What have you used the concierge or butler service for?

Thank you Videotech! I have always wanted to respond to Butler, Concierge tipping but felt my opinion was in the minority, but for others out there booking a suite; we can afford the first category of a "real suite", we pay for this knowing what NCL has included in their pricing regarding the services of a butler and concierge. If you are low maintenance like us, no in room meals, no reservations the tipping (which we do, not sure why) I feel is really a feel good experience if you can afford it. The cabin steward which we see several times a day and I feel dependent on for a good cruise always gets a good tip. Last cruise, May 2011, did not personally see the Butler until day 3, but did contact him through notes left in the cabin, and he did bring ice in!

I am not sure I will be able to afford these cabins, but I am curious how much you tip them at the end of the week?

One of the nicest things Ravi our Butler on the Jewel did for us was to get us a huge bowl of freshly popped popcorn for the Jets playoff game we were going to watch in one of the bars. I just happened to mention to him that we were going to watch the game and asked if he could tell me where i might be able to pick up some popcorn.

Right before we left for the game he knocked on the door and handed me a huge bowl full of popcorn. We were very popular at the game.:D

As for tipping: On our cruise we set aside $40 per day ($20pp) to split between the Butler & Concierge. We ended up giving the Concierge a bit more because he really went out of his way for us.

We also gave our Steward an extra $125, as he did a lot of little things for us and was so sweet. During the week we also left him a couple $5's & $10's when we asked for something extra.

We tipped at all restaurants. We usually left $10 for breakfast or lunch at Cagneys (all the staff in Cagneys are wonderful), and $20 or so for dinner at all Specialty restaurants.

We left $10 for dinner in the MDR the 2 times we ate there and in the Blue Lagoon.

Tipping is a very personal decision. Some I'm sure tip more and some less,but these amounts are what we were comfortable leaving.

Everywhere we went, the staff was polite and smiling and couldn't do enough for us.

Please remember this for both the concierge and the butler: Even if you never ask them to do anything, there are many things they both do that are done automatically.

 

Did you get priority embarkation? how about Priority tender tickets (even if you never used them)? priority disembarkation? were you given a letter inviting you to the Captain's party for suite guests (even if you didn't go)? Did you get an invitation for early entry to the chocoholic buffet (even if you didn't go)? Were you offered special seating in the theater (even if you didn't use it)? if you have done any of these things, then you have used the concierge..

 

did you get your afternoon snacks delivered automatically (the ones that come with the suite)? Did you make coffee with the coffee maker in your suite? Do you have fruit and flowers in your cabin? Is you mini bar kept stocked, or did you have it emptied? Do you have ice in your suite at least twice a day? Do you have clean stocked glassware in your suite? Did he give you a tour of your suite? Did you attend the suite party with the hand passed cocktails and canapés? Were you escorted to your suite? if you have done any of these things, then you have used the butler..

 

Tipping is personal and subjective, but is expected (and proper) for a job well done - even if you have not made any special requests. Of course, the more you request and the better the service for those requests, the higher your tip should be. other crew members are included in the DSC, the butlers and concierge are not (nor should they be, since not everyone benefits from their services) and yet they work just as hard (or harder) than any other crew member on the ship, and they are always smiling and asking what else they can do for you. the extra expense of tipping them both is an inherent part of booking a suite, if one cannot afford to tip them, then one has no business booking a suite.. That would be like going out to dinner and not tipping because you couldn't afford it after the meal..

 

Off my soapbox now :D.

 

Robin

We're sailing in a suite for the first time in September. I had so many questions about what was customary and appropriate regarding tips and about the suite experience in general. Your posts have been so helpful, Robin. Thanks

...so I'm very grateful for this thread. It's nice to have an idea about how much to tip the butler and concierge.

I'm always curious about the tipping at the end part. We've normally tipped a little bit each day to our steward and to anyone else who helps us out, like waiters or bartenders, even though they are in the tip pool. I can't help but feel like we might get better service if the staff member isn't wondering the whole time if they're just going to get stiffed at the end of the trip. (Not to mention, I always feel flat broke by the end of a trip...I'm probably more generous in the beginning...:D.)

ee

....I can't help but feel like we might get better service if the staff member isn't wondering the whole time if they're just going to get stiffed at the end of the trip....

I think if they are wondering that (about getting stiffed at the end), then they don't understand the purpose & function of the gratuity. It's *earned* not *assured*. If it were assured, then it would just be a service charge on the room....and thus we're back full circle to the beginning of all of these threads about tipping!

But you have a point about running out of money at the end of the trip...of course, there's always the ATM....

When your butler brings you dinner he usually gives the resteraunt staff a tip for quick good service, just like laundry he gives them a little something to get you your clothes quickly and done right and other people also. Thew concierge gives the maitre'd something to get you in and give you great service, same for the shows, so even though you think the butler and concierge are gettng alot from every suite they also give to various people to help get the job done. Concierge usually has an assistant who gets some of the tip. I feel people not familar with this info just thinks they are getting a done of money but my butler who became a friend(we email alot) explained this to me and it makes sense, every one has to give a little something to different people to get you the service you want. Enjoy your suite

Great info, Cabincop! I wondered how on earth a butler could go running all over the ship to different restaurants...how silly of me!

ee

To me the Concierge and Butler are there to help you not waste time for a more enjoyable experience. If there is something that you would like they are there to help get it for you without you trying to find out how to get it. The portable phone is a good example you can carry it with you on the ship and if there is something you would like to see, or get its a simple call to either of them. I used both of them extensively from my breakfast in the Cabin, setting up a quite dinner in the Courtyard, to having beverages and snack set up in the Cabin for a gathering of new friends that I made on the Cruise. They both were exceptional on the last cruise so I made sure that there tips reflected there performance.

a lot of this is news to me and i spent a week in a suite on the gem in june. wish the butler had given us a lot more info about what she did and could do. our bump to a suite left me little time to research. we had a 60 sec intro to the suite and she left. our cabin steward,on the other hand,would have tucked me in at night if i'd let him!! he got the bulk of my tip money along with the concierge who was helpful with a wheelchair a couple of days...

Great info, Cabincop! I wondered how on earth a butler could go running all over the ship to different restaurants...how silly of me!

Glad I could help cruisers can learn alot from these boards, someone mentioned a wheelchair request. This take up to 4 depts to arrange it which is all part of the suite experience and tipping. Have a great cruise and enjoy the NCL sweet life you will now be addicted, Maria

I've read again and again in these posts where people "left" $5 or $10 for waitstaff. Mind you, its been a good long while since my last cruise, so things may have changed, but...are you talking about physical cash money? As I recall it, you had a place to sign which had a space for tips. Is that still the case and is signing your tip, as opposed to cash money, somehow less financially rewarding to the staff?

Since your thread is more about tipping, I'll say you are not obligated to tip either of them. It is your choice.

You're not obligated to, but DO keep in mind the butler and concierge are NOT part of the DSC. They have not been tipped already through that system.

DML

Some of the things we plan to use them for...

Concierge...chocolate buffet, shows, and other reservations. Really not an awful lot for the concierge.

Butler...afternoon snacks, meals served in the room, keeping our fridge stocked with mixers and coffee, shoe shining and pressing for our anniversary night, bringing us a blender, delivering our wine to where we'll be having dinner, possibly bringing dessert back to our room for us while we're off to the show... A lot more for that individual.

DML

We tipped the butler, steward and concierge at the end of the trip (NCL helpfully gives you envelopes on your second last day to facilitate this!).

We are both very independent and we didn't stick to any schedule or plan ahead during our cruise, so we found that we barely used the concierge at all - to the extent that he phoned us one day to ask if we were OK as he hadn't seen or heard from us! I asked him to make us a booking at Cagney's that night out of sympathy, but that was the only time we really interacted with him.

Our butler was great, and we were very happy with the service he provided, but again he felt the need to ask us after a few days if we were happy as we hadn't asked him for anything! We got room service breakfast one morning, and that was it.

Perhaps this is an underutilisation of their services, but that's our style of travel and, to be honest, we didn't feel we needed much additional to what was being provided automatically.

Perhaps this is an underutilisation of their services, but that's our style of travel and, to be honest, we didn't feel we needed much additional to what was being provided automatically.

No need to apologize for it or rationalize it. How you travel is how you travel. Some people get suites for the floor space and not the perks. If that's your style of travel, go for it! It works for you. :D

DML

We are taking the plunge for our Alaskan cruise and got the family suite that includes concierge and butler. I keep reading that the concierge is there to help with excursions, but wouldn't you have those already booked prior to sailing? Also, is it possible to contact them before embarkation and have something waiting in the room for our arrival. My family thinks we booked two porthole rooms and this is a surprise for them. I was thinking having my girls favorite candies like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups already waiting for them. Is this possible?

...I keep reading that the concierge is there to help with excursions, but wouldn't you have those already booked prior to sailing? ..

Some people book EVERYTHING in advance. Some wait to see what sort of mood they are in. That can be risky for some excursions, but there are always something available.

We are taking the plunge for our Alaskan cruise and got the family suite that includes concierge and butler. I keep reading that the concierge is there to help with excursions, but wouldn't you have those already booked prior to sailing? Also, is it possible to contact them before embarkation and have something waiting in the room for our arrival. My family thinks we booked two porthole rooms and this is a surprise for them. I was thinking having my girls favorite candies like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups already waiting for them. Is this possible?

When we were on either the Star or Dawn they actually had a separate "excursion concierge" that they wanted you to contact to book excursions. Whether that was one of the regular people at the normal excursion desk, I don't know since we booked all of our excursions ourselves outside of NCL.

..... I can't imagine paying already thousands more for getting that service per person and then turning around to tip them more. I just don't think paying soooooooooo much more for their service.... and then tip then also is worth it. I hope I am not taken wrong...don't want to start WW3 lol!! Maybe if I am more enlightened to just what they do I might appreciate the extra expense. Be easy on me now as I truely believe in tipping

I would just like to point out that depending on a particular cruisers situation, it may not cost more at all for a suite and the benefits. We are a family of 5 so two cabins are necessary. We were looking into 2 connecting balcony cabins for our upcoming Dawn cruise. We found that by booking a family suite with balcony that we can all fit into we are actually saving $400.00 and getting a $300.00 OBC.

As far as what they do to earn the tip I cannot say as this will be a first for us. Just assume that it always more expensive for everyone.

I would just like to point out that depending on a particular cruisers situation, it may not cost more at all for a suite and the benefits. We are a family of 5 so two cabins are necessary. We were looking into 2 connecting balcony cabins for our upcoming Dawn cruise. We found that by booking a family suite with balcony that we can all fit into we are actually saving $400.00 and getting a $300.00 OBC.

 

As far as what they do to earn the tip I cannot say as this will be a first for us. Just don't assume that it always more expensive for everyone.

Obviously that should have been don't assume. For some reason I couldn't edit my post so I had to quote it.

We are taking the plunge for our Alaskan cruise and got the family suite that includes concierge and butler. I keep reading that the concierge is there to help with excursions, but wouldn't you have those already booked prior to sailing? Also, is it possible to contact them before embarkation and have something waiting in the room for our arrival. My family thinks we booked two porthole rooms and this is a surprise for them. I was thinking having my girls favorite candies like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups already waiting for them. Is this possible?

Couple of questions here.

To answer the first, you don't HAVE to do things in advance. We did, and we were sorry we did, since we ended up having the concierge reschedule some things for us last minute. For one thing, you don't know what days the various shows will be on, so setting up (for instance) an evening excursion that may end up being held the same time as a "I don't want to miss..." show on ship is a risk you take when doing things in advance. Unfortunately, they will NOT tell you when onboard events are held in advance, and the schedule is not the same, from week to week.

If you're in a suite with butler and concierge, your concierge absolutely can do excursions for you aboard, if there is still room available for you on the excursions. For that matter, the ShorEx people often can, if you show up at the meeting point for an excursion, but not always. Still a good thing for non-suite guests to know! Someone else said there was a separate concierge for shore excursions, but I suppose that depends on the ship. On the Dawn, we had the concierge, and she would liaise with the ShorEx coordinator for us when we had need of it, but we saw people sign the paperwork to purchase shore excursions from ShorEx right at the meeting point for some excursions.

You can have some things waiting for you in the room, but they aren't as liberal with it as you seem to imagine they are. I found that out by experience. If you want something in the room that they already have on board, you're golden. For instance, you can order one of the bon voyage gifts to be in the room, you can order a special treat that is already on board from the concierge in advance (like cookies or ice cream to celebrate arrival), and you can order things like bottles of booze and/or buckets of beer in advance. But, when I wanted to find out if the butler could put some anniversary decorations and pictures I had up in the room WITH the anniversary decorations I was purchasing from them, I was told to carry them aboard and put them up myself. It wasn't possible, according to NCL, for me to send them ahead and have the butler take care of that.

In the same way, another NCL passenger reported on the forums that she asked if the birthday cake you get with the decoration package could be one that wouldn't set off her son's allergies, assuming that his allergies being listed with the access desk would be enough to have them accommodate. No. It wasn't. She was told the best she could do would be to have everyone else in the room eat the cake and order her son ice cream when they were aboard instead of letting him eat the cake.

Good luck with your trip!

DM Lyons

One of the nicest things Ravi our Butler on the Jewel did for us was to get us a huge bowl of freshly popped popcorn for the Jets playoff game we were going to watch in one of the bars. I just happened to mention to him that we were going to watch the game and asked if he could tell me where i might be able to pick up some popcorn.

 

Right before we left for the game he knocked on the door and handed me a huge bowl full of popcorn. We were very popular at the game.:D

 

As for tipping: On our cruise we set aside $40 per day ($20pp) to split between the Butler & Concierge. We ended up giving the Concierge a bit more because he really went out of his way for us.

 

We also gave our Steward an extra $125, as he did a lot of little things for us and was so sweet. During the week we also left him a couple $5's & $10's when we asked for something extra.

 

We tipped at all restaurants. We usually left $10 for breakfast or lunch at Cagneys (all the staff in Cagneys are wonderful), and $20 or so for dinner at all Specialty restaurants.

We left $10 for dinner in the MDR the 2 times we ate there and in the Blue Lagoon.

 

Tipping is a very personal decision. Some I'm sure tip more and some less,but these amounts are what we were comfortable leaving.

 

Everywhere we went, the staff was polite and smiling and couldn't do enough for us.

MMMD....

Do you believe that your tipping habits are the average for the Butler and Concierge.

On my upcoming 14 day TA cruise, I was planning on a $100 for each.

How do others feel about the average tip they should receive?

Do they receive any other compensation from NCL other than gratuities from the suite guests since they are not part of the "ship pool"?

Given what you and some others (Cabincop) have commented, I am wondering if this is enough. Also, is it wise to provide the gratuity periodically throughout the cruise so they do not feel they may not receive a tip for their efforts during the cruise? Perhaps Cabincop could answer this having the facts on how the system works and the particular butler she has corrsponded with.

Typically, I give my room steward $20 at the beginning of the cruise and $20 at the end.

My wife and I leave a $5 gratuity for both lunch and dinner and sometimes $10 for outstanding service.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Don

MMMD....

 

Do you believe that your tipping habits are the average for the Butler and Concierge.

On my upcoming 14 day TA cruise, I was planning on a $100 for each.

How do others feel about the average tip they should receive?

Do they receive any other compensation from NCL other than gratuities from the suite guests since they are not part of the "ship pool"?

 

Given what you and some others (Cabincop) have commented, I am wondering if this is enough. Also, is it wise to provide the gratuity periodically throughout the cruise so they do not feel they may not receive a tip for their efforts during the cruise? Perhaps Cabincop could answer this having the facts on how the system works and the particular butler she has corrsponded with.

 

Typically, I give my room steward $20 at the beginning of the cruise and $20 at the end.

My wife and I leave a $5 gratuity for both lunch and dinner and sometimes $10 for outstanding service.

 

Thanks everyone for your comments.

 

Don

It is up to you, tip as you feel you should. We have researched this here before, and there is no set answer. We too hope the cruise line gives them a higher base pay... But I dont think anyone knows for sure. We like to have meals in our suite and use our butler once a day or so for this... We pre plan and hardly have a thing for the concerge to do for us... So for us we tip our butler more. We do tip both thou. We start at a pre set amont (ex. 10pp per day for our butler and 5pp per day for our concierge)in an envelope but we add or subtract from them based on our service... And so far it has been adding.I think that it would be nice if the cruiseline gave us a reccomended amount so we would hsve a clue... In the past begore the daily charge they did give suggestions for each level of crew but I dont know what it was for butler/concierge...

It is up to you, tip as you feel you should. We have researched this here before, and there is no set answer. We too hope the cruise line gives them a higher base pay... But I dont think anyone knows for sure. We like to have meals in our suite and use our butler once a day or so for this... We pre plan and hardly have a thing for the concerge to do for us... So for us we tip our butler more. We do tip both thou. We start at a pre set amont (ex. 10pp per day for our butler and 5pp per day for our concierge)in an envelope but we add or subtract from them based on our service... And so far it has been adding.I think that it would be nice if the cruiseline gave us a reccomended amount so we would hsve a clue... In the past begore the daily charge they did give suggestions for each level of crew but I dont know what it was for butler/concierge...

Thank you....

I guess $10 / day for the Butler $5 for the concierge is a good place to start.

My DW will probably have breakfast each day in the suite, but I don't. I prefer the restaurants and being that we can have breakfast in Cagney's, that might change with her as well.

We will probably use the Concierge for reservations for specialty restaurants.

I agree, the cruiselines should provide some guidelines.

There used to be a suggested online gratuity chart for each cruise line that has that information.

Perhaps I saved it on my favorites. :)

Don

NO!!!!! (Sorry, I didn't mean to yell:o). If they list a recommended amount we're all going to feel either 'superior' or 'inadequate' in our tipping. I prefer it just the way it is- no pressure. :cool: