Butler & Concierge Service..what do you use them for?

[wolfcel]

We are sailing on the Gem to Bermuda in late August in one of the Courtyard Villa's. This will be our first full week with Butler and Concierge service...for those of you who have used them before...what do you use them for??

 

I know the NCL website says that your butler will unpack your suitcase, etc., but I can't see me having someone do that...lol

[fiftyguy]

We have been in 2 suites, both AD/SF. As far as the butler goes we usually have at least one meal in our cabin, but we mostly look to him/her to keep our favorite items in supply. I also let them know early on the kind of snacks we like best so they are sure to bring them and not something we are not wild about. Our butler on the dawn, flor, noticed I liked the chocolate cookies so she always had a plate waiting for me in the cabin. I would not use them to unpack for me. I would rather do that myself.

 

We use the concierge to make dinner reservations, get us into shows, and on/off the ship quickly at ports. We had anoop on the dawn and he was terrific at getting us a nice table at restaurants sometimes with little notice.

[retiredonthesea]

We love to entertain while on a cruise so always have the Butler plan a party for us in our suite. Three times we have been crusing over Halloween--so have alot of fun planning for those parties. Had extra chairs brought in, more patio furniture and lots & lots of food. Also we order in room service from all the different dining venues. Chilled soups are my favorite and I will even have some for breakfast!!;)

 

 

Our Concierge is a god send when it comes to all the reservations--be it dinner, spa, special seating at shows, excursions ect. We use both services a lot and tip them accordingly--as they are not in the tip pool!!

[ImADaneFan]

We are sailing on the Gem to Bermuda in late August in one of the Courtyard Villa's. This will be our first full week with Butler and Concierge service...for those of you who have used them before...what do you use them for??

 

I know the NCL website says that your butler will unpack your suitcase, etc., but I can't see me having someone do that...lol

We were on the Gem's TA in November in CV 14506. I have a link to some pics of the suite in my signature below. If Roy is your butler you will have one of the best.:D He had been chosen for concierge training, so I'm not sure if he's still a butler. He has a great sense of humor and always made sure I had fresh pretzel rolls. :o He happened to hear me mention that I was going to the buffet to get some and wouldn't hear of me going to get my own. ;) I belive Josephine was the butler on the starboard side. We had friends that had her. Their opinion was that we got the better butler. She was OK, but didn't seem to go that extra that Roy did.

[wolfcel]

Thanks for the info...do you know if they will supply cans/bottles of soda in the stateroom? and if so, is there a charge...thanks!

[toyotaford]

Thanks for the info...do you know if they will supply cans/bottles of soda in the stateroom? and if so, is there a charge...thanks!

They kept our fridge stocked with soda. There is not a charge. They also found out my husband liked chocolate milk and kept that in there, also. We don't have them unpack our luggage. I find it easier to put things where I know where to find them. You will absolutley love having this service. We have not gone back to any of the other cruise lines since our first NCL cruise 3 years ago.

[Fishbait17]

Thanks for the info...do you know if they will supply cans/bottles of soda in the stateroom? and if so, is there a charge...thanks!

 

There is not a charge for them to STOCK the sodas, but there is a charge if you drink them. Only OS, DOS, and GV get unlimited free sodas (and the included alcohol). In other suites, you will get a bottle of sparkling wine, and one bottle of water. Anything else will come out of your minibar and you will be charged, but the cans of soda are cheap ($2 or so). Water from the tap is very good too - we just bring refillable nalgene bottles.

 

Robin

[davesgirl51]

My delightful Butler made my first cup of coffee for me and brought it to me in bed. Of course, he had been meticulously trained in the art of giving a woman plenty of time to attend to some first morning things before ringing the doorbell. :)

[toyotaford]

There is not a charge for them to STOCK the sodas, but there is a charge if you drink them. Only OS, DOS, and GV get unlimited free sodas (and the included alcohol). In other suites, you will get a bottle of sparkling wine, and one bottle of water. Anything else will come out of your minibar and you will be charged, but the cans of soda are cheap ($2 or so). Water from the tap is very good too - we just bring refillable nalgene bottles.

 

Robin

We are always in an OS so I was not aware there were some charges for sodas in the different catagory.

[2011familycruiser]

We were on the Gem's TA in November in CV 14506. I have a link to some pics of the suite in my signature below. If Roy is your butler you will have one of the best.:D He had been chosen for concierge training, so I'm not sure if he's still a butler. He has a great sense of humor and always made sure I had fresh pretzel rolls. :o He happened to hear me mention that I was going to the buffet to get some and wouldn't hear of me going to get my own. ;) I belive Josephine was the butler on the starboard side. We had friends that had her. Their opinion was that we got the better butler. She was OK, but didn't seem to go that extra that Roy did.

 

Thanks for sharing your pics! We just stayed in that room on the Jewel. ;) Whoa! Was that storm for real!?!?! :) Scary!

[LOWTYD]

My delightful Butler made my first cup of coffee for me and brought it to me in bed. Of course, he had been meticulously trained in the art of giving a woman plenty of time to attend to some first morning things before ringing the doorbell. :)

 

Cartwheel practice? :D

 

We had to ask our bulter once and always had a pitcher of OJ and Cranberry in our fridge at all times to use as mixers for our bar setup. We had breakfast about 4 timess on in the room on our 7 day cruise and dinner from the MDR once. Ravi even took our DD broken 21st birthday crown and had it fixed. They can do almost anything! :)

[LOWTYD]

Thanks for sharing your pics! We just stayed in that room on the Jewel. ;) Whoa! Was that storm for real!?!?! :) Scary!

 

Wow! That is one reason I am wary of doing a Trans-Atlantic! Great videos!

[Hikini]

They (the butlers) bring snacks every afternoon, they will bring DVD's upon request, they will bring your food and set up the table, as well as clean up, they will help us with a wheelchair when needed, etc.

 

Ah, the suite life!

[ImADaneFan]

Thanks for sharing your pics! We just stayed in that room on the Jewel. ;) Whoa! Was that storm for real!?!?! :) Scary!

 

Wow! That is one reason I am wary of doing a Trans-Atlantic! Great videos!

Yes the pics and video are real. I thought it was a great experience, but then I don't get seasick. :p;) My DH was in the Navy so this wasn't anything to him. I wasn't able to get any pics or video of the really large waves (45+) those were at night. There were some passengers that were hurt when they were knocked around. You know you're in for trouble when the bridge has their copy machine tied to the wall with rope.:eek::D

 

Even with the storm I would to a TA again in a heartbeat.

[davesgirl51]

Cartwheel practice? :D

 

We had to ask our bulter once and always had a pitcher of OJ and Cranberry in our fridge at all times to use as mixers for our bar setup. We had breakfast about 4 timess on in the room on our 7 day cruise and dinner from the MDR once. Ravi even took our DD broken 21st birthday crown and had it fixed. They can do almost anything! :)

 

YES !:p

[Planer's Edge]

Cartwheel practice? :D

 

We had to ask our bulter once and always had a pitcher of OJ and Cranberry in our fridge at all times to use as mixers for our bar setup. We had breakfast about 4 timess on in the room on our 7 day cruise and dinner from the MDR once. Ravi even took our DD broken 21st birthday crown and had it fixed. They can do almost anything! :)

 

Ravi, CAN do anything. ;)

 

PE

[happy cruzin]

Thanks for all of the info, I am loving this thread!! Makes me REALLY glad that we have decided to give the Epic - and the Courtyard Villa - a try!! :D

So.....when you decide that you want to have dinner, or breakfast, in the room - how far in advance do you have to make those arrangments?

[fiftyguy]

Happy cruzin - I am sure everyone is different in their approach, but we always tried to give the butler at least 3 hours notice. Most of the time we do not plan a meal too far in advance since we do not how we are going to feel about eating in or going out.

[LOWTYD]

Happy cruzin - I am sure everyone is different in their approach, but we always tried to give the butler at least 3 hours notice. Most of the time we do not plan a meal too far in advance since we do not how we are going to feel about eating in or going out.

 

Put you breakfast request on your door before bed (if your bedtime is before 4 AM!) and any special request you can hand write on it. Enjoy your suite!:)

[homecmft]

Should you tip the butler throughout the cruise or just once at the end?

[DKAL]

Ravi' date=' CAN do anything. ;)

 

PE[/color']

 

Hummmmm I feel a little gypped. Although I thought Ravi was nice and capable, he wasn't exactly attentive. Always seemed rushed.

Maybe those in higher suites took up much of his time. We ended up not calling on him to do much for us, but he was a perfectly nice man.

 

Now Adrian the Concierge really went above and beyond no matter how busy he was.

 

Great cruise anyway and looking forward to many more.

[Journey11]

Should you tip the butler throughout the cruise or just once at the end?

 

We always tip at the end. That also seems to be the butler's preference.

[wolfcel]

We love to entertain while on a cruise so always have the Butler plan a party for us in our suite. Three times we have been crusing over Halloween--so have alot of fun planning for those parties. Had extra chairs brought in, more patio furniture and lots & lots of food. Also we order in room service from all the different dining venues. Chilled soups are my favorite and I will even have some for breakfast!!;)

 

 

Our Concierge is a god send when it comes to all the reservations--be it dinner, spa, special seating at shows, excursions ect. We use both services a lot and tip them accordingly--as they are not in the tip pool!!

 

 

So glad you mentioned that they are not included in the tip pool...I did not know that.

 

How many Butlers are there?....or is there just one for the entire 14th floor?

 

Is there anything else we should know about or what we should expect??

[traveler916]

Thanks for all of the info, I am loving this thread!! Makes me REALLY glad that we have decided to give the Epic - and the Courtyard Villa - a try!! :D

 

So.....when you decide that you want to have dinner, or breakfast, in the room - how far in advance do you have to make those arrangments?

 

when our butler came by to deliver our afternoon snack, we would ask him if he wanted to take our dinner or desert order. Most of the time, the timing was perfect. We were on a B2B and we kind of developed a rhythm. I am sure you will find the same with your butler

[retiredonthesea]

So glad you mentioned that they are not included in the tip pool...I did not know that.

 

How many Butlers are there?....or is there just one for the entire 14th floor?

 

Is there anything else we should know about or what we should expect??

 

Last time we where on the Jewel our Butler was the same one our friends had----we where in an AB and they in the Garden Villa. Just don't know how many Butlers each ship has.

 

We usally have the weeks menus brought to our suite the first night so we could decide on what nights we wanted to eat in the MDR and what nights to do SR (like Cagneys or Teppanyaki) or eat in! Don't forget you can have an awesome breakfast in Cagneys.

 

We got invited to a private captains party that was held on the Courtyard Villa Deck--that was alot of fun with plenty of free flowing drinks!;)

 

Can't think of anything else right now----we did do a bar set-up and pre-booked spa appts. Also bought hubby casino credit ahead of time.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!!

 

Retiredonthesea