Disney Cruise Line in a Jiffy: What is a Serving Team?

When you read about who gets your gratuities on Disney Cruise Line, you might wonder what the serving team does. I mean, sure, you know that someone will serve you in the dining rooms, but why are there three of them? Here’s what they do, and what you can expect from your servers on your cruise.

Your server is your main waiter. They’ll take your order and make sure your food arrives correctly. They’re your go-to source on which of the evening’s entrees are tops and which ones might be better skipped. (Yes, the food on Disney Cruise Line is generally quite good, but there are always a few turkeys on the menu, or maybe the chefs just had a bad day on a particular dish.)

Your assistant server focuses on beverages, bread service, and clearing the table between courses. They’ll be the ones topping up your water, grabbing the malt vinegar for your fish ‘n’ chips, and bringing by the steak knife if your entree will need it.

Either your server or your assistant server may also take a few minutes to chat with you or the kids. And it’s not uncommon for them to have a game or two to play while you wait for your meal to get started or finish your coffee.

Your head server is kind of like the manager. You’ll often see them come around once a meal to check that everything is OK, but on a busy night, you may not get a visit. They’re definitely working behind the scenes, though, managing multiple server/assistant server teams and making sure the dining room runs smoothly.

The head server is also the one responsible for taking care of any needs you may have outside the meal service itself. Don’t like your table? Don’t like the other party you’re sitting with? Need to move from the late seating to the early seating? All this will be handled by the head server.

Your service team moves with you each night on your rotational dining assignment; you’ll have the same servers for your entire cruise. And you’ll find that your team quickly gets to know what you prefer. If you order the same drink on the first two nights, you’re likely to find it waiting at your seat when you arrive on the third night.

On shorter sailings, you may feel like your interactions with the serving team are more professional than personal. On longer cruises, it’s not uncommon to learn a bit more about your servers – and they about you – during your time together. On a recent cruise, our Palo server recalled us from a cruise eight years previous, where they had been on our serving team, and asked about our kids!

At some meals, the serving team will also play a minor role in the evening’s entertainment. And while you’re guaranteed to see your servers at dinner each night, you’re quite likely to run into them elsewhere on the ship. We have frequently run into our servers during the day while they were working at Cabanas, or at Cookie’s on Castaway Cay.

If you have a favorite server, you can request to have them serve you again when you take a cruise in the future. Your travel agent can make the request for you, or if you booked on your own, you can call Disney or use the online chat feature. And if you’d like to leave more than the standard gratuity (many do tip extra for their serving team!), you can either place cash or a gift card in the provided envelope on the final night of the cruise, or simply head to Guest Services and have them increase the amount directly.

Disney Cruise Line in a Jiffy is for first-time Disney cruisers looking to learn about the DCL experience. Got a Disney Cruise Line term that you want to see explained? Suggest it in the comments below!