Apologies in advance for yet another tipping question regarding PPT's and a butler

[alwayshappytocruise]

:rolleyes:

 

We embark Solstice on 2 September 2016 for the Alaska portion of our trip. We have to get off in Victoria and make our own way to Vancouver to embark for the leg to Hawaii. We have made those arrangements. Question is, we have the same sky suite for the entire 3 weeks with pp grats and a butler. The last time we had a butler we didn't have pp grats so now we are at a loss of what to do......is the butler included in the pre paid grats? I know that we always cash tip above and beyond the ppg's for great service but this one has me wondering.

 

Thanks in advance, I can't find any guidance from Celebrity regarding ppg's and a butler......

 

Lynda :rolleyes:

Edited July 11, 2016 by alwayshappytocruise

[Wine-O]

Your prepaid gratuities do include the butler. As far as tipping, anything above and beyond is entirely up to you.

 

If you have non-refundable OBC, you can go down to guest services and fill out a form to add a gratuity on top of the prepaid to either the butler, stateroom attendant, asst stateroom attendant depending on who gave you the best service.. I find that much easier as they get their money, and it all comes out of the Celebrity OBC.

[alwayshappytocruise]

Thanks, Wine-O (already a friend of mine!!!!! Love the name), we do have the OBC as well....that's a great idea you have there.

 

Thanks, and cheers!!!

Lynda

[cruzsnooze]

I didn't use the butler and didn't tip . All they really do is bring around snacks in the afternoon which we told him not to bother. This tipping thing was supposed to be easy with the daily auto gratuity added to your account. If you leave it intact you have given exactly what Celebrity asked of you although the amount can be altered at guest services.

[Wine-O]

I didn't use the butler and didn't tip . All they really do is bring around snacks in the afternoon which we told him not to bother. This tipping thing was supposed to be easy with the daily auto gratuity added to your account. If you leave it intact you have given exactly what Celebrity asked of you although the amount can be altered at guest services.

 

The butler does much more than bring around afternoon snacks. The fact that you did not properly utilize him is not his fault.

 

If you have the daily auto gratuities deducted, you cannot go down to guest services and alter them. You can either remove them completely or add to them individually.

[cruzsnooze]

The butler does much more than bring around afternoon snacks. The fact that you did not properly utilize him is not his fault.

 

If you have the daily auto gratuities deducted, you cannot go down to guest services and alter them. You can either remove them completely or add to them individually.

 

Of course it's his fault for not having a reference list to hand me of all the services he can attend to. Are passengers supposed to guess or mind read what he can do? I'm low maintenance and probably wouldn't want anything anyway.

Edited July 12, 2016 by cruzsnooze

[Adammara]

Butler reference lists are a bit like the 'Pillow Menu' and the 'Cabin information folder', there on the first few cruises then slow disappear. We once found them hiding under the bed!

 

I think a lot of people are put off suites by the very though of having a butler!

 

Now where did I put the butler list:)

[jagoffee]

I didn't use the butler and didn't tip . All they really do is bring around snacks in the afternoon which we told him not to bother..

 

Of course it's his fault for not having a reference list to hand me of all the services he can attend to. Are passengers supposed to guess or mind read what he can do? I'm low maintenance and probably wouldn't want anything anyway.

 

Being disappointed in the Butler for not having a reference list to personally hand you with all his services and low maintenance are somewhat contradictory.

 

I do not use a butler much either, but I have found lists on CC and the Celebrity website. I assume you are not really interested in the services or I could copy and paste a list for you. You can do a search and find a list. Laundry and maybe a breakfast on the balcony once a cruise for us. On our last cruise the Butler who knew we had a drink package even offered to get us drinks, but we never took advantage of the offer.

 

We are certainly low maintenance, but we do not fault the Butler for that fact.

 

Bottom line is the Butler's standard gratuity is included in the prepaid amount and any extra is discretionary. Some times we give extra and sometimes we do not.

Edited July 12, 2016 by jagoffee

[cruzsnooze]

 

 

 

We are certainly low maintenance, but we do not fault the Butler for that fact.

 

.

 

Why would anyone fault the butler for being low maintenance?

[alwayshappytocruise]

Thanks, people, I appreciate the advice. We had a butler when we went around South America...a couple of days it was really rough as we went around the horn. He would always check on us, bring us soup and toast on the really bad days! We are really low maintenance as well but I will say that our butler (the one we had on Celebrity Infinity) was one of the kindest service person, oh yeah and the Martini Guy from Scotland, that we have ever had.

 

Cheers, Lynda:)

[cruzsnooze]

Thanks, people, I appreciate the advice. We had a butler when we went around South America...a couple of days it was really rough as we went around the horn. He would always check on us, bring us soup and toast on the really bad days! We are really low maintenance as well but I will say that our butler (the one we had on Celebrity Infinity) was one of the kindest service person, oh yeah and the Martini Guy from Scotland, that we have ever had.

 

Cheers, Lynda:)

 

The only item not included in your daily auto tip is drinks. They add 18% when buy a drink.

[garden2]

We had 4 sky suites in a row for a trip to Bermuda in early June & had the PPG. We each tipped our butler plus Cabin steward, Asst & Luminae staff additionally. I went to Guest relations desk & they supplied me with a printed breakdown of the tips each receives therefore it made it easier to determine the extra. I also asked for envelopes to put the cash in with their names instead of just adding to the Shipboard account. Makes it more personal to hand it to the person. I do know that some passengers do not additionally tip even though they are demanding & unpleasant plus have the tips removed. We did utilize our butler for many requests-nothing ever a problem. Each cabin did their own tipping-I think the butler tips ranged from $10 each pp to $25 pp not per cabin for the week. Tipping is a very personal thing so whatever you are comfortable with will be just fine. I do not know if our Butler was surprised, shocked or unhappy but he seemed very very pleased. Now it will be very difficult to not have a suite on future sailings!

[Gracie115]

I remember on our Eclipse trip last year the last evening of the cruise the butler was in our suite talking to us and thanking us for being so "easy" to please....we really enjoyed meeting him and getting to know him and he did a wonderful job for us.. while he was talking his cell phone rang and he, of course, answered it because it was another guest and it was so disturbing to see him slowly, steadily lowering his head and saying "yes, Ma'am" over and over in an every saddening tone..... obviously THOSE guests weren't so easy to please.... we have had several different butlers over the years and he was one of the best..... sad to see him being berated by someone..... :(

[mesamarie]

Just curious how are you getting from Victoria to Vancouver? We are considering this for 2017. thanks

[xmarksx]

We had 4 sky suites in a row for a trip to Bermuda in early June & had the PPG. We each tipped our butler plus Cabin steward, Asst & Luminae staff additionally. I went to Guest relations desk & they supplied me with a printed breakdown of the tips each receives therefore it made it easier to determine the extra. I also asked for envelopes to put the cash in with their names instead of just adding to the Shipboard account. Makes it more personal to hand it to the person.

 

Thanks for the idea about obtaining the breakdown from Guest Relations. I will use that! We too tipped the same group on our last cruse in a Sky.

[Pavovsky]

Why would someone tip the butler over an above what they already have paid (the prepaid grats are in the price paid) for service not even received. That is tipping gone mad. If the butler did services over and beyond what is expected then absolutely.

[alwayshappytocruise]

Just curious how are you getting from Victoria to Vancouver? We are considering this for 2017. thanks

 

 

 

We are flying from Victoria to Vancouver. I can't remember the exact amount but it was Air Canada and around $100 pp, we are staying at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport then will take a car service to the port (cheaper than a taxi for sure!!!) and this worksfor us....the ferry schedules were tight but this is only a 40 minute flight!

 

Lynda:)

[BeeMinor]

We have also left an additional gratuity for our butler, room attendants, and Luminae staff via the Guest Services form while staying in a sky suite, about $200 for a week split among them. I don't think we are especially difficult but we did enjoy breakfast in our room each day as and I asked for some specific afternoon snacks. I also filled out the mid-cruise comment card with positive feedback since I assume people only use those to complain! I think it is entirely optional but we certainly got especially superior service after the comment card--like rose petal turndown and surprise bottle of wine in our room type service. In no way did we feel obligated to do something extra for our staff but they took very good care of us and we thought they deserved the bonus.

 

 

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[KW Cruisers]

Would anyone actually have a copy of this "butler list"?? We travel in suites, and I've never seen this. I find I don't use the butler as much as I probably could...I would love to see this list (maybe feeling that he/she does more would cause me to tip him/her much more generously...) - I say she/her to be inclusive, however I've never actually had a female butler...

 

Shawn

[hvbaskey]

Would anyone actually have a copy of this "butler list"?? We travel in suites, and I've never seen this. I find I don't use the butler as much as I probably could...I would love to see this list (maybe feeling that he/she does more would cause me to tip him/her much more generously...) - I say she/her to be inclusive, however I've never actually had a female butler...

 

Shawn

 

From the Celebrity Web Site - under Suite Descriptions:

 

Personal butler service 24/7 for assistance with unpacking, in-suite dining [breakfast, lunch and dinner], espresso and cappuccino from Café al Bacio, make your spa appointments, dinner reservations, shore excursions and more.

 

The most common services we use in our Suite Experience are the in-suite breakfasts, coffees from Cafe al Bacio, and the afternoon nibbles. Our last trip, we were in the PH and our Butler assisted us with dinner reservations, as we had unlimited specialty dining and he kindly asked us every day where we would like to dine and if he could assist us in making the reservation.

 

Extra tipping? personal preference.

 

We have filled out a form at Guest Relations to allocate our extra non-refundable OBC, as if you don’t use it, you lose it. With the GO BEST offer being assigned to most Suites until April 2018, we are finding OBC more difficult to get through (we don’t use the Casino, we prefer to arrange our own private excursions, and we do minimal shopping on board).

 

Heather

Edited July 22, 2016 by hvbaskey

[DanaDanes]

We loved our butler we didn't have many requests. He did bring us coffee each morning, checked in on us, got us pillows we liked, brought us snacks we liked, left us cookies at night, and kept us in water. We left him 80 additional, and 40 for our room steward crew who did an exceptional job.

 

I'm not sure if this we cheap or generous.

 

 

 

 

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