A Modest Proposal: Eliminate the Wine Stewards

[momatibm]

We did a back to back -- on the first leg -- great wine steward -- she was wonderful on the the second leg, the asigned steward was quarantined from a previous ship, the the wine steward from the first leg sent her husband -- a bar tender in the MDR-- to take care of us -- we had wonderful service. Just like previous cruises.

[cruz chic]

We have always had nothing but outstanding service from the wine stewards.

 

I could be wrong but I thought you had mentioned that you don't drink. Am I confused?

[julia]

We have always had very friendly and attentive services from the wine stewards on all our HAL ships; really outstanding on the Rotterdam last year - hat tip to Lucy. Is this prohibition about pouring your own wine a HAL policy, an federal ABC restriction, or just a dining tradition? I did not know you were prevented from pouring your own wine yourself.

 

 

I too, have never heard of this before. As far as I am concerned, when I purchase a bottle of wine, I then OWN it, and can pour at my discretion. If a wine steward should reprimand me, I would smile and be speaking with the Maitre D within minutes.

[Linda&Vern]

I just wanted to say that we have never had a problem with service from a wine steward. In fact, on our March Westerdam cruise, the wine steward always brought my DH his Grolsch (beer) and myself a Diet Coke immediately after we were seated. Some nights I would have a glass of wine, and he was always available to come to my service. Because this was after the "new" policy of wine stewards only serving bottles of wine, I asked him why he was serving our drinks instead of the Waiter. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders like "why not?" :D So far, we have had no Wine Steward complaints.

[casamariposa]

I have had only great experiences with the wine stewards, even though I don't have wine every night. They still stop by and ask if I'm ordering wine on that particular evening. (I'm even in touch with a couple of them by e-mail to keep track of what ships they are sailing.) I've been sailing HAL for nearly 40 years, and that's the way it's always been for me. Lucky, I guess.

[OlsSalt]

My impression, and this is not negative in anyway, has always been the wine stewards hustle to serve and sell wine. Always assumed there was some incentive to make sure we drank it easily and well. I like seeing a little entrepreneurial hustle. It has never once come across as hard sell or selling up, but a task intended to bring mutual enjoyment and regard. They liked talking about the wines, their training, their shore excursions in wine producing areas and exploring what they had to offer. And take our complaints about the relatively poor HAL variety of choices as well.

Edited December 9, 2013 by OlsSalt

[Lady Chew]

We have always had very friendly and attentive services from the wine stewards on all our HAL ships; really outstanding on the Rotterdam last year - hat tip to Lucy. Is this prohibition about pouring your own wine a HAL policy, an federal ABC restriction, or just a dining tradition? I did not know you were prevented from pouring your own wine yourself.

 

I don't think it's any kind of official/legal restriction ... and it didn't prevent us from pouring our own wine, and it won't in the future ...

 

Give me a full time YUM YUM man and ditch the wine stewards

 

I'd reverse this!

[sun~]

Not pouring your own wine is a polite custom. If you visiting a friend's and at their dining room table, the host will pour your wine. In a restaurant it is the same thing. The wait staff should pour your wine. That is part of the ritual of enjoying a bottle of wine.

 

In a restaurant the charge for wine is high, and a customer should expect the correct type of glass for the type of wine, and a glass that is not left empty (if there is a full bottle of wine). The service is part of the mark up for the bottle of wine.

 

As many will know, it is a similar custom with tea, you do not pour your own tea, out of politeness, another should pour your tea.

[Karennella]

Customs are modified by the reality of modern life. In Australia we have strict drink driving laws and frequent random breath testing. Many people do not want the waiter topping up their glasses in restaurants or they lose track of how much they have consumed.

Happily not the issue on a ship, but perhaps why we got impatient when we had long waits for service.

[whogo]

This thread made the Hot on the Forums page: http://www.cruisecritic.com/blog/index.php/2013/12/13/hot-on-the-forums-wine-stewards-squabbling-couples-and-going-nuclear/?isalt=0&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CC%2FTheLidoDeck+%28The+Lido+Deck+-+Cruise+Critic+Blog%29

[sail7seas]

I never knew there was such a thing as Hot on the Forums. :eek:

[Ineke]

We've never had a problem with our wine stewards on any HAL cruise, always had our bottle on the table when we got there, prompt and professional service, the sort of thing that makes a cruise an outstanding experience. We do have some concerns about our upcoming cruise, though, as we've been booked for Any Time dining, not by choice, incidentally. We're wondering how our wine service is going to work out this time.