How much to tip butler/concierge?

[petesweet]

Have you ever noticed that when a poster says he/she doesn't mean to be rude or disrespectful, the statement that follows is usually rude and disrespectful? 'Nuf said.:p

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic, OP. Most of us will be kind to you.

 

I see that coilover has apologized, and that was a nice thing to do.:) What we say does not ALWAYS comes across as what we mean.

[ketzelacruising]

Here is what we did.

 

Since we always had breakfast in the room we tipped the buttler in the AM for the most part. It wasn't for breakfast, it was based on how trashed the suite was after all the party people left :D. Seriouisly, on a 7 day cruise we extensively used the butler 4 times for parties or in room dining outside of lunch.

 

I had a charming 2 hour lunch with lovely ladies one afternoon - before you go there one was in her 70s and the other in her 90s. And the butler treated them like Royalty. He was tipped approrpriately the next morning.

 

The party things were some what similiar. He would make sure we had ice/mixers/glasses. Next morning (after the coffee and breakfast we needed) we would do the tip.

 

Final morning was final tip for the Butler. We chatted for almost 1/2 hour. If you ever get Denny on NCL he's a great guy and did a great job.

 

I'm sure you are going to ask what we finally tipped him total. All that I will say after the room trashings he got about $100 each time (essentially a $5 tip for everyone that stopped by). And a nice final trip. Also, Alex the stateroom attendent got a nice "stretch" tip given he was included in the mandated tip pool.

 

Sorry to say the Conceierge we hardly every used or saw. When we first got on and called to make reservations he was a bit surly. OK, its busy I can sort of understand that - or not. Any way, we really didn't make use of him beyond the first night. I had some $ for him the last day but apparently he was to busy getting the new guests on (vs. the escort off for us - but there was a big SNAFU in NOLA that day). We also finagled out own bridge tour with the CD and then had to wait. He brought some of the Suite folks and I think was totally embarrased since he didn't bother inviting us.

 

Alright, I've blathered enough. What do you really want to know :p?

 

Dudes:

 

We also had a Horrid concierge- paid attention to the GV guests, watched him take a 100 dolar tip pior to embarkation and proceed to make reservations for a guy and all his non- concierge gyuests, and then was invisible the rest of the cruise,except the few times we needed him and he treated us like crap- neede help with the spa, he told me to do it myself. needed Priority tender passes- wouldn't give them to us. It was nuts! So for my cruise next week I am expecting my concierge to be -eh- he has gotten mixed reviews.

 

Ketazela

[watchdiva]

Hi Mike - I've seen several of your posts about your negative experience with your concierge on your previous cruise. I guess DH and I have been lucky - we've had fantastic experiences with the concierges/butlers on our previous cruises. I too would be disappointed if my experience wasn't up to my expectations.

 

I hope that your upcoming cruise will be everything you wish it to be and that your experiences with your butler/concierge will be positive ones.

 

I will say this - if I had an issue with the concierge, you can bet that I would have contacted the HM and brought it to his attention. The butler and concierge service is a perk that we pay handsomely for and no one should settle for less than great service. As I said, we've been really lucky with the butlers/concierges that we've had on our cruises and I expect the same great experience on our upcoming cruises.

 

BTW - we tip the butler/concierge the day prior to disembarkation. Our cabin stewards are also tipped extra at that time.