Advice for Getting Better service from the Wine Steward

[Cruise Arizona]

On our Mercury cruise, our only, and I really do mean only, complaint was that at dinner we would order our wine, and the steward (I use the word steward becuaus I don't know how to spell somillier) would bring out the bottle but it would sometimes sit un-opened on the table for 15- 20 minutes.

 

The guy was clearly hustling, and not neglecting us, but he was just so over stretched that there was this lax in our service.

 

It was like the greek myth of the guy with the burning thirst, but when he would lower his head to drink the water level would drop. Or the Twilight Zone with the guy who loves to read but but breaks his glasses at the end of the world. Well maybe not bad, but how would you suggest that we ensure better wine service on our next cruise.

 

Any suggestions. If he's just too over extended between too many tables is ther anything we can do?

[BrooklynGirl2]

We were on the Zenith and our wine steward, Fernando, was awesome. In our case he would bring the wine and open it on the spot (after he showed us the bottle and had our approval). This eliminated any waiting time. He was very busy, he mentioned that he had 22 tables to handle but he still managed to find the time to come back and pour our wine and to chit chat with us. He was very fast and we would watch him zipping around all night between tables. If we had a bottle that was opened from the night before that we didn't finish he would always have it waiting for us.

 

My only suggestion would be to have a wine steward open your bottle immediately upon presentation to you so he does not have to remember to come back and open it.

[canderson]

 

Any suggestions. If he's just too over extended between too many tables is ther anything we can do?

I'm sure that someone will suggest some monetary method for getting a wine steward's attention, but if the service is excellent, I deal with that properly after, not before it's rendered.

 

The wine service on Celebrity's ships can be a little spotty. We've had everything from the rank novice to truly experienced, and from AWOL to exceptionally attentive. I'm afraid it's really the luck of the draw.

 

That said, if there were indeed an obvious problem of the wine steward trying to cover too much ground, address it with the boss. It could be that although a given wine steward is responsible for a given set of tables, there could have been one or more absent, causing an overload for the rest (not a great deal to be done for that), or just an imbalance that caused your steward to be exceptionally busy, in which case the head sommelier (his boss) ought to either take care of you himself or arrange to spread the load better for the remainder of the cruise.

 

If it had been me, and I was certain of the time you mention, I'd have asked my waiter to locate the head sommelier, and then have politely asked the head sommelier for a corkscrew.

[Leela]

I want to comment on Lalo, the wine steward Mom & I had on Horizon in April. He was fabulous -- the best I've ever experienced in any restaurant on land or at sea. Prompt, helpful, cheerful. I hear he's in Europe with Century now.

 

I agree with the "take it to the boss" / "ask for a corkscrew" solution. The level of service on Celebrity is usually wonderful, but there are weak links in the chain every so often.

[tuggers]

In my opinion, that's what the Restaurant Manager is for. Call it to his attention. That said, I have also had wine stewards who seemed to be over taxed.

 

Mike, the head Sommelier on Zenith (at least last time I was on) is absolutely wonderful! Never better service and always right on with suggestions. Have had him on several ships and it is always a pleasant experience.

[Gimpster]

"Mike, the head Sommelier on Zenith"

 

Mike, the gentleman from India?

[flashdog_1]

The wine stewards must be very busy. On our last cruise (Summit 2004) our sommelier stopped by two or three nights of the 11, and everyone at our table declined (6 of us), so she stopped coming. When someone did finally want to order just a glass (well into the trip) he had to snag her as she passed our table. So although an individual sommelier might have 22 tables assigned, if she/he ran into several tables like ours, she/he would have a much better chance to give good service to those tables where people did order regularly.

 

You might want to glance around and see if there's wine in the glasses at other tiables to get an idea of how much service is expected from one human being

 

Our assistant waiter said that the waiters can decide how many tables they think they can handle well on a particular cruise. Our men had decided they'd only do a few, and do them well, which they really did. he said some waiter teams did 3x as many as they did, and really COULD provide good service to all. I don't know that a sommelier has that same choice.

 

A funny aside. I had been in the habit of ordering a couple of appetizers and a couple of soups, and sometimes skipping the entre so I could have double desserts. One night everyone raved about a particular soup and I had not ordered soup. I asked if it would be possible to have the soup everyone liked while everyone else was having the main course. He said, "I ordered an extra, in case you wanted it." and brought it straight away! the man had learned what flavors I liked and anticipated I'd want this. Now i call that going above and beyond! But like I said, they only had 3 tables.

[warmwinds]

We also had a Mike (but from the Phillipines) on the Infinity and he was fabulous...he was the head wine guy, his wife was a bartender in another bar. Anyway, we ordered a bottle of white and a bottle of red the first night, and told him we would be doing that constantly as the two weeks progressed (except for champagne on formal nights), and we'd drink what we wanted each night and have him save the rest for the next night(s)...we never had an empty glass, and every night when we came to our table it had both red and wine glasses ready for us. He was great, and really nice, too. The Infinity had been in South America before our Panama Canal cruise so after a couple of bottles of our choosing we let him introduce us to some So. Amer. wines we were not familiar with and they were great. As people got tired of eating and drinking as the 2 weeks wore on and he became less busy (and yes, he had a LOT of tables to tend to) he spent more time chatting with us...very nice guy.

 

He kept all the wines for each table way off to the side so you couldn't pour your own, but we never lacked for a moment.

[Lois R]

The one problem when I was on Constellation was also our Sommilier.

I ended up speaking to our Ass't Maitr'd (Ruby from South Africa). She took

care of us right away.:)

We ended up being given one of the Head Bartenders......and he was there

waiting for us every night as we sat down for dinner. His name was Andre

and he was a doll:D

 

I don't even remember who our original Sommilier was supposed to be...she

was NEVER around and we had an 8 top and ALL of us drank!

[Lois R]

Oh...I wasn't sure the site took my post...:eek: but it did! It went into a blank

space..........

 

Anyway, for anyone wanting major assistance...Ass't Maitr'd and/or Dining Room

Manager would be the folks you need:)

[excitedofharpenden]

I am just trying to decide which is worse. A wine sommelier who is no good at filling my glass or being poked in the eye with a sharp stick:eek:

 

We have been lucky that all our sommeliers have been great. Attentive and willing to participate in conversation. A bit of chat about his/her recommendations may cement a good relationship early on. I agree that the best thing to do if you are not happy is bring it to the attention of the Maitre d' or some other in authority in the dining room as soon as possible.

 

Phil

[warmwinds]

We also had Ruby Visser as our Ass't Maitre d' on this Infinity PC cruise...she was terrific, very hands on, we were so impressed at how she really tried to help her staff, and how she made it a point to come around and speak to all her tables EVERY night.

 

Great crew on that cruise.

[Gimpster]

"We also had a Mike (but from the Phillipines) on the Infinity and he was fabulous...he was the head wine guy, his wife was a bartender in another bar."

 

On Zenith this spring, Mike from the Phillipines worked the evenings at Cova Café. His wife was the bartender at the Martini bar.

I've arrived at the realization that I need to write down the names of these wonderful people. I used to know Mike's last name and his wife's name but... CRS strikes again! :eek:

Maybe Miss Fran remembers. I'll ask her.

[dmk]

We have ordered our wine through the interactive TV in our cabin. This we found speeds up the whole process. However, if it takes the sommelier to long to refill glasses we just do it ourselves.

[Desertbelle]

Our sommelier on the Millennium in June was excellent. She was very attentive and very pleasant. The waiter in charge of getting bar drinks in the dining room was also excellent. Returning often to make sure we were OK.

[warmwinds]

To RTT: I wonder if it was the same Mike from the Phillipines...he was the Head Sommelier on the Infinity, strange that he would only be working at the Cova Cafe (although the wife part sounds right).

 

We remember the names because we always mention them BY NAME when we fill out our comment cards.

[geoherb]

Our wine steward on the Century had too many tables to serve. We came to dinner on time and got his attention right away. Some of our tablemates had to wait until they had their main course before their wines were served. I don't know if any of them ever spoke to anyone about the slow service.

[dileep]

Our Wine Stewward in May was very good. She usually was quick to bring the wine bottle and open it. She also put the redwine in a basket in front of us and usually came around to fill our glasses, but we could do it ourselves too.

 

The white wine was in a ice bucket close by. Our waiter or asst waiter was more than happy to srve when needed.

[Karynanne]

On the Mercury in May, the sommelier was great...very attentive and knowledgeable. He also conducted the wine seminar on one of our sea days...my DH really liked discussing wines and regions with him at length.

I don't know if they rotate their positions in the diningroom, or assigned the same areas all the time...

[Spender Nui]

We generally pre-order our wine and have it at our table when we arrive. I only need the somilier to open the wine and keep it within reach.

[canderson]

We found the best solution was to bring along a 2-1/2 year old babe magnet to keep our sommelier entertained (and v.versa).

 

Vesta, BTW, was one of the best sommeliers we've had.

[Cruise Arizona]

canderson, how adorable. He looks so cute.

 

I thank everyone for their suggestions, Our next cruise is 15 days, so we are thinking that if we have a problem the first couple of days, that we'll have a word with the Maitre'de (another word I'm not sure I know how to spell)

 

We have requested a table for 4 with our kids, so hopefully it will be easier for the waiter to handle the wine for one couple rather than 3 or 4.

[safein]

I think we've had a 50/50 split on sommeliers. We had some very good ones, very bad ones, and some that tried like crazy to push wines on us. I can think of 2 very good ones that we've had: one was Mike from India,the head sommelier on our first Century cruise. He knew his stuff but was pushy. The other very good one our Summit cruise was Anne from France who's family owned a vineyard so we knew she was highly knowledgable. I don't know if she is still at sea because she was getting married to one of the waiters from the Normandie and I think they were talking about starting a family right away.

 

On our Zenith cruise, we had a sommelier from Croatia who couldn't pronounce some of the vintners and wines correctly. He butchered Tattinger completely misprounced some of the other wines. He also didn't have a clue.

 

I would think that if anyone finds a problem with their sommelier then going to the Asst Maitre'D is the only way to go.

 

Anita

[Cruise Arizona]

I usually butcher my French too. Speaking and Spelling.

[Gimpster]

"one was Mike from India,the head sommelier on our first Century cruise. He knew his stuff but was pushy."

 

Do you mean this guy?