First time in a suite!

[luckyinpa]

Hi, can I get some idea from experienced suite dwellers? How much is a reasonable tip for the butler? I don't want to guess..so a range would be great!

 

Also, what type of things do you ask for in a suite that you wouldn't normally have?

 

Thank you!

 

 

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i gave the steward 100 and butler 50. the steward worked his butt off keeping the clean room and everything we needed. i think steward is a harder job than butler.

 

room service free is nice and bfast on debark day is well worth doing! i loved the pizza and gf loved the chicken nuggets. they will bring you any of your specialty meals if you wish as well. i do think it sucks they dont bring you free drinks but i understand why.

 

also note that ALL rooms can get robes but so many dont ask for them

[teamkern]

Do any of you tip early in the week, or do you all wait until the end of the cruise? I was wondering if it would impact the level of service you received.

 

We are in the AFT suite and wonder as well if that will impact our level of service?

[dexddd]

Do any of you tip early in the week, or do you all wait until the end of the cruise? I was wondering if it would impact the level of service you received.

 

We are in the AFT suite and wonder as well if that will impact our level of service?

 

What ship? Stories vary on the big ships like BA and GA. On the big ships the butlers have to take some things from the forward butler's pantry to the aft so it is a long haul for them.

[sverigecruiser]

Butlers and Concierge are not included in the DSC. If you have a butler, you are expected to tip them separately.

 

 

Since they are not included in the DSC we can assume, I think, that their salary is based on that. NCL could raise the DSC and include the butler and concierge but they have choosen not to do that so I assume that their salary is based on that.

 

I don't think that anyone shall be expected to tip the butler unless they ask for something special. We often eat breakfast in our suite (a first breakfast, we always eat in the restaurant too!) and we tip for that.

 

The same with the concierge, if you don't ask for anything I don't think that a tip is needed.

[wilmingtech]

First of all you will love the suite on an NCL ship. For us it was amazing. We are going back downstairs for our next cruise on RCI and I have to admit its not going to be easy :)

 

The worst part is after they pamper you all week they will throw you out on the last day and you will have to find your own bags and drag them to the car and open the car door yourself and then actually have to drive. If your lucky you'll get a taxi to the airport but you will still be suffering from malnutrition by the time you get home.

 

We are 6. We have 4 kids. Our first Suite experience was in the Haven on the Jewel. And to be honest we had no idea how a butler would be of use to us. We are very self sufficient. We like to do things on our own and having someone wait on us kind of makes us uneasy.

 

The Concierge was a little bit more intriguing to us. Not sure how he/she would be of use to us but thought it would be nice to have someone to at least manage restaurant reservations if we needed to change them.

 

Our Butler was fantastic. He read us like a book. He was out of the way the whole time but whenever we needed something there he was with it. there was a bowl of M&Ms or Gummy bears on our table the whole week. There were always snacks. The kids were going to watch a movie one night and he shows up unasked with candy and bowls of popcorn. I think he appreciated the fact that we didn't use him much and let him do the job he was good at. The kids loved him and he seemed to be part of the family by the time we left.

 

The Concierge on the other hand was pretty useless to us. Actually we would have been better off without him. We showed up early to board (around 10am) and were shown to the Suite waiting area and met the concierge there. It took over 2 hours before we got escorted on to the ship. I'd have rather walked on myself at that point. And then the cards didn't work to scan us onto the ship and they had to take pictures of us at the guest services again when we got on. By the time we got escorted up to Modernos lunch was pretty much over.

 

After lunch we went to go into the Haven and the keys didn't work on that door. Nor did they work on our Suite door. In addition to all this our Concierge was hard to find and when we did see him he seemed overly nervous and running from one place to another. We did try to make some changes to reservations but he ended up making a 2nd reservation without canceling the first one. Speaking with other suite guests we all got the feeling he was new at this job and didn't really have it down yet.

 

In the end (In addition to the $651 of prepaid grats) we tipped our butler $150 for the week, We tipped our room steward another 100$ and tipped the Concierge 50$. This ended up being about 18% of our total cruise fare. Not sure what the correct amount is to tip but both our room steward and butler came and found us on the last day to thank us, hugs from the kids all around.

 

Everyone is bugging me about when our next Haven trip will be....

 

-Sean

[NancyL2]

Thank you...great post! We will be in the Haven on the Jewel this coming September. :)

I'm going to love/enjoy every little perk.

 

 

First of all you will love the suite on an NCL ship. For us it was amazing. We are going back downstairs for our next cruise on RCI and I have to admit its not going to be easy :)

 

The worst part is after they pamper you all week they will throw you out on the last day and you will have to find your own bags and drag them to the car and open the car door yourself and then actually have to drive. If your lucky you'll get a taxi to the airport but you will still be suffering from malnutrition by the time you get home.

 

We are 6. We have 4 kids. Our first Suite experience was in the Haven on the Jewel. And to be honest we had no idea how a butler would be of use to us. We are very self sufficient. We like to do things on our own and having someone wait on us kind of makes us uneasy.

 

The Concierge was a little bit more intriguing to us. Not sure how he/she would be of use to us but thought it would be nice to have someone to at least manage restaurant reservations if we needed to change them.

 

Our Butler was fantastic. He read us like a book. He was out of the way the whole time but whenever we needed something there he was with it. there was a bowl of M&Ms or Gummy bears on our table the whole week. There were always snacks. The kids were going to watch a movie one night and he shows up unasked with candy and bowls of popcorn. I think he appreciated the fact that we didn't use him much and let him do the job he was good at. The kids loved him and he seemed to be part of the family by the time we left.

 

The Concierge on the other hand was pretty useless to us. Actually we would have been better off without him. We showed up early to board (around 10am) and were shown to the Suite waiting area and met the concierge there. It took over 2 hours before we got escorted on to the ship. I'd have rather walked on myself at that point. And then the cards didn't work to scan us onto the ship and they had to take pictures of us at the guest services again when we got on. By the time we got escorted up to Modernos lunch was pretty much over.

 

After lunch we went to go into the Haven and the keys didn't work on that door. Nor did they work on our Suite door. In addition to all this our Concierge was hard to find and when we did see him he seemed overly nervous and running from one place to another. We did try to make some changes to reservations but he ended up making a 2nd reservation without canceling the first one. Speaking with other suite guests we all got the feeling he was new at this job and didn't really have it down yet.

 

In the end (In addition to the $651 of prepaid grats) we tipped our butler $150 for the week, We tipped our room steward another 100$ and tipped the Concierge 50$. This ended up being about 18% of our total cruise fare. Not sure what the correct amount is to tip but both our room steward and butler came and found us on the last day to thank us, hugs from the kids all around.

 

Everyone is bugging me about when our next Haven trip will be....

 

-Sean

[bbryan5]

Butlers and Concierge are not included in the DSC. If you have a butler, you are expected to tip them separately.

 

 

but not REQUIRED to