Wait Staff - Traditional Seating vs. Personal Choice

[earnied]

Is it just my imagination or does Princess place their seasoned wait staff in the Personal Choice dining rooms while using the traditional seatings for the up & coming wait staff ? On our last cruise we chose traditional seating and it seemed to me that most of the wait staff was lacking the experience and polish we were accustomed to seeing......:confused:

 

earnied

[chrysalis]

How many different wait staff did you experience during your traditional dining cruise?

[earnied]

Direct experience with only our own wait staff of course :rolleyes: but my observation included surrounding tables as well as the head waiter....

 

earnied

[paul929207]

I believe that the wait staff is rotated each cruise. They all spend time in Traditional and Anytime Dining.

[OCruisers]

I believe that the wait staff is rotated each cruise. They all spend time in Traditional and Anytime Dining.

 

That's what our waiter told us!

[WeBeGone]

The wait staff is not only rotated between traditional and personal choice, but between dining rooms, including the speciality venues and the buffet.

[Pam in CA]

The wait staff is not only rotated between traditional and personal choice, but between dining rooms, including the speciality venues and the buffet.

They are rotated between all of the dining rooms during their contract. I wasn't aware that they are also rotated to the specialty restaurants and the buffet. I know that many of them work in the buffet during either breakfast or lunch in addition to dinner but wasn't aware that they could be reassigned to work strictly in the buffet in the evening. I know that it's a big promotion for those who work strictly in the buffet (and not in the dining room) so I question whether dining room waitstaff are sent back to the buffet at dinner.

[Shoalwater]

For Traditional Early Seating diners, the waiters are under pressure to get you fed and out in time to set up for second seating. You are facing a "hard break". In Anytime, no such thing. Our waiter in Anytime said he preferred it over Traditional First Seating for that reason, he could let us progress at our own pace.

[Tika]

For Traditional Early Seating diners, the waiters are under pressure to get you fed and out in time to set up for second seating. You are facing a "hard break". In Anytime, no such thing. Our waiter in Anytime said he preferred it over Traditional First Seating for that reason, he could let us progress at our own pace.

 

I was wondering about wait staff in the Traditional vs Anytime Dining venues. I guessed to myself that in the Traditional Dining room there would be the spiff and polished servers. I am happy to hear they rotate their waiters etc. I really like getting to know our wait staff but I guess in the Anytime Dining that never happens. I wonder if the wait staff miss having their special tables for each cruise in the Traditional dining room.

[Sandytoes]

I was wondering about wait staff in the Traditional vs Anytime Dining venues. I guessed to myself that in the Traditional Dining room there would be the spiff and polished servers. I am happy to hear they rotate their waiters etc. I really like getting to know our wait staff but I guess in the Anytime Dining that never happens. I wonder if the wait staff miss having their special tables for each cruise in the Traditional dining room.

 

That is not true.

We got to know our waiters quite well in Anytime dining.

What took me by surprise, on our last cruise the waiter gave me a hug.

I thought that was very kind of him.

[cacy6893076]

Actaully having been both in the restuarant and hotel industry for years, I and my spouse would have to believe that various "new" waitstaff would bee assigned traditional dining, as it is easier to pace and less random. Just an observation, not necesarily how pirincess 'does ' it.

[sultan_sfo]

Another viewpoint. In Traditional Dining the waiters are more likely to get extra tips because they are serving the same pax and get to know them. So the senior wait staff would prefer to be assigned to Traditional. In all our cruises, we have been assigned experienced wait staff. We have been always "Late Traditional".

 

Actaully having been both in the restuarant and hotel industry for years, I and my spouse would have to believe that various "new" waitstaff would bee assigned traditional dining, as it is easier to pace and less random. Just an observation, not necesarily how pirincess 'does ' it.

[earnied]

My guess is that new wait staff are assigned to Traditional Dining which is more structured with a set turn around time and once they demostrate their ability they are moved into the rotational scheme. We will have to ask a few of the waiters or head waiters to determine their actual policy.

 

earnied

[Kenna]

We take "late traditional" dining and the wait staff has always been experienced. On the last cruise, the staff had been there for several years.

[Putterdude]

We have found the breakfast servers in the sit down venue to be extremely new and often their English is poor. Then we don't see them for rest of the day, I am only guessing but suspect some go to the buffet. On our last cruise we AD and on several nights we had a very senior waitier who was expecting to get his "White Jacket" very soon. He told us that he was the head waiter in the officers' dining room for lunch and breakfast.

[dcrow72]

just FYI, we never had the same wait staff twice while in anytime. We were told we could "reserve" or request a set table but that sort of defeats the purpose of "anytime". I liked heading down there whenever we happened to be ready to go and not punching the clock. Anytime seemed not quite as organized so to speak as traditional where each course is served to just about everyone at the same time.

[willysgrandma]

just FYI, we never had the same wait staff twice while in anytime. We were told we could "reserve" or request a set table but that sort of defeats the purpose of "anytime". I liked heading down there whenever we happened to be ready to go and not punching the clock. Anytime seemed not quite as organized so to speak as traditional where each course is served to just about everyone at the same time.

 

What you can do, if you find a Anytime wait staff you like, is to request one of their tables when you do arrive. Not necessary to request the same table every night at the same time.

[DonnaK]

What you can do, if you find a Anytime wait staff you like, is to request one of their tables when you do arrive. Not necessary to request the same table every night at the same time.

 

On the Caribbean Princess, they do NOT accept reservations for a particular wait team or table, so the only way to do it on that ship is as suggested here and ask for the table or the waiter when you arrive. We wanted traditional early dining but did not clear the wait list, and the only way to guarantee that we'd have the same table every night was to be at the front of the "walk-in" line when the dining room opened each night.

 

To add to the original discussion, we found that the waiters in the Anytime dining room work very hard because all their tables are not synchronized to the same stage of the meal. That doesn't mean that they are more polished or more experiences, just that they work under different conditions than in traditional dining where all the orders are taken together, and then all tables get served each course at approx the same time.

[Teetype]

Is it just my imagination or does Princess place their seasoned wait staff in the Personal Choice dining rooms while using the traditional seatings for the up & coming wait staff ? On our last cruise we chose traditional seating and it seemed to me that most of the wait staff was lacking the experience and polish we were accustomed to seeing......:confused:

 

earnied

 

I wouldn't be able to answer this question, but I can say our wait staff in the traditional dining room was fabulous, including the head waiter.

 

We're vegetarians. On the Golden last year, the head waiter came to our table at the end of every dinner and showed us the menu for the following evening. He asked if we would both find appealing choices and told us that if nothing appealed we would be presented with other choices. This floored us. Talk about escaping completely. :)

 

Tee