Haven Butler In Courtyard Suite vs. Non Courtyard

[cruisebeachgirl703]

For anyone who has stayed both in the haven courtyard and outside the haven courtyard did you find any difference in service level from the butler. Either positive or not. Do the courtyard suites potentially get the experienced butlers? Ship and specifics would be great!

[Two Wheels Only]

Butlers rotate their assigned area every couple of weeks. It's impossible to know if a butler will be great based on where the suite is located. 

 

It's likely that butlers are more attentive to the highest suites if the butlers believe that the tips from those suites will be higher. 

 

Also, butlers have more than one stateroom to cover. If your butler has to also service neighboring guests who are extremely demanding, your service can suffer. It's not really the location that is the problem although certain areas have more suites to cover than others so if you are in one of those areas, it may seem like the butler is less attentive. 

[Sailing12Away]

We've been in the courtyard on the Epic, Jade and Pearl. Then outside of the Haven on the Joy and Encore.

No difference in terms of the treatment we received from the butler. But our own personal preference is to not be too far from that courtyard area for non-butler related reasons. Aft rooms have a lovely view, but for us it's just too far of a walk to get to the proper Haven area so we find ourselves not using those amenities as much as we normally would if we were in a closer room.

 

The Joy seems to be one of our new favorite Haven ships as it has rooms outside of the courtyard area, but they're still mid-ship as opposed to all the way aft. So for us it was a quick elevator ride up and 2 flights of stairs back down, and the room was bigger and cheaper than in the courtyard proper.

[complawyer]

you should get the same service/treatment from your butler, regardless of being in a courtyard suite, or non- courtyard suite. even on ships with both haven and non haven suites (ie the ncl gem) the perks and the service are the same even if your cabin is just listed as a "suite". 

 

i have been advised, that the only real difference on ships that have both haven suites and suites, is the price and access to the courtyard area pool. the cabins are virtually identical and on our last cruise (gem in early november) i saved around $3000 just booking the 2 bedroom suite, as opposed to the haven 2 bedroom.  i dont need access to the pool for an extra 3 grand