Ncl Butler Tipping

[modern]

We are going on the NCL Dawn in 2019, a seven day cruise, and are staying in the 3 bedroom garden villa. We will have a butler and I was wonder how much to tip the butler? If anyone has stayed in the room and has an idea that would be great, or if you know how much to tip that would help too.

[BirdTravels]

When people ask,,,,

 

Butler: $10-$15 per person in room per day of cruise.

 

 

Concierge: $5-$10 per person in room per day of cruise.

 

 

Steward (who is covered by the DSC): $5-$10 per person in room per day of cruise extra to service your large room

[ColeThornton]

I'm of the opinion that you should tip the Butler/Concierge based on how much service they give you. Tip based on your budget and what you feel they went over and above to do. Remember you are already paying for Butler services with your higher fare.

[BostonGal35]

I'm of the opinion that you should tip the Butler/Concierge based on how much service they give you. Tip based on your budget and what you feel they went over and above to do. Remember you are already paying for Butler services with your higher fare.

 

 

this.

we give the concierge perhaps $10 for the entire week. we never use them, as we book all of our own shows and dinners at the 90 day mark.

[modern]

When people ask,,,,

 

Butler: $10-$15 per person in room per day of cruise.

 

 

Concierge: $5-$10 per person in room per day of cruise.

 

 

Steward (who is covered by the DSC): $5-$10 per person in room per day of cruise extra to service your large room

 

 

Thank you for your input.

[modern]

I'm of the opinion that you should tip the Butler/Concierge based on how much service they give you. Tip based on your budget and what you feel they went over and above to do. Remember you are already paying for Butler services with your higher fare.

 

 

Thank you for your input.

[modern]

this.

we give the concierge perhaps $10 for the entire week. we never use them, as we book all of our own shows and dinners at the 90 day mark.

 

 

Thank you for your input.

[valleyvillage]

Have a great cruise! We have tipped our butlers as little as 10 pp/day and as much as $300.00 because we were wowed! You'll know!

Bon voyage!

[pcakes122]

Obviously a well-debated topic, but every time I see the $10-15/pp per day, etc. it really irks me. This "guideline" that is repeated over and over whenever this question is asked is absolutely NOT a guideline that NCL has established, or that working butlers, concierges & stewards have suggested is what THEY think is a "good tip", etc. Someone, somewhere, sometime long ago posted that either on CC or another forum and it has now somehow become adopted as the "accepted" guidelines.

 

First, I have posted in the past that I usually travel solo and I usually tip my butler say $150 for a week and $200 for a longer cruise. I use my butler ALOT, but if I didn't I would probably tip $100. That said, (and I don't think this is an "act") EVERY butler I have tipped on my many cruises has accepted my tip with WIDE eyes and profuse thanks. As if it was a GREAT tip. So, I don't think everyone is giving them $10-15 per person per day. Which is FINE.

 

I know why people ask - it's because they want to make sure they are doing the "right thing." But people, TRUST YOUR GUT. You know, based on your lifestyle and finances, what YOU think is a appropriate tip for good service. Some people tip their mailman at Christmas with home-baked cookies, some give a coffee gift card and some give $100 bill. It is ALL good and I am sure ALL appreciated.

 

During your cruise you will develop a relationship with your butler, steward and concierge. Based on that, at the end of the week, you will KNOW what "feels right" to express your appreciation. And it WILL be just right!

 

Please, can we stop with counting heads and doing math to calculate "proper" tips based on some long-ago post?

 

And if YOU tip $500, that doesn't mean EVERYONE has to - or otherwise they are "cheap" and don't appreciate hard work and good service.

 

I know this rant won't change anything, but I just had to vent!

[BNBR]

When people ask,,,,

 

Butler: $10-$15 per person in room per day of cruise.

 

 

Concierge: $5-$10 per person in room per day of cruise.

 

 

Steward (who is covered by the DSC): $5-$10 per person in room per day of cruise extra to service your large room

 

$10 - $15 per person, per day?! Lol.

[KarimaJ]

We may be taking the Haven and I am having the same thoughts. I plan on tipping depending on what I ask them to do. I will not tip $10pp per day if they are not providing me anything. However if I call them to bring me things or they go out of their way for me then I will tip more.

Is it normal to only tip at the end or each time you call them to bring you something?

[ColinIllinois]

We may be taking the Haven and I am having the same thoughts. I plan on tipping depending on what I ask them to do. I will not tip $10pp per day if they are not providing me anything. However if I call them to bring me things or they go out of their way for me then I will tip more.

Is it normal to only tip at the end or each time you call them to bring you something?

 

At the end. Tip based on cumulative service and the quality of that service.

[NLH Arizona]

First off, NCL doesn't recommend any amount and amounts that are recommended are from the poster of the post.

 

You should determine your tip on the following things: 1, what services you request from the Butler. 2, how those services are rendered. 3, your budget. Keep in mind, anything you give your Butler and Concierge will be very much appreciated.

 

What I do, is start with $10 a day per person for the Butler and $5 a day per person for the Concierge - some will tip more and some will tip less, as there is no right amount. Since that is a starting figure, I either add or subtract based on the services, etc.

[Hammergirl]

It is really a personal thing, what to tip. I can tell you what we did and why. There were 4 of us in the 2 bedroom suite.

 

Butler - $450. We used her a lot and she was amazing. She also could be seen cleaning the rooms as well.

 

Concierge - $100 because he did some dining reservations and helped us with an internet issue.

 

Steward - $100. She was not very good, to be honest. She was very nice, just not super great at her job. But she was OK.

[YVRBassElectric]

Obviously a well-debated topic, but every time I see the $10-15/pp per day, etc. it really irks me. This "guideline" that is repeated over and over whenever this question is asked is absolutely NOT a guideline that NCL has established, or that working butlers, concierges & stewards have suggested is what THEY think is a "good tip", etc. Someone, somewhere, sometime long ago posted that either on CC or another forum and it has now somehow become adopted as the "accepted" guidelines.

 

First, I have posted in the past that I usually travel solo and I usually tip my butler say $150 for a week and $200 for a longer cruise. I use my butler ALOT, but if I didn't I would probably tip $100. That said, (and I don't think this is an "act") EVERY butler I have tipped on my many cruises has accepted my tip with WIDE eyes and profuse thanks. As if it was a GREAT tip. So, I don't think everyone is giving them $10-15 per person per day. Which is FINE.

 

I know why people ask - it's because they want to make sure they are doing the "right thing." But people, TRUST YOUR GUT. You know, based on your lifestyle and finances, what YOU think is a appropriate tip for good service. Some people tip their mailman at Christmas with home-baked cookies, some give a coffee gift card and some give $100 bill. It is ALL good and I am sure ALL appreciated.

 

During your cruise you will develop a relationship with your butler, steward and concierge. Based on that, at the end of the week, you will KNOW what "feels right" to express your appreciation. And it WILL be just right!

 

Please, can we stop with counting heads and doing math to calculate "proper" tips based on some long-ago post?

 

And if YOU tip $500, that doesn't mean EVERYONE has to - or otherwise they are "cheap" and don't appreciate hard work and good service.

 

I know this rant won't change anything, but I just had to vent!

 

thank you, very well said! I have an idea of what we plan on tipping, on the Jewel we were so impressed, we tipped more (some Australian and New Zealand currency as we had run out of US) & hoped that would encourage steward to get off the ship.

[CRAustin]

I’ve stayed in the Garden Villa on the Dawn. The concierge was highly involved every day visiting escorting etc. the service was top notch. You will be treated like the elite. There were six of us. I believe we did 100 ea butler 75 concierge for the week and half 50 for the steward.

 

 

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[L2trvl]

Let me just say this, it sounds like most of you had good butlers. Our butler was like a ghost. We never saw him. A dish with canapés or little sweets would show up on our coffee table at random times. That’s it! Never saw him in hallway, no brief “is everything ok” phone calls, no taps at the door to just let us know he was alive. He did the least he was expected to do. Actually we didn’t need him, we were fine on our own and if we called him for something , I’m sure he would have responded.

 

We had traveling companions who had a completely different experience with their butler. In addition to the little plate on coffee table, she might leave freshly baked warm cookies, bottles of complimentary water (free water wasn’t included in our suites), special chocolates. And if she hadn’t seen them during the day, she would give a quick call or stop by their table at dinner to ask if there was anything they might need. She was never intrusive, always polite and friendly and kept things brief.

 

So, I guess my point is, if you want a tip of more than $10 per day, don’t just mysteriously plunk a plate down on our coffee table and disappear into the bowels of the ship. Bring us some warm cookies and ask us if we are ok.

Edited April 8, 2018 by L2trvl

[michael0122]

We are from the US but traveling out of Barcelona. Is USD appropriate or should we tip using local currency?

 

 

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[DarkJedi]

When people ask,,,,

 

Butler: $10-$15 per person in room per day of cruise.

 

 

Concierge: $5-$10 per person in room per day of cruise.

 

 

Steward (who is covered by the DSC): $5-$10 per person in room per day of cruise extra to service your large room

 

 

Tip this if you think the concierge deserves a million dollars a year.

 

Taken from pcakes post on another thread, so credit to them for the math:

 

As someone recently posted on another thread, butlers usually service between 12-14 cabins (my recent Jade butler told me he & my room steward were covering 14 cabins.) So, if people are tipping what is suggested as "normal" above, then let's do the math for a 7-day cruise:

 

Butler = $140/cruise per person ($20/pp) x double occupancy = $280 per cabin x 14 cabins = $3,920 in CASH tips per week in ADDITION to salary.

 

Concierge = $70/cruise per person x double occupancy x ALL SUITES & HAVEN (let's say average 100 suites) = $14,000 CASH tips per week in ADDITION to salary.

 

Room steward = $70/cruise per person = $140 per cabin x 14 cabins = $1,960 in CASH tips per week in ADDITION to salary.

 

That is NOT happening. These are NOT the "normal" tip amounts. Please just use your own good judgement and don't pay attention to made-up guidelines.

 

PS Let me also add that the butler and concierge are NOT included in the DSC because they don't service all guests - but their SALARY is HIGHER to compensate for that. NCL is not leaving it up to the suite guests to compensate for the lack of DSC. A tip is just that. An acknowledgement of excellent service. NOT a salary.

[DarkJedi]

And just to add, normal gratuity is $13.50 for non-suites and $15.50 for suites per person per day. This is split between the entire ship's staff that gets tips excluding the butler and concierge.

 

So it you are tipping the butler $10pp/pd and the concierge $5pp/pd you are basically saying that they worked as hard as every other crew member combined.

[vayka]

Tip for services rendered. If you want salary info go to a site like Glassdoor or Paysa to see self reported actuals. I saw 25% quartile for a Butler around $57k a year with top end 75% quartile around $80k a year. If you do the math between tips and base pay it is doubtful the Butler is getting $10pp/pd.

[Maniacal Cruiser]

We are going on the NCL Dawn in 2019, a seven day cruise, and are staying in the 3 bedroom garden villa. We will have a butler and I was wonder how much to tip the butler? If anyone has stayed in the room and has an idea that would be great, or if you know how much to tip that would help too.

 

 

As with all tipping, tip anyone you want, however much you want, any time you want. There is no right or wrong amount to tip.

[maja651]

I’ve stayed in the Garden villa 2 times, soon to be third, also next year on the Dawn. You will be treated like royalty in the GV. It is not like the treatment in normal suites. Your butler will be exceptional, and the concierge will show you a lot of attention. We tend to tip high, but we ask for daily meals in the room, lots of ice, snacks, etc. I highly recommend you dine in the room and out on the patio at least once. That room is made for private in room dining, enjoy that! When will you be on the Dawn? Maybe we will be neighbors!

[njkate]

$10 - $15 per person, per day?! Lol.

Right???? I wonder if poster actually tips that or just puffing their chest out.

We are 3 in a 2 bedroom Haven on a very port intensive cruise, I doubt we will use the butler much, all ready booked my shows, so may just use concierge to get off the ship. Is that worth $30 a day??/ Not in my book.

There is no way I'm tipping a butler we will hardly, if at all, use $45 a day

[graphicguy]

Every Butler, Concierge, Steward, even some Hostesses that have been particularly helpful during the week, I end up tipping. I can tell you that sometimes I tip a little more than what’s stipulated here, and sometimes a little less.

 

On each occasion, the person receiving the tip was most thankful and gracious in accepting them.

 

I tend not to be showy and approach them privately at the end of the cruise while no one is around to tip them.

 

I sail both as a solo and with my girlfriend about equally. When there’s two of us in a cabin, I tip more than when it’s just me.

 

My last cruise was in a Suite (non-Haven) on the GEM. I didn’t ask much (if anything) from my Butler, so I tipped him $50. My concierge, on the other hand, did things for me every day, including dinner and entertainment reservations, interfacing with the excursion managers (I just showed up for the excursion), even helping me with some reservations “after hours” when she was not on the Concierge desk. I tipped her $100.

 

My cabin steward was wonderful. She knew exactly when I was going out, and when I was coming back (sort of like magic, at times) and had my cabin ready accordingly. She pretty much stayed out of the way. In short, she was perfect as a steward. I gave her $100.

 

I had a Hostess in the Specialty Restaurants who was always able to “fit me in” as a walk-in, regardless of how busy the restaurants were. I gave her $50.

 

If there was two of us sailing, I’d add 50% to the above.

 

As mentioned, all were very thankful for the tips, and they all gave me exceptional service.