Your favorite waiter : name and ship

[DFritz]

I noticed this question on another forum and thought it was wonderful. Who was your most memorable waiter and on what ship were they on?

 

Ours favorites have been: Goucker (Gocher ) from Turkey ( not sure of his spelling) and his assistant, Antonio from Jamaica. They were both on the Navigator of the Seas. We laughed until we were sick.

 

We also thoroughly enjoyed Antonia from India on the Voyager of the Seas. It took a little to get him going but then he was a hoot.

 

We also loved the professionalism and demeanor of Muhammed from India with assistant Hershey from Phillipines on the Soveriegn of the Seas and then Leanne from England on the Enchantment of the Seas. LeAnne was truly awesome. She suffered from severe allergies to seafood and still served us with a smile. Does anyone know if she is still out there?

 

Who were your favorites?

[Live_2_cruise05]

Zalt (spelling??) and Joseph both from Hungary. Grandeur of the sea march 5,2005! They were both awesome!!

[christineann]

Selcuk on the Voyager, June 2003. We love this guy!

[nerak]

On the Serenade: Ashley (male, very sweet) - India, Errol - Honduras (great with magic and napkin folding...he used 10 napkins and folded a complete person for us), Albert (made me a tea list just like a wine list)- Hungry, Burhan - Turkey, Rohman - Indonesia and head waiters Urdely - India, Richard - India, Vejay - India, Francesco - Portugal .... and many more :) All from 4 cruises 2004-2005

 

On the Voyager: Mehi - Transylvania, Riza - Turkey (was on Serenade) 2003

 

The Adventurer: Loli - Philippines, Michelle - South Africa 2002

[sha88]

Keesh on the Grandeur of the Seas. He was so patient, upbeat, friendly and attentive to all our needs. It was a pleasure knowing that we would see him every night and on the last night, yikes I was really upset that we wouldn't "dine with him" again..... until our next Grandeur cruise :)

[SJS]

I have to share a story about our waiter. We went on Navigator in 2003 and then on Mariner in 2004 and guess what.....we had the same waiter! What are the odds?! He was great and I wish I could remember his name...... Getting old is a terrible thing! lol

[FWCruiser]

Ooooo this is easy! LIPIKA (from India) on the Rhapsody!

 

She was so friendly (and we loved her brain teasers and card tricks - she had our children entertained each night!)

[shazzz]

Loli..what the men were to call him and the ladies were to call him Lollipop!!! He was incredible..Voyager 7/05

[lamwnfa]

The best ever....Marlon and his assistant, Jumat on the Legend of the Sea in November 2003.

 

Nimesh and Wilder on our recent Jewel of the Seas Baltic cruise were very good too.

 

And we had a great waiter, Hakim on our 2001 cruise on HAL's Westerdam (the original one)

 

And just for exta info our cabin steward, her name is Russell, on the Jewel this spring was the best we ever had.

 

Lori

[sgttami]

The only waiter I ever remember by name was on my first cruise in '92... Monarch of the Seas...( a year old at the time) Izzy from Turkey. The first night after dinner I put my lipstick on...every night he came over after dinner and insisted that he put my lipstick on for me...I have pictures of him doing it on the last night....

 

Another time was on Adventure of the seas in '03...Don't remember his name but he was so sweet..we were his last sailing and he was going home to Turkey..Told us his wife had just had a baby girl and it would take him about 20 hours to get home when he left San Juan. We all bought gifts for his wife and baby and gave them to him on our last night at dinner...

[SeaTrekkie]

June '05, our first cruise--we didn't know what to really expect, despite having haunted these boards for months. Erminiou (just call me "Jack") from Rumania and his assistant, Roxanne, also from Rumania totally made our dining experience. Maya, the head waiter, was incredibly personable and omnipresent. Jack was concerned that my companion wasn't eating enough and threatened to feed her by hand if she didn't straighten up. I'd sign up again, just on the basis of their treatment of us.

Lea

[huskerdude]

We had Kirk as our head waiter on the Elation this past June. He was great. He always recommended what the DW thought she would like and knew what she wouldnt. He even helped DD's friend cut her meat when she was having a hard time. Funny picture. His assistant was Denise. We also loved Putu, he was my pool side, and Show room waiter. From the first day at sea he always addressed us by name and said hello every time we saw him on the ship.

On our first crusie we only ate in the dining room the first day. We did have a great pool side waitress, and we really hate that we can't remember her name. She was from Bulgaria. She also knew what the DW would like, in the foo foo drink of the day.

[digital_curator]

Preston Jack on the NOS in January/05

 

He was our bar waiter and also worked at the pool bar. Always friendly, remembered our names and drink preferences, did amazing tricks, and made wicked foo-foo drinks.

 

Service was exceptional throughout our cruise but he really stood out!

[stillababe]

This one is easy. It's Neil from our Explorer Eastern Caribbean in, i think, 2002. He was so wonderful, the entire family (there were 9 of us) still talks about him. All of the kids absolutely loved him, as did the adults, and we still refer to him as "our Neil". We would love to see him again somewhere.

 

Our most recent waiter, Demosthenes Lopez from Peru on the Voyager was great also. My husband kept having trouble with his name, so he just nicknamed him "Desmond", and he didn't seem to mind one bit. So, "Desmond" is my second choice. He was good, but not as great as "my Neil".

[Uggies822]

Santana Hernandes and assistant Willy Barretto (both from India) on Voyager of the Seas July 05, They were the most outstanding pair and should be kept working as one!

[cactuscruiser]

I'd have to say Vladimir from Romania on the Horizon. Started off a little rocky though. DD was 9 at the time and a real tomboy - very short hair and looked very much like her older brother at the time. He called her "he" the first time he met us. Poor Christina. We didn't correct him right there - waited as he went aroud the table and then I spoke to her saying "Christina..." Poor guy whipped his head around so fast and realized his mistake. He absolutely doted on her the rest of the week and treated her like a little princess. He was great to the whole table but he became DD's first "crush" after that. :)

 

Next favorite was Balal from Turkey on the Rhapsody. He was only our waiter for one cruise but we ran in to him on two subsequent cruises(years apart) on the Rhapsody and he's the one who recognized us and sought us out and remembered our children.

[always on vacation]

Fredrico from Navigator of the Seas.,, He was the best we've ever had on land or at sea.

He never messed up an order, he always had things ready when we arrived at the table(such as special requests). He always did tricks and kept things lively. The tricks with balancing silver ware on the edge of glasses with a toothpick is still a favorite trick back home. Every restaurant we went to for a couple of months since we got off that cruise we would leave silverware balanced on a glass at the table.

We are sailing on Navigator again this Oct. and I wish we could request him, if he's still on there.

[Happy ks]

The best ever was an assistant server, Mia and I cannot remember her country:confused: . This was on the old Independence, American Hawaiian Cruises in 2000. She was a mother hen to us and not only at the dinner table. As a matter of fact, I've never been on a ship where the staff and crew were so freindly and family-like.

 

Our waiter last year on Infinity, Elves, was very sweet and, I must say, a bit of eye candy!

 

We've never really had a bad wait staff, some just not as refined as others. On our one Carnival cruise, the guy who waited on us was always in a hurry. One RCI cruise, the guy had B.O., funny how we cannot remember their names.

[BJane]

Our best waiter, by far, was Kurban from Turkey on Sun Viking in 1987. After all these years and many more cruises we still have not found one who can equal him. We've also had the same waiter on more than one ship. In fact, there was one fellow from Grenada who was our bus boy, then waiter the next year, then back to bus boy again the third year. There was another one who had lived in Michigan for a while and when we ran into him again he remembered that I had told him that my son was in college in Michigan. We've only had one or two who were really bad.

[Sea-shell]

Noel and AJ from Serenade. They were both wonderful! One morning DD and I were at the Windjammer and AJ spotted us from across the room. He ran over, took our trays, and found us a nice table. How unexpected to see him outside the main dining room. Noel always knew exactly what we needed, and showed up every time we started to realize that we wanted something else. We think of them often!

[megemsmom]

A second vote for Neil! We had Neil on the Explorer, July, 05. He was wonderful. We are very fussy eaters and by the second night he had it down pat, no veggies for DH, no sauces for anyone. He treated us all so well and his asst. Zakai (Turkey) was a joy. We saw him in the Windjammer a couple of mornings and he went out of his way to help my daughters get their breakfast. Neil is moving to the Freedom of the Seas when it sets sail and he is very excited to have been picked. Neil and Zakai we miss you!

[jlifeisgoodfaye]

This one is easy for me! Sixto from Costa Rica on the Empress and his assistant Sundeep from India are my very very favorites. I ask to be moved to Sixto's station as soon as I get on the ship. Someone at our table once went to breakfast in the dining room and asked for something and the water at that time said he couldn't get it for them. They told him "Sixto can usually do this for us at dinner" and he said "well I'm not Sixto"! So I guess no everyone is as willing to please their guests!

 

On the Serenade we had Heidi of the Phillipines and the one and only Christian (forgot his country) who was one of the sweetest people I've ever met on a ship. And talk about eye candy!!! He was a DREAM. but he was sweeter than he was handsome which is why he was so special. Heidi was a little bit of a thing. I have no idea how she carried those big trays!!!

 

I've been surprisingly disappointed by waiters on shorter cruises.....they don't even ask our name usually. I'm anxious to see what happens on the Enchantment in November....a short one again.

 

But there's nothing like the Empress!!!!

[stillababe]

A second vote for Neil! We had Neil on the Explorer, July, 05. He was wonderful. We are very fussy eaters and by the second night he had it down pat, no veggies for DH, no sauces for anyone. He treated us all so well and his asst. Zakai (Turkey) was a joy. We saw him in the Windjammer a couple of mornings and he went out of his way to help my daughters get their breakfast. Neil is moving to the Freedom of the Seas when it sets sail and he is very excited to have been picked. Neil and Zakai we miss you!

 

Hey there, Neil is mine! Just kidding, of course. :D

 

I am so glad that you posted an update on him. If he is going to be on the Freedom, you can bet that will be our next cruise for sure, just so that we can ask for him. We use to see him in the Windjammer as well, and he was great. We also use to see him around the pool deck. Everyone always knew he was around because my party would yell out their great big hello's to him.

[joeyancho]

Albert from the Phillipines on the Navigator. He was superb.........Also Paul from India on the Navigator was the best head waiter of all time. A sincere and genuinely nice person.

[Kylaner]

Kumar, and his assistant, Allan, on the Rhapsody of the Seas. Kumar made sure that we had shrimp cocktail every single nite!!