What "extra" things to ask for from your room steward or butler

[spalady]

Saw this thread on another cruise line board and thought it was a good question for us "Celebrity-ites".

[Desertbelle]

Not much....I'm pretty easy to take care of...all you have to do is all the cooking, all the cleaning, take me nice places and put a drink in my hand. :D

[canderson]

Saw this thread on another cruise line board and thought it was a good question for us "Celebrity-ites".

Have struggled with this question since booking a SS on the Galaxy for this coming December. We've been happy with our aft CC and FV cabins on M-Class, but the CC cabins on Galaxy are only as big as a Cat2 on an M-Class, and there's no equivalent to a FV cabin at all (FO has no veranda). So in order to sacrifice space neither inside nor out, we've booked the SS on the Galaxy as a way to deal with this on a 12nt cruise.

 

Booking the SS means that Jeeves comes with the deal. Not having the complicated social problems to untangle of a Bertie Wooster, what then?

 

Some early morning coffee from the Cova will be nice, and I suppose that'd be an extra run for the Cabin Steward, so an extra set of hands would help there. Apart from that, I can't see a thing on the list of services that isn't normally covered by our cabin steward or that we wouldn't be needing anyway.

 

Assistance with unpacking/packing (Not needed, and from what I understand, very rarely used by anyone.)

 

Daily news delivery (I get one from out in front of G.R. when I need one, typically in the afternoon on an at-sea day.)

 

Full breakfast (SS breakfast menu is rumored not to be as "full" as we're used to getting in a CC cabin -- will compare menus when I see one -- but always received from Cabin Steward when we wanted to have breakfast in the cabin. Waffles still require a trip to the buffet in either case.)

 

In-suite lunch & dinner service (Also available in any cabin, and delivered by the Cabin Steward, with the only advantage that with an extra set of hands, meals are served by course in suites -- but in all of our cruises, we've never had lunch or dinner in our cabin, only breakfast)

 

In-suite afternoon tea service (see below)

 

Evening hors d'oeuvres daily (The in-suite tea service noted above might be nice, although we will certainly take advantage of "high tea" when it's offered -- where on a C-Class ship? No specialty restaurant! We typically amble up to the buffet line to make selections of a few sweets and savories for tea time on the "regular" days. The hors d'oeuvres are something we would receive in a CC cabin from our Cabin Steward).

 

Complimentary espresso & cappuccino (Per the original part of the post, this might be the one thing that we actually employ the Butler for on any regular basis!)

 

Shoeshine service (In the rare event that I should need shoes shined during a cruise, as a regular traveller, I already have the necessary tools in my 'standard kit'. Not sure why I'd want to busy a butler for this 5 minute job.)

 

OK -- so much for the standard list. There won't be any need for anyone to make any reservations for us. We'll have already handled all of our excursion reservations before we board, there isn't a specialty restaurant to reserve, and I'll be making my golf simulator and lesson reservations directly with the on-board Pro, working his time and mine around our respective schedules.

 

What am I missing here? Those of you who do this regularly, can you give us some clues?

[Leela]

The only extras I ever ask for would be the same no matter if I have a butler or not: 2 extra hand-size towels, 1 extra wash cloth, and ice in the bucket both in the afternoon and after dinner.

 

Last cruise, on Horizon, our wonderful butler Taylan brought us breakfast nearly every morning. We always ordered bagles with lox, croissants, and coffee -- all off the regular suite menu. But the best part was that he'd call us before he brought it up...it was so lovely to hear "Madame Laura, your breakfast is ready and I'll be bringing it by in a few minutes" as my wake-up call. But this is all standard service, not anything extra. We didn't really want or need anything extra other than the towels.

[BillC]

:) We just returned from the Century's repositioning cruise to Amsterdam and had a wonderful butler,Arles,who in addition to all the aforementioned items also brought us shrimp cocktails at 6 PM every night.He also iced down a bottle of wine every afternoon,and arranged for, and served hors d'oevres and drinks at a cocktail party we threw in our room for friends that we made during the cruise.

[tuggers]

I did enjoy the afternoon tea. So nice after my shower from the pool or beach and before my nap.

 

And I did use the cappicino most evenings as I was waking from my nap and getting ready for dinner. That was a great perk for me!

 

I enjoyed the suite, but I'm just as happy in a regular room. I'm all about days on the sea so if I can do a b2b2b in an inside cabin or 7 to 10 days in a suite, I'm doing the b2b2b!!

[CruiseForever]

We had the PH and our butler always had bloody mary mix and margarita mix in the frig( full size SxS) for the vodka and tequila. Cheese plate and crackers every morning before breakfast and a full breakfast service in the room. There was nothing that we couldn't have gotten. He was also the bartender during cocktail parties that we had on the patio. Many other thing also come to mind.

 

Ron

[mahdnc]

Last cruise, on Horizon, our wonderful butler Taylan brought us breakfast nearly every morning.

 

 

We had Taylan as well and were very pleased, too. One of the things that he was kind enough to procure for us at our request was a desk clock because there is no clock in a Horizon Suite unless you turn the TV on.

 

We also asked him to bring up to our suite two dessert dishes from the main dining room at 9pm each night before he retired for the evening.........

[Terre]

The only thing I've asked for is an extra blanket.

[geoherb]

Our cabin steward brought me two feather pillows when I asked. We were in an inside cabin on the Century.

 

One thing he did not do was remove the contents of the fridge. He told me we could put the items in the space above it and leave them there until he needed to put them back on the last night.

[spalady]

This is the list I just typed up - what do you think?

1. 2 copies of "Celebrity Today" each night

2. duvets under the sheets

3. 2 wine glasses each day (because we prefer them to water glasses)

4. 2 small Pellegrinos, 1 regular coke, 1 diet coke each day

5. lots of ice

6. 2 extra pillows each

7. blankets for balcony (Alaska cruise)

8. in suite dinner for night of whale watch (we will be back too late for dr)

9. cappuncino & biscotti on balcony during Glacier cruising

[canderson]

Our cabin steward brought me two feather pillows when I asked. We were in an inside cabin on the Century.

 

One thing he did not do was remove the contents of the fridge. He told me we could put the items in the space above it and leave them there until he needed to put them back on the last night.

Tried that on an M-Class and things didn't work out too well. The space above it isn't tall enough to hold a pop can sitting vertically, and if you look closely, you'll find a triangular hole in the back to vent the fridge. Guess where all of the pop eventually rolled to and wound up? After they pulled the fridge out to rescue all the cans, they were good enough to make the stuff go away.

[Desertbelle]

Doh, I never thought to ask for two copies of the daily bulletin from the steward. I have always had my hubby run up to the pursers desk to grab an extra. Thanks for jarring my brain, spalady! :)

[L11]

Our favorite 'perk' with the butler was the cappucino when we were in Alaska. We had a cup with breakfast and once he got to know us, brought us each a second cup about 1/2 hour later. He brought extra glasses for a cocktail party along with munchies (nuts, potato chips) at no charge.

 

When we were in Panama, our butler brought us cold towels duing the canal transit (we did not ask for this--it was just a nice extra) along with sorbet.

 

That having been said, I prefer conceirge class on the M class ships because of the great balconies. The butler service is not worth the additional price in that case (though i would get a suite for Mercury, etc. because of the balcony)

 

Linda

[excitedofharpenden]

The only thing that we have asked our butler to do for us is getting us the shore excursion tickets a couple of times, polishing the shoes for formal night and arranging an in cabin get together with drinks and food for friends on two occasions. The first time, a better fist of it was made than the second. He arranged delivery of the breakfast in the morning, but then you can have this service no matter what cabin you are in, albeit without the "man in the tux".

 

To be honest, I am quite low maintenance. We probably made more use of him after the first time by asking the question at the start as to what we could expect and what in turn he would expect from us in the form of notice etc.

 

If you get a good butler then I'm sure it is great (all of ours I would mark around the 7 out of 10 score), but for us we enjoyed the extra room more than we did having a butler.

 

Phil

[House_Atreides]

We've had great butlers but never asked them to do anything out of the ordinary.

 

Last cruise we had a party for our friends on the Summit and Xavier brought in all kinds of food and drinks....and we were NOT charged extra for ANY of this!

 

He did a great job with our breakfast every morning (we love to eat breakfast on balcony or room) and just being a real pleasant fella to be around.

 

I could live easily without a butler; most of the time we cruise alone and don't throw parties in our room....but like another poster said, we get a suite cos we love the extra room:D

[phtktz3]

I always ask for 1 extra pillow and make sure he/she knows that I must have a can of Coke/Pepsi in the cabin before I wake up everyday. I like to drink soda with my eggs and it is almost impossible to find any that early in the morning, so I take my can with me to breakfast and ask for a cup of ice.

[Shirley and Les]

...make sure he/she knows that I must have a can of Coke/Pepsi in the cabin before I wake up everyday...

Isn't this something that is available from the incabin minibar??? If you ask the butler to bring it, does he have to run to the nearest bar or lounge to get it for you? Do you get charged for soft drinks fetched by the butler?

Les

[davekathy]

Extra hangers.

2 clean wine glasses for each evening of the cruise.

[phtktz3]

Isn't this something that is available from the incabin minibar??? If you ask the butler to bring it, does he have to run to the nearest bar or lounge to get it for you? Do you get charged for soft drinks fetched by the butler?

Les

yes these are on the mini bar....there are only 2 cokes tho, so I make sure they know that I need to have them refilled when they run out. Yes they do appear on my bill at the end of the cruise. I ask that the soda be there when I wake up, I do not want to wait for anyone to "fetch" it for me.

[Shari2]

We usually only ask for extra washcloths and for the steward to raise the head of the bed a little. They have always been wonderful!

[cruise junky joan]

I have in the past asked our steward to ice down our wine for dinner, we take our own, and to bring a robe if our cabin doesn't have one. Believe it or not the most trouble we have had was on Carnival getting ice for our wine. Joan

[judyfssw]

We will be on the Summit in October in the Royal Suite. My sister and I are taking our mom. Can anyone tell me about it and the services and charges for things. For example, we would like to have our Roll Call friends in for at least one get together. If we order drinks and appetizers, what is the charge for the drinks. Do our new friends pay for their own or do we pay for everyone's drinks. What if someone just orders pop? Mom will be on oxygen the entire time and we'll have a noisy concentrator with us. How big is the walk-in closet? Will it handle three women's wardrobes? Thanks, in advance, for your information.

[Spender Nui]

We book S suites on HAL and CC cabins on Celebrity. The reason is we don't want a butler. On HAL we have concierge service in the Neptune Lounge. This works very well for us and we don't want a butler in the way.