Butlers

[MyTMo777]

So what exactly do butlers do? I understand a butler comes with some suites on some ships. What exactly do they do?

 

 

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[SuiteTraveler]

Depending on the cruise line:

 

Unpack and Pack (Celebrity, not NCL)

 

Deliver Room Service and cocktails/wine etc

 

Offer pillow menu

 

Draw a fancy bath (this costs around $125 on NCL) but they put flower petals and so forth.

 

On MSC they escort you to dinner the first night on ships where the suite passenger restaurant is not within the Yacht Club and off the ship when you go ashore. Ours even walked our luggage off the ship on disembarkation day and he found my missing luggage when it failed to be delivered to our suite.

 

Serve tea

 

Set up a party in your suite if you want to entertain.

 

Some have a DVD library you can borrow from.

 

Of the butlers we have had, I'd say the ones on MSC are the best at their job and go all out actually racing each other to help guests. It's like they can't do enough for you!

[Keith1010]

They can unpack and pack.

Serve you breakfast, lunch and/or dinner

Bring Canapés

Bring beverages and fruit

Answer questions for you

Take care of dry cleaning and other related needs

Book excursions

Book specials restaurant reservations

Obtain CD's and DVD's.

 

Keith

[SuiteTraveler]

They can unpack and pack.

Serve you breakfast, lunch and/or dinner

Bring Canapés

Bring beverages and fruit

Answer questions for you

Take care of dry cleaning and other related needs

Book excursions

Book specials restaurant reservations

Obtain CD's and DVD's.

 

Keith

 

If you also have a concierge, they are the ones who book excursions and restaurants reservations, not the butler.

[Keith1010]

If you also have a concierge, they are the ones who book excursions and restaurants reservations, not the butler.

 

Yes but on some ships Silvesea and Crystal come to mind the butter would do this for you. :)

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Celebrity has a suites concierge but butlers will also make dinner reservations for you.

[gymbomb]

Things our butlers have done include bringing snacks, delivering room service, arranging for TV/DVD player in room to get fixed, teaching us to use the fancy coffee machine, and one fabulous one stopped by to check on us and upon learning that I was doing one excursion and my mom had tickets to another but wasn't sure if she was going to go, checked the time for her excursion and came back and got her and walked her to the ship's exit at the appropriate time.

[wasabipearl]

 

 

I just watched this video this morning very informative about butlers on cruises

[MyTMo777]

You are all a wealth of information:) Thank you!

 

 

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[Go-Bucks!]

My experience with butlers has been a mixed bag.

 

They seem to me to be a combination of the room service delivery person and the usual room steward. Mostly they just deliver food. If you get a room without a butler, you will still have the services of food delivery and someone (steward) to help you, but not have to pay extra gratuities.

 

One of our butlers, on Celebrity, gave us incorrect advice that kept us from eating in the proper special dining room (Blu) for 3 days because he said we would have to pay extra for it, but when we decided to go check it out on our own, the hostess said "we wondered where you've been...we expected you 3 days ago." He was never able to help us with questions either. All he did was deliver cookies and canapes in the afternoon. We didn't give him any extra tip because he was useless. We'll be having a butler on the next cruise, but I can't imagine that we'll need his/her services except when dining in our suite.