FUN SUITE ?

[Cruisegirl6]

Just having fun, but curious, for Retreat passengers, is there any special request you ask you butler to bring to your cabin?  Is there anything special you ask for?

[canderson]

12 minutes ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

Just having fun, but curious, for Retreat passengers, is there any special request you ask you butler to bring to your cabin?  Is there anything special you ask for?

Once in a great while (maybe 1 cruise in 5) we'll order "dinner in" at "our place" for a special occasion, but with maximum possible advanced notice.  May do this on our next TA for our SIL's birthday as the 'kids' will be joining us again on this cruise.

 

On port days with early excursions, we'll ask for breakfast in the room to speed things up a bit.

 

Other than that, we usually just let the butler do what the butler does.

[Cruisegirl6]

6 minutes ago, canderson said:

Once in a great while (maybe 1 cruise in 5) we'll order "dinner in" at "our place" for a special occasion, but with maximum possible advanced notice.  May do this on our next TA for our SIL's birthday as the 'kids' will be joining us again on this cruise.

 

On port days with early excursions, we'll ask for breakfast in the room to speed things up a bit.

 

Other than that, we usually just let the butler do what the butler does.

What does the butler do? lol

[Espn]

21 minutes ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

What does the butler do? lol

I am glad you asked that because I have been wondering too. We are in a Sky Suite on Beyond in October and I really have no idea what a butler can do or expects to do. We don’t want to be those people that ask for crazy things but don’t want to be like no we are good and don’t need anything if they can do something that would make our cruise more enjoyable.

[DaKahuna]

53 minutes ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

Just having fun, but curious, for Retreat passengers, is there any special request you ask you butler to bring to your cabin?  Is there anything special you ask for?

 

On sea days we sometimes ask early in the day for shrimp, crackers, and/or a charcuterie platter around 4 PM.
In port in the Caribbean we are usually back ashore and take room service in our room, if not on a ship with the Retreat Sundeck. 

 

Not nedessarily cabin related, but another 'off the wall request' we have is if we plan on visiting the theater on Chic Nights, we'll ask him to try and save us two seats at the rail in the rear of the theater to the left of where the reserved seating section is.  That was we can make our exit without disturbing other. 

If we don't bring our drinks with usto the theater, we may ask him, if he does not offer, to finds us a server or to get drinks for us.  Usually we have one with us when we enter so do not do this often.

 

Otherwise, just keep the water and soda topped off. 

 

[jelayne]

While having a butler is nice you are sharing them with about 22 other suites.  
Dinner in the suite sounds nice, and is, if you have a dining table.  Bringing coffee and juice in the morning is nice, a snack late afternoon is good too, but we find we enjoy going to the Retreat Lounge in the afternoon where we can get snacks, finger sandwiches, etc we with a glass of wine or cocktail. 
 

We find the Butler is a life saver if you have a heel break on a shoe, a button come off, forgot your cuff links, spill red wine on a white blouse or if your travel companion is having a bday and you want the cabin

decorated or a special treat for the occasion. 

[chemmo]

4 hours ago, jelayne said:

While having a butler is nice you are sharing them with about 22 other suites.  
Dinner in the suite sounds nice, and is, if you have a dining table.  Bringing coffee and juice in the morning is nice, a snack late afternoon is good too, but we find we enjoy going to the Retreat Lounge in the afternoon where we can get snacks, finger sandwiches, etc we with a glass of wine or cocktail. 
 

We find the Butler is a life saver if you have a heel break on a shoe, a button come off, forgot your cuff links, spill red wine on a white blouse or if your travel companion is having a bday and you want the cabin

decorated or a special treat for the occasion. 

Agree…I think all of us need to be mindful of the butler’s workload. In our experience if you can give them warning if you want anything special they really appreciate it.

 

Things we have asked for over the years are…

 

Snacks for a sail away party in our suite (and to put the champagne we had brought on board on ice). 
 

A fruit bowl rather than the sad couple of pieces.

 

A tea tray set up.

 

A special meal. I agree with jelayne that dining in suite can sound more glamorous than it is unless you have a table in your suite or balcony. While I would order a quick meal if tired in a suite I would only arrange something like an anniversary meal in a RS or above.

 

 

[CHEZMARYLOU]

I don't think it was crazy and definitely not fun but I ask my butler to bring me a bag of ice twice a day. I was traveling with a broken bone in my foot, that I did not realize was broken at the time. I was drinking so didn't want to take the prescribed pain meds and opted to ice my foot and go with OTC. He was great about it and I tipped him above and beyond what I normally would have.

[PKB]

We had a Celebrity Suite on Reflection and our butler was very friendly and went above and beyond on every one of our requests.  My formal dress needed pressing and she got it done in about three hours free of charge.  We wanted to connect our portable DVD player to the TV in the bedroom and she found out how to make it work from the IT department.  We had breakfast on our huge balcony three days and she set it up for us perfectly.  Also decorated our cabin for our anniversary with balloons, confetti, a cake, and sparkling wine.  Overall, our best cruise experience ever.  I find it very difficult to have to sail again with the peasants......lol

[George C]

When in a large suite (royal or penthouse) we like inviting people that are interested to visit and request butler to bring extra glasses , shrimp , other appetizers.

[DaKahuna]

12 hours ago, jelayne said:

Dinner in the suite sounds nice, and is, if you have a dining table.

 

I agree 100% .. 

On Revolutionzed ships there is essentiall no tables in the SS.  They have two little 'foot rest' at the foot of the bed that we found you could put together and make big enough to hold the food service tray that breakfast came on.  

 

On non-Revolutionized ships we have been lucky enough to have a table on the balcony that was sufficient for us to use to lunch on inport days when Luminae was closed.. We'd have our butler get us sandwiches and drinks, usually Arnold Plamer and lemonaid, and we'd enjoy our lunch on the balcony.

 

 

[Trevor Fountain]

You can ask your butler for a special cruise critic keyboard, that doesn't use caps only in thread titles. 

[DaKahuna]

1 minute ago, Trevor Fountain said:

You can ask your butler for a special cruise critic keyboard, that doesn't use caps only in thread titles. 

 

You can always ask, but I would not hold my breath. 

 

[Shiba_Lover]

Sailed in suites many times and have never asked for anything extra special.  I guess I'm really not a fan of room service, and if I want a cocktail, I typically grab it on the way to the room from wherever I am.  If it's birthday/anniversary and that's noted on our reservation, then our room has had a bottle of wine or champagne, maybe decorations, a cake or chocolate strawberries.

[RichYak]

5 hours ago, Trevor Fountain said:

You can ask your butler for a special cruise critic keyboard, that doesn't use caps only in thread titles. 

Well said. It's pretty annoying.

[Jim_Iain]

We usually don't ask our butler for much.   A good butler will pick up on your habit and will drop things off to make your trip more enjoyable.   Example:  I was on a cruise and had become extremely dehydrated mountain climbing in Indonesia.     I had picked up a couple Vita Waters in Retreat -   Next day the bar was stocked with 8 bottles.

 

Recently on a on month set of cruises we weren't in the mood for dinner.   Our butler suggested a Pizza Party in our room... Sounded perfect.   He took the order and delivered the Pizza along with Cesar Salads and Beer.    Was nice to have  TV Night in.

[chemmo]

7 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

We usually don't ask our butler for much.   A good butler will pick up on your habit and will drop things off to make your trip more enjoyable.   Example:  I was on a cruise and had become extremely dehydrated mountain climbing in Indonesia.     I had picked up a couple Vita Waters in Retreat -   Next day the bar was stocked with 8 bottles.

 

Recently on a on month set of cruises we weren't in the mood for dinner.   Our butler suggested a Pizza Party in our room... Sounded perfect.   He took the order and delivered the Pizza along with Cesar Salads and Beer.    Was nice to have  TV Night in.

Suggestions from the butler are often the best! Our butler once suggested a ‘family style’ Indian banquet for a sea day lunch after we had said we had planned to simply relax on the balcony that day…Delicious!

 

On another occasion he saw us return to our room early evening after a busy port day and we said we were going to watch a movie. A few minutes later he knocked on with popcorn.

 

There have been a few posts on what makes a butler outstanding and it is this sort of positive thought and action that makes some vacations in suites just that bit more special…

 

A good butler does what you ask him to do.

A very good butler does what you ask and will ask if there is anything else he can do.

An outstanding butler knows what will make your cruise special and will come up with ideas and treats.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

We had 6 cabins in a row hosting my husband’s 60th birthday. I asked the butler for a “real” full birthday cake instead of just the slice you get in Luminae. He brought this amazing chocolate decadent cake that we all enjoyed on our balcony. It was heavenly. 

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

And when my husband caught Covid onboard and we were confined to our cabin for our 25th anniversary, our butler was amazing. He brought us every meal and served cocktails every evening (once my hubby was feeling better).

[Schmoe38]

I think the best piece of advice, previously offered here, is to be respectful of your butler’s time.

 

Many times, when cruisers are in a suite for the first time, they often become giddy that they now have a butler to cater to their every whim. This also happens with veteran suite cruisers as well.
 

On the other side of the fence, it’s OK if you are not using the services of your butler on a regular basis. If that’s the case, 1 of 2 things will be happening…your butler will get a chance to take a breath, in what is normally a hectic time for them…or someone else in a different suite will be using an inordinate amount of the butler’s time because they feel they can.

 

Randy

[jelayne]

In our experience Butler service pre Butlergate was more personal and more anticipatory than reactive.  

The service we experienced in Royal Suites ( highest we have done) was different than in Sky Suites.

 

Now with Butlers having to support around 22 suites vs 12 many of these past examples are probably not realistic, particularly for those not on high end suites. 
 

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

We always felt bad because he would constantly ask what he could for us and we had no special requests. 🤪 Also before butlergate. 

[George C]

2 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

We had 6 cabins in a row hosting my husband’s 60th birthday. I asked the butler for a “real” full birthday cake instead of just the slice you get in Luminae. He brought this amazing chocolate decadent cake that we all enjoyed on our balcony. It was heavenly. 

On my wife 60th we had done a move up to penthouse, we invited those interested to our penthouse butler filled our huge dining room table with hot and cold appetizers, then during our little get together the entire concierge staff came in with birthday cake, flowers and a bottle of wine and sang happy birthday. Later that night she won a thousand on video poker, alway like celebrating her July 4th birthday.

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

11 hours ago, chemmo said:

A good butler does what you ask him to do.

A very good butler does what you ask and will ask if there is anything else he can do.

An outstanding butler knows what will make your cruise special and will come up with ideas and treats.

100% this!! Once on an Alaska cruise, we invited guests over for glacier viewing on the balcony, and I asked our butler to bring some hot chocolate and croissants, which he did.

 

An hour or so later, I found myself thinking "Hmm, I probably should have requested more hot chocolate." Just a few seconds later, the doorbell rang and there was our butler with a fresh pot, saying "I thought you might not have enough hot chocolate." 

 

A little thing, sure, but it made a big difference to us. 🙂