Urgent opinion needed - Dawn Suite Conundrum!

[AF-1]

Pathubia, thanks for your quick reply. I appreciate it.

[meglet]

Maybe I should be slapping myself in hindsight, but in addition to tipping our butler 100, we gave our cabin steward another 75 because he was really fantastic. We didn't give the concierge anything because we never saw her, she never checked in with us to see if everything was OK, and we never asked her to do anything like make restaurant reservations or fulfill any special requests.

[GeezerCouple]

So if someone books a suite; in addition to the normal $12 per day for tips; a suite guest is also expected to tip the butler and concierge; the amount depends on how much you use them; and its based on the total days for a cruise. So a 7 night cruise would be at least $70 for butler and $50-$70 for concierge or vice versa. Is this somewhat correct? I know some people will leave more and some less; but for a baseline does this seem reasonable? Thanks

 

A lot of "how much for Butler" vs. "how much for Concierge" should probably depend upon how much you use the services of each.

 

If a Butler is bringing snacks several times a day, and taking the time/effort to notice or ask what you really prefer (fruit vs. cookies, for example, or even which specific fruits), or schedules these to be fresh when you plan to return from excursions/activities (yes, one can ask - they aren't mind readers, though some seem to be close :) ), and serves some meals, etc., and one only asks the Concierge for a few reservations, for example, I'd think the tips should reflect the different levels of service and effort.

 

It also matters, in our opinion, how pleasant both of them make all such interactions.

 

We didn't realize until our second NCL suite cruise what a difference there could be (and what a difference it made to our entire cruise experience).

 

On the first, the Butler simply ignored our requests for fruit and cheese instead of lots of sweets or salty chips. We had given him a short note about this the first time we met, and after a few days we finally stopped trying to ask.

As for the Concierge, after the second request for help with a restaurant reservation was met with a "But they won't hold a table for you", we gave up there, too. (We now realize we probably should have complained about this, but it was our first NCL suite experience.)

 

The second time, over the holidays, we had the good fortune to have the amazing Maxi as a Butler.

NOW we understand how a really good butler can help make the trip really special! :)

We also now understand why some people have written here on CruiseCritic that they wanted to take their butler home with them. In addition to the terrific service, there was a real warmth.

[if the "warmth" is part of the "job facade", so be it. But we seriously doubt that was all it was.]

 

We also left an extra tip for our Steward, even though he is part of the general gratuity pool. He managed to find ways to customize the room morning and evening that made us really smile each time we walked in.

 

And this time there was real reason to leave a tip for the Concierge. She helped in many ways.

 

But by far, the largest tip was to our butler, reflecting the extra time/effort, and the big difference it made to our cruise experience!

 

GeezerCouple