Dining Room Wine Stewards: Changes Fleetwide?

[SilvertoGold]

Have read that some ships have cut the number of DR wine stewards and have the remainder do bottles of wine only. The waiters do the wine by the glass.

 

Is this fleetwide yet?

And on the ships that do it this way, is this also done at lunch?

 

Thanks for any info.

[RuthC]

I can't speak for the fleet, but I can contribute to starting a list.

Wine/cocktail service by the glass was handled by the table steward at dinner on the Ryndam in May.

I did not eat in the dining room during lunch, nor did I talk to anyone who ordered wine/cocktail by the glass during lunch.

[George C]

Have read that some ships have cut the number of DR wine stewards and have the remainder do bottles of wine only. The waiters do the wine by the glass.

 

Is this fleetwide yet?

And on the ships that do it this way, is this also done at lunch?

 

Thanks for any info.

 

We always order wine by bottle and most of the time its byob and we pay 18 dollar corkage, you can order bottle from wine steward and if you do not finish it they will hold bottle for next meal, you can also get the wine from the bar and bring it into dinning room.

[sail7seas]

Have read that some ships have cut the number of DR wine stewards and have the remainder do bottles of wine only. The waiters do the wine by the glass.

 

Is this fleetwide yet?

And on the ships that do it this way, is this also done at lunch?

 

Thanks for any info.

 

 

We experienced the cut in Wine Stewards on Oosterdam and Nieuw Amsterdam.

 

Wine stewards take orders and serve bottles of wine and dining stewards/assistants serve glasses of wine and other soft drinks.

 

It is added work for them and we are sorry to see this.

There were times we watched dining stewards just about running in order to get their work done.

 

[Cruising-along]

I can't speak for the fleet, but I can contribute to starting a list.

 

Wine/cocktail service by the glass was handled by the table steward at dinner on the Ryndam in May.

 

I did not eat in the dining room during lunch, nor did I talk to anyone who ordered wine/cocktail by the glass during lunch.

 

I can add the Maasdam. Our 15-day cruise in late April-May was like the Ryndam.

[arewethereyet]

On Amsterdam in June, there was no shortage of wine attendants. Interestingly, they all identified themselves as "wine attendants", so that's why I call them that. All wine orders (bottles and glasses) were handled by them. Bottom line is that I saw absolutely no evidence of any cutbacks in the dining room, either in beverage service or servers. This is, of course, only one ship. It could very well be a different story on others.

[kazu]

OK - here's a crazy thought - it's a lot cheaper to order a bottle of wine (or a wine package) in the MDR - they'll save the bottle - and then you have the wine steward without fail:) and take work off your waiter

 

On the Maasdam in March - the wine steward was very attentive and we had no issues. But she knew if she finished off that bottle - we would be on to the next:p

[arewethereyet]

OK - here's a crazy thought - it's a lot cheaper to order a bottle of wine (or a wine package) in the MDR - they'll save the bottle - and then you have the wine steward without fail:) and take work off your waiter

 

On the Maasdam in March - the wine steward was very attentive and we had no issues. But she knew if she finished off that bottle - we would be on to the next:p

Well.....yeah....isn't that universally understood? ;)

[kazu]

Well.....yeah....isn't that universally understood? ;)

 

I thought so - but sometimes I 'miss the boat' - it seemed some people were ordering glasses of wine and concerned that their steward was taking care of that:confused: so it was only a tip for those - if I missed the boat - apologies

[Ray in NH]

On the Rotterdam, March/April this year, the MDR wine steward/attendant served all the wine (bottles/glasses) and even some after dinner drinks. There were also some bar stewards seen serving beers and cocktails.

Ray in NH

[dakrewser]

On Ryndam in April DR stewards handled all "by the glass" drink orders which they seemed to do fairly well. Our wine person, on the other hand, found more time to spend with us - so it seemed to work out well for all.

[sail7seas]

On Amsterdam in June, there was no shortage of wine attendants. Interestingly, they all identified themselves as "wine attendants", so that's why I call them that. All wine orders (bottles and glasses) were handled by them. Bottom line is that I saw absolutely no evidence of any cutbacks in the dining room, either in beverage service or servers. This is, of course, only one ship. It could very well be a different story on others.

 

 

 

Yet

 

 

 

On the Rotterdam, March/April this year, the MDR wine steward/attendant served all the wine (bottles/glasses) and even some after dinner drinks. There were also some bar stewards seen serving beers and cocktails.

 

Ray in NH

 

 

They are switching all the ships to wine by the glass/cocktails and soft drinks to be served by dining staff. Bottles of wine to be served by wine stewards.

 

There is a marked reduction in the number of wine stewards on the ships where this transition has taken place.

 

The wine stewards who served our bottles of wine on all the ships where we have seen the transition did a great job and we had no complaint. We had our usual wonderful wine service. :)

 

[sapper1]

The dining stewards took care of wine by the glass on the Zuiderdam in April.

Since my husband does not drink wine we don't order bottles. On that cruise we started ordering a glass of wine for me and a beer for him in the Ocean Bar just before we left the bar for din dins. Our overworked steward seemed grateful not to have to be bothered with our drink orders as the others at the table ordered bottles from the wine steward. We, on the other hand, did not have to wait forever for service. Everyone was happy.

 

Under the old system, when we ordered from the wine steward, on some cruises our drinks would be there waiting on the table for us when we arrived in the MDR. Cutbacks----oh dear.

[dakrewser]

Under the old system, when we ordered from the wine steward, on some cruises our drinks would be there waiting on the table for us when we arrived in the MDR. Cutbacks----oh dear.

 

We noticed that people who ordered the same drinks each night also had them waiting at their table (after the 2nd night) with the new system. THe more things change, the more they stay the same! ;)

[greatver]

Interesting - I had always heard that the wine stewards were Filipino and that the Dining Room stewards were Indonesian (and probably Muslim) who could not handle alcohol. Maybe that was an urban legend!

[rkacruiser]

I do think the wine stewards are all Filipino.

 

If HAL is requiring the dining room stewards to serve wine by the glass, then they are adopting the system used by Princess and Carnival. The assistant dining room stewards on Princess and Carnival are responsible for all wine service, not just by the glass. At least on Carnival--it has been awhile since I have sailed on Princess, so I cannot speak from recent experience--the tables have two assistant stewards, so prompt wine service does not suffer much. But, if one asks questions about the wine, the person will not know and has to get either the Maitre d' or one of his assistants. That slows the service quite a bit, as you can imagine.

 

When I did last sail on Princess, wine service by the assistant steward was fine.

[RuthC]

Interesting - I had always heard that the wine stewards were Filipino and that the Dining Room stewards were Indonesian (and probably Muslim) who could not handle alcohol. Maybe that was an urban legend!

Not an urban legend. If your table steward is a practicing Muslim, he should not be serving alcohol. I feel uncomfortable asking him to do so, so I prefer to order my drink in a cocktail lounge.

[Typhoon1]

We'll have to see what the future holds.

[MightyQuinn]

Have read that some ships have cut the number of DR wine stewards and have the remainder do bottles of wine only. The waiters do the wine by the glass.

Couple of more data points:

 

Statendam - wine steward for bottles or wine packages; by the glass handled by DR steward. We waited forever for single glass service.

 

Volendam - when we disembarked in early July, seven wine stewards also left with us. In conversation with our Wine Steward, she said they were all anxious as none knew if they would be back. The ship was moving to the "new" system of sharing wine service with DR stewards.

[PathfinderEss]

The Pinnacle has kept its wine stewards. At least they had on the Oosterdam, Westerdam and Zuiderdam.

[Modern_Viking]

Not an urban legend. If your table steward is a practicing Muslim, he should not be serving alcohol. I feel uncomfortable asking him to do so, so I prefer to order my drink in a cocktail lounge.

 

I understand this concept, but I must admit, I have never paid attention to whether Muslim DR stewards serve food containing alcohol (i.e. food they should not be eating per their religion). Things like rum cake, meats with wine sauces, etc. Then again, I have also not seen them refuse to serve pork, another food their religion forbids. So I wonder if they make an exception in some cases. I'm not sure if I have had a DR team of two stewards where both were Muslim, although it seems like I might have. It seems common to have one Muslim with a Hindu or Christian. (Not that I normally find out their religion since I don't ask them about it, although I do usually ask their home island -- most seem to be from Bali or Java.)

[ScottishMaid]

Zaandam in July, wine by the glass served by dining room steward. I wonder who gets the 15% charged on it?

On the lobster/surf and turf formal night the wine steward came by our table almost immediately to ask about drinks but it was ages before we could order one glass of wine from the dining room steward, or order food, or even get a glass of water. That night they were gone, lining up in the kitchen. Eventually (20 minutes?) the glass of wine appeared and later the food. Meanwhile wine stewards were standing around.

Zaandam Pinnacle still has a wine steward for all drinks.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Have read that some ships have cut the number of DR wine stewards and have the remainder do bottles of wine only. The waiters do the wine by the glass.

 

Is this fleetwide yet?

And on the ships that do it this way, is this also done at lunch?

 

Thanks for any info.

 

It was that way on our Maasdam cruise in February. Our waiter had to stop what he was doing and take our drink orders as we rarely drink a bottle of wine. Our waiter would then go to a computer and place our cocktail order. In a few minutes a server from the kitchen would bring drinks to the various stations. And once again our waiter would have to stop whatever he was doing and serve us our cocktails. We noticed that the wine stewards were standing around a lot as not many people were buying bottles of wine.

 

On our June 29th Amsterdam cruise -- the wine stewards were still doing bottles of wine, glasses of wine, cocktails, sodas, etc.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Zaandam in July, wine by the glass served by dining room steward. I wonder who gets the 15% charged on it?

On the lobster/surf and turf formal night the wine steward came by our table almost immediately to ask about drinks but it was ages before we could order one glass of wine from the dining room steward, or order food, or even get a glass of water. That night they were gone, lining up in the kitchen. Eventually (20 minutes?) the glass of wine appeared and later the food. Meanwhile wine stewards were standing around.

Zaandam Pinnacle still has a wine steward for all drinks.

 

I also have wondered who gets that 15% gratuity.

[Krazy Kruizers]

On the Maasdam and Amsterdam -- the Pinnacle wine steward does everything.