$100 tip for butler?

[sho]

I am going on a 7 nights Med cruise this week, will stay in a suite with my mum.

Will have breakfast in Cagneys. Will not order room service. Have booked all excurions myself. Will arrange dinner reservation myself onboard.

Is $100 tip for butler enough?

I don't know what is the average tip others give. So don't want to underpay the butler.

Advice appreciated.

[sdmike]

In my view that's more than enough if you're not asking for anything other than normal duties (afternoon snacks, service the coffee machine)

[NH Cruisers]

Our Butler from our May 30 DAWN cruise was great. He did the normal duties. We told him we were having a get together for our families 3 separate anniversarys to be celabrated together in our SE. He and the concierge set us up whith a wonderful get together, gave suggestions and all too. Even gave complimentary $60 (ships price) champagne and $20 non-alcoholic wine. We were greatful, we left a $200 tip. I was happy to give it at the cruises end.

 

For his normal duties and nothing else... $100 isn't too low a tip IMO.

Edited June 24, 2014 by NH Cruisers

[Love my butler]

I am going on a 7 nights Med cruise this week, will stay in a suite with my mum.

Will have breakfast in Cagneys. Will not order room service. Have booked all excurions myself. Will arrange dinner reservation myself onboard.

Is $100 tip for butler enough?

I don't know what is the average tip others give. So don't want to underpay the butler.

Advice appreciated.

 

Booking excursions and dinner reservations are the concierge's job, not the butler. $100 for the butler is fine, but the next question you should ask is how much should I tip the concierge.

[galleycook]

Booking excursions and dinner reservations are the concierge's job, not the butler. $100 for the butler is fine, but the next question you should ask is how much should I tip the concierge.

 

The question actually is, if I make all my own arrangements and reservations, how much should I tip the concierge?

 

Personally I also make my own reservations. I want the concierge to invite me to things that I can’t arrange myself (example, pre chocolate buffet tour, bridge tour, etc). But that’s just me.

 

Not to change the thread but does anyone know where, or if Adrien is still a concierge with NCL?

Thanks

[Fishbait17]

The question actually is, if I make all my own arrangements and reservations, how much should I tip the concierge?

 

Personally I also make my own reservations. I want the concierge to invite me to things that I can’t arrange myself (example, pre chocolate buffet tour, bridge tour, etc). But that’s just me.

 

Not to change the thread but does anyone know where, or if Adrien is still a concierge with NCL?

Thanks

 

Adrian is still on the Breakaway.

 

Robin

[Fishbait17]

I am going on a 7 nights Med cruise this week, will stay in a suite with my mum.

Will have breakfast in Cagneys. Will not order room service. Have booked all excurions myself. Will arrange dinner reservation myself onboard.

Is $100 tip for butler enough?

I don't know what is the average tip others give. So don't want to underpay the butler.

Advice appreciated.

 

Anything you are comfortable with "sounds right". Our general rule is $10 per person per day for the butler, and that includes maybe two breakfasts served in the suite. But the main thing is - don't pre-plan your tip or your usage of the butler - most especially on a busy Med cruise. You may find yourself very tired after a long day of touring, and ordering in some dinner might be just what you need. Also, in suite breakfast can be ideal for getting an early start in port (double duty getting ready and eating). You may find your butler amazing, having great snacks, sandwiches, etc after you return from port, practically reading your mind - or you may find him not as attentive as you want. Either way, while it's good to have a rough idea in mind, be prepared to adjust the tip as you see appropriate at the end of the week.

 

Robin

[galleycook]

Adrian is still on the Breakaway.

 

Robin

 

Thanks.......wrong ship :(

I'll be on the GEM

[cruzsnooze]

Depends on if you use the butler and then it's a personal decision what it's worth. I don't use the butler at all so feel no need to tip for no service.

[chrisaf]

Depends on if you use the butler and then it's a personal decision what it's worth. I don't use the butler at all so feel no need to tip for no service.

 

 

Didn't they bring any items to your room daily (snacks in the afternoon/night) or anything like that during your cruise? I can't imagine being in a suite and having a Butler that did absolutely nothing at all for you for the entire trip..... doesn't seem right.

[HokiePoq]

Depends on if you use the butler and then it's a personal decision what it's worth. I don't use the butler at all so feel no need to tip for no service.

 

I don't think they are in the normal service charge tip pool. We've only had a butler once and we asked for nothing extra. We did a search on CC to find out what a proper tip was and found it was normally $10pp per day.

 

If someone who has had a suite more often can comment and confirm/correct the tip pool thing, I would appreciate it. They do deliver the treats and service the wonderful coffee machine even if we ask for nothing else.

[cruzsnooze]

Didn't they bring any items to your room daily (snacks in the afternoon/night) or anything like that during your cruise? I can't imagine being in a suite and having a Butler that did absolutely nothing at all for you for the entire trip..... doesn't seem right.

I tell them upfront i don't want snacks and ask they don't bother with me and use their time on people who love having them around because i do not. I like the suite for the cabin size and some perks but not all perks. We all have different wants and needs. Most other cruise lines do not have butlers (like Princess) which we cruise most often.

Edited June 24, 2014 by cruzsnooze

[kurukthemal]

So, is this an unreasonable request - I want to somehow contact my butler pre-cruise and give them the names of my daughters - ages 9, 7 and 6. I simply want the butler to "act" like a butler use their names upon arrival, etc. I am even willing to tip for this "performance."

 

I am reasonably sure that this will be my kids only ever life experience with a butler and I want it to be fun...and a bit playful.

 

Has anyone made a request like this?

[garycarla]

This topic gets beat around quite often. With varied answers.

 

If you never use their services, tip should be little to nothing.

 

Do a search on just the term BUTLER and you will many LONG threads about this.

[psac]

So, is this an unreasonable request - I want to somehow contact my butler pre-cruise and give them the names of my daughters - ages 9, 7 and 6. I simply want the butler to "act" like a butler use their names upon arrival, etc. I am even willing to tip for this "performance."

 

I am reasonably sure that this will be my kids only ever life experience with a butler and I want it to be fun...and a bit playful.

 

Has anyone made a request like this?

 

Our Butler knew our names without an introduction, obviously from the reservation. And she always called me by Mr Paul, not my last name, (and my wife by miss + her first name) although it's a difficult last name, so I don't know if that's typical. We don't have kids, so I can't say what's the norm there!

 

Also agree on the note about using the butler more than you expect. On past cruises we never bothered with room service since we liked the Cagneys (now Haven) breakfast. This time we did room service three times!

[aubreyc1988]

Our Butler knew our names without an introduction, obviously from the reservation. And she always called me by Mr Paul, not my last name, (and my wife by miss + her first name) although it's a difficult last name, so I don't know if that's typical. We don't have kids, so I can't say what's the norm there!

 

Also agree on the note about using the butler more than you expect. On past cruises we never bothered with room service since we liked the Cagneys (now Haven) breakfast. This time we did room service three times!

 

on CCL, our room stewards always said "Miss Aubrey" or "Mr. TJ"

 

On RCI its been a mix.

 

our last name is fairly easy to pronounce. So i think it just varies

[2red4u]

So, is this an unreasonable request - I want to somehow contact my butler pre-cruise and give them the names of my daughters - ages 9, 7 and 6. I simply want the butler to "act" like a butler use their names upon arrival, etc. I am even willing to tip for this "performance."

 

I am reasonably sure that this will be my kids only ever life experience with a butler and I want it to be fun...and a bit playful.

 

Has anyone made a request like this?

 

 

You can ask this but seriously I think all it will get you is a good laugh at the corporate office. If you look here people email for refrig being cleaned out and it's hit or miss, so you wanting your young children to be address a certain way and expecting it is setting you up for disappointment. However the butler will truely make your make kids feel special with treats and kindness. It was a royal treat for my teens, without being address by a certain way. Of course your butler might very well address them in that manner. Please I mean no rudeness when I say this, just didn't want you to be disappointed.

[wasiii]

on CCL, our room stewards always said "Miss Aubrey" or "Mr. TJ"

 

On RCI its been a mix.

 

our last name is fairly easy to pronounce. So i think it just varies

 

.....your whole name is easy to say, "Aubrey C. 1998".

 

What's so hard about that?

 

;)

 

wasiii

[Hikini]

We have tipped our butlers between $150 and $200 for a 7 night cruise, but we have asked for breakfast in the suite a couple of times, and beyond anything we asked for they treated us so well. We felt the tip was well worth it, knowing how hard these people work! (And the butlers are not included in the general tip pool.)

[sverigecruiser]

The butlers are not included in the general tip pool, does anyone know how much their salary is based on they getting tip?

 

If their salary isn't based on they getting tip (=they have a decent salary), I don't think that it's necessary to tip them if you don't ask for something special.

 

If their salary is based on they getting tip, I think that everyone shall give them a tip.

 

We probably tip around $70 for a week but we tip a few times during the cruise, when they do something extra for us, so I'm not sure about the amount.

[Cubechick]

Anything you are comfortable with "sounds right". Our general rule is $10 per person per day for the butler, and that includes maybe two breakfasts served in the suite. But the main thing is - don't pre-plan your tip or your usage of the butler - most especially on a busy Med cruise. You may find yourself very tired after a long day of touring, and ordering in some dinner might be just what you need. Also, in suite breakfast can be ideal for getting an early start in port (double duty getting ready and eating). You may find your butler amazing, having great snacks, sandwiches, etc after you return from port, practically reading your mind - or you may find him not as attentive as you want. Either way, while it's good to have a rough idea in mind, be prepared to adjust the tip as you see appropriate at the end of the week.

 

Robin

 

This is our methodology as well. We go with a tip pool and adjust the amount we give to the butler and concierge according to our usage and their performance. Some butlers and concierges are much better than others.

[cruise_alot123]

I am going on a 7 nights Med cruise this week, will stay in a suite with my mum.

Will have breakfast in Cagneys. Will not order room service. Have booked all excurions myself. Will arrange dinner reservation myself onboard.

Is $100 tip for butler enough?

I don't know what is the average tip others give. So don't want to underpay the butler.

Advice appreciated.

 

Butlers work very hard and if you are going to spend $ 5,000 on a cruise I'd tip at least $ 210 and that averaged out about $ 30 a day and that's less than 5% which is still low. I'd tip $ 300 if my cruise was at least $ 5,000. Most people tip $ 100 on average for an inside cabin so for suite passengers, you gotta step up and I know $ 210 may sounds a lot but percentage wise, it ain't nothing as compared to what you paid to get in Cagneys.

Edited June 25, 2014 by cruise_alot123

[ColinIllinois]

Edited: I should stay out of tipping threads. :)

Edited June 25, 2014 by ColinIllinois

[aubreyc1988]

Edited: I should stay out of tipping threads. :)

 

THIS haha :D

[buckeye82]

We have always tipped our butler and concierge according to the services they have provided. On our last cruise we had a butler, concierge and (for the first time) an assistant concierge. Where does it end!?