Celebrity vs Silverseas

[Observer]

4 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

As one who wears glasses, I'd be most uncomfortable with giving my glasses to another person to clean.  

I fully understand and agree. I suggest that you make it clear to the butler that you do not want your glasses cleaned and/or put them in a drawer at times when the butler can be expected.

[IBoz]

Hello everyone,

A friend and I are doing a "Girls' Cruise" on SS in April 2023.  Quick question...  although gratuities are included in our fare, is it customary to tip various crew members extra, particularly the butler?

 

Thanks!

Ilean

[A Tucson Guy]

3 minutes ago, IBoz said:

Hello everyone,

A friend and I are doing a "Girls' Cruise" on SS in April 2023.  Quick question...  although gratuities are included in our fare, is it customary to tip various crew members extra, particularly the butler?

 

Thanks!

Ilean

I believe that is entirely at your choice. You will get opinions going both ways so you should decide!

[Stumblefoot]

5 minutes ago, A Tucson Guy said:

You will get opinions going both ways so you should decide!

Correct

[Observer]

Some of us do tip people who serve us extensively and well.  It is not expected, but of course it is appreciated.

 

One can also contribute to the Crew Welfare Fund, which is used for the benefit of all crew (including those one never sees who work in the galley, the laundry, the stores area, etc.)  Again, not expected.

[cruiseerf]

Wow, reading all this, I miss cruising.   So I have sailed 43 Celebrity cruises, all in Suites and 321 days on Silversea.   As far as entertainment,  people in our party went to all the Celebrity shows and when on Silversea, they said "thats no show".  Personally I enjoyed the occasional "Extravaganza' show on Celebrity...reminded me of vegas......still mediocre quality but for a ship ok.  Silversea with such smaller size has much smaller shows and more single acts, comedians, violinists, magicians, jugglers, creative dancing etc....Not to my taste, would rather have an after dinner drink on deck listening to the ocean.  We did enjoy several silversea cruises where the Show crew dined at select officer tables and we heard many stories of performing at sea etc from these younger energetic entertainers, it was interesting.  

 

I have had amazing butlers and mediocre butlers on both lines.   On Celebrity we usually book our table for the same time every evening in the suite restaurant.   Sometimes we venture out but mostly if we want something from the specialty restaurants, a specific dish, we just order it in advance and just pay for it and have them bring it to us.   This way we have the same waiter and helper for the entire cruise.  Our butler does our laundry and dry cleaning, brings a ham and cheese sandwich every afternoon at 3PM and makes sure we have lots of bottle water and plastic cups, we don't trust much of what goes into the rooms for cleanliness.   One Butler cleaned all my reading glasses and shined our shoes and even brought lint brushes for us.....nice touches.    On Silversea where the Butlers are the norm, I have had a real mix of fabulous and lazy......We used them for all our dinner reservations as well as any complaints.  We also have the butler do all the folding on the last full day of the cruise and leave it on the beds so we can pack.... we do our own unpacking.  Cannot say Silversea butlers are any better trained than Celebrity.  That said, we have found lovely staff on both lines......and I could tell many stories I am saving for my book on day ;)  Safe Sails to all!