What are some things a Retreat Host can help with?

[TeeRick]

My experience (pre-pandemic golden days) has been to ask the butler to take the laundry bag (wash & fold, E+ benefit) in the morning.  We almost always got it back by 5PM the next day left on our bed in a large paper bag.  If we did the laundry per item (like wash and press pants or shirts) then these would come back on hangars and in fact the butler would hang them in our closet.

[TeeRick]

20 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks, Rick. We pretty much knew about most of those advertised items. Maybe on our Reflection cruise in a few weeks, we'll ask for a bowl of fruit to be brought to our room for us to periodically munch on during the day.

 

I remember our first butler back in Jan 2019 on the Reflection kept a fruit bowl full of tasty fruit. He also brought our laundry back with our shirts, blouses and other applicable items on hangers, which no butler since then has bothered to do.

Ken - ok, some other occasional other stuff.

-We always got a fruit bowl every day.  And we specified which type of fruit we wanted.

-The butler used to come to the suite in the afternoon with a cart of snacks and beverages.  They have stopped doing this.  Unless you ask, and some will still do it. 

-They will bring you a cheese and cracker plate if you ask- generally when you are getting ready for dinner.  And bring a couple of glasses of wine or beer from The Retreat too.

-We occasionally ordered a dinner from Luminae by calling them.  And then asked our Butler to pick it up and bring it to our suite.

-When we have had maintenance issues, like the infamous non-flushing suction toilet, a call to the butler was all that was needed to get it quickly remedied.

- Try asking for fresh flowers daily.  You will be surprised.

[hppytrvlr]

I asked for flowers in the room and received a dozen roses! Lovely.

[chemmo]

On 1/16/2022 at 8:50 PM, Momma Rene said:

I am wondering if we will be offered a chance to upgrade from a Celebrity Suite to a Royal given so few people aboard our particular sailing.  There seem to be no suites higher than a Celebrity Suite currently available or perhaps they are blocked for an April sailing.

We usually book RS or PH on S class. Best prices seem to be as cruises are released. Once one PH goes the other invariably becomes $$ more expensive. RS usually go pretty fast as they give all the additional perks the PH gets but at a significantly lower price. I would think on your sailing they are probably all gone but at final payment time some may reappear….Worth monitoring.

 

Additional perks are…

 

Unlimited speciality dining.

Laundry (technically twice per cruise but in our experience unlimited).

In suite bar set up including two bottles of spirits.

Obviously a much bigger and nicer room.

In normal circumstances one or two special event invitations.

Special Delivery boarding.

 

We did on our last pre covid cruise overhear a conversation in the Retreat Lounge on Equinox where a couple were saying what a great last minute deal they had got on a RS…We kept our mouths shut but by booking early we had paid a lot less $$$ than they had last minute and we had the pleasure of looking forward to it.

 

If the option for a bid comes up at a price you are happy with then go for it! We particularly enjoy dining every night and some lunchtimes in the speciality restaurants.
 

If nothing comes up this cruise look out for deals as new cruises come out. As I say, in our experience the prices for RS tend to go up nearer cruising date not down and they frequently are fully booked.

 

Sincere best wishes for a fantastic cruise, whatever suite you are in and I hope a great RS deal comes up for you!

[Jim_Iain]

On 1/16/2022 at 11:01 AM, Momma Rene said:

I will be in a Celebrity Suite.  I did not know laundry was included.  Is there a charge for laundry?

Laundry in CS in not an included perk.   With CC Elite and above you get 1 -2 bags per person wash and fold.   

[Jim_Iain]

On 1/17/2022 at 6:08 AM, TeeRick said:

Ken - ok, some other occasional other stuff.

-We always got a fruit bowl every day.  And we specified which type of fruit we wanted.

-The butler used to come to the suite in the afternoon with a cart of snacks and beverages.  They have stopped doing this.  Unless you ask, and some will still do it. 

-They will bring you a cheese and cracker plate if you ask- generally when you are getting ready for dinner.  And bring a couple of glasses of wine or beer from The Retreat too.

-We occasionally ordered a dinner from Luminae by calling them.  And then asked our Butler to pick it up and bring it to our suite.

-When we have had maintenance issues, like the infamous non-flushing suction toilet, a call to the butler was all that was needed to get it quickly remedied.

- Try asking for fresh flowers daily.  You will be surprised.

Agree with you -

 

They really want to assist you in everything you may need.   Even though they offer shoe polishing I have personally never done it.    One host came around one afternoon with a cart offering champagne and some snacks on a Chic night.  Just his personal service.   I have had others stop by and asked us to call him while in a tender port and he would escort us down.

 

On our last cruise when we had a problem with our refrigerator making loud noises.   He had it serviced and it was perfect for 2 days then went noisy again.  Second time he had them replace it with a new one.

 

Also on the same cruise we came back to our room at 11:00 Pm and our lights would not turn off no matter what we did.   I called guest relations and they asked  "Do you need us to fix now"... duhhh.  I said of course.   There was a maintenance man there within 5 minutes and he did something in a cabinet next to our room and fixed instantly.    Surprisingly the next day both the Butler and CC Manager called and wanted to know why we didn't call them.   I would not call them and get them out of bed at that hour knowing how early they get up.    I felt like they posted a note on the wall about our problem.  LOL

[DaKahuna]

On our last cruise we told our butler (Personal Retreat Host) that instead of the usual tray of sweets they normally serve mid day we would prefer a snack tray.  He asked if a cheese plate and shrimp cocktail was okay and we said yes.  Along with a couple of regular soda crackers there were also digestive biscuits.  We were doing a B2B, so we let him know that for the 2nd leg, every other day would be okay.  
 

 

[njoysun]

Regarding laundry in a Sky Suite.

 

is it included?

Usually next day?

Once per trip?

[DaKahuna]

2 minutes ago, njoysun said:

Regarding laundry in a Sky Suite.

 

is it included?

Usually next day?

Once per trip?

Not included in Sky Suite. 
Two days is normal turn around if you turn laundry in. 
As many times as you want to pay for.