

It's nice to have servers that give the "illusion" or actually caring about your happiness. The servers/stateroom hosts almost always seem to want to please us. How was your day, can I help you, may I suggest this,... ? Things like that. They do work on tips. I reward good serve and will tip above the recommended DCL amounts if I feel they do an exceptional job. Since the servers work in pairs, one can be more friendly and more dominant and the other can be more in the backround. In St. Thomas, we were shopping and in a friendy tone someone was yelling "hey, Tina". I didn't know anyone in St. Thomas. It was our stateroom host Carlos. What a nice man. He was buying a small fan for his stateroom.

Tina
Magic Western 1/18/03

 

[aprilgail2]

Our servers were so nice and friendly (Michael and Tayfun), it made dinner very pleasant. They would joke around with my daughter and they were just plain old nice! Our stateroom host was not friendly at all so after meeting him I was hoping our servers were better and they were! It was nice just talking with the servers. They spent 10 minutes at our table one night talking about where they were from etc so that was very nice.

 

[MarkRG]

I've been on 3 Disney cruises, and there has been 1 time where our server(Carlos) wasn't exactly friendly. Borderline rude would probably be more like it. There were nights where he didn't even go over the menu very much. It does make an impact. Our assistant server(Jania) that cruise went out of her way to pick up the slack however, to the point of giving us recommendations. We reversed the tip envelopes that cruise.

 

[Iluv2trvl]

We were on the 5/11 Western Cruise. I can't say enough on how wonderful our servers, Sudama and Glendine were. There were 13 of us, 7 adults and 6 children and Sudama and Glendine went out of there way to the point we still are raving about them. They were wonderful and when we go back I hope to get them again.

 

[Lisabell]

....I get the most wistful about our servers. I know I will cruise Disney again and I know I will travel with our companions again, but I sure will miss our servers!!!

We had Eddie and Janina and they were amazing!! Eddie did a magic trick (or 2 or 3) nearly every night. He had us in stitches he was so funny. Janina, finding out that some of us at the table didn't like the instant Nestea they serve in the dining rooms, made us fresh brewed iced tea every night!! I am now spoiled and need my Black Currant iced tea regularly. Not only that, but Janina learned our names on the first night and always addressed us by name. They felt like family by the end of the trip.

Our head server, Alen was also great. My husband is diabetic (as were 2 other members of our dining group). He went out of his way to ensure that they got a "repeat performance" of their favorite dessert (Sugar Free Chocolate Lava Cake) for the last night of the cruise.

Our stateroom host, Prachan, was also wonderful!! He always had a smile for us and asked us what we had planned for the day. When I found out he was from Thailand, we had a great conversation about Thai food (my favorite).

So, in answer to your question, I don't think an efficient but less than friendly server would ruin your trip. I DO think, however, that extra special crew members can GREATLY enhance your trip.

Sorry to have rambled on....

Happy Cruisin!
Lisabell

 

[MarkRG]

Iluv2trvl, Is Sudama a Server now? He was Assistant on our 7 day a few years back, good to hear he's still with the line!


(edit)

We've had:
Server, Asst

#1 Carlos, Jania
#2 Phillip, Sudama
#3 Josko, Rosina

You've read about #1 above, Both on our second and third they were all great, with notables For Head Server Sid from #2. He was a cut up.

 

[BeanoC]

We felt it made a huge difference to us, the fact that we had very pleasant servers.

Not only did our server learn our first names, he would come out each night singing a song that had one of our names in it! (Even if he had to make something up!)

They were both funny and also very helpful. They knew our standing drink orders and brought them right away each night.
I think it would have made for a much less enjoyable cruise if we had boring or rude servers.

You bet it matters!!


'Beano'

P.S. Our servers were Wisanu and Dennis, 7-Day Eastern Magic, 10/13/2001

 

[ebaynut31]

We were on the Nov 1-4 Wonder and our servers were Odette and Suri. They were the most wonderful people. They really made our dining experience the best! Odette would recommend a dinner for us and one night I couldn't decide between 2 so she brought both! Suri was our drink conniseur(sp?) and boy did he give us some great drinks! I honestly cannot remember our room servant because she didn't talk much. Just came and left. It was my first cruise and they will forever be in my memory!!

 

[KAR3600]

I feel servers are very important, we cruised July 2000, on the Magic, our servers, were terrible!!!! The only night they were friendly was "tip night", and they were so obvious about it, it was really sickening. We are cruising again this July on the Wonder, I hope my luck changes!!!!

 

[PiperG]

Hi Lisabell,

My husband's brother and his family live in Riverside. I just wanted you to know that we love to visit your beautiful town! Perhaps next time we are in Riverside we can hook up and share some DCL and WDW memories.

 

[barbeau]

It's important to feel you're being catered to. In my 4 Disney cruises, I had no problems until this last one (May 23). The servers barely spoke, but the worst was the last night. We wwere at a table with another family with 3 children. Fine with us.....two went to the Oceaneer's Club, but one got physically sick. I had no problem with that. We (my hubby, myself, the parents) cleaned up as best as possible. The child & parents had to leave the table. When that happened, the servers seemed to be very upset. Once the vomit was cleaned, and my hubby & I were alone, we suddenly became invisible. We had used all our napkins for clean-up, and requested new one, which never came. My hubby finally got two from another table that had extras. I was very upset, especially at the end when the sales pitch for tips came. I did not leave a tip for these servers, and I have NEVER done that! Anyway, as I said, this was only one time in four, but yes, servers are important.

 

[ErinC]

We had awesome servers on our recent 4 day. We had Ritesh from India , and Lalu from Indonesia. They made our trip. Especially since we were alone at our table. I think it would have made a huge difference if we had not had good servers. They played with our children, made toys out of the napkins and placemats for our girls. Our girls loved them. We spent a lot of time with Ritesh on our day at Castaway Cay. It rained the entire day. When Donald Duck came by Ritesh grabbed my 6 year old and an umbrella and took her to see Donald. He also brought table clothes for my girls to wrap up in because they were shivering cold during our lunch at cookies. I got to spend a lot of time talking to him about India, and his culture. We we arrived home a few days ago, I found myself concerned for his family in India with the rising dispute that is happening there. I hope all will be well with him and his family. We took pictures of them with our kids, and they will be forever in our family scrapbook. I would have been really disappointed with servers that were not friendly. Ritesh could also tell that I did not like the lamb I ordered in Tritons, he insisted on bringing me something else. He also joked with me the next night about trying the lamb chops on the AP menu. He laughed and thought it was funny!