What should we expect from the butler?

[Paulchili]

You are assuming that everyone who is in a suite is dining in every night and all of them at the same time :eek:

Yes, they do have to work hard when they have to serve more than one suite at a time but they can stagger it and also can get help from butlers that are not as busy.

After all, the wait staff in the dining room serve several tables at the same time with quite a few guests and they mange it just fine; they too have to "run" into and out of the kitchen all night long from 6:30 till whatever time they finish.

It's all very hard work that few of us would be willing to do and they do it with grace and a smile (most of the time :)).

 

 

Editing to add:

Although I am not privy to the specific arrangements re: in-suite dining, I am guessing that the reason why we are asked to inform our butlers about dining in earlier in the same day is so that they will have a good idea as to how many guests will require their services and at what time. That way they can make better accommodations for everyone that will need their services that evening. I also suspect that if they are very busy at a certain time, they may suggest serving the first 2 courses together rather than course by course.

[wripro]

Presumably O has figured out a way for the butlers ro serve course by course or they wouldn't make such a big deal offering it.

[ronrick1943]

Sorry, but when we eat out I don't want everything coming to the table at one time, and when eating in the suite it's the same. If the Butler doesn't have time to service course by course-then he needs to plan ahead for additional help. We like the Owners Suite and the Oceania Suite when cruising. We've never had a problem when dining in, the Butler has always served us course by course as it should be. And yes we give an additional gratuities during the trip over and above the daily gratuity for service they get (at are discretion).

Rick

[JimandStan]

Sorry, but when we eat out I don't want everything coming to the table at one time, and when eating in the suite it's the same. If the Butler doesn't have time to service course by course-then he needs to plan ahead for additional help. We like the Owners Suite and the Oceania Suite when cruising. We've never had a problem when dining in, the Butler has always served us course by course as it should be. And yes we give an additional gratuities during the trip over and above the daily gratuity for service they get (at are discretion).

Rick

 

+1, our experience exactly. :D

[orchestrapal]

Sorry, but when we eat out I don't want everything coming to the table at one time, and when eating in the suite it's the same. If the Butler doesn't have time to service course by course-then he needs to plan ahead for additional help. We like the Owners Suite and the Oceania Suite when cruising. We've never had a problem when dining in, the Butler has always served us course by course as it should be. And yes we give an additional gratuities during the trip over and above the daily gratuity for service they get (at are discretion).

Rick

 

It's never been a problem to dine course by course in an Owners Suite where we have almost always had the head butler. I have, however, heard from folks in PH (suites) that their butlers were not as accommodating.I guess there is a pecking order even for that.

[wripro]

I guess those unaccommodating butlers were a case of "the butler didn't do it!

[Dbears]

I was reviewing the suite descriptions on the Oceania site. I noted that they describe butler services on the higher level suites but not the penthouse suites. Are there certain butler services not available in the penthouse? We might consider course by course dining and perhaps a hot breakfast.

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

[eddmel]

I just looked at the 2014 European collection printed catalogue and see a section on butler services on page 130. It details butler services for the Owner, Vista, Oceania and Penthouse suites.

[juli2020]

It's never been a problem to dine course by course in an Owners Suite where we have almost always had the head butler. I have, however, heard from folks in PH (suites) that their butlers were not as accommodating.I guess there is a pecking order even for that.

My husband and I ordered in dinner one night last year staying in a Penthouse Suite on the Marina and ordered in one night this year staying in an Oceania Suite on the Riviera. We were served course by course in both suites. We received excellent service in both of those suites. There doesn't appear to be a pecking order on the "O" ships.

 

Maybe on the "R" ships things are different?

[kimanjo]

Just off the Riviera, and we had a butler. THe only thing we asked him for is if he could get us fresh lime slices for our fridge for our sodas..

 

I suspect we were "under-utilizers".

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Hmm, I think I'm looking forward to trying a course-by-course meal in our suite this fall!

[sacarr]

Regarding Dinner in the penthouse suite;

 

On our last cruise this spring on Marina we had dinner in our suite once. I checked with the butler that morning and told him that if he was busy we could do it another night. He cheerfully said that it was fine. We told him that we were in no hurry and the meal probably took about 2 hours. That was fine for us. We did enjoy each others company! If all food had been delivered at once we would have eaten quickly before the food had a chance to cool. Course by course was much better. This was a delightful evening and one that deserves repeating. All the food was from one restaurant (Jacques).