Question on tips and perks

[mauimary]

We have all four perks on an upcoming cruise included because we are staying in a suite and booked it while on board. Tips are one of the perks included. We are wondering if the included tips cover the Butler. Not sure how much they will even be doing since we have never had one before. Would love some input on this. Thank you.

 

 

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[Tomato53]

We have all four perks on an upcoming cruise included because we are staying in a suite and booked it while on board. Tips are one of the perks included. We are wondering if the included tips cover the Butler. Not sure how much they will even be doing since we have never had one before. Would love some input on this. Thank you.

 

 

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Yes, the tips do include the butler.

[jelayne]

Tips do include the Butler. The Butler will bring your room service order and set the table, take care of any laundry you send out, bring the newspaper ours delivered it about 10:30 with DHs OJ.

 

If you have passports taken on boarding & then Returned later they will pick them up for you- recently did Asia/India with passport coming & going from Guest Service & Immigration paperwork- Butler handled it all.

Burned out light, sticky drawer tell the Butler and it will be fixed. We don’t use the Butler much but it is nice to know they are there to make your life easier.

[schnauzersrule]

Can you share which newspapers are available?

[cruisestitch]

the newspapers are a digest -- usually the news is about two days old -- USA, Canada, Britain, are pretty much on every cruise. There is a possibility of Mexico, France, Germany as well, depending on how many passengers are from those countries on any given cruise. It's a very brief synopsis of headline stories and sports scores.

[ggo85]

I don’t know if tips include the Butler (I thought they didn’t but will defer to others on this). That said, IMHO, your butler will expect an extra tip if he/she goes beyond the minimum - meaning does things younrequest, anticipates your needs, etc.

[bEwAbG]

I don’t know if tips include the Butler (I thought they didn’t but will defer to others on this). That said, IMHO, your butler will expect an extra tip if he/she goes beyond the minimum - meaning does things younrequest, anticipates your needs, etc.

 

They can expect all they want; there is no requirement for you to give them extra unless you want to do so.

[jelayne]

I don’t know if tips include the Butler (I thought they didn’t but will defer to others on this). That said, IMHO, your butler will expect an extra tip if he/she goes beyond the minimum - meaning does things younrequest, anticipates your needs, etc.

 

The standard gratuties for a Suite are $18pppd vs AQ or Concierge where they are $15pppd, the $3 is for the Butler.

 

Why would you say that a Butler expects more? What makes he or she any different that your cabin steward or dining staff? Do you think they expect an extra tip if they do any more than the minimum? Our experience has been much different.

[ggo85]

I hate to wade into the tipping discussion, but since the question was posed . . .

 

We don't eat in the MDR, so don't tip extra to those folks. We typically give our room steward extra if service was good (mostly meaning he/she is seen little but provides prompt, excellent service). I would say we have tipped the room steward beyond the "required" gratuities 80% of the time. Our choice; not required.

 

On our last cruise, we were very impressed with our butler. We didn't ask for much (changes to some dining reservations) but we just had the impression that, for the higher class suites (RS and above), the butler expected an extra tip. Nothing was said -- it was merely our impression based on 30+ cruises on many lines. We were very satisfied and did provide an extra tip.

 

On our last cruise, we didn't use MC very often and thus did not provide extra tips to the host there -- we did give something to the bartender who served us the few times we were there.

 

I absolutely understand that tipping is a personal issue and that attitudes vary based on where you come from an your experiences in life. Agree that nothing extra is required. That said, having been on many cruises -- and lived more than a few years -- I am attuned to expectations. I do recognize that, even if someone expects an extra tip, it is definitely not a requirement and am not criticizing those who stick firmly to the "mandatory" tips for all. Rather, I'm stating what I perceived and what we did.

[marycruz]

The standard gratuties for a Suite are $18pppd vs AQ or Concierge where they are $15pppd, the $3 is for the Butler.

 

Why would you say that a Butler expects more? What makes he or she any different that your cabin steward or dining staff? Do you think they expect an extra tip if they do any more than the minimum? Our experience has been much different.

 

Personally, I don't think the butler expects an extra tip but I know ours appreciated the tip we gave him. We don't always tip the butler extra when we are in a suite but if they do something special like this one did, then we will. We also tipped the cabin attendant extra because he was wonderful. Others are correct that the butlers tips are included in the $18 per day per person gratuity but suites.

[Champagne Cruiser]

Delivering the paper is not a standard service provided by a butler. If you want it you need to ask, at least this was our experience. Generally,we don’t need a butler but when we had a B2B from a Suite to a Veranda the butler did move all our hanging clothes and the suitcases which was very nice and allowed us to get off the ship and tour early.

[bebe08]

We have never stayed in a suite...it is on the bucket list though !! We always tip our cabin steward every couple of days as well as any other staff that we feel are deserving - ie bartenders, waiters etc. I know it is not required but its just the way we were brought up to tip for good service. I think the reason there are many different opinions on this is because tipping practices vary from one country to another. We are from Canada and tipping is not included, whereas in many European countries tipping is automatically added to the bill. When we were visiting family in Denmark they were emphatic that we not tip extra because it was already included in the bill. It felt strange not to tip...but we followed their advice. If we aren't sure we tip. I would rather over tip than under tip but that is a personal choice.

[warmwinds]

Those little "newspapers" usually don't appear by guest services until later in the morning - do the butlers have access to them earlier?

 

Also, we want coffee when we get up, but we never know what time that will be on sea days - is it possible to just call when we wake up and get it asap? On port days we can better schedule a time the night before.

[cruisestitch]

Usually the newspapers are out by approximately 10 AM.

[azle]

We just returned from cruising on the Equinox. They no longer print the paper newspapers that are put out near guest services. When we inquired about the newspapers we were told that it was now on the TV. It is a sampling of news for several different regions but not as specific as the printed newspaper by country. No weather. I don't know if this is specific to the Equinox but I suspect it's part of the cutting back on printing paper notices etc. They no longer provide the book in your room with stationary etc. and we get much less printed material everyday. I have no idea if they might provide a paper for suites but for all others there were no newspapers.

[jimzgoldfinch]

Usually the newspapers are out by approximately 10 AM.

 

Hi,

There were no papers on the Infinity last month. A victim of the cutbacks?

 

Jim

[jelayne]

I guess the papers have disappeared, but on the bright side less waste. Have the daily crossword puzzle and Sudoku gone by the wayside also?

[jimzgoldfinch]

I guess the papers have disappeared, but on the bright side less waste. Have the daily crossword puzzle and Sudoku gone by the wayside also?

 

Hi,

They’re still available.

 

Jim