Suites, Butlers ~ Worth It?

[DaveFr]

I am assuming there is a seperate tip for the cabin attendant and butler? Is the butler tipped each day or at the end of cruise?

 

Thanks, Therese

 

So....is it okay to ask the butler to bring you drinks from the bar, or food from the dining room? That's what I am not sure of -- how much we can ask them to do for us. Do you tip them each time they bring something to you, or just at the end? Normally when we have room service, we tip our cabin attendent, but if we use the butler a lot, do we tip each time?

The butler will bring you food from the dining room during regular dining room hours. At least at dinner, her or she will serve you course-by-course. I'm not sure about drinks but it never hurts to ask. Your butler can't say yes unless you give him the chance to say no. :D

 

Butlers are usually tipped at the end of the cruise. It is not necessary to tip your butler each time he or she performs a service for you.

 

Dave

[emptynest1]

Usha, you and Hottie are the first on the list if you cruise with us.

Bring it on.

I'll have the butler put an extra rose on the tray just for you.

[Lsimon]

...not sure if I am comfortable with having a butler or what to ask of him, but great suggestions from all...

 

Don't worry about what to ask or not ask the butler for. Think of the room steward as taking care of the room and the butler as taking care of you. At a minimum the butler will bring you any room service orders you ask for, including room service breakfast and they will roll a "tea cart" full of tea, coffee, and tea sandwiches and pastry from room to room around 4PM each day.

 

Start out with breakfast. On many past cruises we've had very mixed results with room service breakfast - so much so that we seldom ordered it due to incorrect orders, eggs less than, hot, etc. But the butler did a great job, always got things right, got it to us while fresh and hot and set it up properly with a nice tablecloth each time. Our room stewards have tried to keep up with such items in the past - but I think they just get too busy with all their other duties to keep up with everything at times. The butler only has the customer service to worry about - not the cleaning and maintenance - so they have the time to do a better job and can handle special requests better.

 

We tipped our butler only at the end of the cruise. We did give him a large extra tip - we usually tip well but even gave a little more for the help with our party.

[usha]

Usha, you and Hottie are the first on the list if you cruise with us.

Bring it on.

I'll have the butler put an extra rose on the tray just for you.

EN, you da woman!!!! :D