Head Waiters - what's the deal?

[huskerdude]

Maybe this is a Royal thing. On the 2 crusies on Carnival we never saw the Head Waiter. Could not even tell you their names. The only time we heard from them was during dinner they would start with the "games" that Carnival promotes. A team sort of thing with the dinning room split it to colors and each color getting points for things during the cruise. Other than that, no contact with us at all. So we have never tipped a HW.

[EBFURR]

Glad to see that this has generated some interest. Our thought follows that of several other posters in that the HW often works in the "background" to assure that things go smoothly. Max is correct in that there are many HW's in each dining room and they are the first line supervision to the waitstaff in their area. I have never been really clear on how many tables they are actually responsible for, I may ask next time. Most all, if not all, of them are promoted from waiter due to tenure and positive feedback. Like most, we like the ones who are more visible and more friendly, although the quiet types may also be working hard too. We had one guy that did come around a lot and try to get involved, but his personality was not that out going and the conversations always seemd a little awkward. He did seem to be trying hard, maybe a little too hard, and we tipped him as suggested.

 

Our very first waiter on our very first cruise (Majesty 1994) was a gentleman named Eric. He set the standard for great waiters in our opinion. We were back on Majesty 2003 and he was still aboard, but had been promoted to Head Waiter. Unfortunately, we were not in his section. We did have a photo made with him. This was the same cruise where we had the exceptional HW that I described in the OP, so we were not at all unhappy.

 

We agree that if you receive great service from your regular waiter and assistant waiter, it is probably due at least to some extent to the HW doing a good job of managing his team.

[bbqbears]

We just got back from my 50th bday party on the Monarch of the Seas. We thought we had reserved a table for 12, only to learn that 2 of the couples in our party were seated at other tables (in one case, a different dining room). We went to the head waiter who quickly made arrangements for all 11 of us to be together. As far as I'm concerned, he deserves a medal!

Kathy

[imatarb]

Our head waiter, Vinod, was VERY visible. He pitched in and helped out clearing dishes, delivering meals and engaging in quite a few great conversations, too. He earned extra from us, along with the waiter and asst. waiter. :D