Pre-paid gratuities and Butlers

[misha1]

Maybe an obvious answer to this question but I recently booked DH and I into Sky Suite and got all four "Go Best" perks...is the Butler included in the pre-paid gratuities? First time in suite. Thanks in advance. Julie

[4774Papa]

Maybe an obvious answer to this question but I recently booked DH and I into Sky Suite and got all four "Go Best" perks...is the Butler included in the pre-paid gratuities? First time in suite. Thanks in advance. Julie

 

Julie,

I don't know the answer to your question, but I would guess that the butler is included. However, I would expect that a cash tip would be in order.

 

We were upgraded to a Sky Suite on Millennium for the first time last Fall and our butler was super. He came by ever afternoon at 4PM or so with coffee, tea and cookies, etc. We didn't use him for anything special, but I gave him $50 for the cruise.

[misha1]

Yes...we always cash tip our cabin stewards and our favorite bartenders at end of cruise, I just wondered if the basic gratuity was included...and if not what would be an "expected amount" to give to a butler. Thanks, Julie

[cruisestitch]

suite tip amounts are higher than other categories of staterooms because they include the butler.

 

From the Celebrity website:

 

$12.95 per person, per day in standard accommodations ($13.50 for cruises departing on or after July 1, 2016)

$13.45 per person, per day in Concierge Class and AquaClass® staterooms ($14.00 for cruises departing on or after July 1, 2016)

$16.45 per person, per day in suites ($17.00 for cruises departing on or after July 1, 2016)

[bigbenboys]

Hi,

 

Yes tipping for butler is included in your pre-paid gratuities. We then give the butler a cash tip at the end of the cruise.

 

It seems that the afternoon tea has been moved from the suites to Michael's Club. It is still served by the butlers between 3pm to 4 pm.

[emileg]

We too gave a cash tip to the butler for our Sky Suite. However, all he really did was one very attractive hors d'oeuvres set-up for our cabin crawl and he picked up and delivered our laundry. The latter, the cabin steward would have done in any other non-suite category. Other butlers could be seen hanging in the corridors waiting for passengers to ask for their assistance. We had to call our butler on the phone if we needed him. We gave him $20 for this minimal assistance. I have heard other tips as large as $400.

 

I suppose if he were around more, we would have used him more.

[Bootman4U]

IMO "the expected amount" depends completely on how well, or not well, the individual provided the services that YOU feel were worth the additional money.

 

But if you get poor service and feel bound to tip an amount of money because everybody else said it was "expected" then have at it.

[Celebrity Cruises]

Maybe an obvious answer to this question but I recently booked DH and I into Sky Suite and got all four "Go Best" perks...is the Butler included in the pre-paid gratuities? First time in suite. Thanks in advance. Julie

 

Gratuities for your butler are included in the Go Best offer.

[misha1]

Thanks Celebrity!

 

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[Northern Aurora]

Gratuities for your butler are included in the Go Best offer.

 

Celebrity Cruises: While I believed that the gratuities for the butler were included in the Go Best offer I just wanted to thank you for the confirmation.

[need2bespoiled]

I am going off memory for some of the categories, but the breakdown of the $17 goes like this:

 

$3.52 Cabin Steward

$3.50 Butler

$1.25 General Houskeeping

$8.73 Dining Services

 

These numbers could be off a few cents, but that is basically it.

 

I beileve the cabin stewards have a few less cabins than butlers but I am guessing based on information gleeaned onboard.

 

Multiple x2 for two people in a cabin and X days on the ship and you get the base pay, per cabin (for a suite).

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[bigbenboys]

We have had very good butlers. They would bring breakfast every morning. Some days setting things up on the balcony. Bring us dining and lunch menus. Making lunch reservations. I think we are low maintenance, maybe not.

[writerjoe]

Our butler Orlando on Celebrity Silhouette was just fantastic. We were in a Royal Suite and he went above and beyond. Tips were included, but we tipped extra to the following:

 

$200 for our butler

$100 for our cabin steward

$50 for our Michael's Club server

$50 for the Michael's Club concierge

$20 for each of the Luminae servers

[Jane2357]

Our butler Orlando on Celebrity Silhouette was just fantastic. We were in a Royal Suite and he went above and beyond. Tips were included, but we tipped extra to the following:

 

$200 for our butler

$100 for our cabin steward

$50 for our Michael's Club server

$50 for the Michael's Club concierge

$20 for each of the Luminae servers

 

Writerjoe - can I ask the length of your cruise, I'm trying to roughly gage for cash tipping. Our next cruise is a CS for 15 nights. Thank you.

[varoo]

Gratuities for your butler are included in the Go Best offer.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but it is my understanding that gratuities for the butler are always included in the standard gratuities for suite passengers, regardless of whether or not they have the Go Best offer, or any other perk for that matter.

 

I am only mentioning this to assure any new X passengers who book suites at discounted rates without receiving any Big, Better, Best perks that as long as you do not remove the standard gratuities, you can rest assured that gratuities for the butler are indeed included.

 

If you wish to tip extra, that is entirely up to you, as usual.

 

 

[suspaul]

writerjoe, we also had Orlando as our butler on the Silhouette this past August/September, he was excellent! Such a high standard to be met on our next cruises when you've had the best.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[patsyclinelover]

My husband and I are recently off the millennium staying in a celebrity suite. We tipped our butler an extra $40 because he put together a cheese tray for a gathering we had in the suite. We tipped the room steward an extra $20 just because he was always friendly and available. We tipped our micheals club bartender $40 because he always gave us great service.

 

Tipping is a very personal thing...we thought the amounts were appropriate.

[writerjoe]

Writerjoe - can I ask the length of your cruise, I'm trying to roughly gage for cash tipping. Our next cruise is a CS for 15 nights. Thank you.

 

We were on a 9 night cruise out of Rome.

[TeeRick]

Butler tips included in gratuities but we usually give them an extra bit of cash at the end of the cruise for their great service. Of course that is entirely a personal decision. We also give tips to Michael's Club concierge and servers.

[wrk2cruise]

I'm happy to hear that others are tipping the servers in Michaels Club well. For me they have provided some of the best personal service on the ship. I do spend more than the average amount of time relaxing in Michaels.

 

I only tip the Michaels Concierge if I make use of their services.

 

The basics are covered in the pre-paid gratuity for all staff. What each person does above that is a personal choice.

[jules815]

I appreciate this info. We'll be staying in a SS in April. I believe the last time we sailed with X, also in a SS, I gave our butler $60 at the end of the 5-day cruise. He came by with the cart every afternoon (I know they've discontinued this), and brought our room service. We're pretty low maintenance, but he insisted on setting up which ever table we wanted, with a linen table cloth. Nice touch that we appreciated. I didn't realize they made specialty dining reservations, so maybe we'll have them take care of that for us as well.

 

Counting down the days until our cruise on Reflection. :)