Butler service to go?

[Cynthia Darch]

Had an email from P&O yesterday asking about the Butler Service experience we received onboard which was then followed at the end by a very BIG suggestions about a concierge service being introduced which would provide excellent service for suite passengers. It seems to me that this is the way they are going forward, such a shame as the service has gone downhill over the years, mainly I believe due to reduced numbers of Butlers to look after the available suites. I recall Arcadia had 7 Butlers, now that is only 2, well it was last time I sailed on her last year.

[david63]

I suspect that it is only a matter of time before they go. Actually I am surprised that they came back after Covid.

[molecrochip]

Suite concierge services are really popular across RCI group, Disney and MSC.

 

Also a lot of guests aren’t concerned with packing/unpacking.

 

Therefore, a concierge service is a good alternative as it provides all the rest of the service.

Edited April 7, 2023 by molecrochip

[smokey01]

38 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Suite concierge services are really popular across RCI group, Disney and MSC.

 

Also a lot of guests aren’t concerned with packing/unpacking.

 

Therefore, a concierge service is a good alternative as it provides all the rest of the service.

And Princess. We had our first suite experience last year on Princess and the concierge was brilliant. We do have suites booked for P&O next year and a butler to pack/unpack is definitely not required. We would perhaps appreciate the MDR dining experience we had on Princess though I.e. separate area of the restaurant, turn up anytime and a table would be ready in minutes.

[Wonky]

18 minutes ago, smokey01 said:

And Princess. We had our first suite experience last year on Princess and the concierge was brilliant. We do have suites booked for P&O next year and a butler to pack/unpack is definitely not required. We would perhaps appreciate the MDR dining experience we had on Princess though I.e. separate area of the restaurant, turn up anytime and a table would be ready in minutes.

Yes, definitely agree with this, separate “freedom” dining in the MDR for suite guests is a great idea.

[Harry Peterson]

Wouldn’t bother us at all. We book suites for just three main reasons: space, location and access to the Epicurean for breakfast. Spin off benefits like free room service meals or snacks are a bonus, along with priority embarkation and disembarkation, but we make very little use of the butler.  He does of course bring the canapés, but they’re pretty awful and I see even that’s gone now, apart from certain nights.

 

I agree that they’re likely to go, along with all the other little touches that made P&O stand out a few years ago. A great shame for the butlers, nice people who usually enjoyed their jobs, but of no great consequence for us.  Others however made have made greater use of them.

[Camberley]

I’m not that fussed about them ditching the butlers: we’ve never found it that impressive a perk to be honest: one of those things that looks great on paper and in their advertising etc….., but it is usually pretty pointless for us, despite our butlers always being very personable etc, we rarely had much need. Back on Iona tomorrow and if those embarrassing excuses for canapés have been discarded then I for one will be delighted, 
 

But if P&O are jiggling things around, they could take the opportunity to look at what they can do to make suites more attractive for the money (beyond the great space - esp. those wonderful aft wrap-around balconies. And the Epicurean breakfasts are for us a key highlight for so many reasons). I think dining perks such as have been suggested is a great idea but I am sure if P&O also dug deep they could add a few little touches. But the space itself is glorious.
 

But it will be interesting to see what, if anything, develops.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Camberley

[majortom10]

On Cunard they have Butlers for all Queens Grill suites and also a concierge service for both Queens and Princess Grill. Perhaps this is the way forward P&O are thinking.

[jeanlyon]

What the hell does a concierge do.  I don't even understand the term in relation to a ship?  If you look it up it says Guest Relations Manager?

Edited April 8, 2023 by jeanlyon

[Bill Y]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

What the hell does a concierge do.  I don't even understand the term in relation to a ship?  If you look it up it says Guest Relations Manager?

Maybe P&O think that one is essential.  A good West End hotel one can secure tickets for a sold out show, and obtain a booking in a popular restaurant. then only the little people will need to use the app.

Edited April 8, 2023 by Bill Y

[davecttr]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

What the hell does a concierge do.  I don't even understand the term in relation to a ship?  If you look it up it says Guest Relations Manager?

Or a caretaker, especially in France. In a hotel one who books meals etc etc

[Selbourne]

Butlers were always way down at the bottom of the reasons that we booked suites. First reason was the extra space and location (e.g. aft corner wrap balconies) and the second reason was being able to have breakfast in Epicurean. Priority boarding was also great, as this was in the days before we qualified as a matter of course due to loyalty status. 
 

We must have been very unlucky with the Butlers we’ve had. Only 2 out of 6 were good. 3 did the bare minimum, turning up ‘faffing about’ trying to look useful (always with an eye on an end of cruise tip), when the real work was always done by the excellent cabin stewards. One was so bad we asked for him to be changed, as he did nothing but complain about how overworked he was and anything we asked about was batted straight back to us. Frankly, we would have opted out of having them, but the two good ones enhanced the cruise with things like in cabin (or balcony) dining and telling our (then) teenage daughters in the adjacent balcony cabin to make any room service requests through them to avoid charges. As for the daily ‘canapés’ the less said the better 😂 

 

We don’t book suites any more, primarily because we have re-evaluated what we are prepared to pay for the ‘new’ P&O and we don’t believe that the product is worth over £500 a night any more. We get priority boarding now anyway and our last Epicurean breakfast experience was spoiled by a very noisy family and a screaming baby (different family) each morning. We ended up going to the MDR! The one advantage of needing an accessible cabin these days is that the cabins and balconies are 50% bigger than standard balcony cabins, so even the space benefit of a suite is no longer such a big factor. 
 

Am I correct in thinking that a concierge service would effectively replace the Butlers with a dedicated phone line which you could use for making bookings, requesting room service etc? If so, that would have been OK for us when we were suite passengers, as long as you can still have in-suite (or balcony) dining. 

[Dermotsgirl]

I never even considered having a suite, as I didn't like the idea of having a butler.  I always imagined that he'd keep turning up and I'd have to keep finding things for him to do.  It actually sounded a bit stressful, especially as I would never want to have parties in my cabin or anything like that.

 

A Concierge service, with someone on the end of a phone when I wanted them would be much better 

[jeanlyon]

Exactly what I think.  What would I do with him?

[heatherb1958]

We had our first ever experience in January this year of a butler with MSC in their Yacht club . One of the things advertised was unpacking of luggage which I would absolutely never have someone do , don't want a stranger seeing my not so smalls !! 😂😂😂.  He seemed to always be at our cabin door whenever we left and found us in the dedicated bar lounge  to escort us to reservations we had on the ship. Can live without the butler but the Concierge desk was a godsend for sorting any issues,  never ever had to go to guest services once as the Concierge sorted anything and everything. 

 

[zap99]

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Exactly what I think.  What would I do with him?

I don't trust them, although TBH, the butler seldom did it.

[RJChatsworth]

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Exactly what I think.  What would I do with him?

On Cunard I have found the concierge service for Queens and Princess Grill passengers to be excellent.  On two of the ships they sit at a desk in the Grills Lounge on another in a large room that provides tea/coffee and snacks for free and afternoon teas plus a load of magazines and other reading material.  They save going to the lobby reception and queuing for service.  They can sort out most problems except for dispensing cash.  They book and cancel bookings in speciality restaurants, help with shore excursions, get problems in cabins like toilets sorted without waiting to see the cabin staff or leaving them messages.  Similarly if your key card stops working.  They have quick access to all services on the ship, provide help with internet problems and have printing/ photocopying facilities, keep ship newspapers for immediate provision plus Sudoku and crossword sheets.  They have port maps that are better than those in the daily programme.  They are useful for any queries including sorting out onward travel arrangements involving Cunard. You don’t have to think about who you should talk to to get matters resolved or questions answered.

 

Whether those on P&O would be near as good I don’t know!

[Interestedcruisefan]

We had a butler service available once for two nights when we stayed at a hotel in Puerto Rico prior to a cruise from San Juan

 

Never used him once. Couldn't think of anything to ask him to do. And I figured out anything we did ask him to do we would be expected to give him a big tip for once he had done it regardless. So we would rather not use him.

 

I had already tipped him 20 dollars (or equivalent) for taking our bags to the room and showing us around the room. 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Snibs]

Had a suite for the first time in Feb on Azura. The only thing we asked of the butler was to book a few restaurants at the start of the week so a concierge would have suited us.After that he would come to the cabin early evening to check on us but we had no requests. He was covering our cabin due to a colleague being ill so am sure was being kept busy having additional suites to attend to.  

As others have said we booked the suite for the larger room and balcony (family of four), Enjoyed the perk of breakfast at the Epicurean but other things like the canapés  and CD player are a rather dated concept and not touched.

[BillieJeanKaraokeKing]

I can't ever see myself wanting to have/use a butler, as I don't think they'd provide anything that I wouldn't want to be doing myself, plus I think I'd probably feel uncomfortable with even just their presence.  Although it does seem they are more popular than I'd imagine they would be. 

[Selbourne]

14 minutes ago, BillieJeanKaraokeKing said:

I can't ever see myself wanting to have/use a butler, as I don't think they'd provide anything that I wouldn't want to be doing myself, plus I think I'd probably feel uncomfortable with even just their presence.  Although it does seem they are more popular than I'd imagine they would be. 

We had a private dinner with our daughters on the balcony of our corner wrap suite, whilst cruising down one of the most beautiful fjords in the world on a warm summer evening. Spectacular scenery and near silence. We could have thought that we had the ship to ourselves. Magical. We couldn’t have done that ourselves.

[BillieJeanKaraokeKing]

6 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

We had a private dinner with our daughters on the balcony of our corner wrap suite, whilst cruising down one of the most beautiful fjords in the world on a warm summer evening. Spectacular scenery and near silence. We could have thought that we had the ship to ourselves. Magical. We couldn’t have done that ourselves.

No, that's great, and lovely experience for you, was just saying how I'd probably feel. Although you may (or may not) be different class to me 😁, I'm just northern (Lancashire). 🤣

[Selbourne]

3 minutes ago, BillieJeanKaraokeKing said:

No, that's great, and lovely experience for you, was just saying how I'd probably feel. Although you may (or may not) be different class to me 😁, I'm just northern (Lancashire). 🤣

As I mentioned in a previous post, in-suite dining was the only area where we felt Butlers added value. In all other respects they were superfluous. That being said, we no longer book P&O suites as we don’t feel that they offer good value for money any more. We are happy to cruise in balcony cabins with P&O (around half the price of suites) but if spending the equivalent of P&O suite prices we would prefer to book with Cunard or Saga. It’s not a class thing, although we do have a butler at home - me 😂 

[annieuk]

Butlers are still very much in evidence on Aurora.  I've just come back from a mini suite on Aurora and although we didn't have a butler, suites only, we saw them on our corridor.  I've had a butler several times on various ships, Azura, the Ventura and Oceana, also the old Artemis and Adonia.  We always found them incredibly helpful and not once were they intrusive.  When we started cruising there wasn't a special area for breakfast for suite customers as there is now.  We found the butlers a fount of information and could do all sorts of things.  We sometimes has a lunch on our balcony, particularly in the Caribbean and it was great to be able to choose both from Room Service (which as a Suite passenger there's no cost) and the main restaurant menu.  If a Suite passenger declines the use of a butler then they can't access this service.  If a Suite passenger orders from Room Service themselves they still pay.  There's only no charge when the butler orders things.  I've never experienced a Concierge Service I can't compare but my husband and I always enjoyed the experience of being in a suite, particularly on both Oceana and Adonia, both sadly now gone.  The size of the aft suites on Oceana would almost take two of the Azura/Ventura suites.  

[molecrochip]

The Butlers aren’t gone yet.

 

However, a lot of the long term butlers found good jobs back home during Covid and never came back. So a lot are new and don’t have that font of knowledge that you may have experienced before.

 

The more experienced butler may have also had contacts on ship, or knew little rules they could bend to get a suite passenger into a fully booked suite, or something they wanted. The newly trained butlers will be following their training.