Butler?

Excuse my ignorance, but just what does a butler do for you?

He can do many things for you. Bear in mind that not all passengers want to use his services. We started out that way but were converted ...

He can book your specialty reservations for you (probably with more success than you might have yourself). Shine your shoes. Unpack/pack your luggage (we prefer doing this ourselves!). Serve your dinner in your stateroom. If you forgot to bring your bottle of wine to the restaurant, he'll go bring it to you. In fact, just ask him yourself! Although we now avail ourselves of the butler, we probably are in the middle of the "use" group.

If you use the search function here you should find a number of threads on this issue.

Mura

If he/she is a good Butler it will make your trip your best trip. That's why we vacation in a suite----service, service and more service. We don't have one at home, so why not on vacation---isn't that why you go on vacation to enjoy the best!

Rick

PS/if you get Mr. Churchill you've got the best...........

In our opinion the best thing he does is serve breakfast in your suite, hopefully on time and hot. That has always been our experience.

We found that having a butler, something we obviously don't have at home, made our voyage extremely special. He brought breakfast each morning, a good thing because it kept portions reasonable. He brought canapes and drinks if we wished each afternoon. He served us dinner one evening from a specialty restaurant. He even made an effort to keep us in the bottled water we preferred. Bojan was simply the best. He was always smiling and attentive if we asked for anything. We were on the Regatta and did the Panama Canal so we had many at sea days.:)

We had the same question recently and enjoyed a butler for the first time on our latest cruise.

I think you just ease your way into how it works and your butler will encourage/advise you how to make it work for both parties.

We have a butler on our next cruise and have a better feel for it.

We are probably like Mura and will be "middle" users of their services

sas-sy,

Was that Regatta PC trip in May? We were on it. Did pretty well at Trivia too

You too Wally?

Fred 15, our cruise was in December before the holidays.

You too Wally?

We were on the next cruise to Alaska

He can do many things for you. Bear in mind that not all passengers want to use his services. We started out that way but were converted ...

 

He can book your specialty reservations for you (probably with more success than you might have yourself). Shine your shoes. Unpack/pack your luggage (we prefer doing this ourselves!). Serve your dinner in your stateroom. If you forgot to bring your bottle of wine to the restaurant, he'll go bring it to you. In fact, just ask him yourself! Although we now avail ourselves of the butler, we probably are in the middle of the "use" group.

 

If you use the search function here you should find a number of threads on this issue.

 

Mura

We had a butler for the first time a year or so ago on Nautica in the med. Didn't make much use of him apart from restaurant reservations, but we did'nt really get on with him. We asked him about unpacking but he said we had to be there while he did it so we didn't bother. However we will have one this October as we have treated ourselves to a PH on Riviera.

It will be interesting to see the difference.

Totally understand why a butler would want you to be there while he unpacks.

We always have a butler and would never think of having him pack or unpack.

We want to know where everything is put and arrange our own re-packing of everything for the continuing land trips.

We do however use our butler for breakfast service and most dinners in our suite. Many have become friends with whom we keep up with for years.

I also used to disparage butler service but have come completely around. Butlers have made a nice difference with boosting our wine consumption: daily change of wine glasses, uncorking bottles, replenishing with new bottles from our selection off the ship's wine list and place in the room refrigerator so its cold and ready when returning from a day touring in port, delivering chips/olives/nuts to enjoy in the afternoon when sipping a glass of burgundy on the balcony.

I don't like the list of afternoon snacks - too much food at 5 pm doesn't suit us as we eat dinner early. But a butler can adjust and adapt snack time to your preferences.

Obviously, butlers can secure late date reservations at specialty restaurants. That is not an issue for us as we shun the specialty joints in favor of the main dining room. For others, this can be an important perk. You can also show up at the restaurant to see if there are openings.

Over time, as our needs have changed, a butler has become a welcome feature of the cruise.