worst butler

[nutley chick]

I was on the breakaway in a Haven aft and I feel we had the worst butler ever. I think we annoyed him every time we talked to him. I really liked our night butler. He would bring our morning coffee and danishes. and he always made us feel like he enjoyed doing it!

 

So ask you, did you have a crappy butler? If so, did his name start with a J?

[jvsnana]

I was on the breakaway in a Haven aft and I feel we had the worst butler ever. I think we annoyed him every time we talked to him. I really liked our night butler. He would bring our morning coffee and danishes. and he always made us feel like he enjoyed doing it!

 

So ask you, did you have a crappy butler? If so, did his name start with a J?

Funny, because our best and worst butler's ( two different men ) names both started with a J :p

Sorry you did not have the good J this time.

[donnabonna]

I had a crappy butler on my first cruise/suite on the Star in the summer of 2012. His name started with a J and ended with an r. I almost did not book a suite on my next trip because I was so disappointed. My next trip on the Gem was great. My butler was the best! I hope my next Gem trip in July gives me more of the same great service. I now know to complain more if I get a terrible butler again. I did talk to the concierge about J on the Star once, but nothing changed. I complained to NCL when I got home and they gave me some nice OBC for my next trip. Great way to keep a customer! Thanks NCL!

[david_sobe]

The bad butler stories always surprise me. They make money with tips so I don't understand why any of them would refuse service or give attitude. I guess I need more information about why you think you had a crappy butler. What did he or she not do that you requested of them? If they refuse service then that would be a real crappy butler.

I always hear complaints about butlers but nothing specific LOL

I guess I have been lucky to have good butlers. Never intrusive but always do what is requested. Cris and Lani are my favorites and I have read here that many think the same.

Edited May 10, 2014 by david_sobe

[CasinoCruzGirl]

I am really interested to know exactly why this butler was very bad. I will be experiencing my first haven suite on my next cruise

 

 

Im dying over here lmaoooooooo. I was talking into my iPad rather than typing and it did not hear me say butler instead when I proofread what i said we'll let me just say it started with an f and ended with an er lmaoooooooo omg I'm dying.

[donnabonna]

I will give you one example... we ordered LeBistro for dinner in our cabin on night two of the cruise. I asked for chocolate fondue for dessert and he brought me tapioca pudding instead. Okay, mistakes happen. When I pointed it out to him he told me it was the fondue. I was dumbfounded and told him it was definately not fondue. He then told me that the resturant ran out of fondue. I knew it could not possibly be true on day two of the cruise, but decided not to argue with him any more. Later that evening I walked by Le Bistro and saw many people having fondue. What was that about?

[SissasMomE]

I was on the breakaway in a Haven aft and I feel we had the worst butler ever. I think we annoyed him every time we talked to him. I really liked our night butler. He would bring our morning coffee and danishes. and he always made us feel like he enjoyed doing it!

 

So ask you, did you have a crappy butler? If so, did his name start with a J?

 

You should really report him. It is crazy to spend all of that money and have someone who can't even smile. That is just not right at all.

[david_sobe]

You should really report him. It is crazy to spend all of that money and have someone who can't even smile. That is just not right at all.

LOL what did he do wrong? Not smiling.....off with his head!

So far the OP likes a "night" butler because he brought danishes. So what did the other butler do that requires him or her to be reported?

 

Sorry, just curious of specifics. There are lots of threads like this. Butlers don't like to pester people and give you a phone to call them for any service item you want delivered. So that is why I am asking.... what was not delivered or why was the service lacking of what you requested. Butlers are not personal servants. They are responsible for lots of cabins and run around like crazy making deliveries.

If a definition of a good butler is bringing danishes.....then simply request danishes every morning :)

Edited May 10, 2014 by david_sobe

[SissasMomE]

LOL what did he do wrong? Not smiling.....off with his head!

So far the OP likes a "night" butler because he brought danishes. So what did the other butler do that requires him or her to be reported?

 

Sorry, just curious of specifics. There are lots of threads like this. Butlers don't like to pester people and give you a phone to call them for any service item you want delivered. So that is why I am asking.... what was not delivered or why was the service lacking of what you requested. Butlers are not personal servants. They are responsible for lots of cabins and run around like crazy making deliveries.

If a definition of a good butler is bringing danishes.....then simply request danishes every morning :)

 

That's very true. When I read it, I took it to mean like whenever they spoke to him, it was an inconvenience ... but you're right. We don't know any of the specifics. My bad for jumping the gun!!

[david_sobe]

I will give you one example... we ordered LeBistro for dinner in our cabin on night two of the cruise. I asked for chocolate fondue for dessert and he brought me tapioca pudding instead. Okay, mistakes happen. When I pointed it out to him he told me it was the fondue. I was dumbfounded and told him it was definately not fondue. He then told me that the resturant ran out of fondue. I knew it could not possibly be true on day two of the cruise, but decided not to argue with him any more. Later that evening I walked by Le Bistro and saw many people having fondue. What was that about?

Now THAT is a good example of a crappy butler

but does not the fondue need special heat for dipping? Not sure how that can be delivered.

[sdmike]

Now THAT is a good example of a crappy butler

but does not the fondue need special heat for dipping? Not sure how that can be delivered.

 

I would think there's an open flame issue in the rooms. But if that's the case, just say so. Don't pretend the pudding is fondue. lol

[donnabonna]

No open flame. It is in a battery heated "pot."

[barnacle_boy]

Yeah...not all of the butlers are great. On Star a few months ago, our butler couldn't properly follow through on almost anything we asked. We wanted chips, guacamole, cookies, and M&M's delivered every afternoon in addition to the usual canapés, chocolates, and strawberries. Over the course of the two week cruise, not once did he manage to get the order right. Either he would forget several items or bring something completely different. We kept getting finger sandwiches days after we told him we didn't want them. I guess I could live with him constantly messing up the order, but what I really hated was that he would insist and argue that he got it right :eek: I was shocked! Also, he was noticeably annoyed whenever we called him to help with the Lavazza machine. He almost couldn't help arguing, and it really got on my nerves. We saw him getting chewed out by passengers in a nearby suite several times, so I think it's pretty safe to say it wasn't just us getting sub-standard service.

 

Thankfully, he was the only truly awful butler we ever had. Occasionally we'll have a butler that won't show his face too often, but he'll come when he's called and follow through with what we ask. It's just nice to have him around than having to track him down over the phone.

Edited May 10, 2014 by barnacle_boy

[LOVEMYMO]

I was on the breakaway in a Haven aft and I feel we had the worst butler ever. I think we annoyed him every time we talked to him. I really liked our night butler. He would bring our morning coffee and danishes. and he always made us feel like he enjoyed doing it!

 

So ask you, did you have a crappy butler? If so, did his name start with a J?

 

 

Really curious- did it end with a "mar"? Oh what the heck, was it Juremar????

Edited May 10, 2014 by LOVEMYMO

[MBprincess]

Having a great butler hooked us on ncl suites. With that said butlers have a job were training shows. We've had some better than others. We had one in a GV whose English really wasn't adequate. It turns out it was his first time ever as a butler. We've learned to say something to the hotel director early on if the butler isn't working out. That's always taken care of any issues.

[Love my butler]

Really curious- did it end with a "mar"? Oh what the heck, was it Juremar????

 

Pretty sure Juremar still on the Sun. He was about 6 weeks ago anyway.

[toyotaford]

Not really appropriate for this thread but this made me think an incident on our last cruise. There were 4 of us staying in the GV and we decided we wanted to play dominoes one night so we called the butler to see if she could get us some. Apparently she didn't know much about dominoes because in no time at all she showed up with four complete set of dominoes. A set for each of us. We got a good laugh out of it.

[don't-use-real-name]

Not really appropriate for this thread but this made me think an incident on our last cruise. There were 4 of us staying in the GV and we decided we wanted to play dominoes one night so we called the butler to see if she could get us some. Apparently she didn't know much about dominoes because in no time at all she showed up with four complete set of dominoes. A set for each of us. We got a good laugh out of it.

 

Good thing you were not asking for Dominos (the pizza) who knows what you

would have got - Oh and according to a competing pizza chain "Nobody plays Dominos any more" ! LOL !

[rajones007]

• Our butler on the Dawn 12 day repo in Apr 2013 had a name that started with a J. He was a pretty good butler, but he rarely smiled. He liked his job, he enjoyed the work, and was always friendly and accommodating. Smiling, however, just wasn't his thing. My Dad was like that too. You knew he was happy about something, but turning up the corners of his mouth to form a smile would rarely (if ever) happen. So I can understand that some people just don't use smiling as a default emotion, and I never held it as a strike against J.
   
  Still, J was always friendly, not too talkative, never complained about anything, and did his job exactly as instructed.
   
  His face, body type, and the way he walked and carried himself, J always reminded me of Oddjob from the movie Goldfinger.
   
  I would put J at number 2 of the three butlers we've had on NCL.
   
   
  
• Our worst butler was our very first butler on our first NCL cruise on the Star. His name started with an M and was 4 letters long. At the time we thought he was great. Matter of fact, we thought he was awesome right up until we met our next butler on the Epic a year later.
   
  We were NCL suite noobs at the time and we never quite understood how a butler could make our cruise even better. He sensed that too, I'm sure, and used it to his advantage. He avoided us most of the time and when we made a request he tended to make us feel like we were disrupting something more important.
   
  He was more than a little strange too. I remember trying to have a conversation with him at one point. I was just making small talk, trying to be friendly, and the conversation was going well for a few minutes. Until I said, "So, M, do you enjoy your work?"
   
  His immediate one-word response, "No."
   
  The rest of the conversation was a little awkward after that.
   
   
  
• Our #1 butler was Robert on the Epic. It was Robert who took the time to tell us what he can (and did!) do for us. By the end of our first day on the Epic, Robert made us realize that M wasn't a good butler at all.
   
  Robert set the bar high. He set the bar so high in fact that (a) J from the Dawn, try as he might, just could not pull himself up to that level, and (b) M from the Star had no idea there was a hypothetical bar to reach for.
   
  And that's why Robert is #1 in my books.

[GUEST080219]

I was recently the first and probably last time in a suite so I had the best and worst butler I ever had.

 

The good thing is all I ever asked for (and that was all done through pro concierge via mail) was exactly done as requested, but that was all. I knew about the daily snacks from the board so I would asked for something different or make special wishes but as I never felt hungry I did not care. If that is what you expect from a butler he was a great one.

 

It was still strange that although most of the days I left the daily snacks untouched he never asked me about it when we met somewhere in the hallway or reacted to it in any way. Good service for _me_ is when everything I ask for is done. Excellent service is when I am surprised and things are done for me I didn't even had on my mind to ask for them.

[GeezerCouple]

Having a great butler hooked us on ncl suites. With that said butlers have a job were training shows. We've had some better than others. We had one in a GV whose English really wasn't adequate. It turns out it was his first time ever as a butler. We've learned to say something to the hotel director early on if the butler isn't working out. That's always taken care of any issues.

 

It's difficult to understand why NCL would "start" a butler with the Garden Villa included. That is likely to have more requests, given the number of passengers possibly staying there, perhaps entertaining, and just generally the level of service one would (and should) expect for the large amount of money spent there.

 

As for the "Pudding IS Fondue", that's just absurd :confused:

 

GeezerCouple

[welove2cruise232]

Really curious- did it end with a "mar"? Oh what the heck, was it Juremar????

 

Loved Juremar!!

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Barb Nahoumi]

Not really appropriate for this thread but this made me think an incident on our last cruise. There were 4 of us staying in the GV and we decided we wanted to play dominoes one night so we called the butler to see if she could get us some. Apparently she didn't know much about dominoes because in no time at all she showed up with four complete set of dominoes. A set for each of us. We got a good laugh out of it.

 

Hey, at least she tried.

 

Our butler on the Dawn last year was named Jen. She was excellent, and looked after me when I contracted a bad cold.

[younglegend]

I was in the Haven aft suite last year and also had Juan. I didn't see him at all throughout the entire cruise. He introduced himself to my husband on the SECOND day of the cruise. Perhaps we were never in the room when he came by, but if I were him, I would have made sure my guests saw me at least a couple of times. We did see the night butler several times.

 

 

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[computerworks]

Getting good service from the butler staff is a two-way street, we have found.

 

(and this is true for any cruise line, not just Norwegian )

 

I have a sit-down "meeting" with the Butler on our first day, to go over the trip, the itinerary, our port plans and our requirements. This helps them immensely to sync with your schedule.

 

I go over what we want in the cabin, the fridge, what special coffee or mixers we need... what we like in the way of snacks and what we don't like, etc. and when we want them.

 

I tell him in advance which days we want in-suite breakfast (like early port days) and if we are having any friends over for drinks etc.

 

I never surprise the butler with a spontaneous request; I always give them heads-up in advance of anything we are going to need.

 

When we are done chatting, I give him a printed copy of all the bullets we talked about, for reference.

 

I have never had a bad butler experience doing this. Once they know your needs and expectations, it goes a whole lot smoother than "waiting to see what the butler will do for you today." :cool:

Edited May 10, 2014 by computerworks