Main Restaurant Maitre D's -- Good, Bad or Ugly

[editor@cruisecritic]

Curious, Philip217. How would you describe the function of a maitre d' today as opposed to when you were in the biz?

 

I agree that cruising has changed and so am wondering....

 

Carolyn

 

I was a Maitre d'hotel for many years on large and small ships.

I was required to be multi-lingual, to converse with passengers from around the world.

I needed extensive cooking experience and skills to make special food preparations in the dining room.

My wine knowledge had to be flawless, to allow me to recomend, serve, taste, and discuss exotic wines.

I had to be part psychologist and mind-reader, enabling me to skillfully match up dining table companions.

I had to be an accomplished host, setting up special dinner parties for Senior Officers and VIPs.

I had to study cigars, spirits, caviars, champagnes, and furs (handling and storage during dinner).

 

Today, more than anything else, the Maitre d'hotel manages a team of servers who know very little about the food they are serving. All the good waiters quit many years ago, as the tipping levels dropped with all the new mass market cruisers. The cruisers couldn't afford to tip any more. The good waiters couldn't afford to stay any longer.

 

At the door to the dining room, the Maitre d'hotel is now the bouncer, trying to chase away drunks and improperly dressed passengers.

 

The cigars, champagne, caviar, and furs are all gone. So are the exotic wines, the elegant dinner parties, table-side cooking, special menus, and multi-lingual passengers.

 

Most cruise passengers today cannot even properly spell or pronounce "maitre d'hotel", nor do they have any idea what his job is supposed to be.

 

Note: The missing accents circonflex are intentional.

[editor@cruisecritic]

And a p.s. -- the following is interesting but I have to say in the main dining room venues of cruise ships my expectations are so low that I'm pretty easy maintenance. I've never requested a time change (indeed, on Fantasia we were assigned to the barbaric early seating, LOL, which is lunchtime in my book, and we just sucked it up).

 

No requests for birthday stuff, no special menu demands, no freebies needed, no allergies (fortunately) and I dress appropriately. And I'm polite. So not sure why I should be subjected to maitre d' rudeness....

 

 

Carolyn

 

 

Trish,

 

In "traditional" Dining as many as 30% of the diners request/demand table changes, waiter changes, dining companion changes, and dining time changes during the cruise.

On a cruise with 2,000 passengers, at least 50% claim it is their birthday or anniversary that week and want some special dish, special dessert, singing, free champagne, photos, musicians, etc.

On any mass market ship, at least 25% of the passengers have a laundry list of food allergies and special diets that must be followed.

On any mass market cruise, a very high percentage of the pax do not know the difference between "Rural" and "Casual" Dress. Someone has to gently educate them.

On those same ships, there is a high percentage of pax who want to complain about all the people who do not know the difference between Rural and Casual Dress.

A large mass market ship has 200 to 300 wait staff. Somebody has to train them, schedule them, discipline them, and inspect their cabins.

A large ship can have as many as 15 different restaurants oonboard. Somebody needs to oversee the management of all those outlets.

Someone also must order all the equipment and supplies needed to serve 10,000 to 15,000 meals every day (depending on the size of ship).

[stowaway2k]

On the Carnival Paradise, which does 3 or 4 night booze cruises to Mexico from Los Angeles, expectations are not high.

 

Generally, the dining room staff do a fine job, nobody is pretending that they're on a luxury cruise with formal, gourmet dining.

 

Dinner is frequently interrupted by the waiters breaking into song and dance, with loud announcements reminding us that we're having fun.

 

The maitre d' makes the obligatory round asking diners if we are satisfied, which is to be expected.

 

But, then the maitre d' offers us a special treat by singing and dancing, along with announcements telling us that we're in for something wonderful.

 

On the last night diners cannot escape the frequent announcements reminding us that our maitre d' is practically the second coming, that he deserves to be tipped generously, then we are reminded again, and again, not too mention the signs and the tip box at the dining room entrance, and the notice in the daily program reminding us to be generous with our tip for the maitre d', because he worked so hard to make our cruise so exceptional.

 

Any staff person asking for tips is offensive. To be so publicly forward, obvious, nagging and agressive is beyond poor taste, even to booze-cruise standards.

[grandmato4]

We've had everything from the Maitre d that we never saw once until the last evening when you'd thought he was our best friend pitching multiple times for his tip (which he did not get because of the constant begging that evening) to a fantastic one on board the Golden Princess who visited our table each evening to ask if we had any questions about the menu and gave advise as to which dishes he though we would most enjoy along with sending special items to our table he though we might like to try and always stopped back at the end of the meal to inquire as to how everything was. We couldn't help but notice that his staff appeared to enjoy working for him and did all they could to please him and follow his lead in customer service.

 

 

Sadly on one of our Carnival cruises it was obvious that the wonderful wait staff we had feared the Maitre d. Other than on the Golden Princess it was the best waiter we've ever encountered but when the Maidre d was in or near his section his nervousness was very apparent. One evening my DH had ordered two entres which he had done before but on this night the waiter brought only one to the table and whispered his apology that he had brought the second one from the kitchen but the maidre d was making his rounds and would not be happy to see two on the table so he hoped it would not upset my DH if he waited until after the maidre d visited our table before bringing the second one. It was quite obvious that the waiter was uncomfortable saying this but felt it very important and my DH assured him that would not be a problem. I can not count the number of times he thanked my DH that evening. We talked about what to do but decided that it was best to do nothing as we were afriad that if we did speak to the Maidre d or anyone else about what we saw and heard our waiter would be the one to suffer for it and we did not want to take that chance as we knew he only had a few more weeks left on that ship before a leave and transfer to another ship.

 

We've never needed to ask for any special assistance from the Maidre d so I can't comment on that aspect of service.

 

Because of the different experiences we have had we have decided that the single most important ingredient in the dining room experience is the maidre d. and how he interact with not only the passengers but also with his staff.

[owl61]

Dan,

I agree completely with you. The problem is the title.

At best, a mass market main dining room operates very much like a very large, medium quality wedding reception dinner. This is a mass feeding exercise that requires very strong logistical talents.

The fellow who runs the show must have very good office and computer skills, strong scheduling talent and experience, and be very quick on his feet.

Does this mean that it is not a breach of good ship etiquette not to tip the dining room mgr, assuming no special favor or attention was provided? And the head waiter, if a different entity?

[FritzG]

I spent 16 days on the Grand Princess (Oct. 07) and ate in the dining room 15 of those nights. I never once saw the maitre'd or if he was there his presence wasn't obvious. I spent 15 nights on the Diamond Princess(Jan 08) and it was very obvious that Salvatore was the maitre'd and knew what was going on in his dining room.

 

Yes, I agree that Salvatore was very much in charge of the dining room on the Diamond in Jan., but we found him to be very arrogant and inflexible. We met two great couples who had two empty seats at their table and wanted us to join them. Until one of them stood at his station on the fourth night and refused to budge until he called the cabin of the no-shows, he refused to do anything. We tried to talk to him numerous times, and he was very dismissive and uncooperative.

 

I remember how great the maitre d's were years ago on the Sitmar ships. They would come to talk to us often, and many times they would make appetizers or desserts tableside without us even making a request.

[Sea Hag]

Only once have I run into an unpleasant maitre d'hotel -- on NCL. We were on our honeymoon and had requested a table for 2. Went in and found out we were at a 10-top. My new DH went immediately to talk to the maitre d' to get this taken care of. We basically got a lot of runaround (nothing available now....maybe tomorrow....) with body language and innuendoes making it clear that if we were to cough up some money, the situation might change quickly. We didn't feel that was right, given that we did have confirmation of our "table for 2".

 

So we sat at our 10-top that night and looked around the dining room at several tables for 2 that were empty. (This was in the days before "anytime dining.") The next night we were told that there were no tables for us. We gestured to the still-empty 2-tops. My DH got a little testy. Eventually he said he would have something for us in a few minutes. He kept us cooling our heels for a good 20-25 minutes, then led us (with a smirk) to a tiny table for 2 in the very back corner right next to the galley door. It was horrid. We were young and inexperienced so we didn't take things any further, but we watched those empty tables for two every night for the next 5 days.....

 

Good grief! You shouldn't have been treated like that. :(

[Sea Hag]

We've only needed to interface to the maitre 'd twice. First time, our reservations were linked to another couple, but we weren't seated together. Maitre 'd fixed it. Second time, I wanted to set up a reservation in anytime for the same time, same table every night, and the maitre 'd fixed that. So, I'd have to say that I've had 100% satisfactory results from maitre 'd's.

[mszula]

I have found, at least on Carnival, that there is a somewhat strong pressure to tip the maitre'd. Dining room announcements to "not forget to tip him" over the top introductions etc. I think that because of that on some of the cruise the maitre'd's felt that they needed to be seen and known. One sang, one had an annoying greeting each night. It was hellllloooooooooo. He then said that many people were asking him the nature of it and that he would tell us at the end of cruise. Oh the suspense! Not. For me, this was intrusive and prevented me from enjoying my waiters, dining companions, and my dinner. BTW, we didn't tip the maitre' d, instead adding that $$ to the people who actually took care of us.

[doctordi]

I'm usually pretty easy to please and I have only had to speak to the maitre'd once.

 

I was traveling solo and was placed at a table for eight with a threesome that did not speak English and two older couples. I'm sure that they placed me at the table because I "seemed to fit" as the table had an empty spot and I was around the age of one of the people who did not speak English. I'm sure that had no idea that there would be such a barrier. The next day around lunchtime, I went and asked for a change in table. I was accommodated easily and cheerfully and the people at my new table were very pleasant.

 

So, I guess I have only had good experiences.

[RoofingPrincess]

I have found, at least on Carnival, that there is a somewhat strong pressure to tip the maitre'd. Dining room announcements to "not forget to tip him" over the top introductions etc. I think that because of that on some of the cruise the maitre'd's felt that they needed to be seen and known. One sang, one had an annoying greeting each night. It was hellllloooooooooo. He then said that many people were asking him the nature of it and that he would tell us at the end of cruise. Oh the suspense! Not. For me, this was intrusive and prevented me from enjoying my waiters, dining companions, and my dinner. BTW, we didn't tip the maitre' d, instead adding that $$ to the people who actually took care of us.

Either I sailed with that same guy, or there are more than one of them doing that on Carnival!!

 

On RCCL, we have had interaction with the Head Waiter but not with the Maitre d'. It is my understanding that these terms are not interchangable - the Head Waiter is responsible for a group of tables, but the Maitre d' is responsible for the whole dining room.

Our Head Waiters have been very good about assisting people at our table who have special dietary needs.

Thankfully, I have not had to deal with table change requests; all of my recent cruises have been with groups of friends (many of them Cruise Critic friends that I finally met face-to-face onboard or the night before, but we had arranged to sit together based on our interactions here on CC).

[GORDONCHICK]

I've had good and bad experiences. Out of five cruises, I only saw the maitre d' when it was the last night and he was looking for tips, and we made no special requests on two of the cruises. The one on Princess, questioned that it really was DH's birthday (and it really was, as it is today - 2/16) and we did eventually get a little cake. Then there was one on Carnival that we thought most fun, though we still made no special requests. He was delightful and we enjoyed his singing. Then last month on NCL Spirit, we encountered one maitre d' who was just down right rude. Now, one of his assistants, Edgar, was charming and very helpful and way over-shadowed the performance (or lack thereof) of his boss.

[mszula]

Cindy, I'm sure it was the same heeelllllloooooooo guy on Carnival. He is apparently quite infamous.

 

I have to admit that my ideal maitre'd is invisible until I need him and then he solves my problem with very little muss or fuss. I would then tip him quite generously as we do all of those who treat us well.

[michmike]

Had a section Captain a couple weeks ago on HAL's Westerdam that did nothing but walk around and intrude on folk's conversations and then lingered for 5 or 6 minutes per table offering nothing. Didn't see him help the wait staff at all that week or do anything approaching supervision.. To compound matters, it looked as though he slept in his uniform.

 

Needles to say we did not tip him and I told the HAL folks on my comment card that if they needed to cut staff they could start with him.

 

Interesting to note that on disembarkation morning he led us to the far reaches of the dining room (we both use canes), passing many empty tables on the way and then sat the four of us at a table for 6 and shortly thereafter seated another couple at our table even though there were any number of 2 tops empty. Coincidence? I think not.

[fendbass]

On our last cruise, on the Independence of the Seas, we chose Mytime Dining, or whatever they call it on IOS. We would go to the hostess desk at the entrance, and she would seat us.

 

I have never seen anyone work so hard. Running back and forth, trying to accomodate everyone's wishes (I saw what looked like 14 people at one table), even moving chairs and helping to clear tables. I had thought that the headwaiter in that area should have helped, but, he spent all his time glad-handing

 

This was a woman who earned a large tip, and seemed to be quite surprised to get one... my wife and I actually got a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

 

Oh, and the Maiter d'? Never saw him, saw no reason to tip him

[saltmom1]

I don't get the point w/ respect to traditional dining. Once the logistics are complete before boarding & maybe the few passangers who need changes once underway, what does this person do? I can see it in freestyle where it changes every day but I just thought it was one more person I had to tip.

 

On the Legend, the Asst Maitre d' Dessi participates in the nightly entertainment, individually comes around to each table and talks for a few minutes ( not just the obligatory " is everything all right) she has a GREAT personality !. She truly makes the rounds and is only at the stand at the beginning and the end of dinner. There is a hostess who can reach her if necessary.

[copnlpn2]

Until last September, I thought all head waiters did was remove the shells from tiger shrimp! But Emilia Badarau, our head waiter aboard the Enchantment last September, certainly proved that was untrue.

 

Emilia was the most personable, visible personality in the dining room during our cruise! She stopped by our table every night and chatted with us. She always spoke to us when she saw us out on deck, earning her a special place in our hearts. And...her staff seemed to like working for her too.

 

The total opposite was true on my Navigator cruise in February. Our head waiter from India seemed a bit arrogant, condescending and somewhat rude to some guests at our table. Our waiters, though, were surprised we felt this way because they agreed he was the best head waiter they'd ever worked for. Go figure.....

[Dan Askin]

Until last September, I thought all head waiters did was remove the shells from tiger shrimp! But Emilia Badarau, our head waiter aboard the Enchantment last September, certainly proved that was untrue.

 

Emilia was the most personable, visible personality in the dining room during our cruise! She stopped by our table every night and chatted with us. She always spoke to us when she saw us out on deck, earning her a special place in our hearts. And...her staff seemed to like working for her too.

 

The total opposite was true on my Navigator cruise in February. Our head waiter from India seemed a bit arrogant, condescending and somewhat rude to some guests at our table. Our waiters, though, were surprised we felt this way because they agreed he was the best head waiter they'd ever worked for. Go figure.....

 

I had a great maitre 'd who made the ladies at the table necklaces with the tiger shrimp shells. A maitre 'd with mathematical mind but modest social skills may keep the dining room running perfectly, but receive scant attention or praise from passengers.

[franu]

I am always amazed that the Maitre d' or his/her assistants will stop and ask you how everything is when you have a mouth full of food. It seems as though this must be a practiced way of not dealing with issues, real or perceived.

 

The tip is decided upon by the service rendered and the attitude. If there is a perception that they are there for me although I have no problems, then the gratuity will reflect that.

 

How would any person know what the passenger is like if they haven't profiled them. Profiling is pre-judging.

Fran