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Butlers

cruise*enthusiast

By cruise*enthusiast,
in Holland America Line

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sciencewonk

sciencewonk

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Neptune Suites come with access to the Neptune Lounge Concierge.  I've always found him/her to be extremely helpful for any and all problems and needs.  If you ask, the concierge will give you her card with her mobile number.  I'm not fully sure what the difference would be between a butler and the concierge.

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Gunther1

Gunther1

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Posted
42 minutes ago, sciencewonk said:

Neptune Suites come with access to the Neptune Lounge Concierge.  I've always found him/her to be extremely helpful for any and all problems and needs.  If you ask, the concierge will give you her card with her mobile number.  I'm not fully sure what the difference would be between a butler and the concierge.

IMHO, it’s kinda like Corvette drivers 😏.

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cbr663 Great Review Rare

cbr663

Posted
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1 hour ago, sciencewonk said:

Neptune Suites come with access to the Neptune Lounge Concierge.  I've always found him/her to be extremely helpful for any and all problems and needs.  If you ask, the concierge will give you her card with her mobile number.  I'm not fully sure what the difference would be between a butler and the concierge.

 

A butler will provide much more hands on, personal and proactive service versus the NL Concierge which I have found to provide more reactive than proactive service.

 

Butlers will unpack your suit case and put away your clothes.  They will instinctually  know which clothes need pressing and take care of it.  So, for instance, on HAL you will need to stuff the bag and complete the laundry form whereas your Butler will take care of that for you.  Your butler will ask you if you'd like to have your shoes shined whereas with HAL you have to request to have it done.  They will serve you meals in your cabin rather than having room service simply bring it in, drop it and run.  A butler will run a bath and prepare your cabin for a surprise celebration.  They will discuss your personal wants and needs and make sure that you are fully aware of all the amenities that are available to you and what your choices are regarding these amenities.

 

Butlers will also do many of the same things as HAL's conceriege, such as book reservations and excursions and take care of logistics, but a Butler does it more one on one with the butler coming to you versus your going to the concierge in the lounge.

 

These are just a few examples of the differences. 

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REOVA

REOVA

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Posted
51 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

The only butler service I am aware of is on Silversea.

MSC Yacht Club has the best value for butler service (and suite amenities). The HAL ships are not as large as some of the other lines with Butlers (MSC, NCL, Celebrity) which is the best part of HAL but you won't find that same service on HAL. The concierge in Neptune are very helpful but again not the same experience of other suite experience. 

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Bill B

Bill B

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47 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

Silversea Muse - 14 day Alaska - Vancouver RT - $10,400* -balcony

HAL Noodrem - 14 day Alaska -Vancouver RT - $2,500 - balcony

 

*Helps pay for the butler. As well as more upscale food, programs and decor.  

 

Yes, but if you get a 0-25% single supplement and add all the 'extras' that are included in a Silversea cruise to a basic HAL booking, the price difference is minimal or nonexistent.

 

P.S. I had a butler on the Silver Cloud and came to the conclusion they are room stewards with a fancy title (but I'm 'low maintenance').

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canadianbear

canadianbear

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4 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

Her Majesty wants to know if they still assign you a Lady's Maid?  She needs help unpacking and getting dressed for dressy night. 

 

(this post is not serious)

Don’t laugh-we did our first (and only) cruise in a suite on Celebrity a few years back and it came with a butler.  We told him we did not want him (in a nice way).  He would have unpacked our suitcases etc.  He ended up being great & left us alone other than always greeting us when we came back on the ship (I swear he had a camera somewhere!) asking if we needed anything.  It was actually funny but no thank you.   He did explain all that came with being in a suite which is a lot more than HAL offers on the Neptune suites.  

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cruise*enthusiast

cruise*enthusiast

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3 hours ago, cbr663 said:

 

A butler will provide much more hands on, personal and proactive service versus the NL Concierge which I have found to provide more reactive than proactive service.

 

Butlers will unpack your suit case and put away your clothes.  They will instinctually  know which clothes need pressing and take care of it.  So, for instance, on HAL you will need to stuff the bag and complete the laundry form whereas your Butler will take care of that for you.  Your butler will ask you if you'd like to have your shoes shined whereas with HAL you have to request to have it done.  They will serve you meals in your cabin rather than having room service simply bring it in, drop it and run.  A butler will run a bath and prepare your cabin for a surprise celebration.  They will discuss your personal wants and needs and make sure that you are fully aware of all the amenities that are available to you and what your choices are regarding these amenities.

 

Butlers will also do many of the same things as HAL's conceriege, such as book reservations and excursions and take care of logistics, but a Butler does it more one on one with the butler coming to you versus your going to the concierge in the lounge.

 

These are just a few examples of the differences. 

What ship has those butlers?

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

Posted
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13 hours ago, cbr663 said:

 

A butler will provide much more hands on, personal and proactive service versus the NL Concierge which I have found to provide more reactive than proactive service.

 

Butlers will unpack your suit case and put away your clothes.  They will instinctually  know which clothes need pressing and take care of it.  So, for instance, on HAL you will need to stuff the bag and complete the laundry form whereas your Butler will take care of that for you.  Your butler will ask you if you'd like to have your shoes shined whereas with HAL you have to request to have it done.  They will serve you meals in your cabin rather than having room service simply bring it in, drop it and run.  A butler will run a bath and prepare your cabin for a surprise celebration.  They will discuss your personal wants and needs and make sure that you are fully aware of all the amenities that are available to you and what your choices are regarding these amenities.

 

Butlers will also do many of the same things as HAL's conceriege, such as book reservations and excursions and take care of logistics, but a Butler does it more one on one with the butler coming to you versus your going to the concierge in the lounge.

 

These are just a few examples of the differences. 

 

I had a butler on our Oceania cruise and to say I was unimpressed is an understatement.

 

There was no offer to unpack our clothes (who needs that though?) let alone “instinctively know what needs pressing”.  The room steward for our Neptune Suite was far better at that - offering to have my DD DH’s suits pressed for each Gala night.

 

No offer to shine shoes and I don’t see a big deal to put them in the wicker basket and on the bed.  

 

He did serve meals but basically brought in the tray and put it on the table just like room service would.

 

Obviously we didn’t have a good one or we were not worthy of his services.  In any case, if I were to choose between a butler or a good room steward & concierge - I would opt for the latter.  YMMV of course.

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ExArkie

ExArkie

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There is a Cruise Critic article on which ships have butlers (short version: lots of them).

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/which-cruise-ships-have-butlers

 

They seem to have omitted Seabourn from their list. Maybe some others, too, but that was the one that I noticed immediately because we have been on Seabourn.

 

I have never found butlers to be a selling point. Very little of what they do are things that I cannot do easily myself or ask the concierge/customer service to do. This year, we were in a suite on NCL and the butler mostly seemed to want to ingratiate himself to us (being overly friendly, for one thing) in order to garner a larger tip.

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Taters

Taters

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No one needs to unpack and put my underwear away for me.  No one!  I don't even let my husband unpack for me because when he was sweet enough to do it for me that one time I couldn't find anything.  Thanks, but no thanks!🤣

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