Dining staff how are they affected

[Georgeny]

A lot of posts, mine included, about DD and passenger likes or dislikes. But the wait staff, they are truly impacted greatly as well and I am not talking about simply work load.

 

The wait staff I have had the pleasure of meeting through the years have been professionals in their chosen career and followed a very distinct career path. That path clearly delineated the positions on that ladder. An Assistant waiter provided the grunt work and looked toward the day they became a waiter with their own assistant to mentor. Waiters aspired to become head waiters and eventually Matri' d's. They made tremendous efforts to stand out and took great pride in achieving levels noted amongst themselves such as table location. Closer to galley table was something that not only made service easier but also indicated seniority and ability of the waiter and his staff assistants. They also took pride in being higher earners, gratuity wise than a less qualified or diligent waiter.

 

My point is that auto gratuities, loss of assistants, more duties, and now DD has to have had a great impact on their profession! Something I am sure many passengers have seen in their own professions.

 

We all shop now in stores where employees obviously could care less since many companies no longer provide any career ladder. I cannot believe that any of them are happy about what the cruise lines are all doing to dining and service in general.

 

George in NY

[Biker19]

Simple math dictates that as the number of employees in the dining venues goes down and the number of guests goes up (~3 seatings per night on DD ships vs. the traditional 2) their income should go up as well. Other than increased workload, I would think waiters would like the increased base income.

 

I don't think extra tipping (above auto-grats) will decline markedly simply because of DD.

 

Their profession is the same on a DD ship - do a good job and you move up the ladder. The ladder is still there, should they choose to try to climb it.:cool:

Edited January 7, 2015 by Biker19

[MADflyer]

 

I don't think extra tipping (above auto-grats) will decline markedly simply because of DD.

 

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I don't think extra tipping (above auto-grats) will decline markedly simply because of DD.

:

 

 

What are you basing this on?

 

I feel I have to premise this with that I was fine with DD and do dine frequently in specialty restaurants on all sailings.

 

I tend to leave extra gratuities even at specialty venues as my choice, not as I am obligated. I do not tend to leave cash, even though that might be preferred by the servers.

 

I do not remove my base gratuities and have always brought envelopes with extra gratuities on all sailing prior to Quantum at various amounts based on the service I have received and length of cruise.

 

While I tipped extra at Coastal Kitchen on Quantum along with my wine purchases, I certainly did not pull out cash or an envelope for any of the waiters at Chic, American Icon or Silk, nor for my waitress at the Grande.

 

I did actually pull out cash once at Coastal Kitchen for breakfast.

 

I also did not have my usual bottles of wine that I have them cork from day to day as I do not drink that much as a solo, so they missed this auto-gratuity as well. I realize I could have them sent from venue to venue but did not want the hassle of organizing this.

 

I really did not get to know any head waiter and did not bring any envelopes for them either. I only bring envelopes for them when they have actually assisted me with something.

 

So, I left just hoping they were getting paid more on Quantum, but unsure.

[Biker19]

 

What are you basing this on?

 

 

From basic human nature - people who usually give will keep on giving. I realize that the extra tipping might be less since it will be a bit harder for those that tip based on a long term (7+ days on a traditional sailing) relationship. I also assume that the bulk of their income is based on auto-grats not the extra tipping.

[MADflyer]

I guess I have always seen 'auto-gratuities' as their base pay and the cash in envelopes as their bonus. They are not 'required' but many of us still enjoy rewarding excellent service.

 

As I do not consider myself an extravagant tipper and usually 'budget' about $10 a day for extra cash gratuities, I had thought that the extra amounts were quite substantial if only 20% of passengers leave them.

 

For a typical waiter with 80 guests (2 seatings) this would represent about $50 a day in 'cash' extra gratuities minimum and being that they work 182 days on a 6 month contract, that would be about $9000 minimum extra per contract per waiter.

 

With the 138 stateroom attendants on Quantum handling around 16 cabins each, they would have the same 'extra' cash gratuity as on other ships, while the waiters for the most part would not. I would guess that they do receive around $15 in extra gratuities in envelopes per day as a conservative estimate, using the same 20% formula.