Butler, what Butler?

[Pinboy]

With due respect to all those who are suite passengers--- 

In reading this post it appears that most folks are suite passengers and their comments regarding their Butler(s) have been very favorable because they prepare their " wishes " ahead of time.

A few others " appear " to be "entitled " and expect their Butler to " jump " to their demands, not giving any thought or care that the same Butler is " servicing " several other suites.

People are people ---I doubt things will change and I applaud all Butlers that follow the rules of their Company. 

While we had a suite once, the value ( for us ) was not worth the extra $$$ because we did not require any services our Butler offered. He was just a really nice gentleman , always asking if we needed anything , and a pleasure to give him a nice gratuity---- because it made me feel good.

 

 

[Fly and Sail]

On 6/15/2022 at 10:38 PM, Jim_Iain said:

Michaels's of course changed names many years ago to The Retreat.

 

They probably changed it for EDGE Class ships where there is a real Retreat but since this isn't implemented fleet wide and for example all Solstice Class ships still have the Michael's Club I never understood that rebranding. Unless you can follow through fleet-wide it simple didn't make sense.

[terrydtx]

8 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

They probably changed it for EDGE Class ships where there is a real Retreat but since this isn't implemented fleet wide and for example all Solstice Class ships still have the Michael's Club I never understood that rebranding. Unless you can follow through fleet-wide it simple didn't make sense.

The Revolutionized S class ships have the updated Retreat Lounge that replaced the Michaels Clubs.

 

This thread has gotten way off the OP's original post about having a poor experience with a Butler.

Edited June 18, 2022 by terrydtx

[TeeRick]

23 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

All the butlers I've spoken with prefer the term butler.  So that's the term I use.  It has a widely accepted meaning.  Personal retreat host is a mouthful of marketing blarney.

Butler is probably yet another term that got caught up in the cancel culture.  Some consultants in a conference room probably decided that Butler had some hidden meaning or was a demeaning identity.  So they came up with Personal Retreat Host.  Without ever asking any actual Butlers if their well earned title was an offensive term to them.  I fully expect in a short time that the new PRH term will be found offensive to somebody.  Then what do we call them?  Just like on RCCL, they came up with Royal Genie instead of Butler.  All of this is pretty silly.🙂

[terrydtx]

5 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Butler is probably yet another term that got caught up in the cancel culture.  Some consultants in a conference room probably decided that Butler had some hidden meaning or was a demeaning identity.  So they came up with Personal Retreat Host.  Without ever asking any actual Butlers if their well earned title was an offensive term to them.  I fully expect in a short time that the new PRH term will be found offensive to somebody.  Then what do we call them?  Just like on RCCL, they came up with Royal Genie instead of Butler.  All of this is pretty silly.🙂

I agree and even a Royal Genie could be a demeaning as Butler if demeaning at all. PRH is a better description than Genie of the job description.  The term Genie gives me images of a voluptuous Barbara Eden scantily clad and living in a bottle.

 

[kenb]

34 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The Revolutionized S class ships have the updated Retreat Lounge that replaced the Michaels Clubs.

 

This thread has gotten way off the OP's original post about having a poor experience with a Butler.

Happens all the time!

[TeeRick]

3 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I agree and even a Royal Genie could be a demeaning as Butler if demeaning at all. PRH is a better description than Genie of the job description.  The term Genie gives me images of a voluptuous Barbara Eden scantily clad and living in a bottle.

 

Of course everybody's favorite genie.  But I think she is (was) the only female Genie (Jeannie) that I know of.  In Aladdin the genies are named Genie (big and purple and male) and Jafar (big and orange and mean, also male).  Then there was Shaquille O'Neal as Kazaam.  Of course everybody's favorite butler is Mr. French from Family Affair.

[TeeRick]

My favorite Butler was Mr. French.  Never saw him on a cruise ship.

 

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We were in the PH on Edge when cruising resumed.  At first, we wondered if the Butler was going to be just so so because he told us on the 1st day that tea was in The Retreat Lounge and they were discouraging afternoon snack delivery.  The next day we were chatting about food and mentioned we did not have any Indonesian restaurants at home and wondered how it differed from other Asian food.  Suddenly, he offered to prepare a 4 course Indonesian dinner for us to be served in our suite. He turned out to be one of the better Butlers we've had.  First impressions are not always accurate and turns out we did not miss the afternoon snacks at all. 

[emmas gran]

Wonder where the OP has gone!!

[Veinless]

6 hours ago, emmas gran said:

Wonder where the OP has gone!!

He’s been buttled!

[twodjs]

All these wonderful stories about your Personal Retreat Hosts sound great, and I was expecting something similar. Didn't happen. We were booked in a Celebrity Suite. First day - asked for a kettle. He brought it but didn't know where to plug it in. How does he not know the layout of the suite? There IS only one plug. We asked about having breakfast delivered. He said fill out the door hanger. We made one request of our PRH - cheese and crackers daily at 5:00 pm. Next morning at 7:45 (we marked 8 to 8:30) food delivered by room service. Omelets were luke warm and rubbery with not even a garnish, toast but no butter, a pot of coffee with fake cream. Just plain bad. Once and done for us. Then just after 4:00 (remember we requested 5:00) our PRH shows up with a cheese and cracker plate. Fortunately, we were dressed, but we were specific about 5 pm for a reason. Next day, no cheese or cracker delivery. The following morning, after 11 am, the PRH rings our doorbell and asks if we've had our breakfast yet. Why would someone ask that? Breakfast had stopped two hours before. And no apology for no cheese delivery the previous day. Very awkward interaction - we didn't ask why no cheese. That afternoon, just after 2 pm, ding dong...cheese delivery. Great, but my wife was trying to rest. FYI, the Celebrity Suite has a separate bedroom, but because I have a c-pap machine that has to be plugged in, they ran a 15 ft extension cord under our bed and taped it down across the threshold and into the living room. And we were warned to not close the door or you could cut the cord and cause a short and possibly a fire. Great! (is anyone from the safety department comprehending how dangerous this extension cord solution is?) We canceled any future cheese plates, and felt, in our case, the PRH was a waste.  There were other factors that ultimately made this cruise one we would rather forget. 

[chemmo]

1 hour ago, twodjs said:

All these wonderful stories about your Personal Retreat Hosts sound great, and I was expecting something similar. Didn't happen. We were booked in a Celebrity Suite. First day - asked for a kettle. He brought it but didn't know where to plug it in. How does he not know the layout of the suite? There IS only one plug. We asked about having breakfast delivered. He said fill out the door hanger. We made one request of our PRH - cheese and crackers daily at 5:00 pm. Next morning at 7:45 (we marked 8 to 8:30) food delivered by room service. Omelets were luke warm and rubbery with not even a garnish, toast but no butter, a pot of coffee with fake cream. Just plain bad. Once and done for us. Then just after 4:00 (remember we requested 5:00) our PRH shows up with a cheese and cracker plate. Fortunately, we were dressed, but we were specific about 5 pm for a reason. Next day, no cheese or cracker delivery. The following morning, after 11 am, the PRH rings our doorbell and asks if we've had our breakfast yet. Why would someone ask that? Breakfast had stopped two hours before. And no apology for no cheese delivery the previous day. Very awkward interaction - we didn't ask why no cheese. That afternoon, just after 2 pm, ding dong...cheese delivery. Great, but my wife was trying to rest. FYI, the Celebrity Suite has a separate bedroom, but because I have a c-pap machine that has to be plugged in, they ran a 15 ft extension cord under our bed and taped it down across the threshold and into the living room. And we were warned to not close the door or you could cut the cord and cause a short and possibly a fire. Great! (is anyone from the safety department comprehending how dangerous this extension cord solution is?) We canceled any future cheese plates, and felt, in our case, the PRH was a waste.  There were other factors that ultimately made this cruise one we would rather forget. 

You asked for a kettle and got one. Not normally provided in a CS but was provided for you. The butler probably is not used to CS guests requesting kettles so why would he be familiar with the plug points? Also with the present staffing issues there are lots of new staff on board who will be unfamiliar with the layout. The key point is he provided you with a kettle and found a plug point.

 

Your butler/room attendant sorted out electric supply to your CPAP. Also warned you of a possible safety risk. The need for extensions for CPAP is fairly standard in our experience across a couple of lines and including top suites.

 

Afternoon service was not at the time you requested, probably because your butler would be serving afternoon tea in The Retreat Lounge at 5pm…Standard afternoon snack service is 4pm/4.30pm. Next day when you received no service, did you ask why or speak to the butler, concierge host or manager? Was it forgotten or did the butler not know at that point you wanted daily service?

 

The knock at 11am may have been to see if your suite was empty and could be serviced. “Have you had your breakfast yet?” may have been a polite way of seeing if you were up and nothing to do with breakfast. For most service staff English is not their first language, they can use standard phrasing…

 

With present staffing issues the Butler/Personal Retreat Host services may have some training/service problems. However, it seems your butler has tried to provide you what you want but perhaps isn’t totally clear about what that is. Communication seems an issue. Also if your Personal Retreat Host was lacking but you did not discuss it with the Concierge staff or suite manager how can the situation be improved for either you, for the remainder of your cruise, or the next guests who board?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by chemmo

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I don't understand why people come here after their cruise and whine about their butler.  There is a retreat manager for a reason.  That person's job is to deal with these issues while you're on the ship.  Celebrity can't fix what it doesn't know about.  Also, the post above about lack of communication is very relevant.

[terrydtx]

13 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

I don't understand why people come here after their cruise and whine about their butler.  There is a retreat manager for a reason.  That person's job is to deal with these issues while you're on the ship.  Celebrity can't fix what it doesn't know about.  Also, the post above about lack of communication is very relevant.

In the last few days I have seen posts about complaints with butlers over minutia, one because her Butler wouldn't put their empty suit cases under the bed for them and an other over not having a coffee maker and/or a hot kettle in their CS. Neither of these are part of the normal duties of any Celebrity PRH. 

Edited June 19, 2022 by terrydtx

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, twodjs said:

FYI, the Celebrity Suite has a separate bedroom, but because I have a c-pap machine that has to be plugged in, they ran a 15 ft extension cord under our bed and taped it down across the threshold and into the living room.

 

What ship, if I may ask?  Was there no electrical outlet in the bedroom of the CS into which the CPAP could be plugged?  (I'm not being critical, just trying to understand why the Rube Goldberg set up.)  Thanks for the info.

[cruising sister]

I will be in my first sky suite on the Infinity on June 25th. This thread leaves me confused as to what RPH\Butler actually does. The only comparison will be my one cruise on NCL in the Haven. On NCL the butler was so attentive at times I felt guilty. 

[twodjs]

Solstice, last week. Yes, quite a lame design. Each night stand next to the bed was plugged into an outlet, then the stand shoved agaist the wall. You would think they could have installed a multi-plug into the outlet, or simply unplugged the lamp. But, no - they chose this solution which prevented us from closing the door. They must have a reason, but this seems dangerous to me.

[twodjs]

6 minutes ago, cruising sister said:

I will be in my first sky suite on the Infinity on June 25th. This thread leaves me confused as to what RPH\Butler actually does. The only comparison will be my one cruise on NCL in the Haven. On NCL the butler was so attentive at times I felt guilty. 

We were confused, too! Seems any issue we had was easily resolved by the Retreat Concierge (there were two) in Michaels Club Lounge (Solstice is not yet upgraded, so there is no "Retreat", just Michaels which is a Suites only space). Just didn't see the need, especially when, I guess, he hadn't been trained about the Suite layout and couldn't get the one request we had for cheese and crackers right. I'm sure others will chime in about all the fabulous things a PRH can do. Maybe Celebrity should provide a list. 

[twodjs]

52 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

In the last few days I have seen posts about complaints with butlers over minutia, one because her Butler wouldn't put their empty suit cases under the bed for them and an other over not having a coffee maker and/or a hot kettle in their CS. Neither of these are part of the normal duties of any Celebrity PRH. 

You need to know when I called Celebrity at the special Suite # prior to the cruise, I was told SPECIFICALLY to ask my PRH to provide the kettle. A list from Celebrity describing the exact duties of the PRH would sure help. 

[hcat]

On 6/17/2022 at 2:37 PM, lizinindy said:

So so sorry to hear you got a bum butler. Our man on the Apex was fabulous. I called and asked for some crackers because our friends had picked up some cheese from the buffet and we were going to have wine and cheese before dinner. He arrives with crackers——and two charcuterie boards, chocolate covered strawberries, and a bottle of Dom Perignon! WHAT? Now, that’s a darned great butler! 

That looks  great to me! For us that could be dinner!

[hcat]

Just curious..What are the auto gratuities for suite guests compared to AQ class, concierge or a regular Veranda room? 

 

We would expect to receive better service in a suite..mainly for clean fresh towels, " alive" flowers,  ice 2x day, upgraded rm svc menu and upgraded snacks/ fruit.

We  would tip extra, accordingly. Perhaps expecting too much???

 

Over the years, we have only had 1 or 2 inattentive  or MIA attendants...and we do not cruise in suites....mostly AQ Class.

[twodjs]

Chemmo - the PRH spoke perfect english. We all discussed the first day the best time for daily cheese and crackers - we and the PRH all decided 5:00 was good. Tea was served in Michaels (our retreat space) from 3:30 to 4:30 daily, so no conflict.

We were told when we called Celebrity to SPECIFICALLY ask our PRH for the kettle.

The point I'm trying to make about the extension cord is that there was a plug directly behind both night stands in the bedroom. Why couldn't the lamp simply be unpluged or install a multi-plug there. This extension across the door threshold was annoying since we couldn't close the door, and potentially dangerous. 

[Turtles06]

17 minutes ago, twodjs said:

The point I'm trying to make about the extension cord is that there was a plug directly behind both night stands in the bedroom. Why couldn't the lamp simply be unpluged or install a multi-plug there. This extension across the door threshold was annoying since we couldn't close the door, and potentially dangerous.

 

I would have been disturbed by that as well. 

[chemmo]

18 minutes ago, twodjs said:

Chemmo - the PRH spoke perfect english. We all discussed the first day the best time for daily cheese and crackers - we and the PRH all decided 5:00 was good. Tea was served in Michaels (our retreat space) from 3:30 to 4:30 daily, so no conflict.

We were told when we called Celebrity to SPECIFICALLY ask our PRH for the kettle.

The point I'm trying to make about the extension cord is that there was a plug directly behind both night stands in the bedroom. Why couldn't the lamp simply be unpluged or install a multi-plug there. This extension across the door threshold was annoying since we couldn't close the door, and potentially dangerous. 

It sounds like you made a great start with your butler. A real pity things went wrong…. I am surprised at the agreement of 5pm delivery, however, as in our experience afternoon snack delivery has always been between 4pm and 4.30pm. Also owing to the rota of butlers in The Retreat Lounge it often isn’t your own butler who delivers.  I do under that you chose to ‘let it ride’ but personally I would have chased up my request and if necessary have escalated it to the Retreat Manager. There are things on a cruise that may go wrong that all of us are happy to ‘let go’ but if something is going to ‘niggle’ you post cruise you are better pushing whilst on board for a solution.

 

Re the CPAP cable. We had one run when in a RS, no issue to us as it followed the line of the window. I have no idea why they seem to do it that way. Perhaps someone into electronics can advise…If it had bugged us, however, as it obviously bugged you again I would have followed up either through the butler or the concierge staff for an explanation. 
 

I am sure at present there are some inexperienced butlers on board and probably some overworked ones with the prevailing staff issues. When we cruise later this year we will be tolerant of any small issues but will chase up any real concerns….Not just to ensure we have a pleasant cruise but also because we feel that Celebrity cannot fix something if they don’t know it is broken…

 

I have just tried searching for the list of duties that your personal retreat host can provide and could not spot it. I am sure someone else will find it and post…