MSC Yacht Club Butler Service???

[2cruiseluvrs]

We're sailing in the Yacht Club for the first time this summer. Apparently the Butler is available 24/7 to bring you whatever you want. I'm just curious... How far can you push this? I mean can you ask for lobster at 2 a.m. and then a mixed drink at 4 a.m. etc? Can anybody give me an example of what they've asked for? And what they've received?

[lcpagejr]

You can't be serious?????

[gkbiiii]

They can bring your pizza and drinks 24/7, but lobster would only be during kitchen hours.

[Beamafar]

They will bring you anything from the room service menu, only. Pizza may have time restrictions.

[SNJCruisers]

At 4 AM, make your own drink from the included mini bar that is inside your refrigerator in your cabin.

[Shippy]

The butlers are not on call 24 hours a day...unfortunately. the have to sleep too :O)

The SERVICE is available 24 hours.

I always had coffee & pastry delivered to the cabin at 7am. It was always delivered by someone else.

[mafig]

never mind...

[sandpiper35]

We're sailing in the Yacht Club for the first time this summer. Apparently the Butler is available 24/7 to bring you whatever you want. I'm just curious... How far can you push this? I mean can you ask for lobster at 2 a.m. and then a mixed drink at 4 a.m. etc? Can anybody give me an example of what they've asked for? And what they've received?

 

 

 

Yes I understand how may feel about all the service promised by MSC and expanded by CC members. In my opinion YC is very nice but over rated. The best part of YC are the private venues. Those are very nice, but the people that deliver the service are the same people with the same or less training than the people you will find in the rest of the ship. They should be able to deliver better service given the reduced number of guests, but somehow the advantage does not materialize. Most times hey seem just as busy and hurried. For example our butler had to do poolside duty several hours a day.

 

Cheers.

 

 

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[windlicht]

Eye roll emoji

[EMc&DrS]

We had incredible service in the YC for 10 days on Divina last July--from our butler, Vishnu, to our wonderful waiter, Arthur, to the concierge, the sommelier, and the hostess in Le Muse. We couldn't have asked for better service, and we have been on over a dozen cruises.

 

They will bring you pizza from the specialty pizzeria, but only during service hours. If you tried a little bottle of something or snack out of the mini-bar, it was usually replaced immediately with 2 or 3 of the same thing. If we liked an entree (like the lobster!), Arthur would bring us another. Once Dechen, our fabulous sommelier, realized that we enjoyed trying different wines, our glass was never empty, and we would have different wines with every course if we so desired. One night when she knew we really enjoyed a particular wine, she secretly called our butler and he stopped what he was doing to come all the way to Le Muse to pick up a bottle of the wine from Dechen so it could be chilling in our room when we returned at the end of the evening--a total surprise. Around the ship they strictly enforce a "no alcohol" policy in the pools, but in YC, the butlers bring your drinks right to you while you're in the water. We never passed a butler in the hall who didn't speak. I have to say we had "perfect" service for 10 days.

[Lindagop]

We're sailing in the Yacht Club for the first time this summer. Apparently the Butler is available 24/7 to bring you whatever you want. I'm just curious... How far can you push this? I mean can you ask for lobster at 2 a.m. and then a mixed drink at 4 a.m. etc? Can anybody give me an example of what they've asked for? And what they've received?

 

 

You seem a little confused. You have paid for a week in YC. You did not buy the ship or the right to see “how far you can push”. Really! WOW poor butler .Each butler services 26 cabins, not just yours.

[tcneal]

Which ship are you sailing? The reason I ask is that they decided to increase the passenger to butler ratio on the Seaside. More cutbacks I guess. You might not get the same level of attention that one may have gotten on the Divina or other ships. I'm hoping it's the same, but numbers are numbers.

[2cruiseluvrs]

Hey everybody... for whatever reason I never saw the responses you all so generously provided after my original question. We had the cruise this past summer. We stayed in the Yacht Club on Seaside, and I have to say it was truly remarkable! Unbelievable. We're going back on the Seaside Yacht Club in Summer 2019, in fact, to a room that was right next door to our first room! 

To answer my own question, I really didn't try to push the butler too hard 😉 Vishnu was our Butler and he was awesome. We ordered some breakfasts and some dinners. Basic stuff. What really blew me away though was when I asked for extra ice for our excursions. (I needed lots of ice to full my backback water bladder.) They brought me a whole picnic cooler full of ice. I was so appreciative.

Yacht Club was worth every penny. Especially for our larger family.

[DMH15]

For a minute I thought MB was back

[dbcolli]

I was on the Sept 22nd Seaside sailing and my butler Audrey was great.  I needed wheelchair assistance and he pushed me out to the taxi cab stand in Cozumel and made sure I was safely in  a taxi cab. Great service in all respects the whole cruise from the butler service.      

 

[markf]

Just to add to the mix, on our  recent  Seaside  YC, cruise, I   saw  our butler the first day and last day. true  I didnt ask anything of him , but  he  didnt  offer  or  call to see if I wanted something.

Clearly he  was around for an end of  cruise Thank You

[DMH15]

2 hours ago, markf said:

Just to add to the mix, on our  recent  Seaside  YC, cruise, I   saw  our butler the first day and last day. true  I didnt ask anything of him , but  he  didnt  offer  or  call to see if I wanted something.

Clearly he  was around for an end of  cruise Thank You

Did you call him with any requests?

[markf]

I  mentioned  that I  did not  ask him for anything!!

[gkbiiii]

Do they contact you before hand for requests?

[SirWolf]

1 minute ago, gkbiiii said:

Do they contact you before hand for requests?

We have not been contacted prior to embarking on MSC Seaview but our requests were fulfilled immediately. We went to the cabin and my DW noticed that the pillows are not as firm. We met our butler in the hallway on the way to the lounge and asked him for 2 pillows from the "pillow menu". Within the hour he exchanged the pillows. We saw our butler every day at different times and talked with him briefly. 

[2cruiseluvrs]

On 1/25/2018 at 9:21 PM, Lindagop said:

We're sailing in the Yacht Club for the first time this summer. Apparently the Butler is available 24/7 to bring you whatever you want. I'm just curious... How far can you push this? I mean can you ask for lobster at 2 a.m. and then a mixed drink at 4 a.m. etc? Can anybody give me an example of what they've asked for? And what they've received?

You seem a little confused. You have paid for a week in YC. You did not buy the ship or the right to see “how far you can push”. Really! WOW poor butler .Each butler services 26 cabins, not just yours.

 

😉 Lindagop, sorry, my original question must have come out the wrong way. I never meant to intend that I would take advantage of anybody or be rude to them on the ship, especially the staff. Not my style. I guess I really was just coming from the perspective of watching their promotional videos, and it looks like they would just bend over backwards for you. And so it made me curious what all they do, that's all. Yes, each butler has a lot of cabins, and they did an awesome job like Professionals. Sorry for the confusion, Linda.

[2cruiseluvrs]

26 minutes ago, gkbiiii said:

Do they contact you before hand for requests?

 

There's no contact ahead of time. When we did first arrive in the YC, we were taken to the lounge and offered a cocktail. In there, they asked two questions: when we like to eat dinner... and if we were celebrating anything special. A short time later in our room, we met our own butler, and at that time we could have made some special requests, etc. We never took advantage of them, except to request water bottles, more ice for excursions, more pool towels, and a larger robe. Well, plus some room service food a few times during the cruise. 

[Kwaj girl]

We were in YC on the Divina last year and booked Seaside for this November.  Our butler came to the door in the afternoon (without us asking) to see if he could bring us something to drink - Martinis were the norm after that.  He also brought us Americano coffee in the AM from the bar (not that awful room service coffee) and alternated the coffee with glasses of Champagne all morning.  NICE!

[Best Cat Mom]

We met our butler, Harison (he spelled it that way), within a few minutes of first arriving in our stateroom. He showed us the amenities in the room and asked what we wanted as far as coffee and the minibar. We told him that we did not like decaf and to only give us regular espresso coffee capsules. We also told him that we did not want beer in the fridge, though we'd be happy with some Baileys for the coffee. We also told him we'd like Chivas and soda water. Every day, we had exactly that -- fully replenished. We ran out of coffee first morning because the capsule tray only had so many. After that, he began bringing us sleeves of the capsule we preferred. He also had to bring the Baileys in glasses because they don't have the mini-sized Baileys. He would put 2 double shots in the fridge each day. We never disappointed him -- we drank all the Baileys every day. 🙂

We did order room service pizzas one evening. We had already brought the wine in from the lounge ourselves, though, so that was pretty easy for him. He brought the pizza very quickly and it was still perfectly hot. (That was the only time we ordered room service food.)

If we ever saw Harison up at the pool grill or in the lounge, he always stopped to chat with us. One time, he was in the middle of getting something for another guest but stopped quickly to say 'hi' and then apologized that he couldn't chat longer. We got the impression that they want the butlers to talk up the guests as much as possible. We saw many of the butlers at the pool or in the lounge at all times of day. We had the impression that they all circulate in the YC venues when they are not tending to guests in the cabins.

I celebrated my birthday on this cruise and Harison made sure that there was a Venchi chocolate cake for me in Butcher's Cut for our dessert that evening. He knew I was gluten-free so it was one of those decadent, flourless cakes. YUM!

Overall, we were pleased with our butler, though we did not think we were overly demanding compared to some stories I've read.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Best Cat Mom

[cyndyga]

So it would be ok to ask the Butler for coffee to be delivered at a certain time so you don't have to drink room service coffee. Good to know about the Bailys I assumed they had the small bottles I like to start my day with a Baileys Frangelico coffee with a little whipped cream :)...I am hoping I get a nice Butler I won't ask for much but I do want extra waters to drink. Hoping to get a lounge chair on the Balcony too.