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Tipping the Butler


bigal119

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A bit confused here. You tipped the concierge more than the butler? The more I read about this the more confused I am getting.:confused:

 

Please take no offense. I am just attempting learn a bit here.

 

I agree.

 

We tip our butler much more than our concierge.

 

Concierge greets you on embarkation, is there for VIP disembarkation (unless you do "express disembarkation") makes your dinner reservations, seats you at the show (which you do not need assistance once you have been to one show on one ship) and sends the priority tender tickets to your cabin via your cabin stewards. All done via computer or cabin stewards.

 

The butler...does the legwork EVERY day...on-time.

We tip the butler $10 pp per day, - for breakfast - And...we add additional for each time we have requested something beyond breakfast.

 

Many of our butlers have gone above and beyond...on the NCL ships.

Most of them are "on-call" 24 hours per day;)

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A bit confused here. You tipped the concierge more than the butler? The more I read about this the more confused I am getting.:confused:

 

Please take no offense. I am just attempting learn a bit here.

 

 

I think it depends on your personal experience on the ship. We used our butler for breakfast daily, but that was it. We leaned on our concierge much more than our butler, plus he developed a much closer relationship with him as well. That was our first cruise in a penthouse...this time I believe that we'll be utilizing the butler much more because we understand his capabilities (much of which is from reading this very thread!)

 

Great topic though...always good to hear what others are doing to see if you need to increase your tipping or if it's right in line.

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We leaned on our concierge much more than our butler, plus he developed a much closer relationship with him as well. quote]

 

:confused:

Change the "h" to a "w"

 

They tipped the concierge more because they used and relied on the concierge more than the butler. There is no rule that says you must tip the butler more than the concierge. The tip should be based on how much you use each person and how much work the person has to do to comply with your request.

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I agree with the above poster. Just give me my balcony room. This is all a little confusing for me. I don't know how much I would really use a butler. Usually I have no trouble getting my own stuff... but the concergie seems like a great idea...

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Just what does the butler do? If we made no special requests such as bringing meals ,getting DVD's, taking laundry or any of the other things people have mentioned, what do they do to earn a tip? Is just being "available" enought?

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Just what does the butler do? If we made no special requests such as bringing meals ,getting DVD's, taking laundry or any of the other things people have mentioned, what do they do to earn a tip? Is just being "available" enought?

 

At a mimum everyday they stop by and deliver afternoon treats, make sure your coffee maker is stocked and full of water, provide any room service requests. In fact just being availble is important. We book a suite $$$$ we need to expect to take care of the staff that comes with it. A little something is always in order in my view.

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You would tip them according to how much use. We had only 1 meal in our room and only asked for chilled juice and water. Our tip was $400 for a 2 week cruise.

 

Okay ... am I reading this right? You tip them according to how much use ... and you only had 1 meal and juice/water .... that earned a $400 tip?????? C'mon, tell us ... you are a cruise line butler, right?!! :eek:

 

I was checking out Celebrity's brochure and they suggest $3.50 per person per day as a gratuity for the butler. I don't think NCL gives a suggestion in their brochure.

 

Hmmm ... I wish NCL would give us guidelines as well. I'm sure the butlers on Celebrity know what their cruise line is suggesting and live with it. I'm also sure those Celebrity butlers don't do any more/less than the NCL butlers. Sheeessshhhh ... we're already paying a premium for those Penthouse and above staterooms. Perhaps the butlers are paid REALLY WELL by the cruise lines from what we're all paying for the premium staterooms? Don't get me wrong, we tip ... but more along the lines of what Celebrity suggests.

~d

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we're already paying a premium for those Penthouse and above staterooms. Don't get me wrong' date=' we tip ... but more along the lines of what Celebrity suggests[/font']

 

When we booked our Courtyard Villa, we knew we would be moving into generous tip range. We accepted that along with our premium price paid for the rooms. We knew we would be getting premium service from our butler and it is the expectation of the industry that one tip accordingly - especially as it is clear they do not share in the regular onboard gratuities charged.

 

Tipping is, however, a personal decision. The Celebrity suggestion is the base level and far below market/reasonable level for a Courtyard Villa or Penthouse. I would have been completely embarrased to hand my butler a $73.50 tip at the end of the week - which is what Celebrity would seem to suggest. Perhaps on Celebrity the butlers do share in the pool...

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We had an A3 on the Pearl 4/07. One day, Alex our concierge had arranged for a private tour of the galleys for all dining rooms - I was escorted by the Exec. Chef. During the tour, we went through one of the baking kitchens where a huge pan (and I mean huge!) of hot apple torte had just come out of the oven. The aroma was incredible........

 

Upon arriving back in the CY, we saw Cris our butler and he asked how the tour had been - I told him the only thing that would have made it better would have been if the kitchen had let me take the entire pan back to our cabin, along with a huge tub of vanilla ice cream to top the hot torte with.

 

About 1/2 hour later, I see Cris wheeling a cart into the CY and figured someone was having lunch served. Imagine my shock and delight when he uncovered the cart and there sat an entire pan of hot apple torte and a 3 gallon (or so) tub of vanilla ice cream!!

 

There were large bowls to hold the torte/ice cream, linen napkins, silverware, the whole ten yards! The pan of torte was large enought to serve 18 - and DH and I invited everyone present in the courtyard to have apple torte and ice cream! One of the CY butlers (at our request) went up onto the private sun deck as well and invited everyone down for a treat!

 

I will absolutely never forget my shock/delight and pure pleasure of that day - sitting dangling my feet in the CY pool, eating hot apple torte/vanilla ice cream and sharing it with all the other pax!

 

You better believe that these butlers are worth their weight in gold - there are no limits to how far they will go to make your cruise special!

 

DH and I are blessed to be able to cruise in either a suite or villa and we certainly feel that we want to share that blessing with everyone who works so hard to make our time onboard so special.

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A bit confused here. You tipped the concierge more than the butler? The more I read about this the more confused I am getting.:confused:

 

Please take no offense. I am just attempting learn a bit here.

 

No offense taken as I appreciate questions on this board as a way to exchange information not readily available elsewhere.

 

The butler does a lot of work, no question. He brings you your meals, the sodas, water, etc. He cleans up after your meals in, etc. He brought us the menus for the restaurants and what day of the week each menu would be used. Almost anything you request, he can bring you. The concierge however makes things happen. You want a last minute dinner reservation or trying to change which excursion on short notice, it happens in most cases. Disembarking at ports, Ruth personally escorted our party off as we had extra needs due to my father. She arranged for a special on shore tour for us so my father would be more comfortable. We wanted to check our cabin account, just asked Ruth and the paperwork appeared. Those in suites have at least one meal comp'd in a specialty restaurant. I don't think that can be attributed to the concierge solely however we chose La Bistro and with the upgraded meal selection and complimentary wines, the value was close to $200.

 

I look at it this way as to has the power. If your butler isn't doing his job, you can complain to the concierge and most likely (I would hope) something will change. If you don't like your concierge however, complaining to the butler will not likely change a thing.

 

We used our butler a lot but we also utilized the concierge's position to make our trip much more enjoyable. It takes both though. I suspect if we could look at NCL pay scales, a concierge's salary is higher than a butler's and that should be telling us something.

 

As others have said, how much you use the butler should be your guide. Just recognize the concierge, in our case Ruth, can absolutely make your trip. One last thing Ruth arranged for us. Part of our family flew back from Miami International and part from Ft. Lauderdale. She arranged two for limos even though we were entitled to only one. It made a perfect ending to a great trip! Something this customer will remember, appreciate and certainly influence which cruise line we will consider in the future. :)

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We had an A3 on the Pearl 4/07. One day, Alex our concierge had arranged for a private tour of the galleys for all dining rooms - I was escorted by the Exec. Chef. During the tour, we went through one of the baking kitchens where a huge pan (and I mean huge!) of hot apple torte had just come out of the oven. The aroma was incredible........

 

Upon arriving back in the CY, we saw Cris our butler and he asked how the tour had been - I told him the only thing that would have made it better would have been if the kitchen had let me take the entire pan back to our cabin, along with a huge tub of vanilla ice cream to top the hot torte with.

 

About 1/2 hour later, I see Cris wheeling a cart into the CY and figured someone was having lunch served. Imagine my shock and delight when he uncovered the cart and there sat an entire pan of hot apple torte and a 3 gallon (or so) tub of vanilla ice cream!!

 

There were large bowls to hold the torte/ice cream, linen napkins, silverware, the whole ten yards! The pan of torte was large enought to serve 18 - and DH and I invited everyone present in the courtyard to have apple torte and ice cream! One of the CY butlers (at our request) went up onto the private sun deck as well and invited everyone down for a treat!

 

I will absolutely never forget my shock/delight and pure pleasure of that day - sitting dangling my feet in the CY pool, eating hot apple torte/vanilla ice cream and sharing it with all the other pax!

 

You better believe that these butlers are worth their weight in gold - there are no limits to how far they will go to make your cruise special!

 

DH and I are blessed to be able to cruise in either a suite or villa and we certainly feel that we want to share that blessing with everyone who works so hard to make our time onboard so special.

 

What a great story, watchdiva! Both Chris and Alex went way beyond their call of duty! We had Chris (Christopher Tacderas) as our butler on our last 2 cruises and also Alex (Alexander Forbes) as our concierge. I agree with you entirely that they can make your cruise very special indeed! I understand this year on the Pearl we'll have a different concierge and I'm not sure what ship Chris is on now.

 

Thanks again for sharing your story with us! -Sandy-

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Thanks so much for the information. This will be our first cruise in a Penthouse and from what has been written here, probably not our last. All in all I would say we are pretty low maintenance but after getting spoiled a bit……who knows???

211Flyer---Thank you for taking the time to explain a bit more. I did not realize that the concierge duties would/could be so diverse. It certainly looks like you received excellent service from Ruth and she was more than deserving of her tip.

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What a great story, watchdiva! Both Chris and Alex went way beyond their call of duty! We had Chris (Christopher Tacderas) as our butler on our last 2 cruises and also Alex (Alexander Forbes) as our concierge. I agree with you entirely that they can make your cruise very special indeed! I understand this year on the Pearl we'll have a different concierge and I'm not sure what ship Chris is on now.

 

Thanks again for sharing your story with us! -Sandy-

 

Chris was on the Gem when I was onboard in December. Got to love that guy.

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There are no tip pools nor concierges on Celebrity. If you have a suite, your Butler does everything for you along with your Stewards. The suggested $3.50 per person per day for the Butler tip is from the last century and certainly should be updated!!!

 

All tipping is done via envelopes at the end of each cruise.

 

Aloha, Barby

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Perhaps on Celebrity the butlers do share in the pool...
I would like to hear from any Celebrity passenger who has seen the butler in the pool. Even I look in the pool every time I walk by to see if there are any tips in there - and I never see any.
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I don’t recall exactly recall how much I tipped our butler, but it was at least $100 to $150. I know I also tipped each of our cabin staff at least $50. Last year, I cruised for the very first time on the Norwegian Spirit, so I really didn’t know what to do with a butler or how much to tip every one.

 

We had breakfast every morning and one dinner in the cabin. Following advice from a more experienced cruiser, I didn’t add a tip to the dinner receipt. Our butler seemed a bit disappointed with this.

 

Of course, when I gave him our tip with a thank-you note on the last night, he seemed really surprised and happy. We’ll be cruising again in August, but I think that this time that I’ll add standard tips during the week, and then the $100-$200 at the end. I’d rather have a happy butler during the whole cruise, and not just on the last day.

 

I’m also thinking of hiding little thank-you notes and tips under the towel animals.

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I’d rather have a happy butler during the whole cruise, and not just on the last day.

 

A good butler will be happy no matter when you tip them, and probably no matter the amount. Karan didn't get a thing fron us until the second to last day, and he was delightful throughout.

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  • 1 month later...

I found another reference to tipping the butler right here on CC ...

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/cruiseplanning/articles.cfm?ID=64

 

Tipping: Many lines recommend about $10 per person per day to be given to the dining room waiter ($4.00 per person, per day), assistant waiter ($2 per person, per day) and cabin steward ($4.00 per person, per day). If you have butler service, be prepared to tip that crew member $4 per day. Bar tabs are charged a 15 percent gratuity automatically. When the maitre d' performs a special service, such as arranging for a birthday cake to be brought to the table, he should be tipped as well.

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I found another reference to tipping the butler right here on CC ...

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/cruiseplanning/articles.cfm?ID=64

 

Tipping: Many lines recommend about $10 per person per day to be given to the dining room waiter ($4.00 per person, per day), assistant waiter ($2 per person, per day) and cabin steward ($4.00 per person, per day). If you have butler service, be prepared to tip that crew member $4 per day. Bar tabs are charged a 15 percent gratuity automatically. When the maitre d' performs a special service, such as arranging for a birthday cake to be brought to the table, he should be tipped as well.

 

$4 a day for the butler doesn't seem to be enough at all!:eek:

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$4 a day for the butler doesn't seem to be enough at all!:eek:

 

It is consistent with Celebrity's and Crystal's guidelines. However, the tip should be based on the services rendered. Look at how much work the room steward has to do and compare the butler's services to that. The room stewards gets about $3.50 to $4.00 per day per person.

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I actually wish the cruiseline would provide general guidelines on tipping the concierge and butlers.

 

Several years ago i found this great site for working out your tipping. Being from Australia we do not tip so was not sure what was appropriate. This site has helped me on our previous cruises.

 

Hope this helps you

 

Peta

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The only thing I can add to what has beee said is I like tipping 1/2 of what we plan to tip up front because I want the butler to be comfortable with us and know we are not going to "stiff" him at the end. Someone posted why do that.. that you do not tip a waiter 1/2 the tip up front when you go out to eat, but a waiter usually isn't serving you for a week at a time either.

 

If we were to tip a butler 1/2 up front and then got lousy service.. then I can tell you.. that's all he would get. Fortunately we have always gotten very good service from our butlers.

 

As far as the amount being tipped, if we could afford the GV, then we would tip $400.00 a week or more that I have read people tip. But also I can assure you that in the GV you get a LOT more service than you do in a Penthouse suite. Don't believe me, then read some reviews of people who have stayed in the GV's. I read one not a few weeks ago who the butler overheard they liked golf and the next port of call they were invited to play golf with officers of the ship. Not so sure that would happen to us in our Penthouse. :)

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The only thing I can add to what has beee said is I like tipping 1/2 of what we plan to tip up front because I want the butler to be comfortable with us and know we are not going to "stiff" him at the end. Someone posted why do that.. that you do not tip a waiter 1/2 the tip up front when you go out to eat, but a waiter usually isn't serving you for a week at a time either.

 

If we were to tip a butler 1/2 up front and then got lousy service.. then I can tell you.. that's all he would get. Fortunately we have always gotten very good service from our butlers.

 

As far as the amount being tipped, if we could afford the GV, then we would tip $400.00 a week or more that I have read people tip. But also I can assure you that in the GV you get a LOT more service than you do in a Penthouse suite. Don't believe me, then read some reviews of people who have stayed in the GV's. I read one not a few weeks ago who the butler overheard they liked golf and the next port of call they were invited to play golf with officers of the ship. Not so sure that would happen to us in our Penthouse. :)

 

Thats because the penthouse suites are not big enough to play golf in.

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