What are the BEST perks of having a butler?

[fleckle]

Over the years, we have found that our butlers more and more often ask if we want help with the packing and , to a lesser extent, unpacking. My guess (but, then, I am a cynic) is that no one actually requests the service. However, it is certainly not something you can request so that you can explore the ship. You have to be there at the time.

 

We have found as the years go by that they are offering to help us more and more.

We probably look more and more like we need help with each passing year, especially to the young butlers and stateroom attendants, but of course they are too polite to say that.

 

Then again, I have to remember that there was a time when I myself thought anyone over 40 was old, and anyone over 50 was ancient!

 

 

We have only done one B2B but we did have to switch from one M-class PH to the other, next door, because we upgraded very late.

I am sitting here grinning, just thinking how many of us here reading this would love to have your "problem" of needing to switch from one PH to the other one right next door. :D

 

I took along a pack of the cheapest swing bin (trash can?) liners and in the last few days of the first cruise, gradually put everything in drawers in the bags. On the last morning, I just transferred these bags to our suit cases. We left all hanging items in the wardrobes.

There is really no need to bring your own bin liners as they are readily available on the ship. We just ask our stateroom attendant for some, and they always leave us plenty.

 

That makes it easy to transfer the contents of each drawer or shelf into bags that go into a suitcase, and from there directly into the corresponding drawer or shelf in the next cabin, so no need to sort out individual items.

 

The stateroom attendants also leave us some of the large drawstring bags, the kind they use for linens.

Those are also very handy because we just toss in loose items, like shoes, books, magazines, and don't need to pack them. They place the large bags right on the trolley to transfer them from one cabin to the next.

 

My suggestion is that you speak to your butler early about the switch as ask how he thinks it is best achieved.

I agree, but since we don't always book suites, we don't always have a butler.

So instead we speak with the stateroom attendants of both the old and new staterooms, and between them they usually coordinate the move very nicely.

 

 

On one B2B though, there was an exception. We were staying on the ship that day and had plenty of time before the B2B meeting, which is usually scheduled for around the time that the last departing passengers are leaving the ship, about 9:30 - 10:00.

 

Our stateroom attendant was very busy, and told us that he would bring the trolley around in about a half-hour to move our things. We were waiting, as we like to be there when they do the move to be sure nothing is left behind or falls off the trolley en route.

 

When the half-hour had passed and there was no sign of him, I decided to start moving a few things myself, having nothing better to do.

 

Then I moved a few more things, and then a few more.

It was actually quite easy to do as both cabins were close to the same elevator bank, on different decks. Most of the departing passengers were already off the ship by then so the elevators were readily available.

 

Taking a little at a time, eventually I had everything moved. It took me less than a half-hour in all, and there was still no sign of our stateroom attendant, who probably got tied up somewhere since the turnaround day is always hectic.

 

We always give extra tips to the people who move us when we need to change cabins. I think you can guess who got the extra tips that time. ;)

 

 

Edited September 23, 2016 by fleckle

[need2bespoiled]

Yes Jenna has hosted some very good parties which I have been lucky enough to attend. The marinated pineapple drinks went down very easily.

 

Shame we are on a later cruise on the Constellation then you. It would have been great catching up with you both again.

 

Anita

 

Oh, Anita, thanks! How are you? When do you board Connstellation? Some friends of ours you may have met last December will be onboard into Decemebr and likely to entertain. They "stole" my pineapple idea so you may yet again see it appear ;) You'd recognize them in Michaels a Club I'm sure.

 

In our various sailings we've have had one poor butler, one fair butler, a number of good butlers and mostly great butlers. The poor butler we had replaced as it was not working out for us, it was his first or one of his first cruises. We simply let the Michaels Club concierge know. He was nice enough, but just not able to do the job, and we were not the only ones. The crew adjusted and he became what seemed to be s butlers helper, running for laundry and things while the more experienced butlers took over more cabins. Not ideal but it worked. We saw him again on a later cruise, hopefully he had received additional training. Remember, while many butler do a great job, if you don't see for some things, they may not know your preferences. Being "mind readers" is only guessing so while great butlers will take your ideas and preferences and run with them, you need to give them somewhere to start.

 

The poor butler was on a short cruise on Century so we didn't care much.

 

Other butlers have always accommodated requests or gone further but we also know what we like and what we can expect and aren't afraid to ask and nudge. While I understand it should not be the case, we find the service, not just from the butler, but from much of the staff does improve the higher the level of cabin. It is nothing concrete but you can feel it. Utogs reservation issues is obviously not ok, regardless of the cabin type, but we don't have a problem being left a note if we're not in when something needs to be communicated. i don't feel one should compare the butlers on luxury lines to mass market lines. That leaves one to compare NCL and mor recently MSC (Yacht Club) and very recently RCI (Genies). While we have found it varries butler to butler it also had improved quite a bit since Celebrity upped their suite program with Michaels Club so it compares easily to our previous experience on NCL. I can't say I can compare to Oceana or the luxury lines that include butlers in some or all cabins as I havent been able to convince the other half to try them, but we will, eventually.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[bigbenboys]

Oh, where to start...

 

Only have to let them know your preferences once or twice, and it just happens.

 

Our daily orders are to alternate cheese and crackers with shrimp cocktail each evening, so we hve nibbles as we get ready for dinner, much better than the little sandwhiches

 

We have a daily, standing order for our Cafe Latte in a carafe on the table with pastries so when we wake, it is there, some port days we adjust the time, this works best in a suite with a seperate bedroom, but works otherwise

 

Breakfast in the cabin on port days, with table cloth, set table so we eat on the balcony, as we enter port

 

Ability to have english tear (with scones and cream) as desired

 

Ability to order special request food

 

Get that last minute press or wash done

 

between Michael's Club and the butler never having to go nd wait in line at guest relations

 

But it is very nice to have one person, or a very small team to make even small requests too that are in tuned to the details and things we need to make our vacations special

 

I am sure I will think of more ;)

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

 

As it comes to Suites we have only booked Sky Suites and have cruised 2 times in suites and one more booked in January 2017. We just got back from our cruise Amsterdam to Rome. In March our butler would set up breakfast each day on the balcony with table cloth and pour our coffee. Our last cruise the butler did not do the table cloth or pour coffee.

 

At least on our last cruise in a Sky Suite (Sept 2016) we never had afternoon tea or appetizers in our cabin. They moved this daily service to Michael's Club from 4pm to 5pm. Was this change fleet wide for all suites?

[benjoon]

Oh, Anita, thanks! How are you? When do you board Connstellation? Some friends of ours you may have met last December will be onboard into Decemebr and likely to entertain. They "stole" my pineapple idea so you may yet again see it appear ;)

 

 

We are leave on Jan 11th through to Singapore. We wouldn't mind having Godfrey as our Butler again. He was very helpful especially when Sav got locked in the bathroom. He was hoping to change to the Constellation as it visits Goa where he is from.

 

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[Caribbean Chris]

The only urgent thing I need to know upon embarking is where and IF the ship has placed a pre-arranged relief station for my service dog. (Location varies.) On some cruise lines, this is a simple stop at the front desk and a fast answer.

 

On Constellation, my first X cruise after acquiring the dog, no one knew...after striking out several times, we eventually asked the butler to help find this information. She had never heard of a service dog being on a ship and said we could help her learn how all this works. Lots of giggling. She came back and told us housekeeping would call us and advise. We pursued housekeeping ourselves until someone finally gave us our answer.

 

On Reflection a year later, the ship had a false bomb scare that locked down the terminal and delayed boarding/departure. When we arrived at our stateroom, Keegan met us at the door and told us he would escort us to the dog's relief box location immediately. That was the only time we had any requests, and we were grateful to him.

 

Big difference. The first X butler made one call, shrugged off our needs and understood her role as being friendly and bringing cookies every day.

 

The second butler understood his role as taking ownership of a small issue (large to a passenger) and eliminating unanswered questions. He went the extra mile to make his passengers have the best possible experience on board.

 

Life is like that - some people get the big picture and are professionals in any job situation, others don't understand why the other guy gets promoted...or better tips. Looking forward to meeting this year's butler.

Edited September 23, 2016 by Caribbean Chris

[need2bespoiled]

We are leave on Jan 11th through to Singapore. We wouldn't mind having Godfrey as our Butler again. He was very helpful especially when Sav got locked in the bathroom. He was hoping to change to the Constellation as it visits Goa where he is from.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

 

Godfrey was very nice when he assisted our butler :)

 

The only urgent thing I need to know upon embarking is where and IF the ship has placed a pre-arranged relief station for my service dog. (Location varies.) On some cruise lines, this is a simple stop at the front desk and a fast answer.

 

On Constellation, my first X cruise after acquiring the dog, no one knew...after striking out several times, we eventually asked the butler to help find this information. She had never heard of a service dog being on a ship and said we could help her learn how all this works. Lots of giggling. She came back and told us housekeeping would call us and advise. We pursued housekeeping ourselves until someone finally gave us our answer.

 

On Reflection a year later, the ship had a false bomb scare that locked down the terminal and delayed boarding/departure. When we arrived at our stateroom, Keegan met us at the door and told us he would escort us to the dog's relief box location immediately. That was the only time we had any requests, and we were grateful to him.

 

Big difference. The first X butler made one call, shrugged off our needs and understood her role as being friendly and bringing cookies every day.

 

The second butler understood his role as taking ownership of a small issue (large to a passenger) and eliminating unanswered questions. He went the extra mile to make his passengers have the best possible experience on board.

 

Life is like that - some people get the big picture and are professionals in any job situation, others don't understand why the other guy gets promoted...or better tips. Looking forward to meeting this year's butler.

 

I think these two cruises also split from when the Butler position was moved from a position in the Housekeeping department, to a position in the Guest Relations department? Now that butlers essential work under the Michael's Club Concierge (who is an officier), they are in Guest Relations and much more flexible and able to help. Our best butlers really knew how to make special F&B "happen".

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[ICANTWAITTOCRUISE]

We have only been in a suite once, and it was a Skye Suite. We loved the experience more for Michaels and Luminae than the butler. While I would not consider it worth complaining about, several times when we called the number he told us to call, he wasn't available. The person who answered the phone sort of chuckled and said he was busy. It wasn't a big deal because it was in the first few days and wasn't for anything super important. We just never were sure when we were supposed to ask for those things like coffee in the morning, or dinner on the balcony as he never came around except the first day.

 

He was an older gentleman and may just have been overworked.

 

We did attempt to have seating at the show one night, only because we like good seats and our dinner time would have not allowed us to get good seats. Unfortunately we misunderstood where the butlers meet their guests and once we figured it out they were all gone (I guess we were too late, as it was almost show time).

 

Again, it was certainly not a bad experience, and we loved the suite experience overall, and will be returning to a Sky Suite in April.

 

We did and are doing another back to back with a non-suite the first week. The move was so easy for us and though it is a budgetary decision, it was really fun to look forward to the suite and a completely different restaurant the 2nd week. Plus it gave us the opportunity to go to all the specialty restaurants, which we love, but would not do when we are able to eat in Luminae. It is the best of both for us!

[JoieNsk]

So I am guessing you did not (do not) sail in a suite so as to enjoy the services of a butler!

 

That is my question for you and others on this thread -- do you choose suites in order to have a butler, or for other reasons? Don't want to hijack the thread, but if posters could speak to this question along with the OP's question, I am interested.

 

We booked suites on two cruises. But not for the butler. In a way having a butler makes us both (me and my husband) feel a little uncomfortable, as we are low maintenance people in general. I would hate somebody to "serve" me - you know.

 

But the first cruise we booked the suite for is our 10 year anniversary, and I liked to make it special - with Jacuzzi on the balcony, in-room fine dining and stuff like that.

 

The second cruise we booked in a suite - we are taking our daughter on graduation cruise (she graduates from high school and I graduate from medical program in the summer), and the reason we booked a suite on NCL - as it is 9 days and we like separate bedrooms, two bathrooms, more space and being in separate Haven area on the predictably crowded cruise during summer vacation. Also the thing that we can get on and off the ship without waiting in line - that is priceless for a cruise like this for us.

 

So we don't care about the butler, but we like other perks coming with the suite. So it's worth for us to pay for them - sometimes :)

Edited September 23, 2016 by JoieNsk

[Chunky2219]

Best thing - I once boarded with a bottle of caffeine-free diet coke in my bag to finish off. I left the empty bottle in the suite. By the time we'd returned after lunch the butler had found every can and bottle of caffiene-free on the ship and had cleared out the normal stuff from the fridge and re-loaded with my tipple. He kept the rest on one side for refills. That sort of attention makes you appreciate just how good they are at the job.

 

Next best thing - boarding a ship we'd been on three years earlier, but this time with a suite on a different deck at the other end of the ship. Three days into the voyage our "old" butler spotted us by the lift, she ran over, gave us two big hugs and addressed us by name. I'm hard pushed to remember my own name, let alone that of someone I met at work for a brief period sevearal years ago. I now make a note of who we had as wait staff and butlers and pull it out before we sail. You can't imagine how pleased the staff are to be remembered by name once in a while.

 

 

 

.

[graceswan]

I like the special line for debarking. There was quite a line waiting to exit when we got of the ship, and we just hung to the left in the suite line and breezed right through.

[Caribbean Chris]

I think these two cruises also split from when the Butler position was moved from a position in the Housekeeping department, to a position in the Guest Relations department? Now that butlers essential work under the Michael's Club Concierge (who is an officier), they are in Guest Relations and much more flexible and able to help. Our best butlers really knew how to make special F&B "happen".

Happy sailing,

Jenna

 

Thanks, Jenna. That's interesting and good to know. I wasn't aware that the Butlers work under the MC concierge now.

Edited September 23, 2016 by Caribbean Chris

[johhnnyt]

If you are part of the cabin crawl, he/she can put out some goodies. My DH and I had wonderful treats for our anniversary, along with a fantastic cake. Also, they can share the different menus from Luminae and Blu. I wouldn't hesitate to ask them for anything that you may want or just information...

 

 

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I've been lucky enough to have a suite a few times, but really have a hard time using the butler for much of anything. Twice when I had a celebrity Suite, the butler specifically asked me 'I must be able to do something to help you Mr John' , but said 'No, I'm good' both times.

 

On the second time though a few days later we were having a cabin crawl, so did ask him if he could put out some snacks. He had suggested I also include the bottles of champagne/wine that I had received as gifts, so I said great.

 

Day of the cabin crawl, I was going to go up and get some sun, and he said he would set up the room. I came back a few hours later and he had set up a table with a white tablecloth with fresh fruit, pyramid of glasses for the wine and champagne (now all chilled), had brought in juices and water as well.

 

He had also set up trays of snacks, shrimp, and crudités. He stayed during the cabin crawl and poured wine and champagne for all the guests that came through. Was really astounding.

 

I gave him a well deserved extra $100 the next day (generally I give $20/day extra for the butler) , and couldn't thank him enough for such a great job