Room Service In A Suite

[Oceangoer2]

6 minutes ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

On our last cruise I think he was lurking outside our door waiting for the call. 

The visual is 😀 😄and just what I think our butler would have done.  He was EVERYWHERE! and would have been great for some others.

[dlh015]

2 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I've scoffed in the past at people who say they provide their butler with a list of requests and likes/dislikes on day one.  I thought this was so pretentious.  Now I'm beginning to realize that such a thing can really make for a much smoother and less stressful experience for all parties because everyone gets on the same page from day one. 

@Georgia_Peaches I will also admit to thinking similar thoughts from time to time. And just recently I, too, have reconsidered this thinking, again because of the posts made on this forum. Hence, I have started to prepare a list of what things might make for a more pleasant experience and how my butler could help enhance it as well as be prepared so there will not be any unintended surprises.

[jelayne]

You will have a bottle of sparkling wine in the suite when you board.  Other than that Celebrity Suites do not come with any liquor or wine and the beverage package does not cover.Room Service.  Depending upon the ship and Butler some may supply a 2nd bottle of sparkling wine others don’t.  You can bring 2. Bottles per person  on board at embarkation (4 per suite)  so that might be a option for your morning champagne.

[terrydtx]

14 hours ago, morfred said:

As a different thought.... I usually tip the butler at the end of the cruise. Do some of you tip as you go along? ie snacks, ice, laundry etc.

I tip at end of cruise, some here tip at beginning of cruise. 

 

Our Butlers always brought our room service breakfast and snacks during the day. Once while bringing drinks back to our suite, the butler saw us and told us next time to call him and he would bring our drinks to our cabin. We have done this many times and we usually get our drinks within a few minutes. On our Reflection cruise in August, we had a couple of days where we had a very late lunch on an excursion and all we wanted was a bowl of the delicious French Onio soup and a shrimp cocktail in our cabins for dinner. Our butler brought the piping hot soup and shrimp to our cabin in about 5 minutes. If you don't use your butlers, they will think you are not happy with their service. Last year in our first suite on the Equinox, the first morning after delivering our breakfast our butler asked how everything was, and I mentioned the pot of coffee was a little weak to my liking. The next morning, he stopped at Cafe El Bacio and added several shots of expresso to the pot of coffee, and it was perfect, he did the same every morning after.

Edited November 29, 2022 by terrydtx

[wineoclock]

2 hours ago, PKB said:

Here is my preference sheet for our butler in our Celebrity Suite in February on Reflection.  We like our own mimosa concoction with pineapple juice and champagne.  

 

 

Morning Beverages

1 large coffee

1 large hot water

1 café mocha with whipped cream (still debating if I want the butler to deliver or get it from Al Baccio)

1 large Pineapple juice

 

Breakfast

One or two days on balcony

 

Afternoon plates – any of these

We like an assortment of meat and/or seafood, cheese, and crackers.  Seafood on separate plate. 

Small plate of fruit.  We like strawberries, pineapple, watermelon, and whole bananas

Small desserts or cookies

 

 

Stocked in cabin

Still water

Ice

Champagne

We were in a CS in October. Our mini bar was stocked with our choice of soft drinks, water & beer. At no point apart from embarkation, were we offered Champagne in our suite. We’ve been in PH before & we had bar set up & champagne whenever we wanted. 

[jelayne]

20 minutes ago, wineoclock said:

We were in a CS in October. Our mini bar was stocked with our choice of soft drinks, water & beer. At no point apart from embarkation, were we offered Champagne in our suite. We’ve been in PH before & we had bar set up & champagne whenever we wanted. 

One of the amenities of the PH, but not the CS and SS.

[prmssk]

10 minutes ago, jelayne said:

One of the amenities of the PH, but not the CS and SS.

A bottle of sparkling wine or champagne is an amenity of all suites (all the way down to SS).  It's listed right on Celebrity's website and in a SS last year (and a travel companion in a SS this year), there was a bottle on ice waiting upon embarkation.  You just usually get the Celebrity Vintages brand (or similar) in the lower suites instead of a higher end brand.

[ggo85]

We typically discuss our requests / expectations with the Butler on the first day.  It's a short list.  Basically, we explain what beverages we like stocked and that we usually order breakfast in our room.  A good butler checks the mini-fridge daily and refills as needed.  With a not-so-great butler, we have to check ourselves and remind him / her.  A good butler gets to know what time we eat and makes sure he is there to deliver our food.  A not-so-great butler routinely has a colleague bring our meal (thus telling us someone else was more important than we were, which is annoying when you're staying in a RS).  

 

The only other thing we occasionally request is to make / change reservations.  We had a butler (not on X)  who said, "You can go to Guest Services to do that."  Uh no, that's why we pay to have a butler.

 

A good butler will remind us about having clothing pressed for "formal" night (we've never actually had clothing pressed for formal night).

 

A good butler will stop by every couple of days to ensure all is going well, if there is anything we need and suggest things he / she might do for us.  A not-so-great butler (and we had one on X) didn't appear at all from days 2-7 of a 10-day cruise.  

 

A truly great butler will see that I like wine or champagne and somehow manage to come up with an extra bottle (house brand) if / when we use up our 2 (we don't bring any aboard with us since we have the beverage package).  But I also understand if / why this sometimes doesn't happen and it's not a negative at all.

 

We tip at the end.  

 

 

[DaKahuna]

41 minutes ago, ggo85 said:

 A not-so-great butler (and we had one on X) didn't appear at all from days 2-7 of a 10-day cruise.  

 

 This sounds exactly like a butler we had on Edge.  We saw her the first day when she came to our suite and introduced herself.  We saw her twice in the Retreat Lounge when they were setting up the snacks. She is the only Butler we have not given an additional tip. 

 

 With only a few exceptions, we tip at the end of the cruise.  Those exceptions are normally service staff/bartenders outside the Retreat/Michael's Club.  

[Laurab23]

6 hours ago, PKB said:

Here is my preference sheet for our butler in our Celebrity Suite in February on Reflection.  We like our own mimosa concoction with pineapple juice and champagne.  

 

 

Morning Beverages

1 large coffee

1 large hot water

1 café mocha with whipped cream (still debating if I want the butler to deliver or get it from Al Baccio)

1 large Pineapple juice

 

Breakfast

One or two days on balcony

 

Afternoon plates – any of these

We like an assortment of meat and/or seafood, cheese, and crackers.  Seafood on separate plate. 

Small plate of fruit.  We like strawberries, pineapple, watermelon, and whole bananas

Small desserts or cookies

 

 

Stocked in cabin

Still water

Ice

Champagne

I would love to see others lists when they are in a penthouse. I will take a picture of the list and make my list from all the great suggestions. I don't cruise until May so I have time.

 

Laura

[ETHTrader]

3 hours ago, ggo85 said:

We had a butler (not on X)  who said, "You can go to Guest Services to do that."  Uh no, that's why we pay to have a butler.

 

 A not-so-great butler (and we had one on X) didn't appear at all from days 2-7 of a 10-day cruise.

 

I just had one on Apex who I saw on the first day and the night before the last day. None in between. When my wife asked for extra pillows on the first day, he was like, "You can call room attendant for that"

[PKB]

Whether the champagne is an amenity of the particular suite I occupy is not the purpose of providing the list to the butler.  If there is a charge for the champagne, I have ample OBC to more than cover it.  

[ggo85]

Must confess that the best butlers we've had were on Crystal.  On X, we've had absolutely terrific (one of the early female butlers -- she was promoted right after our cruise) and awful.  Our one experience on SS was middle of the road.  

 

IMO, it all comes down to training.  A good cruise line will require some time in GS, so that the future butler understands how to solve problems. But it's more than that . . . it's thinking ahead.  It's understanding your passengers and figuring out what they might like or need before they have to ask.  It also helps when butlers don't have so many cabins (with demanding passengers) that they really can't do their jobs well.

 

Good idea on using OBC for bottles of champagne.  I've got more OBC than I can easily use and I do love champagne w/o having to go for it glass by glass.  As an aside, I really don't understand why the higher level suites can't get more than 2 bottles of wine (for those who only drink wine) in their cabins.  But now I'll just pay for it with OBC. 😀

Edited November 29, 2022 by ggo85

[SusieAV8R]

22 hours ago, jelayne said:

We don’t tip until the end. We tip based on our overall experience.  

 

22 hours ago, jelayne said:

We don’t tip until the end. We tip based on our overall experience.  

We also don't tip until the end.  We did attempt "the tip at the beginning with promise of more to come" (as suggested on one of these social media threads), but found it created unintended consequences.

[JFontaine]

3 hours ago, ggo85 said:

  As an aside, I really don't understand why the higher level suites can't get more than 2 bottles of wine (for those who only drink wine) in their cabins.  But now I'll just pay for it with OBC. 

I think experiences on this vary with the butler, but we had 4 bottles of wine (not expensive) and three bottles of Veuve Clicquot (but no liquor) on one week cruises this year.  

[kenb]

22 hours ago, jelayne said:

You will have a bottle of sparkling wine in the suite when you board.  Other than that Celebrity Suites do not come with any liquor or wine and the beverage package does not cover.Room Service.  Depending upon the ship and Butler some may supply a 2nd bottle of sparkling wine others don’t.  You can bring 2. Bottles per person  on board at embarkation (4 per suite)  so that might be a option for your morning champagne.

I asked my butler to replace the sparkling wine with a bottle of chardonnay and it was not problem. When she saw we had finished that bottle she brought a 2nd bottle.

 

[terrydtx]

30 minutes ago, kenb said:

I asked my butler to replace the sparkling wine with a bottle of chardonnay and it was not problem. When she saw we had finished that bottle she brought a 2nd bottle.

 

That has been our experience in a Sky Suite, too. Also all drinks ordered with our butlers for room service, like a bloody Mary with breakfast were included in our Premium drinks package. We have never been charged for any drinks or mini bar's use in any suite since post covid. On our Reflection cruise in August our butler kept our mini bar stocked with red and white wine and Evian bottled water all at no cost to us.  I refuse to drink the standard canned water they want to leave in our cabin.

[Cajuntraveler]

DH and I will be on Soltice next month.  This will be our first experience in a Sky Suite on X. (We usually cruise in SSon HAL-no butler) We always have coffee and a lite breakfast delivered to our cabin each morning. I tip the room service waiter $3-$5 every morning.  After searching through the CC threads, it appears that our butler will deliver our morning coffee and fruit plate.  Is it appropriate to tip him/her each morning or should we only tip at the end of the 7 day cruise?  

[JFontaine]

27 minutes ago, Cajuntraveler said:

DH and I will be on Soltice next month.  This will be our first experience in a Sky Suite on X. (We usually cruise in SSon HAL-no butler) We always have coffee and a lite breakfast delivered to our cabin each morning. I tip the room service waiter $3-$5 every morning.  After searching through the CC threads, it appears that our butler will deliver our morning coffee and fruit plate.  Is it appropriate to tip him/her each morning or should we only tip at the end of the 7 day cruise?  

I think most people would tip their butler on the last evening, not with each small delivery.  Have a great time. 

[peanut head]

We tend to tip 2x during a cruise to the butler and stateroom attendant (SRA).  The smaller of the 2 tips is given midway through the cruise and the rest is given on the last night.  We have found that the 1st tip, with telling them that we appreciate what they have done so far and will continue to do for us, seems to go a long way.   Overall, we tend to ask little of our butler and SRA, but when we do they can't help us fast enough.  

 

Also, based on a previous post from Chemmo, I fashioned a letter with our personal requests including lunch/dinner locations/times, suite meals/drinks (ie., coffee/tea) that I give to the butler on the 1st day.  It is the same letter that I send to the on-shore concierge a couple of weeks before the cruise.

 

On our last cruise (Equinox 10/2022) our butler and SRA,  Sebastian and Jason, told us that we should stop cleaning up after ourselves because we were not giving them enough work to do in the suite.🙃

[Laurab23]

27 minutes ago, peanut head said:

We tend to tip 2x during a cruise to the butler and stateroom attendant (SRA).  The smaller of the 2 tips is given midway through the cruise and the rest is given on the last night.  We have found that the 1st tip, with telling them that we appreciate what they have done so far and will continue to do for us, seems to go a long way.   Overall, we tend to ask little of our butler and SRA, but when we do they can't help us fast enough.  

 

Also, based on a previous post from Chemmo, I fashioned a letter with our personal requests including lunch/dinner locations/times, suite meals/drinks (ie., coffee/tea) that I give to the butler on the 1st day.  It is the same letter that I send to the on-shore concierge a couple of weeks before the cruise.

 

On our last cruise (Equinox 10/2022) our butler and SRA,  Sebastian and Jason, told us that we should stop cleaning up after ourselves because we were not giving them enough work to do in the suite.🙃

I would like to do a letter to give to our butler. I would love to see your letter for some ideas. We will be in a PH in May on Summit. First time in a suite.

 

Laura

 

Laura

[chemmo]

56 minutes ago, peanut head said:

We tend to tip 2x during a cruise to the butler and stateroom attendant (SRA).  The smaller of the 2 tips is given midway through the cruise and the rest is given on the last night.  We have found that the 1st tip, with telling them that we appreciate what they have done so far and will continue to do for us, seems to go a long way.   Overall, we tend to ask little of our butler and SRA, but when we do they can't help us fast enough.  

 

Also, based on a previous post from Chemmo, I fashioned a letter with our personal requests including lunch/dinner locations/times, suite meals/drinks (ie., coffee/tea) that I give to the butler on the 1st day.  It is the same letter that I send to the on-shore concierge a couple of weeks before the cruise.

 

On our last cruise (Equinox 10/2022) our butler and SRA,  Sebastian and Jason, told us that we should stop cleaning up after ourselves because we were not giving them enough work to do in the suite.🙃

Thanks for the mention, peanut head, great to know someone has found our posts useful!

[terrydtx]

4 hours ago, Cajuntraveler said:

DH and I will be on Soltice next month.  This will be our first experience in a Sky Suite on X. (We usually cruise in SSon HAL-no butler) We always have coffee and a lite breakfast delivered to our cabin each morning. I tip the room service waiter $3-$5 every morning.  After searching through the CC threads, it appears that our butler will deliver our morning coffee and fruit plate.  Is it appropriate to tip him/her each morning or should we only tip at the end of the 7 day cruise?  

Your butler will deliver all room service orders except ones late at night. It is appropriate to tip at end of the cruise. Make sure to tell your butler to bring "ripe" fruit for your breakfast, a good one will hand pick the riper fruits from the RS kitchen. We have sailed when on HAL in Signature Suites and other than a similar size to a Sky Suite, nothing else is special compared to what you will get in the Retreat. Even in a Neptune or Pinnacle suites on HAL you get no butler, no 24/7 private lounge with full time bar tenders and except on the 3 new ships no private restaurant. Today we were pricing out similar 14 day South American itineraries on both HAL and Celebrity. A HAL Neptune suite is about $200pp less than a Sky Suite but the SS on Celebrity is such a better deal with all that is included over HAL. We are going to book with Celebrity.

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Our most recent Celebrity cruise was in a RS. We had the worst butler in all our cruising. She did not have a clue what her job was all about….

In fairness, I guess we have been spoiled on Regent Seven Seas. 
We learned a lesson….if you are not being served properly, tell the Retreat Manager right away

We are trying again in June. 
sheila

[Ashland]

We'll be in a Sky Suite in May on Eclipse and it's only our 2nd cruise with Celebrity. What should we expect as we're pretty low key cruisers and not very needy.