Assistant waiters/sommeliers

[jshli]

Does Celebrity still have assistant waiters and sommeliers in their main dining room on the m class ships?

[cruizingOmi]

Yes they do.

[CruisersTimesThree]

3 hours ago, jshli said:

Does Celebrity still have assistant waiters and sommeliers in their main dining room on the m class ships?

On our Silhouette sailing in Feb I asked our waiter in Luminae who our asst waiter was as several people were doing different jobs (bread, refilling water, serving) and I wasn’t sure about who to tip at the end of our cruise.
He said there really weren’t “asst” waiters anymore, everyone just pitched in. 
There was still a dedicated sommelier. 

Edited April 13 by CruisersTimesThree

[cruisestitch]

1 hour ago, CruisersTimesThree said:

On our Silhouette sailing in Feb I asked our waiter in Luminae who our asst waiter was as several people were doing different jobs (bread, refilling water, serving) and I wasn’t sure about who to tip at the end of our cruise.
He said there really weren’t “asst” waiters anymore, everyone just pitched in. 
There was still a dedicated sommelier. 

That may be so in Luminae but in the main dining room there are assistant waiters, which is what the OP asked about

Edited April 13 by cruisestitch

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

4 hours ago, CruisersTimesThree said:

On our Silhouette sailing in Feb I asked our waiter in Luminae who our asst waiter was as several people were doing different jobs (bread, refilling water, serving) and I wasn’t sure about who to tip at the end of our cruise.
He said there really weren’t “asst” waiters anymore, everyone just pitched in. 
There was still a dedicated sommelier. 

 

Luminae is different.  Tips are pooled there.  Except for the sommelier, who should be tipped separately.  Sommeliers are part of the bar group, not the restaurant group.

 

[D. B.]

On 4/13/2024 at 12:22 PM, CruisersTimesThree said:

On our Silhouette sailing in Feb I asked our waiter in Luminae who our asst waiter was as several people were doing different jobs (bread, refilling water, serving) and I wasn’t sure about who to tip at the end of our cruise.
He said there really weren’t “asst” waiters anymore, everyone just pitched in. 
There was still a dedicated sommelier. 

The question was about the MDR and I’m onboard Eclipse now and in the MDR they Do have assistant Waiters and Sommelier and that has been my recent experience on the S and M class ships.

[CruisersTimesThree]

6 minutes ago, D. B. said:

The question was about the MDR and I’m onboard Eclipse now and in the MDR they Do have assistant Waiters and Sommelier and that has been my recent experience on the S and M class ships.

Yes I know! I was already corrected on this, no need to do it again. I didn’t notice in the original post that they asked about the MDR. 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Regardless of the dining room, the sommeliers are not part of the waitstaff tip pool.  They should be tipped separately.

 

[hcat]

On 4/13/2024 at 11:22 AM, CruisersTimesThree said:

On our Silhouette sailing in Feb I asked our waiter in Luminae who our asst waiter was as several people were doing different jobs (bread, refilling water, serving) and I wasn’t sure about who to tip at the end of our cruise.
He said there really weren’t “asst” waiters anymore, everyone just pitched in. 
There was still a dedicated sommelier. 

Question was answered but I have a comment:

 

In our opinion, no assigned asst waiter is  a big downfall in Luminae..There's  no real chain of responsibility, and  more  work falls upon the waiter. 

 

 On BEYOND, we had 1 bread server for the entire rm.  She doled  minimal servings....no bread basket was left on the table,  and she often disappeared...or announced no bread is ready yet! Poor!

 

Asst waiters do alot, including  soda service. To us it's a cutback like losing Asst Cabin Attendants...too  many rooms for 1 Main Attendant.

 

Others may disagree,  but we did not feel well attended to in Luminae,  other than by the Sommelier who was outstanding!  We had 2 good waiters but they had too many guests to serve effectively.

[doghog]

5 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

Regardless of the dining room, the sommeliers are not part of the waitstaff tip pool.  They should be tipped separately.

 

Another plus having one of the BPs.  

[jelayne]

5 hours ago, hcat said:

Question was answered but I have a comment:

 

In our opinion, no assigned asst waiter is  a big downfall in Luminae..There's  no real chain of responsibility, and  more  work falls upon the waiter. 

 

 On BEYOND, we had 1 bread server for the entire rm.  She doled  minimal servings....no bread basket was left on the table,  and she often disappeared...or announced no bread is ready yet! Poor!

 

Asst waiters do alot, including  soda service. To us it's a cutback like losing Asst Cabin Attendants...too  many rooms for 1 Main Attendant.

 

Others may disagree,  but we did not feel well attended to in Luminae,  other than by the Sommelier who was outstanding!  We had 2 good waiters but they had too many guests to serve effectively.

We just finished a cruise on the Edge and there was a staff member who brought water, juice, ice, soda, bread, amuse bouche, dessert menu and removed dirty dishes.

We were sated in the samearea every meal and he was assigned to that section. I didn’t look at his name tag to see if his title was assistant waiter but he functioned like one. 

[Wineaux007]

16 minutes ago, jelayne said:

We just finished a cruise on the Edge and there was a staff member who brought water, juice, ice, soda, bread, amuse bouche, dessert menu and removed dirty dishes.

We were sated in the samearea every meal and he was assigned to that section. I didn’t look at his name tag to see if his title was assistant waiter but he functioned like one. 

In the MDR, usually on the first night they introduce themselves to you, i.e., the waiter/his asst.  I guess they don't do that in Luminea?  

[zitsky]

On 4/13/2024 at 3:49 PM, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

Luminae is different.  Tips are pooled there.  Except for the sommelier, who should be tipped separately.  Sommeliers are part of the bar group, not the restaurant group.

 

Is the maitre’d included in the pool?  Our Beyond maitre’d was the most useless staff member I’ve ever seen.  

[jelayne]

5 hours ago, Wineaux007 said:

In the MDR, usually on the first night they introduce themselves to you, i.e., the waiter/his asst.  I guess they don't do that in Luminea?  

They do introduce themselves but not necessarily my title; Good evening my name is Fred and I will be taking care of you this evening.   Unlike the MDR there is no sign on the table with the name of your waiter, assistant waiter or sommelier.