Tipping butler.

[cpj]

Just got off a 10 day cruise on the Jade. I tipped the butler one hundred dollars. Was it enough or should I have tipped more.

[ColinIllinois]

It's enough if you felt it was commensurate with the amount of things that the Butler did for you. There is no exact/correct answer.

[AlexandNessa]

If you were comfortable with the amount, it was enough. :)

 

You can't compare yourself to others in this regard. There will always be people who tipped more, and always people who will tip less.

[kdzkatz]

Just got off a 10 day cruise on the Jade. I tipped the butler one hundred dollars. Was it enough or should I have tipped more.

 

IMO you gave them a nice amount to show your appreciation. There are many opinions out there on this. Our personal guideline for a 7 day cruise is we start off with $100 for the butler and $50 for the concierge. That number only goes down if they are exceptionally bad and it will go up if we feel they have gone above and beyond for us. We don't adjust down based on usage. Even if we don't use them but we feel they were available for us then we will still tip our starting amount.

[SuiteTraveler]

We tip the butler $10 per day per person especially if we did some room service breakfasts and had multiple interfaces with the butler. If he does something special for us such as set up a party, we figure what it would have cost for the food and drink on land and tip him an additional 20% of that cost.

[cpj]

The reason I asked this question is I just wanted to be fair. The butler did serve us breakfast for nine out of ten mornings, and I just did not want to cheat her knowing she doesn't share in any of the prepaid tips of 30 dollars a day for the two of us. Anyway it seems I was fair.

[detroitlions]

I hope you got the answer you needed so you can delete the thread because The crazy comments will all start flying out now...

[roboclam]

We also just got off a 10 day, we were on the Jade and stayed in an aft facing suite...Our butler delivered breakfast as well as anything else we asked him to bring us for 10 mornings/days... I thought we were easy to deal with...We tipped him 10/per person per day times 2 and gave him $200.00 which we thought was right for what we received...

There are no set rules, you do what you feel is right and for the services you received or not...

Rob

[cb at sea]

How much you tip will depend on what your butler does for you, and the value of it to YOU! And, you don't need to tip daily...end of the cruise is the customary time to tip!

[Ktuluorion]

I tipped the butler $200 for the room (2 guests) when I was on the Pearl on a 12 night cruise. I feel like I overtipped, but i'm a nice guy. He seemed really happy with it.

 

He basically brought us the daily snack, food maybe 2 other times (room service stuff) and brought us a spread for the morning we went through the panama canal.

[cruisestan2]

We tend to tip on level of service given (shocker here) On Getaway we gave our butler on a 7 day cruise 160, he could not do enough and was disappointed he could not put dinner on the balcony the last night.

 

On Escape, 7 day cruise, we left 20 to butler and 100 to the room steward. Saw butler twice and he would not return calls.

 

Hope we have a good one on Breakaway in September.

[sweetpea143]

Just got off a 10 day cruise on the Jade. I tipped the butler one hundred dollars. Was it enough or should I have tipped more.

 

I think for 10 days that was terribly low. It depends on how much you use him. but he is working behind the scenes and is always available. We've been on 5 NCL cruises, all in suites. From 3-9 days. From the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and most recently, 9 days in a 2 bedroom suite on the Star, for a Baltic cruise. We might tip $100 for a 3 day cruise, but for 10, no. You tipped him $10 a day, regardless of the number of people he was there to serve, and did serve. I can't tell you how much was appropriate because I don't know your level of use, but $100 was like leaving a penny on a table for a waitress.

[sweetpea143]

We tend to tip on level of service given (shocker here) On Getaway we gave our butler on a 7 day cruise 160, he could not do enough and was disappointed he could not put dinner on the balcony the last night.

 

On Escape, 7 day cruise, we left 20 to butler and 100 to the room steward. Saw butler twice and he would not return calls.

 

Hope we have a good one on Breakaway in September.

 

These are terribly low tips. The butler couldn't do enough, but he was tipped $160 for 7 days? For the Escape, if the butler was MIA, $20 was ok. But, the butler that worked hard was tipped about $20 per day, regardless

of how much he worked and for how many passengers in the suite.

[kdzkatz]

I think for 10 days that was terribly low. It depends on how much you use him. but he is working behind the scenes and is always available. We've been on 5 NCL cruises, all in suites. From 3-9 days. From the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and most recently, 9 days in a 2 bedroom suite on the Star, for a Baltic cruise. We might tip $100 for a 3 day cruise, but for 10, no. You tipped him $10 a day, regardless of the number of people he was there to serve, and did serve. I can't tell you how much was appropriate because I don't know your level of use, but $100 was like leaving a penny on a table for a waitress.

 

Your comment is VERY insulting. $100 is like leaving a penny??!! I guarantee you their butler did not see it that way. Not all of us that cruise in suites are as well off as others and we do our best to show our appreciation to the butlers.

 

I hope the OP takes this thread down soon so more people like you can't leave insulting comments.

[havenfan]

The butler did serve us breakfast for nine out of ten mornings

 

Personally, I'd have gone a bit higher in this case ($100 for 10 days, I assume for two people), if you were otherwise happy with the service. I think the often tossed about "guideline" of $10ppd is high if you don't use them for anything beyond the basics but, as she/he did bring breakfast nearly every day, well, what's the normal charge for room service?

Edited January 27, 2017 by havenfan

[cpj]

These are terribly low tips. The butler couldn't do enough, but he was tipped $160 for 7 days? For the Escape, if the butler was MIA, $20 was ok. But, the butler that worked hard was tipped about $20 per day, regardless

of how much he worked and for how many passengers in the suite.

 

Thank you for your input.

[cpj]

Another guestion I have is how many cabins does the butler handle

[havenfan]

Another guestion I have is how many cabins does the butler handle

 

On the Jewel there are 46 suites and I was told there were 5 butlers, not including the night butler or the courtyard valet.

 

On the Star there are 64 suites and I was told there were 7 butlers.

 

So, on average, about 9 on these ships. I do not know about the bigger, newer ships.