Magic Server Recommendations

[longbons]

We went on an Alaska cruise 2 years ago and our server Oka really made the dinners wonderful for our two kids. He really took the time to talk to the kids and had a magic trick for the kids each night which they thought was great. I've heard that you can make a request for a server, so I'm curious if anyone might recommend a great server on the Magic. We will be going on a Mediterranean cruise this summer. Thanks!

 

[MSPeeler]

Bumping for you, hoping someone can help you out

 

[Dug720]

I don't know if either will be on or on vacation, but I was very pleased with Aditya and Tiago on our Feb cruise. If I had to pick one (better for requesting) I would say Tiago.

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

Ralph

 

[puiyeel]

My family and I was on the Magic last week on the Norwegian Fjords cruise, our server Nur is a very good, very observant of what we like or feeling not like having. Even whole family are adults he have us good entertainment and we are all very happy.

 

[mrcacou]

We had Jasna on our 3 last Magic cruises. She is the best. Raphael from South Africa is awesome too.

 

[tivo4me1]

My family was very happy with Brian (South Africa) and Jessica (Mexico) on our EBTA cruise a few weeks ago....

 

[Lisbethsnow]

We were just on the Magic in Norway. We loved Glenda from South Africa. The assistant server was Anto. She was very warm and took time with each of the kids. She quickly realized my daughter loves riddles so she gave us a few to ponder each night at dinner. I plan to request her again when we are on the Magic in January.

 

[cmwade77]

Mirka, unfortunately I can't remember her assistant's name right now, but they were absolutely amazing with us, we all had food issues. There were even two that couldn't do beef or pork and when they tried to order certain desserts, such as cheesecakes, she would tell them no because they use an animal based gelatin that contain either beef or pork products and couldn't be removed. The first night, for one of the people nothing looked good on the menu, so one person at our table tried to order the Chicken that is on the menu every night and the server said no, you won't like it, it is bland and dry and I don't remember what it was, but she came up with something that she absolutely loved. I can't recommend her more, but I can't tell you how she is with children, as there were none at our table or the tables near us.....LOL. There is a lot more that I could say about them as well, but just know they were very awesome.

 

[Dug720]

Mikla, unfortunately I can't remember her assistant's name right now, but they were absolutely amazing with us, we all had food issues. There were even two that couldn't do beef or pork and when they tried to order certain desserts, such as cheesecakes, she would tell them no because they use an animal based gelatin that contain either beef or pork products and couldn't be removed. The first night, for one of the people nothing looked good on the menu, so one person at our table tried to order the Chicken that is on the menu every night and the server said no, you won't like it, it is bland and dry and I don't remember what it was, but she came up with something that she absolutely loved. I can't recommend her more, but I can't tell you how she is with children, as there were none at our table or the tables near us.....LOL.

Sorry, I'm all about recommendations, but if a server ever said "No. I won't get that for you." and it was NOT due to allergies or dietary restrictions, I'd be up talking to the dining room manager - forget the head server.

 

[cmwade77]

Sorry, I'm all about recommendations, but if a server ever said "No. I won't get that for you." and it was NOT due to allergies or dietary restrictions, I'd be up talking to the dining room manager - forget the head server.

I probably did a bad job at conveying how she did it, really the way it was done was actually perfect and set a great tone between us for the rest of the cruise and yes, with some they would have complained, but she would have gotten it if she insisted, I believe the way she did it was no, try this, if you don't like it, I will get you the other, but really she had already seen how we interacted with each other and matched our attitude, it made it quite perfect and the person got a much better dish. Basically, Mikla was saying it was a bad dish (in a way that wouldn't get her in trouble) and that there was a better option. Again, though we had some interaction prior and she was able to gauge what response would work, she was quite in tune with us and made the cruise, including the first night, as perfect as possible dining wise.

I can see how others would get offended by the way she did it even, but not our group, it was done perfectly for us.

 

[Dug720]

I probably did a bad job at conveying how she did it, really the way it was done was actually perfect and set a great tone between us for the rest of the cruise and yes, with some they would have complained, but she would have gotten it if she insisted, I believe the way she did it was no, try this, if you don't like it, I will get you the other, but really she had already seen how we interacted with each other and matched our attitude, it made it quite perfect and the person got a much better dish. Basically, Mikla was saying it was a bad dish (in a way that wouldn't get her in trouble) and that there was a better option. Again, though we had some interaction prior and she was able to gauge what response would work, she was quite in tune with us and made the cruise, including the first night, as perfect as possible dining wise.

I can see how others would get offended by the way she did it even, but not our group, it was done perfectly for us.

For me, just the idea that anyone - much less someone I had just met - would flat out say "No. You won't like it." is enough for me. I don't care how they phrase it or what tone they use. I am an adult and can make my own decisions.

 

[cmwade77]

For me, just the idea that anyone - much less someone I had just met - would flat out say "No. You won't like it." is enough for me. I don't care how they phrase it or what tone they use. I am an adult and can make my own decisions.

To each their own, but the servers job is to make the cruise meals as good as possible and serving bad food wouldn't accomplish that and we appreciated the honesty that it was a bad dish and really, she knew the only reason it was picked was because there was nothing else on the menu that she would go for, so she found a solution.

 

[Dug720]

To each their own, but the servers job is to make the cruise meals as good as possible and serving bad food wouldn't accomplish that and we appreciated the honesty that it was a bad dish and really, she knew the only reason it was picked was because there was nothing else on the menu that she would go for, so she found a solution.

There is a big difference though between offering a recommendation and saying why and flat out saying no I won't get that for you. Their job is also to make you happy and if chicken makes you happy they should let you have it - negotiate with the chef for a better piece.

 

[cmwade77]

There is a big difference though between offering a recommendation and saying why and flat out saying no I won't get that for you. Their job is also to make you happy and if chicken makes you happy they should let you have it - negotiate with the chef for a better piece.

I disagree, again in context it was the perfect response done perfectly for the people that were there, BUT I do understand that there are others that would take issue with how it was done and my guess is she wouldn't have said it the same way to them. And really, the person wasn't happy with ordering the chicken and it showed, just thought they had no alternatives, so alternatives that worked were provided, even though they were off menu.

So while some are quick to be offended by being told no, others take a moment to ask why not and then aren't offended when there are very good reasons. In our case that first no setup the rest of the cruise dinners to be AMAZING, because she wasn't afraid to tell us not to order something when it was bad or something she knew we wouldn't like or to make recommendations for alterations that would make the dish something we would like more. That one NO turned into several others and MANY modifications, usually due to our dietary restrictions, but some due to our tastes as well.

My wife and I haven't ever listed allergies like that before and always self monitored, we realized after this cruise that we should have been listing them as allergies (for example we can't do things cooked with Alcohol), we did list them once as dietary restrictions, but this time they got listed as allergies and with this server we found out how poor of a job we had done in the past at self monitoring and it explained why we always had a couple days we didn't feel good. But on this cruise, none of that,l not feeling good after dinner because we didn't accidentally take in something that caused is issues and again all because we accepted that first no and understood it wasn't her being mean, it was her watching out for us.

I can understand why some, including you may not like the response, but again, in context and taken in with who we all are, it worked very well and was absolutely perfect.

 

[Jbutler]

We cruised in March, and loooooooved Jay from Jamaica and Tiago from Spain. They were AMAZING with the kids, and so accommodating for all of us.

 

[PaoDCL]

My family was very happy with Brian (South Africa) and Jessica (Mexico) on our EBTA cruise a few weeks ago....

We were also at the EBTA, we love Joy (South Africa) and Ignacio (Colombia) our 3rd cruise with Joy and we love her!!!

 

[Deb T.]

We were just on the Magic in Norway. We loved Glenda from South Africa. The assistant server was Anto. She was very warm and took time with each of the kids. She quickly realized my daughter loves riddles so she gave us a few to ponder each night at dinner. I plan to request her again when we are on the Magic in January.

I'll second Glenda and Anto! We just did the EBTA last month and they were wonderful, along with Branislav as our Head Server. Glenda was very pleasant and efficient with a smile that would light up a room! Her suggestions were always spot on. She also gave us (3 adult couples) riddles to solve one night. Anto made us feel like rock stars with his enthusiastic greeting every time we saw him, no matter where it was on the ship! Branislav was, hands down, the best head waiter we've ever had (in 17 cruises). He visited our table every night (which has never happened for us before, maybe because we've never had any allergies at our table?) to make sure everything was fine and to see if there was anything he could do to make our dining experience better. He never appeared rushed, always taking time to casually chat. Both Glenda and Branislav made sure we knew what to expect the next day, such as anything out of the ordinary on the ship and where we would dine the next night. We will definitely be requesting all of them on future cruises.

 

[Dug720]

Just to note, it's better to request ONE server - either regular or assistant as the teams do not always stay the same and if the two you list are not working together any longer, the assigner will not know which is more important and err on the side of giving you neither rather than giving you the "wrong" one.