Have you ever been "butled?"

[Jana]

Does anyone have butler experience to share with me? I'm one of Cruise Critic's writers. I'm doing an article on butler service... which ships have it, what level of accommodation you need in order to get it, what's good about it, whether or not it's worth it.

 

Has anyone had an extraordinary cruise because of a butler?

 

Please talk to me!

 

Jana

[nrdsb4]

Royal Caribbean ships do not have butler service. Maybe you are thinking of Celebrity or Princess?

[Jana]

Hi, I know... but someone on the NCL board told me about their Oceania butler, someone else told me about their Princess butler, so I figured why not try here too?

 

I know that when I'm about to cruise I primarily visit the board for the next ship... so if I were looking at RCCL, I might miss the query on Holland America.

 

(It seemed like a good idea at the time... :rolleyes: )

 

Jana

[AFT_LOVER]

RCCL doesn't but they do have extraordinary stewards that service suites. We had them on Princess til Carnival took over, then bye bye!

 

Does anyone have butler experience to share with me? I'm one of Cruise Critic's writers. I'm doing an article on butler service... which ships have it, what level of accommodation you need in order to get it, what's good about it, whether or not it's worth it.

 

Has anyone had an extraordinary cruise because of a butler?

 

Please talk to me!

 

Jana

[Jana]

Macop, are the "stewards" that service suites butlers "by a different name?"

 

What services do they provide?

 

Thanks!

 

Jana

[Lynnees]

We had butler service once - on the Infinity. Loved it. We decided to have a pre-dinner party one night for some friends we had met aboard and some friends who came aboard when we did. Our butler served and poured with white gloves. Wonderful chap. Everyone came just because of him.......they had heard us go on about him and wanted to see if we were right.

 

 

We were :D

[takeavacation]

I had a butler on Radisson Seven Seas (now Regent). I was on the Voyager in the Baltic - in a penthouse suite. The whole ship is suites - but only penthouse and above have butler service.

 

He was very helpful, and very cute! Basically anything we asked for, he got. He was a different person than the stewards that cleaned the cabin. His job was basically to let the others clean and he was to take care of us.

 

Unfortunately - this sailing was very port intensive (no sea days) - so we didn't really spend a great deal of time on board the ship - much less in our cabin or on our balcony. But, it was a fabulous cruise!!

 

I would think that he is a "step above" a standard steward -- but, all the cruises I've been on the stewards have done a fabulous job at getting us whatever was requested.

 

Do I think it is worth the extra cost -- maybe for an itinerary with more ship time - but not for the Baltic.

 

Hope that helps.:)

[negc]

Macop, are the "stewards" that service suites butlers "by a different name?"

 

What services do they provide?

 

Thanks!

 

Jana

 

We have stayed in suites on RCI but I don't think that the services of the stewards, while excellent, approach those supposedly provided by butlers. The stewards are primarily engaged in keeping your suite clean but are not expected to provide any of the personal services you would receive from a butler. We won't be sailing on Celebrity for another year but after that I can provide a better comparison.:)

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

are the "stewards" that service suites butlers "by a different name?" What services do they provide? Thanks!

No they are not -- at least in our experience! :) We've only had a butler once so far, but he added so much to our overall cruise experience that we've now booked the exact same ship and the exact same suite, in the hopes of getting him again! The following is a segment from my CC review of that cruise:

 

 

 

Butler: Yes, Laurence gets his own category! I had heard some pretty negative reviews about Celebrity butler service – everything from useless dead weight (‘just one more person to tip’) to borderline insolent. Laurence, on the other hand, could not have been better. I mentioned early in my review that my brother and his wife were our guests. We had booked them a cabin across the hall so that they could have more privacy than they would on our sofa bed, but this meant that they weren’t technically suite passengers (a bit ironic, since it cost quite a bit more this way!). I was prepared to pull our butler aside and discreetly explain that we were really a party of four – in fact, based on some of the negative reviews I had read, I was even prepared to grease his palm a bit if he balked at the idea of serving four instead of two. But none of that was necessary. The first few times he came around on embarkation day, he noticed that DB and SIL were always there, so he asked if we were traveling together and if they were in a suite. We told him that they weren’t, so he said that he would plan everything for four instead of two, unless we told him otherwise. Of course, I wanted to hug him right then and there!

 

We didn’t go crazy with our requests – none of the shoe shining, packing/unpacking stuff really seemed necessary for us. He did take care of getting DH’s dress shirt cleaned, and restocked the sodas in our mini-bar a lot quicker than the standard guy. But it was just heavenly to have the full dining room breakfast menu at our disposal, delivered when we wanted it. He always gave us a call saying he was on his way, and DH would get up and throw on a robe to go greet him – I often just stayed in bed, since there was a separate bedroom and DH always closed the door behind him. A few minutes later, I would stroll out and find the table fully set, OJ and hot chocolate poured, and my Eggs Benedict awaiting. I sure can’t imagine a better way to start the day!

 

We also ate dinner in our suite a couple of times, and of course there were the daily tea sandwiches and cookies as well as the canapés. Whenever we were in the cabin, he would ask us to pick what we wanted – but when we weren’t we would find a couple of plates full when we returned.

 

And for those who say it’s just another person to tip . . . well, I guess that’s true, but when I consider what we saved in room service tips, for us it even made good economical sense to have a butler. That being said, we did tip him over twice the recommended amount – and we certainly didn’t save THAT much in room service tips! We just felt that the recommended amount was almost insulting for how much he added to our experience.

 

Hope this helps. :)

[TEXASMUNK]

butler service on Galaxy.

 

Elvis, 16 years with Celebrity.....daily, and promptly at 4pm. Canapes and our preferred adult beverage.

 

A little later, fresh baked cookies and tea.

 

Oh yeah.

 

 

But the toppper was dinner. We ordered off of the Dinign Room menu, Elvis then served us on the balcony. We swore he had a hidden camera, because his timing was perfect between courses.

 

A little Jimmy Buffet on the CD Player, the blackest night, and the most amazing number of stars.

 

Elvis....without exception, the most outstanding butler we have ever encountered

[Jana]

La croisiere,

 

Milles mercis. It sure does help, I love your review exlpanation.

 

Thanks to all of you, it all helps!

 

Jana

[MKS]

My husband and I had a butler on the Legend of the Seas cruise Australia/NZ in a GS. Unfortunately, our butler was a young lady and although she tried to be helpful, she just couldn't cut it. But then she got seasick and we had a true English Butler. Pure heaven. Served us breakfast and full dinners, ironed all our dressy clothes, even shortened a new pair of my slacks. He was there for our cocktail parties, too. Just like on TV.

Margie

[juried]

Hi Jana,

I just responded to your query on the NCL board. We had great butler experiences on the NCL Dawn in the Villa. We are now booked on our first RCCL Jewel of the Seas, in the Royal Suite on 9/11/06 - Transatlantic Cruise Harwich to Boston. I will let you know how they compare. Truth be told I doubt anything can touch the Villa but I am so looking forward to Europe and there is only one Royal Suite on the ship so that can't be bad...

Enjoy.

[AFT_LOVER]

Carnival killed a great line. My TA got us upgraded on every cruise to a mini suite, which the robes waiting for us had slippers, a free mini bar, chocolate covered strawberries, etc. The Butler that serviced the room; a phonecall at 6AM to see if we are awake then bring he breakfast in & set it up on the balcony for us to enjoy. Cappucino for me instead of reg coffee, latte for my DH. He would have ideas for usto do onshore, some free with him & some were an excursion that he would book for us. He would lay out clothing for the formal evening, polish shoes, steam out wrinkles with his steamer.

 

Last 2 cruises on Golden we arrived to no butler, no mini bar unless you had it unlocked to pay for it, no slippers with robes you wait 3 days to arrive, now we get our own breakfast & the steward who was to clean our room stated that we were NOT a suite but a large stateroom & he isn't there more than once a day. Excuse me but we are PLATINUM members, at the time top tier before they did ELITE with Carnival's takeover.

 

2 years prior we were partying over the Thanksgiving cruise announcement by Captain Warner that Princess was merging with RCCL/Celebrity. By the time we got off Carnival was all over the news with their hostile takeover. Now the only great perk was free Net access. But that was it after Carnival arrived.

 

Now at a friend's Grand Suite on RCCL, no butler but their steward was long time employee with great ratings. He had an introduction book telling you about him. He also brought cappucino for 4 of us with danish for us to enjoy. We were D1 corner aft a floor below them & our steward also had an intro book for us & he was amazing at cleaning, making bed, towel animals & all our gifts on our bed with cards on each for each of us. And we hardly saw him......... how he knew when to work? But when he had something special he would wait outside the door to hear my scream & laugh (like his hanging bat).

 

Personally I don't think a butler is that great of a perk nowadays since the Stewards that RCCL has on their ships are of the same class. Celebrity has them & they seem to be in the way, lack of privacy the way they just walk in, etc. But you pay plenty to have one since nothing is free.

 

Macop, are the "stewards" that service suites butlers "by a different name?"

 

What services do they provide?

 

Thanks!

 

Jana

[OPSoccermom]

butler service on Galaxy.

 

Elvis, 16 years with Celebrity.....daily, and promptly at 4pm. Canapes and our preferred adult beverage.

 

A little later, fresh baked cookies and tea.

 

Oh yeah.

 

 

But the toppper was dinner. We ordered off of the Dinign Room menu, Elvis then served us on the balcony. We swore he had a hidden camera, because his timing was perfect between courses.

 

A little Jimmy Buffet on the CD Player, the blackest night, and the most amazing number of stars.

 

Elvis....without exception, the most outstanding butler we have ever encountered

Jim, you bring back wonderful memories. We also had the pleasure of having Elvis as our butler on the Millie in 2003. He was amazing!

 

I smile just thinking of returning to our cabin late in the afternoon to a tray of sushi and green tea for DH amd me and cookies and milk for the kids. The kids adored Elvis to the point that they would skip dinner to watch DVDs in the suite and have Elvis bring them dinner. Our then 13yo didn't want to get off at one of the ports, and Elvis so nicely offerred to "keep an eye on him".

 

We also had a butler on the Connie - he was very good.

 

On the DCL Magic and Wonder, we had a butler, although I'm not sure that's what they called the crew member. On both cruises, they were excellent and extremely attentive. We never had to worry about restaurant, spa, tour, arrangements, and had wonderful in-room food service as well.