The Butler Didn't Do It

[froggy333]

Thanx Cechase for the wonderful description of having a Butler for the first time. We're in our first Sky Suite in Oct. and feel a little intimidated having a butler around as we are not "butler" people.

 

We're looking forward to this new experience & hope "not" to get accustomed to it. However, just having the extra space and tub is what really matters for us.

[Spender Nui]

I wonder how this service will be handled on the Journey where I'm told all cabins (inside too) will have butler service?

[metro211]

Just off of Connie. We were in a Sky suite. On the first day I asked our Butler what I could ask of him and he told me "I mostly do food", meaning bringing the tea at some time between 3:30 and 4pm, and the nibbles some time between 5 and 5:30pm. He also brought breakfast with the pre-delivery phone call. And that was it! When wine was spilt on my evening dress and my husband's tux and our matri'd gave us a voucher for my dress to be cleaned and returned the next day. Our butler brought it back two days later saying that if I wanted same day service I needed to tell him even though it was written on the voucher. In fact there is a plaque on the desk that lists the butler services and it is 99% food. Like many of you, I suspected he was new to the job and so tipped the suggested amount. But I must say that I was disappointed in the level of service in this area. And no call from Guest relations!

[Blanco-Grande]

I am very sorry to hear that as that has certainly never been my experience on Celebrity. For future reference, if it is something that requires immediate attention as for the Hotel Director to contact you; if it is an issue of feedback on an issue, fill in an "Attention to detail" card to highlight the issue. Two cruises ago I had to do that (it was a port day and everyone was busy) - within 30 minutes of me handing in the card, relating to a relatively minor issue, but one that needed highlighting; we had calls from the Hotel Director, her assistant and the Chief Concierge

 

Hope this helps

 

Not on this cruise...everyone at our dinner table had problems with guest relations being "useless"

The front line staff was great, but stupid things were happenening like mysterious charges, mostly accounting errors, they handled it by ignoring it...some where never corrected, in case it was under $10 and I was not going to waste my cruise time running after them..there was always a line at guest relations...hey they were in dry dock for a week just before we left and they didnt even have olives for the martini bar first night out lol..:eek:

I think they had too much rest during dry dock..ha ha

anyway this topic is butlers and ours was great ...Alex

We were on the penthouse deck on Millie

[Tinwoman]

Count us in as having no need for a butler either. As a matter of fact we would book a suite if they didn't have a butler, but instead we book cc class. The state room attendent brought us anything we wanted, including breakfast everyday, and tea/coffee and crossiants in the afternoon, and turned down the bed in the evenings with choc. on the pillows. Several evenings being tired from touring all day he served dinner in our stateroom. We would like to book a suite but find a butler intrusive.

Great for those who like them, but not so great for people who like their privacy, and don't like someone standing around with their hand out.

[Spender Nui]

Count us in as having no need for a butler either. As a matter of fact we would book a suite if they didn't have a butler, but instead we book cc class. The state room attendent brought us anything we wanted, including breakfast everyday, and tea/coffee and crossiants in the afternoon, and turned down the bed in the evenings with choc. on the pillows. Several evenings being tired from touring all day he served dinner in our stateroom. We would like to book a suite but find a butler intrusive.

Great for those who like them, but not so great for people who like their privacy, and don't like someone standing around with their hand out.

 

 

I'm like you and would rather not have a butler.

 

I wonder what it is going to be like on the Journey and Quest where all cabins, including inside, are supposed to have butlers.

 

I wonder if they're going to say the room steward is now a butler. If not they're going to be adding a lot of service personnel to a small ship. Ships carry approximately 700 passengers with 2 to a cabin and about half that number in crew. That would be 1,050 total people on board. At 2 to a cabin there would be approximately 350 cabins. If a butler handles 10 cabins that would mean 35 additional crew (10%). Where will they put them?

[Host Star]

recently i was on Celebrity century in a new category of suite.. NS.. it should not be considered a suite as it is the same size cabin as Conceierge class, the only difference is it is on the aft of the ship, with a larger balcony and comes with a butler.. there is no room for the butler to set up a dining area for breakfast or dinner service so he would bring the tray and leave it on the desk...he did bring afternoon tea (if we were in the cabin) and horsd'ouvres of our choice prior to dinner.. other than that he spent most of the time standing outside in the hallway waiting for something to do.. we did send him down with our shore excursion stuff or anything else that needed dropping off at the front desk, just to give him something to do, as we could have easily done these things ourselves.. there was no room in the 190 sq. ft. cabin to have a 'party' and use his services to serve drinks as everyone would be sitting on the bed..our neighbors in the other aft 'suites' felt the same way, that unless you have a suite with considerable square footage to enjoy in cabin dining or entertaining guests the butler has very limited services to offer you.. if you have an excellent room steward, which we did have, they will take care of getting your dry cleaning done, etc..most room service will now give you a warning call that your breakfast is on the way..and whoever brings it to you will drop it on the desk or table just as our butler would do..there was nowhere else for him to put it.. I have had butlers in other suites where they would wheel in a serving cart and set up our dining with linens, etc.. but you need the room for it and the NS suites on century do not have room..there also is not enough room for a larger table to get thru the doorway out to the balcony,, only small end tables fit thru.., the lower aft decks had larger doorways and could accommodate a table that would serve for dining..