Haven guests: What's been a unique request you've given to your butler?

[westiegonenorth]

Most are aware that Haven butlers handle an array of tasks such as unpacking your luggage, bringing snacks, providing room service, handling desired reservations alongside the concierge desk, drawing a bath, etc. But what unique request have you given your butler?

 

This is just a purely curious question to see what requests you've given to your butler. How was it handled? Were you surprised? Was your request out of the realm of their responsibilities? 

 

Hopefully this will provide some added context to the role of a Haven butler for those that have never been a Haven guest or to those that felt they did not make the most of the butler services in the past when they stayed in the Haven. 

[UKstages]

i asked my butler to remove the nespresso machine, as I don't drink coffee. not a terribly earth shattering request, but something that seemed to be unique, as he said he had never done that before. he did it immediately.

 

i also asked him if my room service pizza could be cooked a little longer. the pizza tends to be pale on the bottom, as if the dough was only barely just cooked. it typically needs another two to three minutes. he was able to get them to do that.

[tgloersen]

I like this thread to bad i dont have any unique requests, although there was one time where i requested dinner but from 2 diffrent areas of the ship.  Butler told me that it would take to long LOL.  Oh and BTW this is the same butler that came in the last morning to "REMIND" me that i need to tip him directly.  Unbelivable, i opened the envelope i had already prepared for him and took half the tip back out.

[Ottawa Lynne]

This is all Pre-Covid....

 

We ask for the coffee machine and accompaniments to be removed and it always has been. We appreciate the counter space and neither of us drink hot drinks.

 

We've had dinner in our room on mulitple occasions including Valentine's Day. But we got dinner all at once - no seperate courses which was fine by us.

 

I mentioned that I love the chocolate covered strawberries and we got them many times. So not a request but a nice touch.

 

We also asked for cookies once and suddenly there were cookies every day and we couldn't keep up so we had to put a stop to that! lol

 

We were told there was a shortage of gummy bears and m+ms on one cruise and then on our last full day got about a pound of m+ms! So we took them home with us lol

[Pens fan]

This wasn't in the Haven, but we had a non haven suite on the Jade that included butler service.  One day, just as we were putting away the laundry we'd sent out our butler knocked on the door to see if we needed anything.  I'd noticed one of my socks was missing from the laundry and mentioned it to him.  About 30 minutes later he returned with my missing sock.  I was quite surprised and pleased.

 

Other than that pretty much the only thing we've ever asked for is to have the mini fridge emptied and have them keep a supply of diet Pepsi in there instead - which we pay for, obviously.  We're pretty easy on them 😎.

[Shellbelle28]

I was the organizer of a cabin crawl for our Cruise Critic Meet and mingle. I told the butler that I'd have about 15 guests in our aft penthouse suite on the Bliss and asked if he could supply orange juice and glasses so we could make mimosas with the several bottles of sparkling wine we'd been given. When we arrived with the group, not only was there orange juice, there was a fruit platter, canapés, and other snacks and he had rearranged the furniture in the living area to make more room for people to mingle and snack. It was lovely. 

Edited April 30, 2022 by Shellbelle28

[tgloersen]

24 minutes ago, Shellbelle28 said:

I was the organizer of a cabin crawl for our Cruise Critic Meet and mingle. I told the butler that I'd have about 15 guests in our aft penthouse suite on the Bliss and asked if he could supply orange juice and glasses so we could make mimosas with the several bottles of sparkling wine we'd been given. When we arrived with the group, not only was there orange juice, there was a fruit platter, canapés, and other snacks and he had rearranged the furniture in the living area to make more room for people to mingle and snack. It was lovely. 

Thats Great, yah i guess i could have mentioned the same, i too did a cabin crawl, and made the same request, the setup was fabulous, every one had a great time.

[Sthrngary]

Hello everyone.  The Haven Butlers as I have stated so many times are Hit/Miss.  Reading some of the post clearly indicated that.  The reason is these men and woman are very clearly overworked with tasks outside of caring for us.  Yet, in most cases, they will try to exceed our expectations.  A smile, clear communication and a sense of humor will get you much better treatment.  Just an initial thought of mine.

 

My addition to this topic is food related.  My wife and i were on Keto which means no carbs.  I asked for a small bowl of nuts and some cheese.  Here is where the communication comes int.  I got a huge bowl of nuts but they were raw.  The plate cheese could have feed a group of eight.  Not so unique as it is important to remember, English could be a second language for many butlers. 

 

Cruise well.

[cmecruise1962]

My unique request was to get some assistance for my mom who had fallen and we couldn't get her up.  After calling 911 (as we were told) and being told they would send housekeeping, I frantically called my butler and he was the cavalry and arrived with three medical officers to assist.  I was so impressed by how quickly he made it happen (and a little disappointed in the response from guest services!)

[GeezerCouple]

5 hours ago, tgloersen said:

I like this thread to bad i dont have any unique requests, although there was one time where i requested dinner but from 2 diffrent areas of the ship.  Butler told me that it would take to long LOL.  Oh and BTW this is the same butler that came in the last morning to "REMIND" me that i need to tip him directly.  Unbelivable, i opened the envelope i had already prepared for him and took half the tip back out.

 

Good for you.

 

This is really surprising.  They are usually so polite and professional.

 

GC

[casofilia]

@tgloersen

 

Oh and BTW this is the same butler that came in the last morning to "REMIND" me that i need to tip him directly.  Unbelivable, i opened the envelope i had already prepared for him and took half the tip back out.

 

VERY believable.   Ours visited us THREE times before 2pm on the penultimate day with a request "I hope you have been very satisfied with the service I have provided?".   

 

Yours was lucky with half the tip, ours got nothing other than a recommendation to the Concierge and Hotel Director that they look into the butler!!

 

He was not re-employed!!!   They had wanted a written complaint as he was not acceptable to either.

[BirdTravels]

10 hours ago, tgloersen said:

I like this thread to bad i dont have any unique requests, although there was one time where i requested dinner but from 2 diffrent areas of the ship.  Butler told me that it would take to long LOL.  Oh and BTW this is the same butler that came in the last morning to "REMIND" me that i need to tip him directly.  Unbelivable, i opened the envelope i had already prepared for him and took half the tip back out.

Hmmmm... take advantage of a poor, hard working butler then stiff him. Not cool. Trust your butler when they advise that trying to get food from two different parts of the ship means that the food first picked up will be cold (or warm) by the time they go to the second restaurant and get food from there. They are trying to make sure that you have a great dining experience, not one with cold food where you would complain equally. 

[GeezerCouple]

7 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Hmmmm... take advantage of a poor, hard working butler then stiff him. Not cool. Trust your butler when they advise that trying to get food from two different parts of the ship means that the food first picked up will be cold (or warm) by the time they go to the second restaurant and get food from there. They are trying to make sure that you have a great dining experience, not one with cold food where you would complain equally. 

 

I understood the problem to be that the butler "came in the last morning to "REMIND" [them] that [they] need to tip him directly."  That is not okay.

GC

[BirdTravels]

12 hours ago, westiegonenorth said:

Most are aware that Haven butlers handle an array of tasks such as unpacking your luggage, bringing snacks, providing room service, handling desired reservations alongside the concierge desk, drawing a bath, etc. But what unique request have you given your butler?

 

This is just a purely curious question to see what requests you've given to your butler. How was it handled? Were you surprised? Was your request out of the realm of their responsibilities? 

 

Hopefully this will provide some added context to the role of a Haven butler for those that have never been a Haven guest or to those that felt they did not make the most of the butler services in the past when they stayed in the Haven. 

First, I would never have a butler trying to unpack us. We would never find anything. And on a Caribbean cruise, there really isn't that much to hang. And we don't need the butler to fill a bath tub. That is mostly TV stuff (unless you are paying for a special bath). 

 

We have our room steward empty the mini-fridge of items for purchase and have our butler keep pitchers of ice water, ice tea, and lemonade in there. 

 

We are normally full after a few appetizers and an entrée at dinner. We will often ask the waiter to have the night butler take our desserts from the restaurants and have them delivered to our room. After an evening out, we'll grab a drink and return to the room for a lovely late night snack. 

 

We ask to have bowls of M&Ms (peanut or plain), gummy bears, and bar mix filled daily (most end up in zip lock bags for the next day shore excursions - yeah, illegal to remove food from ship). 

 

Your butler will bring you the default snack of the day. We ask for additional things like canapes, the occasional PB&J and chips (for us big kids). 

 

You will have the standard check-box breakfast cards in the room. Ignore the check boxes and write in whatever you want for breakfast from the Haven restaurant. We have our butler serve us breakfast in the room on busy port days where the full sit down Haven restaurant would take too long. Eggs over medium, egg white omelet or scrambled (pick your fillings), hash browns, breakfast potatoes, roasted mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, ham, bacon, sausage, pork sausage, ham, filet steak (although it is a NY steak now), more bacon, fresh fruits, fresh breads, juices, and a diet Pepsi served on a white tablecloth. 

 

 

 

[BirdTravels]

33 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

I understood the problem to be that the butler "came in the last morning to "REMIND" [them] that [they] need to tip him directly."  That is not okay.

GC

Sure it is. No different that your waiter or your room steward handing your or leaving a "tip envelope" on Royal Caribbean. And a lot of Haven guests are oblivious to the fact that neither the butler or concierge get anything from the Daily Service Charge and that the cruise line tell you to tip them. 

 

Certain staff positions (e.g., concierge, butler, youth programme staff and beverage service) provide service on an individual basis to only some guests and do not benefit from the overall service charge. We encourage those guests to acknowledge good service from these staff members with appropriate gratuities.

[tgloersen]

11 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Hmmmm... take advantage of a poor, hard working butler then stiff him. Not cool. Trust your butler when they advise that trying to get food from two different parts of the ship means that the food first picked up will be cold (or warm) by the time they go to the second restaurant and get food from there. They are trying to make sure that you have a great dining experience, not one with cold food where you would complain equally. 

One thing your missing here Bird, he never got me the food.  And i dont need to be reminded of the tipping procedure, that s completly out of line.  So call it what you want but i tip based on service, ad this service was pretty poor!.  No im not gonna waste mu time with the concirerge either, im on vacation and time is limited.

 

Also understand i was still prepared to tip him my normal amount (which is good BTW) but after he came in to tell me i need to tip him.  Well i showed him the door with half the amount.

 

Only issue i ever had with a butler, the hell with him, i pay bloody money for this suite i dont need any BS butler telling me what to do.

[tgloersen]

16 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Good for you.

 

This is really surprising.  They are usually so polite and professional.

 

GC

Its the only butler i ever had an issue with.  I tell you i was really taken back.  Could not beleive it.

[LGW59]

7 minutes ago, tgloersen said:

One thing your missing here Bird, he never got me the food.  And i dont need to be reminded of the tipping procedure, that s completly out of line.  So call it what you want but i tip based on service, ad this service was pretty poor!.  No im not gonna waste mu time with the concirerge either, im on vacation and time is limited.

 

Also understand i was still prepared to tip him my normal amount (which is good BTW) but after he came in to tell me i need to tip him.  Well i showed him the door with half the amount.

 

Only issue i ever had with a butler, the hell with him, i pay bloody money for this suite i dont need any BS butler telling me what to do.

any BS butler telling me what to do.  Kind of sums it up

[tgloersen]

10 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Sure it is. No different that your waiter or your room steward handing your or leaving a "tip envelope" on Royal Caribbean. And a lot of Haven guests are oblivious to the fact that neither the butler or concierge get anything from the Daily Service Charge and that the cruise line tell you to tip them. 

 

Certain staff positions (e.g., concierge, butler, youth programme staff and beverage service) provide service on an individual basis to only some guests and do not benefit from the overall service charge. We encourage those guests to acknowledge good service from these staff members with appropriate gratuities.

If you want to keep tipping your butler for bad service that wont hurt me.  And im not oblivious to tipping procedures.  You can ask any of my former butlers, conceirge's and let me throw in the cabin stewarts who are a part of the Daily Service Charge, i give them an enveolpoe as well on top of that.  So if your calling me a cheapskate your sadly mistanken.

 

If i look at most of the replies in here it seems the group is understanding what im trying to say.   We all know about tipping and who gets what but that will never change the fact that if i perceive bad service your tip will be reflected in that!

 

And before you talk about adjusting the daily service charge, i have never ever done that ever even though not all crusies went as planned when it comes to service.  My respons to that, is what i give on top of the DSC doesnt happen at all.  I releize the workers behinds the scenes get tipped from the DSC and its not there fault a cabin stewart doesnt not supply proper service.

[Sthrngary]

11 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Hmmmm... take advantage of a poor, hard working butler then stiff him. Not cool. Trust your butler when they advise that trying to get food from two different parts of the ship means that the food first picked up will be cold (or warm) by the time they go to the second restaurant and get food from there. They are trying to make sure that you have a great dining experience, not one with cold food where you would complain equally. 

I am reading all these post on this topic.  Let me say again.  1) Butlers in general are hit/miss on mainstream cruise brands.  2) Luxury Cruise brands have a much better butler experience because those butlers focus much more on the clients wants and needs.  They have more time for the client. 3) There is always a communication issue with Butlers because English is not their first language. 4) Butlers due to the work load, really need a heads up on formal dining in your suite.  I wish that was not the case but it is.  5) If a butler says doing something like getting things from two different restaurants would be an issue, trust them.  Just look at this thread.  If they do anything that is not to your liking, they can literally lose their job.

 

If any crew member does not do their job properly, they need more training.  Tell their supervisor.  Me nice, do not be overly dramatic and play fare.  If you don't, it just allows that behavior to continue.  This is why I created the Butler letter.  Talk about a heads up, how about this is what i would like, if you can provide it, on day one.  My butlers have be much better since I started that habit.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[mertziek]

1 hour ago, tgloersen said:

Its the only butler i ever had an issue with.  I tell you i was really taken back.  Could not beleive it.

We’ve had mostly excellent butlers but had one that just did not measure up and proceeded to complain several times about NCL and his boss, the concierge.  She happened to be the best concierge we ever had!  We felt he was totally inappropriate but did tip him, although less than usual.  In addition, when I filled out our post cruise survey, I commented on his complaining since I felt NCL is owed more loyalty from their staff and if he was so unhappy, he should have gone elsewhere to work.  Tips are intended to reward good service (To Insure Prompt Service) and if you did not receive the service you were accustomed to plus dealt with his practically asking to be tipped, I understand your frustration. I think most people know the butler is not part of the DSC but I could be wrong.  Either way, we would have been put off, too, and tipped less.  I won’t get guilted into how much I have to tip by anyone although we are usually above average with our tipping since we recognize how much the staff depend on them to support their families back home.

[ChiefMateJRK]

20 hours ago, cmecruise1962 said:

After calling 911 (as we were told) and being told they would send housekeeping

What?!

[casofilia]

@mertziek

 

Tips are intended to reward good service (To Insure Prompt Service) 

 

I am from New Zealand, originally the UK, so won't start on tipping per se.

 

Your statement and definition are actually polar opposites.   Rewards come after something has happened but your definition has to be carried out before!!   (Have you ever paid Insurance AFTER something has happened!!)   VBG

 

Tip them before; reward them after.

Edited May 1, 2022 by casofilia

[ColeThornton]

In the context of "To Insure Prompt Service", wouldn't the correct phrase be "To Ensure Prompt Service"?

 

Yep, it's a slow day.  lol    

[ziggyuk]

I asked him to pop a toga outfit on and feed me peeled grapes on the balcony, he wasn't sure at first but a crisp Benjamin Franklin swung the deal and I had a wonderful afternoon in my golden laurel crown.