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Appropriate tip for butler in Haven


LuvTheSea14
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There is no appropriate amount to tip the Butler and Concierge when in a suite. Tipping is very personal and you should take things like the services you received, how those services were provided, your budget for tipping, etc. No matter what you tip, the Butler and Concierge will be appreciative.

 

After saying that, here is what I do. I start with the following: the Butler $10 per person per day and the Concierge $5 per person per day. I can add or subtract based on how good or not so good the service is. FYI, I've never had to reduce my starting amount (even though I should have with one Concierge), but have added to it on many of my cruises.

 

Hope this helps a little.

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And to give you an idea of how it can vary we start the Butler with exactly half of what NHL does. $5 pp per day. And a flat $50 for the week for the concierge.

 

That's just the starting point. It usually goes up from there, however once the Concierge got nothing.

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I use the model of $10 pppd for butler and concierge. We tend to use both.

 

Has always been 2 of us. This time we are 3. Will add extra $5 per day for third. Since we will more than likely be together doing the same thing.

 

 

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Edited by DMH15
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Tend to start with $10 pppd for butler but find concierge more difficult as don't find them that useful as I am more than capable of checking bookings for dinner and shows for myself, especially as a lot can be done in advance or via the tv in the suite once onboard.

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I think we were about 70 for Butler and 40 for concierge...a bit disappointed one night that the concierge couldn't get us into Cagneys and suggested we try to call ourselves. Also gave extra tip to the room steward as well, even though he is covered thru DSC. I think I liked him the best of the 3 of them :)

 

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Our recent cruise in the Haven I did...$20per person per day for the butler for a five day cruise. The butler was amazing! Breakfast in our cabin each morning, dinner in cabin one night and room service. He even brought us menus from two of the speciality restaurants. Opened a bottle of wine one night. Plus all the afternoon snacks!

Room steward received $10 per person per day....well worth.

Concierge got .... zip. I felt she was completely useless. Came around to introduce herself the last afternoon of the cruise. Bleeh

Edited by NancyL2
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We do $10-$20 per person per day for the Butler and $5-$10 per person per day for the Concierge. And $5-$10 per person per day for our Steward (partly covered by DSC),,, but given we have large rooms, we give them a bit extra.

 

 

Yes, agree about steward. Usually $100-$140 more.

 

And same for Courtyard butler.

 

 

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Tend to start with $10 pppd for butler but find concierge more difficult as don't find them that useful as I am more than capable of checking bookings for dinner and shows for myself, especially as a lot can be done in advance or via the tv in the suite once onboard.

 

With a GOOD concierge what time you want to dine is not a factor.

They make it happen.

I've had two outstanding Concierge.

One mediocre.

And one that plain SUCKED. I heard she's gone, I hope it's true.

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With a GOOD concierge what time you want to dine is not a factor.

 

They make it happen.

 

I've had two outstanding Concierge.

 

One mediocre.

 

And one that plain SUCKED. I heard she's gone, I hope it's true.

 

 

The best ones I have had have been Adrian and John, hands down.

 

 

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I think we were about 70 for Butler and 40 for concierge...a bit disappointed one night that the concierge couldn't get us into Cagneys and suggested we try to call ourselves. Also gave extra tip to the room steward as well, even though he is covered thru DSC. I think I liked him the best of the 3 of them :)

 

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We've had that too - asked for later in the week, told no, not available by concierge. Couple hours later while checking into Cagney's for lunch asked hostess and got the reservations we had just asked for. That night when we went for dinner place was only 2/3 full.

Edited by dexddd
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Our average for a 7-day cruise is $100 for butler and $50 for concierge.

 

i didnt really use the concierge so he got zip. one question i had about the behind the scenes toured he seemed bothered by me asking.

 

butler got 50. port days we made no demands of him for the most part

 

steward got 100. we felt he was fantastic in our haven spa suite and just kept on top of things. i swear they have a beeper that knows when you leave so they can do your room. (yes i know about the lights above the door) he taught my gf how to make her towel elephant and was always pleasant and knew our names and just a fun guy.

 

i also tipped on a continual basis in haven restaurant. last day i heard someone asking about staffing and i think she was looking for her server to tip. i think its best to do every meal so you dont miss them. servers do change

 

i also paid the porter 20 to take our luggage to the car and it was so worth it. about 15 min from haven to our car.

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I think John is awesome as well.

 

 

Last time we had him, we were in an OS on BA. DW and I can do lots for ourselves, but he was constantly checking up on us, making himself available. We had few requests of him, but he impressed me with immediacy when we *did* ask.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been startled by some of the suggestions in cruise critic posts re: Haven tipping ... $20 pppd for the concierge, $100 per week for the butler. Our concierge team is both helpful & very pleasant to deal with ... but my longest request took at most 10 mins., most much less. $4-5 dollars per day per room would seem generous. The special tables & seats they arrange for are very nice, but obviously pre-planned.

 

From what I've read, the Butler activities vary considerably. Ours basically delivers snacks late in the afternoon & keeps the refrig and coffee stocked. A couple dollars a day would seem more than appropriate.

 

Our room stewart has been excellent, earning an additional tip.

 

The one group I would like to tip and don't know how is the wait staff in the Haven. They have been consistently outstanding. I'll try to discreetly inquire about this & post what I find.

 

If I've missed something, your input would be appreciated. We are a few days away from completing a Haven cruise, so I will be acting upon the above unless enlighten in the next few days.

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I've been startled by some of the suggestions in cruise critic posts re: Haven tipping ... $20 pppd for the concierge, $100 per week for the butler. Our concierge team is both helpful & very pleasant to deal with ... but my longest request took at most 10 mins., most much less. $4-5 dollars per day per room would seem generous. The special tables & seats they arrange for are very nice, but obviously pre-planned.

 

 

 

From what I've read, the Butler activities vary considerably. Ours basically delivers snacks late in the afternoon & keeps the refrig and coffee stocked. A couple dollars a day would seem more than appropriate.

 

 

 

Our room stewart has been excellent, earning an additional tip.

 

 

 

The one group I would like to tip and don't know how is the wait staff in the Haven. They have been consistently outstanding. I'll try to discreetly inquire about this & post what I find.

 

 

 

If I've missed something, your input would be appreciated. We are a few days away from completing a Haven cruise, so I will be acting upon the above unless enlighten in the next few days.

 

 

I leave $5 cash every Haven meal. Easy peasy.

 

 

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Just off BA and left our butler $100, but he unpacked us, set up 2 meals in the room, delivered a couple of desserts we had no capacity to eat directly after our meals, and set up a small gathering in our cabin. If you don't use them for any extras, probably no need to tip that much.

 

 

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Just off BA and left our butler $100, but he unpacked us, set up 2 meals in the room, delivered a couple of desserts we had no capacity to eat directly after our meals, and set up a small gathering in our cabin. If you don't use them for any extras, probably no need to tip that much.

 

 

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Personally, I feel you under tipped for what you asked of your butler, unless you meant $100 per person.

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We sail in suites on the Jewel and Dawn class ships. Our butler usually helps us set up my CPAP and DH's oxygen the first day and one meal a day in the cabin and 1 or 2 dinners in cabin during the week, in addition to the usual canapés, Lavazza, etc. We start the butler at $150 for the week for the two of us and adjust up if we ask for more or find s/he impresses us or down if we feel they leave us wanting.

 

We use the concierge for making 3-4 restaurant reservations, maybe book an excursion during the week. We start at $70 for the week and adjust up or down depending on their willingness to help or our increased requests.

 

DH likes to sleep in, so we plan on giving the steward $35 for the week and adjust up or down depending on their willingness to adjust to DH's schedule and their service.

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We tend to be generous tippers but the first time we sailed in a suite we were not impressed with our butler at all. We are very low maintenance but any request we made seemed to irritate him (on the rare occasion we saw him). Our concierge was extremely helpful and seemed to be everywhere on the ship making sure we were enjoying our cruise. So basically I reversed the tipping for those two and added an extra $75 on top of that for the concierge and tipped our excellent room steward $100. I also tip $5-10 cash per meal in the suite dining rooms. ( I told myself that the butler could have had other suite guests who were running him off his feet but he definitely did not deserve the tip that other butlers on other cruises we've done have received from us. )

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