There's some basic jobs in Restaurant depending on what cruise line you are working for, and it is holding the important roles for the restaurant operations. This position is basic or lowest position in restaurant and called RA or Restaurant Attendant or Lido Steward onboard cruise line.
They need to know all of the basic service procedures depending the venue they are assigned for. Most of the time, RA works in crew cafeterias, room service, Lido or self-service restaurant, or other non revenue restaurant onboard the ship.
They most probably received the basic salary with some benefits of free tickets to join or repatriate, basic salary range from USD 800 or more, and lenght of contracts up to 8 months depending on the cruise line.
Eventhough it is basic position in restaurant, most of the cruise company hired this position based on their hotel experience, english language proficiency, and attitude. Those who have experiences working in 5 star hotel might have the bigger chance of getting hired other than those who haven't been working in 5 star hotel before apart of their educational background.
Those new joiners who work as RA will most probably working onboard in self-service or Lido restaurant where there are not quite complicated works to be done. Mainly their duties start 4 to 4.5 hours in the breakfast duties and another 5 to 6 hours for dinner duties and they should work at least 10 hours daily and have 1 long break of more than 6 hours and 1 short break for at least 10 hours. In Lido restaurant, RA will be assigned as a greeter, coffee station, bussing station, section waiter, glass and mugs supplier, plate supplier, in charge in rolling up silver, etc.
While working in Room Service, RA will be trained for the product knowledge, service procedures, and with additional Covid-19 service SOP including donning hazmat and special mask. Trolley sanitation is part of the job that need to be done every time finished delivering the food. With this uncertain situation, RA in RS will only place the trolley with the food on front of the guest's door and knocked the door and let the guest's take their time to picked up the food on the tray from the trolley by themselves. This is yo ensure that the staff have no direct contact with the guests to avoid any transmission of the Covid-19 viruses.
In crew cafeterias, RA will work most probably the same process as they work in Lido or self-service restaurant with the difference of the people they served, instead of guests, they're serving other crewmembers.
In non revenue specialty restaurant, such as guest 24 hours coffee, teas, and snacks restaurant, RA will be scheduled as business needs and depends on the traffic flow of the restaurant. They will need to prepare the mise n place, serving the food to the guests, and clearing the tables.
Depending on the region the ship is sailing, all RA will need to ensure that their workplace are safe, clean, and sanitize for the safety of the guests and crew. There will be F&B director along with ROM to check the cleanliness of the venue in weekly basis and by the health official from shoreside anytime.