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Your favorite Maitre 'D and why? What makes them worth a tip??


Michelle M

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Our good friend is a Maitre D on the Freedom. :o It amazes me that many guests don't think Maitre 'Ds deserve a tip.

They are paid a salary but very little for the 14 to 16 hour days they put in to make sure all food operations run smoothly........What do you think it takes for a Maitre 'D to deserve a tip??;)

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I think if they don't think their Salary compensatory for the hours they put in, then they should quit.

 

I'll work 48 hours straight at times, and I don't see anyone giving me a TIP.

 

Sorry, it the Maitre'D's job to remedy issues and he is paid a salary for that.

 

And they always manage to only come around the second to the last night to see if all is OK... hint-hint-hint... :cool:

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We have always tipped the Maitre D because he performs a special service for us. Our son has autism and we have to sit at a private table. On the Ecstasy last week, our family of three had a table for 6.

 

The Maitre D makes this possible and we appreciate it.

 

The MD also alerts us IF they are taking photos outside the door as we leave...so we can exit another way.

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Mom and I were on the Liberty couple years ago. Mom wanted a nice table for 2 and Lloyd gave her the table. Then she wanted to see the table to make sure she likes it but could not figure out where it was, so Lloyd found an assistant to walk her to the table. :o And he came by every night except one to see how we were doing. I think that was definitely above and beyond his job, so we tipped him.

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Our favorite Maitre 'D is Miguel who was overseeing the Golden Olympian dining room on Carnival Liberty the first week of February this year.

He was fun, outgoing, seemed to want to take care of his guests, seemed to have a great rapport with his staff, and did a great job because the food was delicious.

I hope to have Miguel as our Maitre 'D again one day since he made us laugh, smile, and stuffed us with those wonderful food items I've come to look forward to on a Carnival cruise - Pumpkin soup, Spa Carnival Coconut Cake, Spa Carnival Orange Cake, Prime Rib, Lobster... :).

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Don't recall any specifically, but they have all graciously accommodated us with a change to a table for two. That merits a tip from me because they're accommodating a personal preference on our part, rather than "addressing a problem". Yes, it's their job, but I can say that of anyone who gets a tip from me. Beyond that, there's not much I really look to them for -- they always greet us warmly at the door, which is nice.

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Our Maitre'D, Stipe, on the Miracle, was one of the best we have encountered. He was able to help our tablemates with a couple of issues, and visited our table each night. I didn't mind having our part of our tips going to him............Here he is with the wife.......................

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I think one maitre d' on Freedom is Dino.

 

I'd say Ken Byrne is my favorite but there are many.

 

Experienced cruisers know the maitre d' is someone you want to be friends with. The other important person to be friends with is the hotel director.

 

The maitre d's responsibility is far greater than taking care of problems. To imply it isn't, is doing them a great disservice.

 

If they know you, they will always greet you by name at the door and stop by your table at least once every evening.

 

As far as I am concerned, they deserve a tip just for showing up. They have already provided me with service.

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For us, it was Mr. V, the maitre'd on the miracle. He accomodated our request for a table for 2. He was constantly going and checking on the guests, making sure everything was to their liking. He had the most interaction with cruisers than I had seen any maitre'd do yet, and this was on our 4th cruise. When outside of the dining room, he always took the time to speak, and pose for a picture. Out of all the maitre'd's we have had, he's the only 1 we have tipped. He was the only one that we actually saw for more than an announcement, and acted like he cared that the passengers were happy with everything.

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Joseph, who used to be on the Celebration. It's Show-timmmmmme!!!!!

 

 

Ah yes, Joseph from Canada. :D He is the best Maitre' d that Carnival has, bar none. He is currently on the Glory and does a fantastic job. He gets tipped.

 

 

 

 

As far as the schlep on the Legend Mr. Fernando Martins who lets hats, cut off shorts, and 400 pound women in wearing a wife beater, on formal night, he gets no tip. If he just walked by our table in the back of the DR, I might cut him some slack. No, he's too busy not watching out for the red-neck wear walking in. ESPECIALLY since the Legend offers come as/when you are seating as an option.

 

 

 

 

Yes, Mr. Martins, you have 25 days to straighten up and DO YOUR JOB RIGHT! :rolleyes:

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Several years ago we had a Maitre D named Harrison who was absolutely fabulous with my daughter who was 2 at the time, treated her like a princess the entire week. Last year we were on the Valor with a large group and Terrence Rodriquez was the assist. Maitre D and he also was fabulous!! We have no problem tipping the ones who go out of their ways to make our trip memorable. I think the Joseph people are talking about is really "Yusef" and we had him in the Universe dining room on the Destiny and he was also lots of fun. It's SHOWWWWTIMMMMMMME!!

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I was given late seating with my daughter (13), so when I went to request a move to early seating he spent about 10 minutes going through all the tables to put us with another single mom and her two boys...15 and 17. He then checked on us several times to make sure everything was good. But always tip the Maitre D' because based on my prior seating assignments and the two times I have requested a table change, they really do try to match you with dining companions that you will enjoy!

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The Maitre D' IS a salaried employee, he oversees the Dining Room operation not the Food operations. Other than out of "tradition"I don't really see it as required unless he does something out of the norm for you personally - and I interpret in the Carnival documentation that he's not allowed to take tips for arranging table seating. Having said that, we usually slip the Maitre D' $5, altho I no longer plan to do this if he does not enforce the spirit of the Dress Code. ken

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Definitely George the Greek! He watched over us on the Inspiration when a group that had been separated tried to recombine themselves by beating our party of four to our table. We would have moved, but he made gentle, surprised inquiries and these nice people immediately and graciously went back to where they had been assigned separately. He was skilled enough to be low-key and they were experienced cruisers and got the hint.

 

In addition, he infused the conga line with energy and had a server sing in Italian for us and, of course, conducted the last-night "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" finale with all the servers. Opa!

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Definitely George the Greek! He watched over us on the Inspiration when a group that had been separated tried to recombine themselves by beating our party of four to our table. We would have moved' date=' but he made gentle, surprised inquiries and these nice people immediately and graciously went back to where they had been assigned separately. He was skilled enough to be low-key and they were experienced cruisers and got the hint.

 

In addition, he infused the conga line with energy and had a server sing in Italian for us and, of course, conducted the last-night "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" finale with all the servers. Opa![/quote']

I am surprised it has taken this long to name George. He is great. You can find him all over the ship greeting people. He really makes the dining room a lot of fun. OPA!!!

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We loved Yusuf on the Legend in June. He came by our table 5 nights out of 7, always chatted for a few minutes, and always had a smile. He MADE showtime. He was the life of the party, always wearing a different wig or costume and he could get the whole dining room up and dancing every night. We bought the cookbook and he and the head chef signed it and took pictures with us and our waiters. Dh and I both thought he should have been the CD, instead of the woman we had (don't remember her name but she wasn't the greatest).

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Omar from the Destiny! Out of three cruises the only one who could name all who entered his dining room! We had so much fun with him!

 

Tips? He was the only Matre'd we ever tipped!

 

We love you Omar...................The Ahhhhhhhhhhhhchoo's...LOL

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I think in the 28 nights I've been at sea the maitre'd has stopped by our table maybe twice, and that's on 5 different ships. One of those time was to deliver a cake we ordered for a friend's honeymoon. He got tipped.

 

One of these cruises we requested 6:15pm seating rather than the 8:00pm seating for my mother. Instead of switching dining rooms, the maitre'd arranged for us to eat at 6:15pm with the 5:45pm seating. He got tipped.

 

DH requests for okra to be delivered each night (don't ask), and we usually tip for this to be arranged.

 

I think all in all, we've only not tipped once, and that's because we never even saw the maitre'd until the very last night, standing there with hand out - not to shake anyone's hand, but done blatantly to take their envelopes. We were so disgusted we put our envelope back in our pocket, and kept walking to our table.

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I tip everyone that provides a service to me.

 

That said...unless he has directly provided a service to me, I see no reason to tip him.

 

Any time he waives a corkage fee I have added that into his tip, and when they have helped me switch tables I have rewarded them for the special effort.

 

But times where they only come buy to interrupt our dinner conversation and then to annoy with the stupid "team color" garbage...there is no reason to tip him and the waitstaff who has made our dinning experience gets the reward.

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We had Omar on the Destiny too, and agree he was good, and we tipped him.

 

We had a great Maitre'D on Explorer of the Seas (RCCL) - he came to every table every night, asking if everything is OK. If our waiter was not around he filled in gaps and sent the water/bread over when he noticed it was needed. He did magic tricks for the kids. And he kept the dining room on schedule. He was superman.

 

By contrast, when we were on Glory in Jan. 2005, the Maitre'D was busy making announcements about red/white/blue and doing cheerleadings, and busy getting all the servers corraled for singing and dancing while our glasses were empty and and our meals were not done... schedules were all screwed up and out meals were coming late followed by pressure to get out to let them change over for second seating. We mentioned we were having difficulty getting through dinner even though we arrived on time. He did NOT get a tip.

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Our good friend is a Maitre D on the Freedom. :o It amazes me that many guests don't think Maitre 'Ds deserve a tip.

They are paid a salary but very little for the 14 to 16 hour days they put in to make sure all food operations run smoothly........What do you think it takes for a Maitre 'D to deserve a tip??;)

I also don't tip the cruise director. He run's all of the entertainment. I will tip the girls at Camp Carnival, who work on a 1 to 1 with my kids.

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