What does the Head Server do?

[Aisling]

I know there's a Server, an Asst. Server, and a Head Server. Can anyone tell me what the differences are? Thanks!

 

[Favorite Auntie]

The asst server takes care of drinks and breads and clearing the table. The server takes care of the entrees and desserts. THe head server oversees a bunch of teams, then there is the restauant manager is in charge of all the head servers in the restaurant. The head server also makes sure that special occasions are taken care of...like birthdays and anniversarys.

 

[HIHO...HIHO]

That was an excellent question! We are just back from our first cruise and we (not paying attention to what they told us the first night) thought the Head server was the one who spent the most time with us. That would seem to make sense right?! WRONG! Turned out the head server was the one who sat us down and basically came around once during the meal to ask how everything was. We saw him the least...and still he gets the biggest tip - according to what Disney recommends? We really wanted to add some extra tip to our asst. server and server, but it turned out that we tipped the 'head server' extra by mistake, since we had the titles mixed up! We loved our asst. server and server - so we felt bad.
Oh well...live and learn!
So for those of you going on an upcoming cruise for the first time, pay attention to this so you can keep it straight! I wish we would have!

 

[Azptcruiser]

The Head Server and the Restaraunt Manager also make the special things happen that the server may not have the authority to do.

Case in point...

Let's say that one want to have the Souffles from Palo's every night at their regular rotation. It is the above 2 mentioned people that take care of coordinating that with their counterpart and I believe the Chef in that area.

That is what happened with us on the cruise last year.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Turned out the head server was the one who sat us down and basically came around once during the meal to ask how everything was. We saw him the least...and still he gets the biggest tip - according to what Disney recommends?

Actually, the Dining Room Head Server gets the smallest tip per person, according DCL's guidelines. For example, here are DCL's gratuity guidelines for dining, per guest, for a 7-night cruise.

Dining Room Server -- $25.75
Dining Room Asst. Server -- $18.75
Dining Room Head Server -- $6.50
Dining Manager -- Your Discretion
Room Service -- Your Discretion
Palo -- Gratuity included​

The Dining Room Head Server has responsibility for several Server-Asst. Server teams, so the Head Server is in a position to earn tips from more tables, which makes up for the smaller tip per person.

By the way, I would budget more than the guidelines, and I would also budget for an additional tip at Palo. Chances are the service will be so good, you'll want to leave more.

Keep in mind the gratuities essentially are their pay. Otherwise, dining room service crew members only get about $50 per month, plus room and board (and their room and board is not the same as what passengers get), to work long hours, 7 days a week. The tips you provide at the final dinner also take care of the service at the buffets and dining rooms for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.

 

[jrabbit]

On the last night of the cruise he/she comes around and says: "Hi, my name is ______ and it's been a pleasure serving you please leave me a tip" and then off he goes to the next table. The conversation at your table turns to "Who the heck was that "

No, it's not really that bad, but sometimes it seems that way

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

On the last night of the cruise he/she comes around and says: "Hi, my name is ______ and it's been a pleasure serving you please leave me a tip" and then off he goes to the next table. The conversation at your table turns to "Who the heck was that "

No, it's not really that bad, but sometimes it seems that way

You'll see less of your Head Server, but your Head Server makes sure that your Server and Asst. Server are in a position to provde great service (although much of what the Head Server does does not happen right at your table).

It's probably also worth mentioning that the Head Server and the Dining Room Manager are not the same person. The guidelines say "Dining Manager -- Your Discretion." I've never tipped the Dining Room Manager. If, for some reason, you need the services of a Dining Room Manager, you'll know who he or she is. You can then determine if you'd like to reward that person with a tip, with the amount based on what he or she did for you.

Most passengers will only interact with their Server, Asst. Server, Head Server at dinner. (At other meals, you'll interact with other Servers, Asst. Servers, and Head Servers -- but you're not expected to tip them, because they'll be tipped by the passengers at their dinner tables.)

 

[rocknty]

Take advantage of the head servers capabilites as they can really improve the experience.

Most people don't realize you can order off any menu in the ship. Ask for custom preparation. Order something special in advance for the next night. Order something you had previously again. The head server manages these requests. He will even fetch things from Palo if need be.

For example: You could order a steamed lobster for example or even a curry. You could order a side dish such as beets.

We had Atilla on the Magic last week in Mexico and he was astounding. You must invest the time to build a relationship with these folks. They also expect a decent tip in the end.

 

[Azptcruiser]

Take advantage of the head servers capabilites as they can really improve the experience.

Most people don't realize you can order off any menu in the ship. Ask for custom preparation. Order something special in advance for the next night. Order something you had previously again. The head server manages these requests. He will even fetch things from Palo if need be.

For example: You could order a steamed lobster for example or even a curry. You could order a side dish such as beets.

We had Atilla on the Magic last week in Mexico and he was astounding. You must invest the time to build a relationship with these folks. They also expect a decent tip in the end.

We had Atilla last year. He is a great guy. He was important in making the entire experience very worthwhile. We are going again on July 2nd...so maybe we will get him again. Unlikely, but maybe.

 

[Rence]

The head server also oversees any special dietary needs. If you have a food allergy, it is the head server who will monitor it and let your server know what foods you can and cannot have.

My father is allergic to fowl (chicken, duck, turkey etc.) since chicken broth is used in a lot of cooking it is a tricky allergy to monitor. Every night the head server would let our server know what my father could and could not have. If things were busy the head server would go over the menu with my father item by item. I saw our head server also helping some other tables out with special dietary requests.

 

[dgaston]

On our Magic Cruise the Head Server was waiting another table because the Dining Room Server was incapacitated with a leg problem. He was very apologetic, and tried to visit our table each night to explain the meal. On the night with lobster tail, I was surprised by two long arms reaching around me to remove the lobster from the tail! I guess that was the level of service he wanted to provide for us.

 

[txaggie94gigem]

i saw the head server in the each dining room each night getting things ready but he only stopped by our table once on the last night...i still tipped him the appropriate amount bucause i knew all that he was resposible for...my stingy husband on the other hand did not want to tip him because he was not visibly involved...well thank goodness i premade tip envelopes before the cruise and he had nothing to say about it!!!

We actually switched the amounts between our server and asst server on purpose because our asst server bent over backwards to make things just right and i honestly think our regular server did not care much...he was nice but did not go out of his way to do anything special...our tablemates felt the same way and they were the ones that actually suggested we all switch so we did...

 

[ivanova]

we've only cruised twice but both times we had awesome head servers .. this last time the head server had to step in & take over for our server who was injured our first day.

 

[JDSski]

I have cruised over five times on Disney. There was one time our head server appeared the first day and MIA thereafter. He did not received a tip from anyone in our table. We saw him at other tables but it seemed like ours was non existent.

Thank God our servers were great.

Hopefully on this trip, I'll see my Head Server as I truly need him as I have been diagnosis with gluton disorder.

 

[tvguy]

We saw him several times a night, he made sure the server and assistant server were doing their job, not just by asking us, but by looking to see that water glasses were filled, and watching to see courses were served in a timely fashion.
The Head Server also deals with problems and special needs. We didn't have a single problem until the FINAL morning. We had late seating, so we had 8 am breakfast. The dorks that sat at our table for early seating, which is scheduled at 6:45 am, showed up at 7:30 am, after all cooking for first seating was done.
So we show up at 8 am and these dorks are sitting at our table. Our server had already warned MaClean of the situation...MaClean had another table ready for us within a minute. While we didn't get to have our last meal with our servers, MaClean came by three times in 30 minutes to make sure we were okay, and made sure both our regular server and regular assistant server checked on us a couple of times. Couple that with great service from a server team we hadn't met before, it was the best that could be done because of the dorks.
And remember, this was the day after tips had been handed out, so there would be no additional financial consideration for this.

 

[minniemoms]

We also had Maclean. I thought he did a good job. He even came by on Lobster night and took the lobster out of the shell for us. He got us cakes for B/day nights, our first cruise I don't remember the head server doing anything but saying hello. But I do know that Maclean did a great job.

 

[Favorite Auntie]

Let's say that one want to have the Souffles from Palo's every night at their regular rotation. It is the above 2 mentioned people that take care of coordinating that with their counterpart and I believe the Chef in that area.

You can get the PALO souffle in the reg rotation dining rooms? Are you kidding??? I would have it every night EXCEPT when there is Chocolate Lava Cake....

 

[jrabbit]

You can get the PALO souffle in the reg rotation dining rooms? Are you kidding??? I would have it every night EXCEPT when there is Chocolate Lava Cake....

In the distant past (in other words a long time ago) this was possible, but then "we" all caught on and the practice of getting a Palo souffle in your regular restaurant came to a halt (or so I've read here on the DIS - I never did this myself). It still might occur on an individual basis. If DCL continued to allow this there would be about 300 DIS'ers ordering the souffle every night!!

 

[jrabbit]

On the last night of the cruise he/she comes around and says: "Hi, my name is ______ and it's been a pleasure serving you please leave me a tip" and then off he goes to the next table. The conversation at your table turns to "Who the heck was that "

No, it's not really that bad, but sometimes it seems that way

Hey look I'm quoting one of the most intellegent, helpful and handsome people on the DIS

Seriously,

We've had a birthday cake delivered to one of our tablemates and the Head Server was not involved. That trip we was the one where my "quote" came from. And in reality he did only come around once to give his little speach.

And on the other extreme,
On Lobster night the head server was at our table (one of the HUGE tables) helping the server and assistant server serve the lobster (our asst. server really didn't know what he was doing in this area - otherwise he was excellent). The head server also poured the wine for everyone at the table (btw we had one of the ships officers join us for dinner that night - what a great experience!!). Back to the head server on this cruise, besides the lobster night help, he also came around and checked in with us every night.

In the middle...
Most of our head servers came around at least every other evening to check on how we were doing and asked how they were doing meeting our needs (or actually wants in this setting). This is really all I expect from the head server.

Last story...
THe head server from the lobster night story was one of the hardest working waitstaff we've ever encountered. He seemed to be working breakfast whereever we happened to be eating that day. He bussed more tables and cleaned up more "crap" and messes than most of the regular servers / asst. servers were doing those mornings!!

 

[poohssmum]

We have been on 2 DCL cruises and have a 3rd booked for November. On the first cruise, the head server sat us the first night. Came by once during the week to say hello, and then on the final night to collect her envelope. Each night we would see her standing guard over the front door, but never actually doing anything. We were not impressed.

On our last cruise our head server was Gaspar. (At least that's what I think his name was.) He was phenomenal. He was at our table every night saying hello and helping out. He poured wine, poured water, cut food for the kids, took lobsters out of their shells, etc. DH and I were both extremely impressed this time and tipped accordingly. Friends that we sailed with were not as impressed (although they did tip the recommended amount as a minimum) ... but this was their first cruise, so they didn't know the difference. OH, I forgot to mention tha the only night we didn't see our head server was the final night. He greeted us at the door, but never once came to the table to collect his envelope. We had to track him down at breakfast the next morning.