The Butler

[Crusinistops]

Deck 6 and thanks for the response

[excitedofharpenden]

Phil

You know that wonderful Scottish slang phrase - he takes one helluva bucket - so it did not apply to you I am glad to hear

I Googled it and couldn't find it. If it does not break board rules, you must tell me what it means (although I might have an idea;)).

 

Phil

[Ma Bell]

I must admit, I felt really silly walking down the hall with butler in tow. I got some strange looks. It was definitely good for a laugh.:D Phil knows his place is in everyone's hearts. He's a charming young man. I think everyone on the ship knew him before the cruise was over.

[dkjretired]

Lucky_Jim,

 

You are soooooo right. Smashing Nicky (Nicholas) was the best by far. And, it is nice to see you posting. :)

 

We had Nicky (smashing) on the Horizon 11 years ago to Bermuda. At the time he lived in England, my understanding is now he resides in Florida. He used to be pictured in the old Celebrity brochures.

[uktog]

I Googled it and couldn't find it. If it does not break board rules, you must tell me what it means (although I might have an idea;)).

 

Phil

 

It is an Aberdonian expression it means "the person being referred to has an amazing capacity to imbibe a considerable amount of drink without falling over"..

 

there is often also the other part that is usually something about having amnesia when it was his round. The well known characters Scotland the What did a wonderful sketch on this - they are no longer on the road they were absolutely A1 - funny and clean. If any former Doric lovers are on this board - they may remember them they were very popular in the 1980s. There other famous sketch was the Ballater Toy Shop when HMQ phoned up for a cuddly futtret (ferret for the usual readers) for her new grandwean (grandchild)

[canderson]

I Googled it and couldn't find it. If it does not break board rules, you must tell me what it means (although I might have an idea;)).

 

Phil

Here ye be, Phil. Sixth on the list.

 

http://www.rampantscotland.com/parliamo/blparliamo_drink.htm

[tbelian]

Here ye be, Phil. Sixth on the list.

 

http://www.rampantscotland.com/parliamo/blparliamo_drink.htm

 

Have a look at #26 .... heeeee!

[excitedofharpenden]

Here ye be, Phil. Sixth on the list.

 

http://www.rampantscotland.com/parliamo/blparliamo_drink.htm

Love it:D I'm not sure I can take one helluva bucket though. Three pints of Eighty Shilling and I'm blootered;)

 

Tom, must write note to self. If I see Joan, I mustn't say "it's MaBell":D

 

Apologies this has gone off topic:o

 

Phil

[canderson]

Love it:D I'm not sure I can take one helluva bucket though. Three pints of Eighty Shilling and I'm blootered;)

 

Tom, must write note to self. If I see Joan, I mustn't say "it's MaBell":D

 

Apologies this has gone off topic:o

 

Phil

Topic?

 

A funny thing happened on the way to Exeter...

 

Flew into Heathrow one time, and straightaway grabbed a train down to Exeter to meet a friend. It was one of those more or less typical "I can't sleep in this position" economy seat personally paid for sort of flights, but didn't seem inclined to take a nap when I arrived.

 

Spent some time at his house, and on about sixish, we went out to the local off-license for a pint. Downed three pints of "Davey's Old Wallop" and never felt a thing. I don't know if it was the jet lag or the signficant drop in altitude (I live up here in 5280' land) or what -- just didn't even register. John warned about a fourth, thinking I'd be completely pissed (in the English sense) before we got down to the business of reworking some software. After #4, finally noted a minor change, and declared the event a success. Certainly couldn't get away with that here!

[charmie]

We just returned from the Mercury (Oh how we wish we were still on board!) We were in a sky suite and LOVED our butler. We had been cruising on Holland America .. and loved the Neptune Lounge for suite passengers .. we weren't sure how we were going to like the "butler" experience, but we really enjoyed meeting and spending time with Praus .. We had a few friends over the final day at sea and he quickly delivered glasses, juices, snacks etc .. (we all had a few "bottles" in our state rooms that we didn't want to pack and take back home .. so what else could we do but gather together and drink??)

 

We enjoyed the delivery of afternoon tea, etc. Other than our impromptu party .. we really didn't request any other services .. just their standard daily rituals provided us with terrific pampering!!

[Texed]

We had Nicky (smashing) on the Horizon 11 years ago to Bermuda. At the time he lived in England, my understanding is now he resides in Florida. He used to be pictured in the old Celebrity brochures.

 

Don,

 

You are correct. He said he had a place in FLL. He also said he was a "private" butler in Houston. That's how he got the "smashing" name. He wrecked a Mercedes. :)

[canderson]

Don,

 

You are correct. He said he had a place in FLL. He also said he was a "private" butler in Houston. That's how he got the "smashing" name. He wrecked a Mercedes. :)

His, or one of his clients???

 

I should think that the perfect butler would have the wisdom and wit of the original Jeeves (Wodehouse's version). 1/4 the time would be spent in "Very good, sir" mode, another 1/4 obsessing on my behalf about my attire and being cheeky about it, 1/4 solving life's social and other problems using especially ingenious means, and 1/4 just being pal. Yes, that's it -- balance.

 

Barring all of that as an option, I guess I'll settle for the cappucino and news each morning. Especially with a lot of at-sea days as we'll have on the next trip, it's hard to imagine asking a butler to do things that I'll have ample opportunity to do for myself. The exceptions are things that the room steward would normally attend to in a non-suite cabin (e.g., keeping the ice bucket fresh, delivering breakfast on port days). That said, I CAN be trained. Will be interesting to see what our butler suggests this time around.

[Lucky_Jim]

His, or one of his clients???

 

I should think that the perfect butler would have the wisdom and wit of the original Jeeves (Wodehouse's version). 1/4 the time would be spent in "Very good, sir" mode, another 1/4 obsessing on my behalf about my attire and being cheeky about it, 1/4 solving life's social and other problems using especially ingenious means, and 1/4 just being pal. Yes, that's it -- balance.

 

 

Smashing Nicky is all of the above and more but we dispensed with the “Yes sir!” mode from the start, substituted “Old Chap!”

 

Apparel comments apply to my DW only.

 

Yes he has a small ranch in Morreston? FL.

 

Some examples of his extras

 

When my wife is worried abut the health of her cat, he phones home on his cell phone for us to check progress.

 

He emails me while on HIS vacation to find out if we are OK, as we did not cruise with him in 2005.

 

Brings us farewell bottle Champers and chats until midnight, then comes next morning at 8:00am to take us and our bags to our transportation.

 

Goes to see the Maitre ‘D; to bang heads together, because he gave us a lousy table assignment for dinner.

 

Pops in at lunchtime sees we are not going to lunch and shows up at our door with in 15 min; with a four course lunch and then goes to bring us cappuccino with our dessert.

 

I tell him he is the sunshine when we get rainy days!

 

My wife is still trying to take him home with us! Cruising will not be the same after he retires.

 

Lucky_Jim

[CaribbeanBound]

The butler did it.

[JNLROSE]

Joanie, that is some entrance! We had a smiliiar experience on Mercury last year---returning from shore with some friends who were always kidding us about our butler & them cruising in "steerage in the crew's quarters", our butler, Stanley, was passing the x-ray machines as we came through loaded with shopping bags, saw us, came right over & grabbed everything & said he'd see they got to our cabin immediately! Our friends almost died---"your butler meets you when you board & takes your things????" Talk about funny, we laughed for a week! Coincidences---don't you just love 'em??!! :rolleyes: