Regatta - not as expected so far

[Scottygirl1]

We are currently on Regatta and I must admit that the feeling is not as special as we were led to believe! We tried to order in-room dining (Toscana) one night at around 4pm for anytime that evening but were told by our butler that he needed a day's notice or at least that morning?? Where is this written?

 

We also asked for our bar to be emptied upon arrival and for only diet drink to be in there. We are on day four and this has only been done now after about four requests (to butler, leaving notes and to reception). I've also been told they don't have diet Sprite or any diet drinks other than coke. How would I have known this in advance? My butler just said I needed to organise this before I sailed.

 

Oh well... I think those ordinary cabins are getting better service. Our housekeeping lady is lovely though so all is not lost!!

[LHT28]

I would speak with the hotel manager

[orchestrapal]

We are currently on Regatta and I must admit that the feeling is not as special as we were led to believe! We tried to order in-room dining (Toscana) one night at around 4pm for anytime that evening but were told by our butler that he needed a day's notice or at least that morning?? Where is this written?

 

It would be interesting to know who your butler is.. We have had different butlers on 10 cruises 4 on Regatta and they were all more than fabulous and willing to do anything we could possibly ask for.

Dinner from Pollo and Tuscana many nights in our suite was ordered at 6:00 for 7:00 with absolutely no problem. This must be something new or just a very lazy butler.:confused:

[Goldmann]

Contact the ship's General Manager. Most un-O like.

[Scottygirl1]

I don't want to sound like a grump but after reading so many threads on here about the butler it kind of threw me that eating in our room needed so much forward planning! We did let him know that we wanted dinner last night and gave him a day's notice - then he only needed to know the menu a couple of hours before.

 

I am getting my diet Sprite! They found some so that is taken care of.

 

Now, for you experienced Suite travelers - should we try again? Phone him at say 4pm and try again? I actually went down to reception to check and even they told me that the butler needs at least, to know in the morning! Not at all what we had been led to believe.

[ORV]

While on Regatta a couple of months ago I would rate our butler as very average. About on par with a good steward. Nothing at all like that is frequently reported here. Our travel mates on the other hand had a fantastic butler.

 

Ours did a good job, just nothing special, offered nothing special and conversation always had to be initiated. There were certain guidelines on requesting meals. I think we always had to have our request in by noon for dinner and before bedtime for breakfast the next day.

[Mura]

It sounds like luck of the draw with your butler -- and that should NEVER be the case. We were on Marina last October and dined in our suite twice. Both times our butler had very little notice because we didn't know beforehand that we just didn't feel like getting all gussied up! (By that I mean dressing presentably, not formally!)

 

We've always had excellent butlers on Regatta. I agree with the others -- talk to the higher-ups.

 

Mura

[Scottygirl1]

While on Regatta a couple of months ago I would rate our butler as very average. About on par with a good steward. Nothing at all like that is frequently reported here. Our travel mates on the other hand had a fantastic butler.

 

Ours did a good job, just nothing special, offered nothing special and conversation always had to be initiated. There were certain guidelines on requesting meals. I think we always had to have our request in by noon for dinner and before bedtime for breakfast the next day.

 

Thanks for that - exactly how we feel! Good but not special. I expected too much I think.

[Goldmann]

While i agree you should not have had the experience in the first place, why potentially further frustrate yourself. Call the GM. You can be assured there will be no repetition.

[GrammieK]

Scottgirl1,

So sorry the butler is not living up to your expectations. We were on the Regatta feb-mar earlier this year and had the opposite experience. Our butler, Alex, was most accommodating and served us in our room many nites, often with little notice. We had Iljo as a butler the previous cruise and also were in awe of his service I agree with the suggestion to report to the GM. We once had a slight problem and once reported to the GM it was immediately rectified.

Don't let it spoil your experience and do try again. Dining ensuite is one of my favorite things to do!

Enjoy!

[wripro]

I think you got a stinker of a butler. Next time he tells you he needs 24 hours notice to do something tell him it will take you far less time to complain about him to the hotel manager.

[tropicalkerry2002]

as i was shocked at the lack of service our butler provided for my dream dinner, so yes there are butlers that are stinkers! Here's my post:

 

We were in PH1 on a TA cruise last Nov. I was SO excited to have a dinner served course by course in our room. We had been in a PH before, but had not taken advantage of this service (didn't even use room service once on our previous 2 O cruises...we have since learned how silly that was!)

 

When we met our butler on day one, I mentioned we would like to have dinner in our room once on the 18 day cruise. I asked how much notice he would like, saying I would try to pick a day that he was not too busy with other people's requests. No problem, whenever we wanted, I was told. A few days later(at the start of our 4 consecutive sea days) I asked him again, if there was a day he would prefer. No problem, whenever we like, we were told. I certainly felt that the fact I was asking (more than once) inferred that it would be a time consuming, course by course affair!

 

So, on our chosen day, we phoned at 2:30 PM( again, TONS of notice!), said we would be having dinner in our room, and requested specialty restaurant menus. At 4PM we phoned and placed our order, asking for the meal as soon as possible after 6:30 PM, when the restaurants opened.

 

I expected someone to come and set the table up with all the cutlery, glassware, etc, but that didn't happen. We got a knock on the door, the butler arrived with all our food at once, and placed it on the small folding stand that lives behind the curtain. No larger table top was placed on the small table, no extra linens, glassware(we aren't big wine drinkers, but thought a nice water goblet might be placed on the table). Our main courses were placed on the table, with the Caesar salads left on the tray.

 

I was rather shocked, but was thinking: was I wrong in thinking of how this would happen? I said something like we'll start with the salads, and the butler sat the plate with the salad ON TOP OF the lid covering our main course! No beverages were offered, we got a bottle of water from our fridge.

 

We ate our meal(delicious, but for what I had looked forward to for months, a disappointment), he returned, cleaned up our dishes. No offer of dessert, coffee.

 

I did speak to the concierge the next day, who said he would speak to the manager of housekeeping, who is apparently in charge of the butlers. It took 2 days for her to come and speak to us. She was very apologetic, asked what she could do (we asked for a bottle of wine, no idea what else to ask for!), and said please let us serve you dinner again. We declined, the blush was off the rose. Our butler came with the head of butlers and apologized profusely, and again offered to serve us in our room, but we just felt it would be awkward.

 

Our butler kindly came again on the last day to apologize. We certainly could tell he felt badly, but were still surprised that it had ever happened like this.

 

The point of my story: TELL the butler you want it served course by course!

 

* Just so you know, prior to this dinner request, we had only made one special request of our butler: extra glasses and some mixed nuts for one afternoon that we had friends to our room. I had tipped him extra for that!

__________________

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Tropical, not a nice story, for sure.

 

I have read elsewhere that there is no large tabletop that they use for dinners in the suites. This must make the whole thing a bit difficult, I wonder why they don't do this?

[TKS]

Sorry you are having difficulties with your butler.

 

We had a butler on a trans-atlantic on the Marina, and he was very good. One evening I told my husband to go to dinner without me because I was getting a bug and didn't feel well. Ishmail passed him on the way to dinner, asked about me, then came to the room with the specialty restaurant menues, insisting I needed to eat something. The food was all served at once, but I didn't have much because of how I felt. He carefully set the table with tablecloth, setups, water, and all the dishes, even a glass of wine (!), then came back when I had finished. However, we found getting coffee in the morning was more complicated (or not possible some mornings).

 

I believe the butlers have a lot of cabins to serve, and we need to understand they can only be in one place at a time.

 

I agree, you should try again.

[dorisis]

Thanks for that - exactly how we feel! Good but not special. I expected too much I think.

 

You paid a(&$& of a lot more than an insider and your expectations don't seem out of line. "The squeaky wheel gets the oil". You are right to complain.

 

~Doris~

[PaulMCO]

Tropical, not a nice story, for sure.

 

I have read elsewhere that there is no large tabletop that they use for dinners in the suites. This must make the whole thing a bit difficult, I wonder why they don't do this?

Last trip on Nautica, ours used it for breakfast in the room too. Made to fit over the existing table that makes it x2 larger.

[Scottygirl1]

My intention was never to get any staff member into trouble - it seems this has now been noticed by management. Everything else on the ship has been superb and I don't want anyone to take away the wrong message from my original complaint. Now I am too embarrassed to even order breakfast. Bad decision on my part to start this thread, I should have aired my concerns elsewhere on the ship.

 

Thank you all for your comments :)

[LHT28]

My intention was never to get any staff member into trouble - it seems this has now been noticed by management. Everything else on the ship has been superb and I don't want anyone to take away the wrong message from my original complaint. Now I am too embarrassed to even order breakfast. Bad decision on my part to start this thread, I should have aired my concerns elsewhere on the ship.

 

Thank you all for your comments :)

Do not feel embarrassed if something is not up to snuff then you have to talk to the GM while onboard

Why should you feel bad if someone is not doing their job well it will be fixed NOW ;)

Order away

If not reported they will continue to slack off

I have never had a butler but from all accounts from others here he was trying to get away with something

 

JMO

Lyn

[JimandStan]

If not reported they will continue to slack off

 

I have to agree with you there, Lyn, TropicalKerry in particular, did everything right and was still disappointed.

 

To be fair to both sides, however, there are people who feel uncomfortable with the extra time and attention that the course by course service entails, and are looking for nothing more than "glorified room-service" in their Suites.

 

Part of the training that a Butler receives involves taking "unspoken" direction from their clients, so if you are breezy and informal regarding everything else, but desire that your in Suite dinner be an elegant affair, being specific about what you want is a wonderful idea, even if you secretly think that you are being redundant. Mind reading is a lost art.

 

Finally, and this is the section that I almost didn't write because it is so difficult to put into words, there really are not many occasions (barring the illegal and immoral) when a passenger should legitimately hear the word "no" on an Oceania ship. If things seem to be going down that road, ask for a word with the General Manager......those requests can move mountains ;)

[Goldmann]

Scottygirl1....let me echo the thoughts of others, embarrassment is the last thing you should feel.

 

O really cares. I recently had an issue where i involved the highest level of the parent company. It seemed the right thing to do as i felt time was of the essence and things were bogged down re resolution. I took advantage of the senior's accessibility and imposed on his valuable time. After the issue was resolved i apologized for those actions. His reply: don't ever apologize for asking us to do our jobs. We are here to ensure the customer experience is as positive as can be. O really does care. Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

If your read this, thanks again Frank.

[TKS]

there really are not many occasions (barring the illegal and immoral) when a passenger should legitimately hear the word "no" on an Oceania ship. If things seem to be going down that road, ask for a word with the General Manager......those requests can move mountains ;)

 

Well, and tackfully, said!

[hondorner]

Instead of being embarrassed, consider that giving the butler another chance is actually a gracious thing to do. It gives him an opportunity to redeem himself. He's actually more embarassed than you, at the moment.

[Scottygirl1]

Thank you all for your kind words. It appears Oceania do indeed monitor these threads. We have had a meeting with the General Manager (he contacted me) who could not have been more accommodating plus we have a new butler assigned to our room.

 

While I feel bad for posting this here in the first place when I should have taken it to management, I am glad that we can continue to enjoy this wonderful cruise.

[tropicalkerry2002]

Kudos to Oceania!

[orchestrapal]

Thank you all for your kind words. It appears Oceania do indeed monitor these threads. We have had a meeting with the General Manager (he contacted me) who could not have been more accommodating plus we have a new butler assigned to our room.

 

While I feel bad for posting this here in the first place when I should have taken it to management, I am glad that we can continue to enjoy this wonderful cruise.

 

So happy you were able to resolve the matter. Enjoy the balance of your cruise.:)