Have you ever been butled?

[Jana]

Does anyone have butler experience to share with me? I'm one of Cruise Critic's writers. I'm doing an article on butler service... which ships have it, what level of accommodation you need in order to get it, what's good about it, whether or not it's worth it.

 

Has anyone had an extraordinary cruise because of a butler?

 

Please talk to me!

 

Jana

[idssms]

It's great to have a butler. We have had some great ones on our cruises with Celebrity and most were memorable. Once you have good Butler service its tough to live without one on a cruise.

 

They can do all sorts of neat things, go to the library and get and return books,,, get pizza at night for you,, take shoes and laundry,, bring all 3 meals a day,, unpack and pack clothes,, mine, not my wifes, make excursion plans for port adventures,,, plan and set up parties in the suite,, prepare invites from guess lists, bartend at private party,, bring birthday cakes in and sing Happy Birthday,,share great sea stories with you when you ask them about something special... They even Accept Tips!!!

 

Great bunch of Individuals..

 

More stories via email if you have any questions

 

 

Don

[soooo excited!]

Jana - when are you writing the article and where will I find it ? - love to read it when you are done. We are going on our first cruise next summer and we are going all out - have a suite (CS) and a Butler - and in my normal life - I've never had a Butler or anything close to it. At a friend's casual/backyard wedding a few weeks ago my husband had to stop me from pouring my own drink and made me let the caterers serve me - I'm hopeless !!! I'm a 'fend-for-yourself-girl' so it's going to be really strange !!! looking forward to reading your article.

[Jana]

Thanks to both of you!

 

I don't know when the editor will publish the article but I am turning it in on Monday. Of course I could write an informative journalistic one without asking for stories, but it wouldn't be as much fun!

 

So, Idssms, tell me what was best about it, what really made the difference for you?

 

Excited, I don't blame you. You have to wait a full year? Oh Lordy, I'd have had a stroke by now! Which ship? Which itinerary???

 

I'm so glad you've joined us here at Cruise Critic. I know you've gotten a whole bunch of info up to now, imagine how knowledgeable you'll be by next summer!

 

Jana

[Alaska Boo]

We had the finest butler on the seas when we were on the Summit in October 2005. His name was Peter. We had a royal suite, and to say that Peter treated us like royalty would be an understatment. I am a lawyer. I decided to take my secretary and paralegal on a "firm retreat" on the Summit. They had cruised before, but never on Celebrity (they were used to Carnival) and never in a suite. Well, the first moment they laid eyes on Peter, they decided to make him their very own plaything, and Peter (pronounced a la Bette Davis) was happy to comply. Peter did all the things the other butlers did, and more. To give you just one example, on the last night of our cruise, Peter obliged by taking a photo of the three of us in the whirlpool tub on our balcony - nekkid. (Us, not Peter, and don't worry, there were plenty of bubbles). The girls loved, loved, loved him, and so did I.

 

Peter, whereever you are, you have changed our lives forever. This year, instead of a Christmas bonus, the girls have convinced me to book a second firm retreat, in a second Royal Suite, aboard the Milleneum. We depart on Jan. 21. Whoever is butlling for Suite 6141, get your camera and your swim fins. We are ready to "dive in" to a wonderful time again, and we expect you to come along!

 

Vanessa

[Jana]

Vanessa, I love your story. Thank you, thank you.

 

(I also love Millennium - the Cruise Critic review is mine - and I hope you do too.)

 

Jana

[nu2sea]

Challs made a huge difference on our b2b this spring on the Constellation. On the TA we had a Celebrity Suite where we entertained friends for lunch with his assistance and on the Baltic leg we wound up (wonderful, to die for upgrade) in a Royal Suite on the Port side where we continued to entertain friends. Challs was switched to the port side as well, and made our trip the best cruise we have ever taken.

How? Not by doing any one thing, but by making us comfortable in accepting his assistance. Like most Americans, we were not used to being "butled," and our two earlier experiences with butlers didn't change that. Challs did because he was so professional and enjoyed his work so much that it rubbed off on us. We never felt that he was patronizing or tolerating us or fawning over us. He simply took care of us and seemed to be able to figure out what we would want before we knew we wanted it.

He clearly loved what he was doing and was super efficient at getting the job done with a great sense of humor. His contract ended four weeks after we got off, I hope X signed him up again after his trip home!

Susan

[mkbruce]

We had the finest butler on the seas when we were on the Summit in October 2005. His name was Peter. We had a royal suite, and to say that Peter treated us like royalty would be an understatment. I am a lawyer. I decided to take my secretary and paralegal on a "firm retreat" on the Summit. They had cruised before, but never on Celebrity (they were used to Carnival) and never in a suite. Well, the first moment they laid eyes on Peter, they decided to make him their very own plaything, and Peter (pronounced a la Bette Davis) was happy to comply. Peter did all the things the other butlers did, and more. To give you just one example, on the last night of our cruise, Peter obliged by taking a photo of the three of us in the whirlpool tub on our balcony - nekkid. (Us, not Peter, and don't worry, there were plenty of bubbles). The girls loved, loved, loved him, and so did I.

 

Peter, whereever you are, you have changed our lives forever. This year, instead of a Christmas bonus, the girls have convinced me to book a second firm retreat, in a second Royal Suite, aboard the Milleneum. We depart on Jan. 21. Whoever is butlling for Suite 6141, get your camera and your swim fins. We are ready to "dive in" to a wonderful time again, and we expect you to come along!

 

Vanessa

 

My wife and I also had the fortunate pleasure of having Peter as our butler on our honeymoon cruise on the Summit (San Diego to Ft. Lauderdale trans-canal) in a Celebrity Suite. He was everything you could hope for in a butler - professional, discrete, friendly and accomadating. To this day we still joke about calling Peter to bring us breakfast as we lay in bed on a Saturday morning. Being spoiled by this level of service for two weeks was wonderful. I hope to meet Peter again.

[soooo excited!]

Jana - maybe when your article is published you could post a little note here so we'll know to look for it - I'm assuming there will be a link on the home CC page to it ?

 

We are sailing Infinity next July to Alaska - less than a year away now !!!! and yes, the wait is killing me - me on a cruise !! and a Butler no less !!!

toooooo much !!!!

[Alaska Boo]

MKBruce:

 

I am gratified, but not surprised, to learn that other cruisers came to appreciate Peter's particular brand of service. We also call out his name regularly, hoping to see his smiling face, and twinkling eyes in our doorway, with a plate of caviar or that bottle of champagne he just happened to find for us.

 

Congratulations on your marriage.

 

Vanessa

[Alaska Boo]

I just read your Milleneum review, Jana. I must say it whetted my appetite for my upcoming cruise. Look forward to seeing your butler article.

 

Vanessa

[Blazerboy]

Butlers are very nice...Pras who used to be on the Constellation- maybe still, but not last cruise- was the butler, by coincidence for three different couples on our rollcall, and when we had a "wandering cocktail party/room tour," he was on triple duty between our sky suite, our one friends' royal suite and our other friends' Penthouse....being on the low end of the spectrum, we thought we might get short shrift, but not with Pras...lovely food brought, cabin set up for people to walk through...glasses and champagne...such fun. Clean up was timed around our naps/dressing for dinner/cocktails in the Martini Bar schedule...impeccable service. I must add though, that our steward on that cruise, Menino, worked with Pras as a team, and also made the experience wonderful! Menino was still on this Spring, and gave us a warm greeting. Since that cruise, we've mostly been in concierge cabins, and have found that, when we have a good steward, we get a very high level of service, too.

 

Andrew

[Keith1010]

Jana, butler service is offered on the Celebrity ships to passengers booked in suites.

 

The butler will take care of a variety of items for you. This includes unpacking and packing should you request this service, taking care of your breakfast orders for the room, restocking your referigerator, taking care of drycleaning/pressing, polishing your shoes, making reservations for you at the specialty restaurant, serving dinner in your room course by course, bringing afternoon tea along with snacks to the room, assisting with shore excursion reservations, and a mutlitude of other items. They are the point person for you should you have any issues ranging from problems with the room to even problems in the dining room. They know who to go to in order to get items requiring resolution taken care of for you.

 

Some cruise lines have butlers in name only who are so so. Over the years we have had some very good butlers on Celebirity and on our March cruise on the Summit we had the best butler we've ever had on any cruise line. His name is Rikki. He provided impeccable service. All we had to do is mention something and we never had to mention it again. He was very responsive to all of our requests and he went out of his way to make us feel very special. We had one of the Penthouse Suites and there were several evenings when we ate dinner in the suite which we normally don't do but he made the dinner so very enjoyable. He was so good we wish we could have taken him home with us.

 

Are butlers worth it? The answer is a personal choice and the factors include the quality of the butler, what services the butler is capable of providing and whether or not the passenger(s) utilize the butler. For example, I think it was in 1998 that we had a butler on a Princess Cruise. The butler was horrible. He did basically nothing and clearly was a butler in name only. It was only about a year after that in which Princess eliminated butlers from their ships. A good decision by Princess since the butlers basically did nothing other than stock the refrigerator.

 

Keith

[J&G]

So glad to read all the wonderful reports on here - we're going on our first "butlered" cruise on Sept 3rd's Infinity Alaska cruise (if it's not cancelled). Think it's going to take us a wee bit to get used to the idea of a butler (we're in a sky suite), but definitely looking forward to it.

Gail

[judyfssw]

My mom, sister and I had a Royal Suite last fall. Mom is a diabetic and is on Oxygen 24/7. George was our butler and he was just wonderful to all of us. My sister had an knee operation before we cruised and was hurting from that. George took care of mom and Dianne and helped us all out, immensely. He showed several tricks for bringing things home in bottles. He made sure that mom's insulin bag would be insulated all the way home. And, he would show up with bags of ice for Dianne's leg. I just loved it that he made sure that I had a cup of coffee in my hand first thing in the morning. He made our cruise a very special one for our mom.

[judyfssw]

Sorry, double post

[Jana]

Keith, thanks so much for your rundown. I pretty much knew most of what you explained, which is why I was looking for "stories." Do you have any for me? Anything memorable?

 

Blazer and Judy, thanks so much for sharing with me!

 

I received an e-mail from someone who had sailed on Norwegian Dawn in April, 2005. She was extolling the virtues of her fabulous-sounding female butler. Several paragraphs into the e-mail I came upon what has got to be the most understated sentence I have ever read: "We had a bit of a difficult morning after the Rogue Wave hit, and had to be moved to a different floor, but Corina found us..." A BIT OF A DIFFICULT MORNING??? They were in a front-facing suite when that 70-foot rogue wave hit Dawn off the Bahamas!

 

I realize that I am the queen of hyperbole, but had I experienced that, I assure you, I wouldn't describe it as "a bit of a difficult morning!" I just love that woman's spirit.

 

Vanessa, I just reread my Millennium review. It's been exactly six months since I wrote it; reading it again brought back the entire experience, and I admit, I am quite jealous of your upcoming cruise. Enjoy, and thanks again for your story.

 

Jana

[Jim_Iain]

Jana,

 

Celebrity offers butler service for the Sky Suites, Celebrity Suite, Royal Suite and of course the Penthouse Suite on all of the M-Class Suites.

 

We have always traveled in suites and the Butlers are one of the main reasons we always return to Celebrity. Our first experience with a butler was rather limited. We were not accustomed to having him available and were too shy to really allow him to show his best side.

 

I would guess the butlers service 10-15 suites , so he is not an exclusive butler at your beak and call. We enjoy eating a cooked breakfast in our suite every morning. We either let him know what we want for breakfast or fill out a door tag before retiring. He calls to let you know he is on the way if you choose to greet him. Some morning I ask him to just leave the meal on the dining room table.

 

On our last cruise in May on Infinity we had Manuel Morano. He proved to be the best butler we had ever had. He was a perfect gentleman's gentleman. He was both engaging in conversation and attentive to our every need. He would some morning kid me about slipping upstairs for a coffee before he brought breakfast.

 

He outdid himself one night when I asked him to assist in planning a get together with 25 cruise critic roll call members. My timing was not the best and he had to get the hotel manager to open the wine cellar to get the wines for the time that I wanted to entertain. He prepped the room with plenty of glasses, ice, ice buckets and complimentary trays of finger foods. He was there to assist and would flow in an out to make sure everything was attended to.

 

The best part was when I returned after dinner the furniture was all back and position and the room was back to normal with the table cloth laid and breakfast setting already prepared.

 

I'm rambling so will sign off.

 

Jim

[Jana]

Not rambling at all, Jim, thank you for your anecdote.

 

Jana

[kitty9]

On our last Summit cruise through the Panama Canal, we had the wonderful Rikki as our butler. My mom is in her late 70's and not in the best of health, and Rikki pampered her beyond belief. Breakfast was always brought at 7am, exactly as mom likes it. Her fresh fruit plate was always placed in the refrigerator by 11am. He remembered from our last cruise, which was a year earlier, what beverages we liked and he remembered that we all liked the Napoleon's for afternoon tea. But one day, we received an invitation to join the Captain's table for dinner. Rikki came to us and said he was assigned to escort mom from the suite down to the Martini Bar, where everyone was meeting before dinner, and then he was to escort her down to the table. Rikki was so proud walking mom into the dining room on his arm, wearing his white tie and tails. All the waiters in the dining room were shaking his hand as he walked to the back of the restaurant to the table. He's is by far the best butler we've ever experienced, and we've had quite a number of butlers over the years.

[drfun48]

That's a pretty personal question.

[DancerOT]

In 2001, we were on Century with my grandparents. When I say we, I mean 11 of us (my grandparents took us all on the cruise). My dad had convinced his mother to book themselves in a minisuite (back when they had them). It was the best thing for them. The butler (whose name I cant remember to save my life) was fantastic. Both of my grandparents were physicall impaired and he asissted them to no end. Nothing was too big. He unpacked for them, laid out their evening clothing every morning with them and had it ironed come evening, and did all of the typical "butler things". But what made him truly extraorinary was how he told all of the males to bring their shoes to polish them, brought enough canapes for our entire family, and ironed everyone's clothing. Even though at least one grandchild came to their cabin to escort them to dinner every evening, he always assited my grandmother in getting into the wheelchair and wheeled her down to the elevator. It was truly amazing how he treated not only my grandparents but all of us as if we were staying in the suite. Truly above and beyond the call of service!

[Jana]

Dancer and Kitty, thank you very much.

 

Drfun, we'll discuss it later, privately ;)

 

Jana

[uktog]

On all but one of our trips we have been buttled and it is infectious; the next three will also involve buttling. Why - I suppose because having worked so hard it is magic to have that "invisible fairy godmother" who quickly tunes in to our needs, likes and dislikes and then makes our holiday compoletely hassle free. Only one of the butlers has been "average" and that is perhaps because on the cruise before we had had the wonderful Rikki mentioned above. Rikki seems perfect with all ages - on that trip we hd our 17 year old son who was supposed to be revising for exams in the suite for an hour a day. Beleive it or not he did and Rikki set up "rewards" for him and also quiet feedback to us as he knew I was worried about the boys exams (al with out even being asked) Suffice to say, boy passed.

LAst cruise the butler Wilfred made his own brand of fruit salad for us every morning; it was so good my normal end of cruise treat trip to the waffle bar was cancelled for that sailing!

I suppose a good butler just makes things tick without you realising it is happening

[Jana]

That last sentence is a perfect description.

 

Funny how the same butlers get mentioned again and again...

 

Thanks for participating!

 

Jana