Can you book a suite without having butler service

[Ewoodspark]

We have only had cruises with a balcony, but have wondered whether paying the extra for a suite would be beneficial or not.

Our problem however, is that as far as we can see, a suite comes with butler and concierge service. We could not think of anything worse than to have a butler to look after us and we do not even understand what a concierge actually does.

Does anybody know therefore if you can book an NCL cruise in a suite WITHOUT having butler or concierge service. We would love the extra space without the interference from a butler.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Ewoodspark
spelling

[cruisecritiquer]

What are your concerns about the butler? Ours basically brought us breakfast in room when we requested it, set up our room for dinner when we wanted to eat in cabin one evening. He also brought all kinds of treats and left them in our room when we weren't there. He didn't hover but he was there when we needed him. We had a cell phone so we could call him when it was necessary.

 

The concierge.... He gets you onto the ship ahead of everyone else...you get an escort past all those long lines of people and they whisk you away as VIP. He can obtain reservations at restaurants that don't have reservations available, he can get you prime seating 15-30 minutes before a show starts and the crowd shows up, and you can also call him from anywhere in the ship if you decide you want to do something particular at your whim...For example, after we got out of the Blue Man Group on Epic...we wanted to eat dinner at a specialty restaurant but they were booked. We were content to wait but DH called our concierge just to ask if he could make reservations for us later and we were seated in 5 minutes. It was great! You pay for the service so don't feel badly about using it.

 

If none of that sounds appealing, I'm sure you can instruct your butler and concierge to cease and desist when you get there but your pricing wont' be any different. If you've never had a butler/concierge...enjoy the perk. Or you can just book a cruise on my ship...we have minisuites this time around and instruct him to come to my cabin. LOL I know what to do with him.

Edited September 14, 2014 by cruisecritiquer

[Ewoodspark]

Our concerns are exactly what you say a butler provides. We would not want to be "looked after" in this way whatsoever. Also when you explain what a concierge actually does, it sounds like you are treated as somebody special, like as you say a VIP. We understand that the cost of a suite would be the same, but all we would want is the additional space without being treated as somebody special.

[FireEater]

You sure can. Just don't use them. They come as a package deal with suites.

 

A butler is like a room service deliverer. You call room service, your butler gets the job of delivering anyways. Just do not call for room service or ask him for anything while you are on board.

 

Same goes for your concierge. No Call, no use.

[FireEater]

Price is the same either way.

Edited September 14, 2014 by FireEater

[hpecorari]

You sure can. Just don't use them. They come as a package deal with suites.

 

A butler is like a room service deliverer. You call room service, your butler gets the job of delivering anyways. Just do not call for room service or ask him for anything while you are on board.

 

Same goes for your concierge. No Call, no use.

 

The butler also delivers the daily room snacks so they'd have to tell them they don't want them.

 

The butler also delivers the coffee/tea/etc. so they'd have to tell them not to replenish that as well.

 

And, of course, they both get tipped - depending on what they do and how you use them as they are not apart of the DSC.

 

Harriet

[goldmom]

OK, not quite sure why you wouldn't want the extras since you paid for them but that would certainly be your choice. We wouldn't want a butler who hovered and on our cruises are butlers have been very non-intrusive.

 

Basically they would bring us treats in the afternoon. that's pretty much all we asked from them.

 

Now the butler does also replenish and tend to the wonderful coffee maker in the room. Since you don't want the services of the butler, would this mean that you wouldn't use the coffee maker?

 

As far as the Concierge, if you'd rather wait in line for an hour rather than use the services of the Concierge then that is certainly your choice.

 

Basically, we've found that the staff will do as much or as little as you want. And I really think that you would not even realize that the staff is tending to you unless you specifically asked them for something or went to the designated area to bypass the lines.

[dongordon]

What are your concerns about the butler? Ours basically brought us breakfast in room when we requested it, set up our room for dinner when we wanted to eat in cabin one evening. He also brought all kinds of treats and left them in our room when we weren't there. He didn't hover but he was there when we needed him. We had a cell phone so we could call him when it was necessary.

 

The concierge.... He gets you onto the ship ahead of everyone else...you get an escort past all those long lines of people and they whisk you away as VIP. He can obtain reservations at restaurants that don't have reservations available, he can get you prime seating 15-30 minutes before a show starts and the crowd shows up, and you can also call him from anywhere in the ship if you decide you want to do something particular at your whim...For example, after we got out of the Blue Man Group on Epic...we wanted to eat dinner at a specialty restaurant but they were booked. We were content to wait but DH called our concierge just to ask if he could make reservations for us later and we were seated in 5 minutes. It was great! You pay for the service so don't feel badly about using it.

 

If none of that sounds appealing, I'm sure you can instruct your butler and concierge to cease and desist when you get there but your pricing wont' be any different. If you've never had a butler/concierge...enjoy the perk. Or you can just book a cruise on my ship...we have minisuites this time around and instruct him to come to my cabin. LOL I know what to do with him.

 

Everything you said is true! :)

I have been fortunate to have a suite 3 times in my cruising history (for special celebratory occassions with my family)....and those times were very special, thanks to our butler and concierge.

 

For example:

The butler provided my DW and me with an intimate dinner celebrating our anniversary in our suite and helped organize a few cocktail parties with all the "fixins."

The concierge provided "VIP Service" making it easy to book restaurant reservations (and change them) that fit into our evening activities for what ever time we requested.

He even came over to us during dinner to check on us to make sure we were enjoying our cruise experience. It just makes the cruising experience that much more enjoyable.

I wish I could always cruise in a suite!! :D

These two individuals make the cruising experience "very special!" :)

 

Don

[NH Cruisers]

How could you not like coming into your room at night and seeing chocolate covered strawberrys? Afternoon snacks? Coffee ready to go? It would suck to have that nice coffee maker and have no water in it and no coffee availiable.

 

I think you have the wrong impression of the service. You don't want to skip the lines? Have priority seating?

 

The Butler is as non-intrusive as your room steward. Maybe you could for go him too, make your own bed.

 

Like others said, just decline their services.

 

To me, the suites are worth the price because of the Butler and concierge.

 

Each his own.

[cruisecritiquer]

Our concerns are exactly what you say a butler provides. We would not want to be "looked after" in this way whatsoever. Also when you explain what a concierge actually does, it sounds like you are treated as somebody special, like as you say a VIP. We understand that the cost of a suite would be the same, but all we would want is the additional space without being treated as somebody special.

 

Well that is certainly your right and it's not necessary that anyone else understand that. You just tell them you will not require their services during the cruise and respectfully ask them to stand down. I'm sure they won't mind one less cabin to tend to. Do consider all the peripheral services you'd be giving up...like the ones other posters have already covered. I liked having my coffee/tea options refilled everyday and coming back to a bottle of chilled champagne. You, of course, don't have to eat in the cabin if you don't want to. We ate breakfast on sea days when we just wanted to lounge around a bit without seeing the crowds so early and on disembarkation day which made things much easier and less hectic. I liked coming back to strawberries, cookies, M&M's, chocolates, etc. wish I was there right now. lol...But, again to each their own. Don't stress about it too much. They won't force themselves on you.

Edited September 14, 2014 by cruisecritiquer

[garycarla]

If you ask NOTHING of the butler,you will barely see them.

 

Sort of like when we go to most regular hotels and put the DO NOT DISTURB sign up as we really do not need their assistance.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Another option to consider would be a minisuite. You'd have a bit more space, a bathtub, but no butler---concierge service.

 

There would be a regular coffee maker on the dresser, which you operate by yourself, and bathrobes.

 

Or take the suite and keep the Do Not Disturb sign facing on the wheel outside your door. No one should enter then.

[mizLORInj]

You can absolutely enjoy your cruise with minimal use of butler or concierge. I agree that I like suites for the extra space and large balcony. We hardly use the butler or concierge. The butler does, as others have said, deliver snacks or room service. He or she also makes sure the coffee machine and mini bar stay stocked. Last cruise was asked the butler to skip tea replenishment for our Lavazza machine and bring regular coffee pods only, which he did.

I hope you have a great cruise. Your really can keep to yourself if you choose and enjoy the space of a suite. Love the GEM.

Edited September 14, 2014 by mizlorinj

[Hairbybelaire]

Butlers will not bother you if you so request.

[Out to sea!]

I don't see how the price would be the same. I have to assume that the butler is not also your cabin steward (cabin steward is in the DSC) so if when you board you tell your butler and concierge that you will not be needing their services for the cruise and do not tip them accordingly. Your cabin will still be cleaned daily by the cabin steward and the cost will be the same as for any other cabin on the ship.

[cruiser1955a]

We sailed in a suite in mid August. We didn't make any special requests from the butler, and we only saw him on the first, and last day.

 

The butler does replenish your coffee, tea, and silver/china. He also brings the afternoon snacks each day.

 

We feel the same as you. We have no need for the snacks. They only fill us up just before dinner. You could decline the snacks, but he still needs to replenish items in the suite each day. No matter how little he did for us, we still felt that a tip was necessary.

 

The concierge provides services only at your request. You'll see him/her daily when you enter Cagney's for breakfast or lunch, but other than that, they don't bother you.

 

This was our third suite experience (all on the Dawn). On previous cruises, the butler did stop by each day to see if we wanted anything.

 

Keep one thing in mind......

Once you experience the "Suite life", you'll never want to go back to an inside cabin, butler or no butler !

[NLH Arizona]

We have only had cruises with a balcony, but have wondered whether paying the extra for a suite would be beneficial or not.

Our problem however, is that as far as we can see, a suite comes with butler and concierge service. We could not think of anything worse than to have a butler to look after us and we do not even understand what a concierge actually does.

Does anybody know therefore if you can book an NCL cruise in a suite WITHOUT having butler or concierge service. We would love the extra space without the interference from a butler.

I'm very low maintenance, so the Butler did very little for me, but did everything I asked for. I wasn't looked after or smothered and he was never intrusive, but I knew to call him if I needed anything. On the last day, I actually had to make up a reason for him to come to my cabin, so I could give him his tip.

 

If you don't want any services, just tell your Butler upfront (first day when you meet him), so that he can spend is valuable time with the other guests.

Edited September 14, 2014 by NLH Arizona

[warringtonian]

As others have said, the butler and concierge will leave you alone if thats what you want. We have been on cruises where we hardly saw them except at the beginning when they introduced themselves.

[DaisyGoldberg]

We don't use the concierge for dinner reservations and such but I find them invaluable for bypassing lines for customs and express disembarkation. When a line literally circles the ship and you can wait in a lounge then quickly walk through in five minutes... That's pretty great. On the last day we met in the lounge at 8:45 and were off the ship at 9:02.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

We have only had cruises with a balcony, but have wondered whether paying the extra for a suite would be beneficial or not.

Our problem however, is that as far as we can see, a suite comes with butler and concierge service. We could not think of anything worse than to have a butler to look after us and we do not even understand what a concierge actually does.

Does anybody know therefore if you can book an NCL cruise in a suite WITHOUT having butler or concierge service. We would love the extra space without the interference from a butler.

 

 

Thank you for asking this question. I've wondered the same thing. I can see why people enjoy the services of a butler or concierge, but I can't imagine asking someone (even though it's his job) to serve me a meal in my cabin. Just not my style. I've been in suites (not on NCL) and enjoyed the extra space. If DD comes along with me on an NCL cruise I may consider a suite now that I know a little more about the services they provide and that it's just as easy to not use them. Like you, I would not want most of the services they provide. :o

[Fishbait17]

Thank you for asking this question. I've wondered the same thing. I can see why people enjoy the services of a butler or concierge, but I can't imagine asking someone (even though it's his job) to serve me a meal in my cabin. Just not my style. I've been in suites (not on NCL) and enjoyed the extra space. If DD comes along with me on an NCL cruise I may consider a suite now that I know a little more about the services they provide and that it's just as easy to not use them. Like you, I would not want most of the services they provide. :o

 

Absolutely, you can use them as little as you'd like. But having a meal in your suite is not as big a deal as you might think. We have only had a few dinners in our suite on our many suite sailings, but we often have some breakfast delivered. Breakfast by butler is no different than ordering room service in a regular cabin or hotel room. We basically leave the "hang tag" order on the doorknob at night, and then he simply brings it in the morning at the requested time. It could be a pot of coffee and a few pastries, or fruit, or plates of eggs and bacon, but absolutely no different than ordering a pot of coffee and pastries to an inside cabin.

 

Keep in mind, though, that even if you request nothing from your butler or concierge, there are many things that they do that are simply part of the suite experience and would be hard to avoid. For example, the concierge takes care of your embarkation, priority disembarkation if you want it, bringing your priority luggage tags for disembarkation, etc, and unless you purposely ask for these things NOT to happen, they will happen automatically. He/she also organizes and runs the suites cocktail party (where you will often find your butler serving drinks and canapés), sometimes bridge tours, escorting you (as a group) to the best seats for some shows on some ships, and offers of other special experiences - so you would also have to purposely skip such events or ask for no invitations to completely avoid having the "concierge" experience.

 

We have found that for both the concierge and the butler, we don't ask much of them. But it's nice to know that these ala carte services are offered if we do decide to utilize them - like theater seating, a last minute dinner reservation in a restaurant that shows "full", or breakfast in our suite on a hectic port morning when four or six of us are trying to get out the door quickly. We have never had dinner in our suite served "course-by-course", more like we order a pizza or plates of pasta and thouGh the butler delivers them, it's no different than getting the same pizza in an inside cabin. We have never had our butler unpack or repack for us, never had him escort us anywhere, never had him deliver us anything anywhere else on the ship (like you would sometimes read in this forum). We usually skip the suites cocktail party, the bridge tours, and even breakfast and lunch at Cagney's, and we only sometimes eat the afternoon snacks, but still enjoy knowing these perks are available if we decide we'd like them. Hubby sometimes enjoys suite seating in the theater, because when he goes, he generally attends alone and this way he doesn't have to go early and sit alone for a long time to get a seat. So, even though we don't request a whole lot, and sometimes hardly even see our butler or concierge, we do utilize their services in many ways. Hope that makes sense!

 

Robin

Edited September 14, 2014 by Fishbait17

[mypleasure]

Like you we usually sail in balcony cabins. On our last cruise the hotel director very kindly gave us VIP priviliges. We didn't have the butler as such but one came everyday with a plate of something late in the afternoon. We started looking forward to the knock at the door or if we were out we were quite excited to see what treat had arrived. Such a small thing but we loved it and we used to enjoy a moment with them.

 

The concierge was lovely. Right from when we checked in as "ordinary" passengers and were told by the clerk to follow her to the VIP area where we met her. She just wanted to do things for us and we very much enjoyed her services and her company. She painlessly did a couple of reservations for us and one morning when we were in the line to disembark she pulled us out and led us off the ship. It was just nice knowing she was there and could help if we wanted her to but most of the time we were content to do things ourselves. I'm all about independence and didn't want to cause work for anyone when it was just a two minute job for me.

 

I don't think they are intrusive at all. If you don't want their help they are happy and if you do they are also happy. They are used to dealing with all types of folks from the demanding and needy to the undemanding. Book the suite, use the perks you want to use and not those you don't want or need. You are free to do it your own way.

[gdy0354]

We were in a suite on the Dawn and traveling with a 17 month old.The first day we asked one thing of the concierge. Could the grandmother of the little girl join the five of us in the suite for breakfast in Cagneys. She said no, it is only for suite guests but for $99 there was a pkg where she could join us. Thanks.There are rules but that small request not granted made me decide she was not going to be any use to me.We never went back to Cagneys as we found the buffet had a much larger selection of food. Other than to set up supper time in MDR really did not use butler for anything. yes he did fill coffee and bring some snacks but I. think the cabin man could have refilled the coffee and forget about the snacks.

[NLH Arizona]

We were in a suite on the Dawn and traveling with a 17 month old.The first day we asked one thing of the concierge. Could the grandmother of the little girl join the five of us in the suite for breakfast in Cagneys. She said no, it is only for suite guests but for $99 there was a pkg where she could join us. Thanks.There are rules but that small request not granted made me decide she was not going to be any use to me.We never went back to Cagneys as we found the buffet had a much larger selection of food. Other than to set up supper time in MDR really did not use butler for anything. yes he did fill coffee and bring some snacks but I. think the cabin man could have refilled the coffee and forget about the snacks.

I've seen a lot of posts where someone wants to bring their family members to Cagneys who are not in suites. Now, if each request (and I'm sure they are all as important to them, as yours was to you) were granted, then there would be no room for the passengers, like me, who pay for the privilege to eat breakfast in Cagneys by booking a suite. Sorry, you didn't feel that the Concierge was going to be of no use to you based on her upholding the policies of the ship. Edited September 14, 2014 by NLH Arizona

[gdy0354]

It was the response that she could eat with the 17 month old if she paid $99. That is what irritated me. She would still take up a seat in the dining room either way, which was maybe 10% occupied .