Norwegian Jewel March 3, 2012 - Suite Life?

[soprano]

Okay, so if my kids want a late night snack, can they just call room service? Would that avoid getting the butler involved? Not sure why one would call the butler for food (other than a full meal, which involves service) anyway. We're preparing for our first suite cruise, and getting so confused!

[che5904]

Okay, so if my kids want a late night snack, can they just call room service? Would that avoid getting the butler involved? Not sure why one would call the butler for food (other than a full meal, which involves service) anyway. We're preparing for our first suite cruise, and getting so confused!

 

Not sure what ship you are on but really if you or your kids wanted a late night snack and the ship you were on had the blue lagoon. I'd just take a walk and get some wings.

[Bobbye]

Okay, so if my kids want a late night snack, can they just call room service? Would that avoid getting the butler involved? Not sure why one would call the butler for food (other than a full meal, which involves service) anyway. We're preparing for our first suite cruise, and getting so confused!

 

If you call room service the butler will be the one delivering.

[GriffinAlexander]

I've been reading all the posts related to this. I'm disabled with 8 bad discs and migraines, degerative disc disease, sciatica, etc, and will be definitely upgrading the room on my cruise to balcony for sure, but may even upgrade to a suite for the amenities. Because I don't know ahead of time if I will be having good or bad days on board, I'm trying to plan ahead and figure out the best way to do everything. From what I've gathered, it seems that the most human thing to do is tip appropriate to service, and not treat the butler as a personal servant, but more as someone who will assist in getting things to you. My thoughts on this are that I would likely order breakfast in the room every day and be flexible as to when would be a good time for the butler to bring it, and also request things like ice, snacks, lemonade, etc. to be brought daily at the butlers own timeline. So they really will only need to pop in a couple times a day and drop off whatever is needed, and perhaps I'll have an area set up where I can leave him a note as needed. Of course, depending on the price, I may just end up in a balcony room. As far as tipping goes, if I am going to spring for the suite, then I'm going to tip the butler at least a hundred for the week, provided he provides the minimal services I request. I understand human nature, so a bad butler will end up with less, a really good one a bit more, but I'm not gonna be expecting this guy to be at my beck and call every minute of the day by any means. However, if I did expect that type of service, the way I would go about it would be to give him a hundred on the first day and tell him there's more where that came from, but that I expect good service for it. I don't believe in treating people like I'm better than them just because they are in the position of serving me breakfast or bringing me a snack.

I may go on the cruise and end up with more bad days than good, leaving me mostly stuck in my room and dependent on others for a lot of things. My partner will bring me back some meals, and I'll order in the breakfasts, and snacks and make the best of it. As long as I can get pitchers of lemonade (dissolves kidney stones, but that's another story), and food, I will be ok even if having bad days. There's really no need in my opinion to keep after the butler for every little thing that comes up. I don't know yet if I'll be going all the way up to a suite, since it's my first trip I may be happy to experience the 7 day cruise with just a balcony, but if it's in my budget then I just may do it, since I've read that suites come with 3 bottles of liquor and other amenities... or is that just owners suites? Anyway, I'm sure I'll find out through some kind soul replying or through NCL when I call to book.

[Fishbait17]

GriffinAlexander - if you decide on going for the suite, you will have a wonderful cruise. Everything you mention is well with the butler's ability and expectations, and I would suggest having other meals brought in as well if you aren't up to going out - it is a wonderful experience. I also have DDD and neuralgia, and I know that some dys are better than others, so I completely understand.. That's one of the reasons we cruise mainly in suites - I have had two cruises where I could barely leave the cabin for days, and it was great to be able to enjoy the cruise with all the amenities right in our suite.

 

One thing I will mention is that I am not sure if lemonade is available on the ship. It may be available for a fee, but I'm not sure I have seen it - we usually bring our own onboard.

 

As for the liquor included - the Owner's Suites include 3 bottles, and the Garden Villas included 6 bottles, plus all the free drinks, sodas, mixers, A bottle of champagne, etc. The other suites come with a single bottle of sparkling wine and a single bottle of water. No problem though, bar setup is available to purchase on all ships except the Pride of America.

 

Hope you have a fantastic trip, whatever you decide!

 

Robin

[GriffinAlexander]

GriffinAlexander - if you decide on going for the suite, you will have a wonderful cruise. Everything you mention is well with the butler's ability and expectations, and I would suggest having other meals brought in as well if you aren't up to going out - it is a wonderful experience. I also have DDD and neuralgia, and I know that some dys are better than others, so I completely understand.. That's one of the reasons we cruise mainly in suites - I have had two cruises where I could barely leave the cabin for days, and it was great to be able to enjoy the cruise with all the amenities right in our suite.

 

One thing I will mention is that I am not sure if lemonade is available on the ship. It may be available for a fee, but I'm not sure I have seen it - we usually bring our own onboard.

 

As for the liquor included - the Owner's Suites include 3 bottles, and the Garden Villas included 6 bottles, plus all the free drinks, sodas, mixers, A bottle of champagne, etc. The other suites come with a single bottle of sparkling wine and a single bottle of water. No problem though, bar setup is available to purchase on all ships except the Pride of America.

 

Hope you have a fantastic trip, whatever you decide!

 

Robin

 

thanks Robin!

I've been reading up more and more and I've seen that people are apparently allowed to bring whatever they want to drink that's non-alcoholic. I thought I'd read differently earlier, but I just read a thread that's from this month that shows a bunch of CC people stating they've brought cases of soda, water, etc on board by putting a sticker on it and checking it in, or sticking it in a bag inside a luggage and checking it in. I may just buy the drink card and lug on a powdered lemonade and supplement it with fresh lemons and limes from the buffet. I think that whichever room we choose, the cruise is going to be a fun, exciting experience that I always remember, and probably the start of a new adventure, cruising every year to visit some different place I haven't seen before.

If we do end up in the owners suite, I'm certain 3 bottles will be more than enough. I doubt we are gonna make the garden suites, but who knows, if the price is decent, I just may spring for it. Thanks again for all your helpful comments, and good luck w/ your disc problems. I know how tough it is.

[bjinouno]

WELL SAID, I feel the same, If they can run for special drinks they can run for a soda, But what I plan on doing is asking for for our mini bar to be emptied, and were being real cheapo's and bringing 2 cases of Soda, So we can have OUR cold Can of soda any time we want, and do soda buckets by the pool instead of beer buckets That's how we are affording a Penthouse, No booze and bring your own from home, and restock in Bermuda if need be. LOL

[bonvoyagie]

We had never crusied before - let alone had a suite. We were not used to having a butler. We were used to taking camping vacations where you had to fend for yourself - literally. While we enjoyed the afternoon treats, fruit bowl and the perks that came with the suite. We only used our butlers for breakfast on the mornings where we had to be up early and did not want to go up to the buffet. We never used the DVDs or the concerige. We ate in the dining rooms etc. We also were not expecting the tip envelopes on the last night so it was a bit of a scramble to put together enough cash to provide tips. We tipped the day butler more because he was the one who brought us breakfast.

 

We now have some more cruises under out belt and are going on our fourth NCL cruise and our second suite next summer. All of us going are used to taking care of ourselves and now that breakfast at Cagneys is part of the suite life - we probably will go there for breakfast and maybe lunch. My MIL is joining us and she has a bad ankle so we actually may dine more in the room than we did before - it depends on how much walking she does. This time we will be prepared to tip according to the level of service requested - and delivered.

[darrengs]

..maybe they don't realize that at midnight the butler is in bed getting some needed sleep prior to serving 6am breakfasts and that he has to arise, dress in his tuxedo, brush his teeth and his hair, all in order to bring a guest a cocktail or piece of cake....

 

Really?? The butler is always working, there is no other coverage?

[VideoTech]

Really?? The butler is always working, there is no other coverage?

 

I believe the butlers (and every other crew member on the ship) have set times off. I'm not sure what would happen if you called for butler service in the middle of the night. Even though all our cruises are in suites, I can't think of any reason why I'd ever do that, just because I wouldn't want to disturb his/her time off.

 

I think it's important to point out that all the hotel and food service staff on these ships work very long hours. I've read that 18 hour days are not uncommon, with short breaks during the day and a very short time to sleep at night.

 

When I consider that, the level of service we receive only impresses me all the more. I doubt very seriously if many of us could work the way these people do!

[Fishbait17]

Really?? The butler is always working, there is no other coverage?

 

In the only cases where my daughters called for late-night room service (before I admonished them), it was our regular butler who brought the goodies at around midnight-1am. I do remember once calling at about 10:30pm for something (years ago) and our butler was asleep - I could tell immediately and told him to go back to sleep..

 

Robin

[bonvoyagie]

I know that it has been awhile but we had a day and a night butler and had different numbers for both.