What are your Yacht Club Butler requests?

[GPPhilly]

32 minutes ago, no1talks said:

 

Is that the cart-served loose tea? Not bagged tea dust?

 

If so, I have another reason to eagerly anticipate the time we shall branch out to European port YC cruises.

It was the loose tea in the cans

[reedprincess]

On 5/7/2024 at 4:51 AM, Beamafar said:

As an FYI - you must be in the cabin if you require a butler to unpack/pack for you. 
 

YC butlers also offer a shoe-shine service. 

That has not been our experience, on any of our YC cruises. 

We've specifically asked if we needed to stick around and have been shooed out, told nope not a problem, etc.   

We've always taken off and come back to a well organized fully unpacked cabin..it's delightful.  

We do not have valuables in our luggage - those are in the safe immediately upon arrival to the room .  

 

[morpheusofthesea]

24 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

That has not been our experience, on any of our YC cruises. 

We've specifically asked if we needed to stick around and have been shooed out, told nope not a problem, etc.   

We've always taken off and come back to a well organized fully unpacked cabin..it's delightful.  

We do not have valuables in our luggage - those are in the safe immediately upon arrival to the room .  

 

Seems most logical since both butler and junior /steward have access to our cabins when we are out and about anyway.

[CarolnLarry]

As I have stated before I have them do everything that is not illegal or immoral.  If you need more of a response then go to the first sentence. 

[SailorfromBrazil]

On 5/9/2024 at 12:24 PM, no1talks said:

 

Is that the cart-served loose tea? Not bagged tea dust?

 

If so, I have another reason to eagerly anticipate the time we shall branch out to European port YC cruises.

 

I didn't get in time to any of these tea service, that's one thing I regret not getting.

I've seen some videos and they seems to be very nice!

[vaindioux]

We asked for a second chair.

 

Ice, 2 extra tags for our luggage upon departure as we had 4 suitcases.

 

A phone call here and there about “Where is this on the ship?”, “How do we go about doing this in YC?”

 

We are not high maintenance and they take care of everything you might need without asking.

 

 

 

[SailorfromBrazil]

Take a look at this present I got from our butler in my birthday 🎈 

 

A nicely decorated cabin, wine bottle, some chocolate and a hand written note.

 

That was an amazing surprise!

Edited May 12 by SailorfromBrazil

[vaindioux]

On 5/7/2024 at 4:36 AM, Fogfog said:

 

Smart Wrist bands show status both YC and our voyager status so we never have issues around the ships.
 

 

May i ask what you mean with the above?

 

Do you mean, you show the wrist band outside YC and are treated as such outside?

 

We didn’t flash it but realized other crew members outside YC spot it and you get more attention.

 

I wonder if they are told to do so.???

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, vaindioux said:

We didn’t flash it but realized other crew members outside YC spot it and you get more attention.

 

I wonder if they are told to do so.???

This occurs on Celebrity Cruises. After restart we were on the second sailing of the Edge and while exploring the ship the first day a staff member comes out of a specialty dining are and greets us by name. We asked Guests Relations Officer Rodrigo who we knew from the Equinox how an unknown staff member was able to address us by name never having made his acquaintance. "Easy" was his reply "We have your pictures up in our guest relations office." (They have all the upper suite guests pictures up in their office and the staff are encourage to make such personal greetings by surname). 

  We would always consider another cruise on E-class Celebrity ship, but right now MSC Yacht Clubs are 1/2 the price on their top top suites (RS & OS) and YC has a reserved pergola on the dedicated sun deck (Celebrity has more chairhogs FCFS). YC has reserved theatre seating every night, Celebrity only Gala night. YC restaurant is open port days, not Celebrity Luminae. YC has elevator overrides (when it is working) for guests, nothing like this on Celebrity. These features alone make our choice of MSC easier. So whenever we "get the urge (to book another cruise line, I whip out this preference list), I lie down a while and just let the feeling pass." to paraphrase Churchill

[cruisebeachgirl703]

3 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

This occurs on Celebrity Cruises. After restart we were on the second sailing of the Edge and while exploring the ship the first day a staff member comes out of a specialty dining are and greets us by name. We asked Guests Relations Officer Rodrigo who we knew from the Equinox how an unknown staff member was able to address us by name never having made his acquaintance. "Easy" was his reply "We have your pictures up in our guest relations office." (They have all the upper suite guests pictures up in their office and the staff are encourage to make such personal greetings by surname). 

  We would always consider another cruise on E-class Celebrity ship, but right now MSC Yacht Clubs are 1/2 the price on their top top suites (RS & OS) and YC has a reserved pergola on the dedicated sun deck (Celebrity has more chairhogs FCFS). YC has reserved theatre seating every night, Celebrity only Gala night. YC restaurant is open port days, not Celebrity Luminae. YC has elevator overrides (when it is working) for guests, nothing like this on Celebrity. These features alone make our choice of MSC easier. So whenever we "get the urge (to book another cruise line, I whip out this preference list), I lie down a while and just let the feeling pass." to paraphrase Churchill

We sailed the 2nd and 3rd sailing of the restart in a Celebrity Suite. Loved it. What suite were you? Luminae was great too.

[morpheusofthesea]

3 minutes ago, cruisebeachgirl703 said:

We sailed the 2nd and 3rd sailing of the restart in a Celebrity Suite. Loved it. What suite were you? Luminae was great too.

Consulted my cruise diary for July 3, 2021 Celebrity Edge. Everyone was watching to see if the first sailing of the Celebrity Edge would be successful. Thankfully it was and we jumped onto the Celebrity booking site to find the entire Retreat was booked solid for the next sailing. I was persistent, and 48 hours before the second sailing a Mrs. Hoover cancelled a Celebrity Suite #11111 ( We know the name of the previous holder of this cabin because our butler Rhonda kept calling us Mr. & Mrs. Hoover). I recall booking all the perks. When we got on our key cards reflected NO perks. Went right to the Retreat Lounge and there was a line 6 deep with 3 concierges on duty. Finally, the concierges could do nothing for me except charge my account for wifi, drinks package, no OBC etc... Since it was the weekend my travel agent was closed, but I left a message. This is when I discovered the added benefit of a butler. Since the concierges in the Retreat could not help, I told my DW I was going to Guest Services...That is when Butler Rhonda stopped by and inquired if we needed anything. I told her that the concierges were not able to straighten out my account and I was heading down to GS. She suggested I allow her to escort me around the long lines to her friend the purser.. She did and he called shore side and reinstated all our perks OBC and new cards reflecting such and a new zero balance account statement.

  Also in my notes, Rhonda brought me a Retreat Lounger to put on the balcony. At the time there was limited shade available on the Retreat sun deck and all the prime spots were chairhogged and the attendants would do nothing about it. The cabin thermostat could not be lowered. Luminae menu was limited and no one could order from the MDR menu like on Equinox as the kitchens were too far away on E class. 

[cruisebeachgirl703]

I think the 3 concierges, Joao, Hassan? and Amber started off a little overwhelmed. Over the course of the 2 weeks things improved and we had good luck with them. We thought the Retreat Lounge was very nice. Good place to stay cool while enjoying suite amenities.

[morpheusofthesea]

25 minutes ago, cruisebeachgirl703 said:

I think the 3 concierges, Joao, Hassan? and Amber started off a little overwhelmed. Over the course of the 2 weeks things improved and we had good luck with them. We thought the Retreat Lounge was very nice. Good place to stay cool while enjoying suite amenities.

Yes it was Amber who waited on us. I remember because my DW embarrassed me by calling me a 'cheapskate' in front of her because she thought I just booked 'cruise only". (Now many of you know who wears the pants in our relationship).

[KittyCruz]

On 5/6/2024 at 6:07 PM, valandemmy said:

I know in the Haven, the butler will bring breakfast, lunch and dinner and do an in room set up, would bring things for a bath./run the bath before we got back from a show, ect....   What are the things you ask for?

We had them remove offensive items from the fridge and keep it stocked with our non offensive preferences, pizza delivery and of course being escorted to gen pop for everything but the thermal spa, that we just went on our own.

I provided our butler with a list of what we wanted (per @morpheusofthesea) suggestion and it seemed to do the trick.

 

[mnocket]

20 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Since it was the weekend my travel agent was closed, but I left a message.

This is the reason I am hesitant to use a TA for airline reservations.  I'm not willing to give up control to a TA who may not be reachable when I need them most. 

[ajoneen]

Can I request a repack of the luggage? 

[Two Wheels Only]

23 minutes ago, ajoneen said:

Can I request a repack of the luggage? 

 

Yes. 

 

[luckyinpa]

we didnt make a standing request on mera 2 weeks ago. but when asked if we needed anything would try to remember what we needed. the only thing i really missed was towel animals but my guy was on his last week of work and didnt do any but i guess we should have asked.

 

i think we got 3 candy boxes on the 6 day cruise. since there was a newspaper menu and it was my 1st MSC cruise i decided to get one. didnt see it till day 3 but he did surprise me with it on deck outside. the only issue was the inconsistency. since we didnt ask for treats i expected none but then when we got them i expected them everyday. ditto with newspaper which i only got 3 of. no biggie about that. i did it for the novelty anyway. but did enjoy reading it since i never read one anymore. also took days to bring our bottle of booze to the room but thankfully it was just to bring home anyway.

 

when you saw them the butlers were very helpful. one who wasnt ours overheard us talking about  a problem and put our snacks and drinks on a tray and carried them to the room for us. amazing service. the suite deck was very monitored and always great service.

 

the best thing was the bfast and lunch buffet. great food and great service bringing the cooked food out to us. we skipped the restaurant for lunch most days. also NO reservations unlike coastal kitchen was sooo nice. as was totally free drinks in the fridge/room etc. you dont realize how not fun showing a card in Haven is until you dont have to show it.

 

i did not like being in a 'normal' balcony size room but figured just try it out for my 1st trip on msc. the orientation of the closet and bathroom door is very awkward. but for over 1K less than my crown loft suite and getting drinks/butler and great suite deck it's well worth the trade off. we may go back to bermuda this fall even! even if you had a genie on an oasis ship they cant give you the private suite deck and no reservation YC restaurant nor the free drinks in the cabin. this are a huge value to us.

[mica178]

Last year, on Seaside, my husband and son waited until the last day at sea to try to do the zipline. They ended up not being able to do it because the line was so long, and the attendant said he wouldn't be able to accommodate everyone before closing time. When they returned to the YC, our butler scolded my husband for waiting in that line (as opposed to going to the front and showing his YC band) and/or having the YC staff arrange everything in advance.

 

Prior to our (first) MSC cruise last summer, we thought we were low-key travelers and did not anticipate needing the butlers for much of anything. However, we came to realize that we probably miss out on experiences because we aren't utilizing our resources. So now our plan is to discuss our plans with our butler to maximize the likelihood of accomplishing everything.

 

We had such a lovely experience on MSC last summer that when it came to planning this summer, everyone wanted to go on another MSC (YC) cruise.

 

 

[morpheusofthesea]

25 minutes ago, mica178 said:

our butler scolded my husband for waiting in that line (as opposed to going to the front and showing his YC band) and/or having the YC staff arrange everything in advance.

Just like those of us that pay more at Disney World. It is better to have your butler do the butting.

P.S. Your post is the best post I have ever read on Cruise critic extolling the reason to use ones butler.

Edited May 15 by morpheusofthesea

[SailorfromBrazil]

We've required so little from our butler, that she even went to the restaurant to present herself on breakfast of day 2.

Our requests were mainly escort out of the ship on port calls, some bags of tea, and our choice of a spirit.

And we've received way more than asked! She would note that i drank a lot of sparkling water and the next day the minibar had extra bottles, our pajamas were nicely folded over the bed each night, with some chocolate, fruits or macarrones, and the my best gift was a decorated cabin including the animal towel and a personal hand written note celebrating my Birthday!

 

Like @mica178 said, I've also missed the opportunity to enjoy more of this perk, for one, I've missed the afternoon tea on the Lounge, If I've told her i bet she would alert me of the times of the Tea.

 

This thread is a precious gem of information! 

Edited May 15 by SailorfromBrazil
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[mcoler181]

We will be in YC for the first time in about 6 weeks, I was going to say I don't know how I would feel about pushing queues etc with the butler but then as Morpheus says its just like paying for fast pass in a theme park I guess, you have paid for an available service. 

[rose102798]

"Please let me carry my own drink back to my cabin" 😂 Kidding . . . not kidding!

[Two Wheels Only]

9 hours ago, mcoler181 said:

We will be in YC for the first time in about 6 weeks, I was going to say I don't know how I would feel about pushing queues etc with the butler but then as Morpheus says its just like paying for fast pass in a theme park I guess, you have paid for an available service. 

 

You'll get used to walking past lines. 

You'll also get used to ignoring any dirty looks that you may get. 

Your escort past those who have been waiting longer than you should begin before you first board the ship on embarkation day. 

[morpheusofthesea]

Been looking over past posts and came across this pre covid use of my YC butler. If and when they ever start up the CC Meet & Greets again. One must get an invitation to get into the closed door event. We did not get our invitation and did not know where or when. (The cake was the best of the cruise). I mentioned this on the first day of the cruise to our personal butler and he said he would find out, escort us and get us in without an invitation. He did. We were stopped at the door for our invitation and our butler assured the receptionist that it was just a technicality that we were over-looked and that we belonged with the group, and she added our name and cabin number to her list. Still have the group picture hanging in my office.

Edited May 16 by morpheusofthesea