Riviera - Oceania Suite Butler

Does anyone know who the butler is currently for the Oceania Suites on Deck 12. Suite 12008 if there are more than one for the suites in that area - don't know how many they service each.

If you do know - opinions?

Thank you!

Does anyone know who the butler is currently for the Oceania Suites on Deck 12. Suite 12008 if there are more than one for the suites in that area - don't know how many they service each.

 

If you do know - opinions?

 

Thank you!

I believe that their exact number depends on the Butlers level of training and experience, but you can expect that three or four of them will be assigned to Deck 12 day duty, with a couple of others working the overnights.

One will be assigned as your official butler, the others will pitch in, when and where required.

J & S,

How are butler duties assigned for the aft Oceania Suites? Do those butlers also have some penthouses assignments nearby?

And the Owners Cabins, is there one primary butler for all three, or one primary each?

I don't know if this helps but we just got off Marina and were in an aft OC. Our butler said he covered 16 rooms. I'm assuming that since we were in one of the two aft OCs that most of his "clients" were in PHs.

Mura

One butler, normally the Head Butler, covers the three owner suites on the O class ships.

Mura and Goldmann,

Thanks!!!!

We were recently in an aft PH. Our butler also took care of the OC cabins. As stated by Mura, I believe he had responsibility for 16 cabins. It became challenging when about 10 of us opted to dine in suite on the same night! LoL! We opened a bottle of wine we had brought aboard, however some were making him run to bring wine glass by glass! I felt sorry for him!

Our understanding is that some of suites that the butler serves either have no requests or very few. So, the total number of suites served can be a bit misleading.

Yep;

Total crap shoot every cruise, every night.

A great butler makes you feel that you are the only cabin he services.

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We were recently in an aft PH. Our butler also took care of the OC cabins. As stated by Mura, I believe he had responsibility for 16 cabins. It became challenging when about 10 of us opted to dine in suite on the same night! LoL! We opened a bottle of wine we had brought aboard, however some were making him run to bring wine glass by glass! I felt sorry for him!

Something similar happened to us on one of the last nights. Our butler was leaving the ship with us for his vacation. After we ordered our dinner, three more suites ordered dinner as well ... so he served us the first two courses, but someone else came in with desert.

Not a problem for us but I imagine he suddenly got VERY busy.

Mura

We were recently in an aft PH. Our butler also took care of the OC cabins. As stated by Mura, I believe he had responsibility for 16 cabins. It became challenging when about 10 of us opted to dine in suite on the same night! LoL! We opened a bottle of wine we had brought aboard, however some were making him run to bring wine glass by glass! I felt sorry for him!

Hi, we have just booked on Marina for April 2019, 50th Wedding Anniversary and are going for a PH aft, anyone know about 11075, thanks for any info. Loved the Riviera but this is the first time on Marina and a butler, are they worth the extra?:p

Congratulations on the 50th Anniversary, what an amazing milestone!

11075 is a lovely cabin. but the "aft penthouses" which people are referring to here are down on Deck 7 and are desirable because they have larger than normal verandas, which wrap around the stern of the ship.

7130 and 7135, specifically.

Happy Anniversary!!

Recently off the Nautica. Our Butler took care of sixteen cabins including the OS on Deck 8. Something, I believe new this cruise is that the Cabin Stewards now have 22 cabins to take care of. I believe last July the number was “only” 18, which was up from several years ago!

Cruisers ordering drinks by the glass and insuite dining needs lots of patience. If the Butler is really busy the insuite dining experience can take about as long as eating in the restaurants. You just don’t have to dress for the affair!

Perhaps off topic, but to the above, I found our Room Stewards to be excellent and providing excellent service . However, some were livid about their level of service. Difference, remember we cruise to see the ports not the ships and are gone early, so we don’t lay around the ship most of the day. OTOH, others had expectations that upon returning from breakfast their room would be cleaned and spotless. I’m telling them “Dude, they’ve got 22 cabins to clean, including the OS. When they have a bunch of you loungers, especially including the OS, hanging around ship expecting to have your cabin made up in a short period of time, it’s not going to happen! Give them a break!” That mostly fell on deaf ears! This isn’t 2012, PCH no longer exists, things change! 22 cabins for the Stewards and 16 for the Butler is a lot. Patience is a virtue.

Pinotlover,

I agree completely with your comments. I would hope that everyone makes use of their "Privacy" and "Make up my room" cards whenever they leave their rooms.

We make sure we establish a good relationship with our Steward team and let them know when we leave how long we think we will be gone. In our experience they seem to hit the OVO level rooms as soon as they know they are empty, even if their normal routine is to start at one end of their range of rooms and work through them (if empty) in sequence.

We've never wanted our room done in a hurry, even if we're spending the day on board, just so long as it's done before time for sundowners and snacks and getting ready for dinner. So far they've always been done before noon.

Our butlers have all been excellent - Mishra on Regatta (Owners Suite), Sonu on Marina (Oceania Suite), and Bosco on Riviera (Owners Suite). Each of them made us feel we were their only responsibility. Looking forward to 2019 when we have 6 Vista Suite cruises so we can meet some new butlers and extend our "They were great" list.

I'll tell you what has worked for us: a tip at the very beginning of the cruise before the ship has even moved, a frank discussion about desires and needs, and a lot of understanding as to just what these people actually do for a living which sometimes means putting up with some who have no concept of what it is like to wait on somebody.

I'll tell you what has worked for us: a tip at the very beginning of the cruise before the ship has even moved, a frank discussion about desires and needs, and a lot of understanding as to just what these people actually do for a living which sometimes means putting up with some who have no concept of what it is like to wait on somebody.

An extra tip at the end of the cruise. It is insulting to say most of us do not understand what it is like to wait on someone. We have had butlers for maybe 15 cruises and know exactly what it takes for them to do their jobs. I think that most repeat cruisers know this also. You should re think this post. :(:(:(

We've never tipped in advance and always have had excellent service. Truth be told, we don't use the butler as much as many -- although we did have a cocktail party for 8 in our OC on our last Marina cruise (last November) and he handled everything. When we first had a butler we never used him at all, but then I tore my meniscus just prior to boarding and was in a wheelchair.

So suddenly we were having MANY meals in the suite! Fortunately for me we'd taken an upsell to an Owner's Suite -- I had always been curious about what it was like so took advantage of the offer. It was fortunate that I had because I needed a wheelchair to get around the room, and I couldn't have done so in the PH we'd originally booked.

Since then do we take advantage of the ability to order in to the suite for dinner, especially after a long tour day. If we used the butler extensively we might indeed tip in advance, but it wouldn't be so that we could insure extra service. We always get that anyway.

I HAVE seen a very few posts about people who were unhappy with their butler, and as I recall one couple even asked for a change which was granted. We've never felt the need for that!

My only complaint is that when the butler first introduces himself he insists on going through everything he can do for us, even when we make it clear we know ... this isn't our first rodeo. So I suppose they are told to go through the spiel whatever the passengers say. It's not too great a burden to listen to things we already know!

I'm always amazed at the O personnel (whether butler or cabin attendant) who recognize US ... it's one thing for us to remember people we've seen on a previous cruise, but I think it's amazing that people who see SO MANY PEOPLE day in and day out would remember US. On a cruise a few years ago we ran into the cabin steward who'd served us several years earlier, but that time we'd been in a PH and this time she was working on Deck 4 on the "R" ships. She recognized us immediately and we had a nice chat.

Mura

We've never tipped in advance and always have had excellent service. Truth be told, we don't use the butler as much as many -- although we did have a cocktail party for 8 in our OC on our last Marina cruise (last November) and he handled everything. When we first had a butler we never used him at all, but then I tore my meniscus just prior to boarding and was in a wheelchair.

 

So suddenly we were having MANY meals in the suite! Fortunately for me we'd taken an upsell to an Owner's Suite -- I had always been curious about what it was like so took advantage of the offer. It was fortunate that I had because I needed a wheelchair to get around the room, and I couldn't have done so in the PH we'd originally booked.

 

Since then do we take advantage of the ability to order in to the suite for dinner, especially after a long tour day. If we used the butler extensively we might indeed tip in advance, but it wouldn't be so that we could insure extra service. We always get that anyway.

 

I HAVE seen a very few posts about people who were unhappy with their butler, and as I recall one couple even asked for a change which was granted. We've never felt the need for that!

 

My only complaint is that when the butler first introduces himself he insists on going through everything he can do for us, even when we make it clear we know ... this isn't our first rodeo. So I suppose they are told to go through the spiel whatever the passengers say. It's not too great a burden to listen to things we already know!

 

I'm always amazed at the O personnel (whether butler or cabin attendant) who recognize US ... it's one thing for us to remember people we've seen on a previous cruise, but I think it's amazing that people who see SO MANY PEOPLE day in and day out would remember US. On a cruise a few years ago we ran into the cabin steward who'd served us several years earlier, but that time we'd been in a PH and this time she was working on Deck 4 on the "R" ships. She recognized us immediately and we had a nice chat.

 

Mura

Very well said. Probably better than I could have done it. Thanks for making it very clear.

MURA

I believe O's files reflect who has been on previous cruises and the staff gets to see photos.

Yes, Lou. I'm aware of that. But in the case of a cabin steward who was in a totally different section of the ship I don't think she'd have seen OUR photo.

(Actually, we had a recent butler (maybe a year ago) who claimed to recognize us ... but WE didn't recognize him. That's certainly never happened!)

When I had some meetings on board Marina in November with senior staff, they definitely knew who I was and introduced themselves to me.

Mura

I've had waiters in the Terrace call me by name on the first day of a cruise. The first time this happened it surprised me.

I realize in the other restaurants they have your name, but not in the Terrace.