Butler

[world~citizen]

They say there are no stupid questions but, well, brace yourselves.

 

We haven't sailed Azamara (or anything other than a premium line before) and I understand butler service is a feature of this line.

 

We always felt cabin stewards to be more than helpful. What exactly does the butler do?

 

Can he make reservations for us in the alternate dining rooms? Just can't get a handle on what he does.

 

(I told you to brace yourselves).:eek:

[denims]

They say there are no stupid questions but, well, brace yourselves.

 

We haven't sailed Azamara (or anything other than a premium line before) and I understand butler service is a feature of this line.

 

We always felt cabin stewards to be more than helpful. What exactly does the butler do?

 

Can he make reservations for us in the alternate dining rooms? Just can't get a handle on what he does.

 

(I told you to brace yourselves).:eek:

 

I have not sailed Azamara yet...I will this Thursday!!:D:D

 

But, from what I've been reading on this Azamara board for the last few months.....they are glorified cabin stewards! Or as someone on these boards said, cabin stewards with nicer uniforms!:D

 

They will make dinner reservations for you.

[world~citizen]

I have not sailed Azamara yet...I will this Thursday!!:D:D

 

But, from what I've been reading on this Azamara board for the last few months.....they are glorified cabin stewards! Or as someone on these boards said, cabin stewards with nicer uniforms!:D

 

They will make dinner reservations for you.

 

Well congratulations. Please post a review of your cruise and if possible, with special reference to the butlers, because enquiring minds want to know.:)

 

Bon voyage and enjoy your cruise.

 

Smooth sailing to you.

[cruisePRN]

I sailed Azamara this month Hong Kong to Singapore. The butler is merely a cabin steward. He can make reservations at the specialty restaurant and shine shoes. He can perform a few extra duties above a usual cabin steward but none that I found useful. For his title you get to tip approx $3 pp per day more then on lines that don't call their room steward a butler.

[critterchick]

I sailed Azamara this month Hong Kong to Singapore. The butler is merely a cabin steward. He can make reservations at the specialty restaurant and shine shoes. He can perform a few extra duties above a usual cabin steward but none that I found useful. For his title you get to tip approx $3 pp per day more then on lines that don't call their room steward a butler.

 

And if you are in a Sky Suite or higher, you get a Head Butler, who supervises the butler and gets another $4/day in gratuities. Our Head Butler usually (but not always) delivered our room service order, but otherwise really didn't do anything in front of the curtain (as opposed to behind the scenes) that the butler couldn't have done.

[cruisePRN]

And if you are in a Sky Suite or higher, you get a Head Butler, who supervises the butler and gets another $4/day in gratuities. Our Head Butler usually (but not always) delivered our room service order, but otherwise really didn't do anything in front of the curtain (as opposed to behind the scenes) that the butler couldn't have done.

I ordered coffee every morning and it was not my cabin steward who delivered it so I tipped room service. I think Azamara was a nice cruise but not the premium cruise they market themselves to be. We ate in the specialty restaurant most nights and used room service every morning for coffee. That brought our daily tipping to $35.50 per day and then the coke card with it's separate tipping. I think it's not proportionate to the service I received. That's not to say I didn't have a good cruise, I did and I loved the ports.

[Susan-M]

We ate in the specialty restaurant most nights and used room service every morning for coffee. That brought our daily tipping to $35.50 per day ....

 

$35. per day for gratuities and Specialty dining for two people is lot less expensive than you would pay on lines that charge $25-$30 pp for the SDR's ... and if you didn't enjoy the food in the MDR on Azamara, chances are you would enjoy it even less on lines that charge the high fees for the SDR's.

 

Azamara's gratuities are in line with other cruise lines .... almost on par with Oceania, $1.25 higher than HAL, and $.75-$1.00 higher than Celebrity's, depending on cabin type.

[critterchick]

$35. per day for gratuities and Specialty dining for two people is lot less expensive than you would pay on lines that charge $25-$30 pp for the SDR's ... and if you didn't enjoy the food in the MDR on Azamara, chances are you would enjoy it even less on lines that charge the high fees for the SDR's.

 

Azamara's gratuities are in line with other cruise lines .... almost on par with Oceania, $1.25 higher than HAL, and $.75-$1.00 higher than Celebrity's, depending on cabin type.

 

My objection to Azamara's gratuities is that they are mandatory. Other than not knowing what the point was of having an additional butler in our Sky Suite, I don't object to the amount. The service was good enough that I would not have wanted to decrease the amount, but another couple we spoke with wanted to adjust their gratuities and were told by the front desk that they could not.

 

I don't know if their gratuities had been paid by Azamara (that was a promotion for awhile; we're taking advantage of it on our upcoming Quest cruise), in which case I could understand why they would not be allowed to adjust downward. But if they policy is that you MUST pay the gratuity, then they should just include it in the cruise fare, have a "no tipping" policy and be done with it. I understand that it would cause the price of the cruise to rise (or perhaps not, in this economic environment), but AZ is trying to position themselves as a premium line, and one would think that the bargain hunters aren't quite as prevalent as they are on, say, Royal Caribbean.

[Susan-M]

My objection to Azamara's gratuities is that they are mandatory.

 

I don't mind that gratuities are mandatory...I look at it as part of the fare, whether shown separately or not. I'm sure A is trying to keep their prices competitive and since most lines show their gratuities separately, it makes sense that they do too, especially in this economic climate.

 

I've noticed a couple of articles in the newspaper recently about servers in restaurants and bars who receive the bulk of their income from gratuities, and who are now (in this dismal economy) noticing a significant decline in their income ... not just because overall revenue is down, but because many clients have reduced the percentage of tips from 15-20% to 10-12%. I'm sure this happens on cruise ships too where some people will reduce gratuity amounts to make the trip a little more affordable, or where people from certain cultures/countries don't tip the way we do in N.A. and opt out because of 'principle'.

[cruisePRN]

 

Azamara's gratuities are in line with other cruise lines .... almost on par with Oceania, $1.25 higher than HAL, and $.75-$1.00 higher than Celebrity's, depending on cabin type.

 

But the question is "would the service warrent it" because Azamara didn't. I have sailed on Celebrity and Princess and RCL (and others) and always found good service. It's my opinion that Azamara did have adequate service particularly in Discoveries dining room.

[Susan-M]

But the question is "would the service warrent it" because Azamara didn't. I have sailed on Celebrity and Princess and RCL (and others) and always found good service. It's my opinion that Azamara did have adequate service particularly in Discoveries dining room.

 

I was pleased with the service that we had on Quest and had no reason to feel that the $12.25/pp/day was excessive or not warranted. Our service in Discoveries was good, but we didn't dine at a table larger than 6 people so perhaps that's why .... usually we dined on our own, or with another couple.

[critterchick]

But the question is "would the service warrent it" because Azamara didn't. I have sailed on Celebrity and Princess and RCL (and others) and always found good service. It's my opinion that Azamara did have adequate service particularly in Discoveries dining room.

 

You mean "did not," didn't you? I agree that the service did not warrant the higher gratuity. And the waste of paper involved in printing out the daily amount was unconscionable - they should have just included one lump sum. Although it did at least break up all those bar charges...:o

 

I reflect often on our mostly very enjoyable Journey cruise, and I think their staffing is "off" somehow. The passenger:crew ratio is about 2:1, but there are a LOT of people servicing the staterooms - on most ships we have a single cabin steward, but on Journey, there were 2 or 3 depending on the level of accomodation. Honestly, I didn't see that they did any better a job of servicing the cabin than our single cabin stewards on RCI. In fact, we've encountered a few on RCI that would put them to shame.

 

Discoveries seemed to be understaffed. The waitstaff looked crazy busy - perhaps they just didn't know what they were doing, but they were always rushed, with never had a moment to tarry and explain any menu options. They generally seemed as overworked as any RCI dining room staff (sorry to compare to the 3* line, but it's all I know), while serving far fewer passengers. We were seldom able to get our waiter's eye to ask for anything.

 

In Windows/Breeza, they had plenty of people during the day but were thinly staffed at night to the point where we had to fetch our own drinks and clear our own dishes in between courses (by putting them on the closest empty table).

 

So maybe one thing to contemplate would be shifting the concentration of crew from staterooms to dining. I don't know enough about ship operations to know if that would work, but perhaps that would at least improve the flow and the service, if not the actual cooking.:);)

[cruisePRN]

You mean "did not," didn't you? I agree that the service did not warrant the higher gratuity. And the waste of paper involved in printing out the daily amount was unconscionable - they should have just included one lump sum. Although it did at least break up all those bar charges...:o

 

I reflect often on our mostly very enjoyable Journey cruise, and I think their staffing is "off" somehow. The passenger:crew ratio is about 2:1, but there are a LOT of people servicing the staterooms - on most ships we have a single cabin steward, but on Journey, there were 2 or 3 depending on the level of accomodation. Honestly, I didn't see that they did any better a job of servicing the cabin than our single cabin stewards on RCI. In fact, we've encountered a few on RCI that would put them to shame.

 

Discoveries seemed to be understaffed. The waitstaff looked crazy busy - perhaps they just didn't know what they were doing, but they were always rushed, with never had a moment to tarry and explain any menu options. They generally seemed as overworked as any RCI dining room staff (sorry to compare to the 3* line, but it's all I know), while serving far fewer passengers. We were seldom able to get our waiter's eye to ask for anything.

 

In Windows/Breeza, they had plenty of people during the day but were thinly staffed at night to the point where we had to fetch our own drinks and clear our own dishes in between courses (by putting them on the closest empty table).

 

So maybe one thing to contemplate would be shifting the concentration of crew from staterooms to dining. I don't know enough about ship operations to know if that would work, but perhaps that would at least improve the flow and the service, if not the actual cooking.:);)

Yes I meant NOT. I heard our table mates compare Azamara to Oceania and they said they didn't compare. The itinerary was wonderful and things were pleasant but the crew was indeed out of sinc and the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing.

In the cabin was an amenity booklet which stated cold and flu medicine was available. I went to the medical office and they had none. I went back a few days later after i thought they would have restocked from port and they didn't.

We were charged $40 for our Viet Nam visa and it should have been $25. It took them 4 days to make the correction and credit our account. It was attention to detail that wasn't 5 star IMHO. We still had a wonderful cruise. We flew from Bangkok to Phenom Penh to avoid the 4 hour drive from port. The ship picked some funny docks especially in Hong Kong at the merchants wharf instead of the passenger terminal. Our cabbie couldn't find the entrance to the ships pier yet we could see the ship.

[cruisePRN]

 

 

 

 

In Windows/Breeza, they had plenty of people during the day but were thinly staffed at night to the point where we had to fetch our own drinks and clear our own dishes in between courses (by putting them on the closest empty table).

.:);)

This happened all to often with the dirty dishes. DH asked about coffee and the person pointed to the end of the dining and said self service. On RCL they are happy to bring you a beverage.

None of this ruined my trip but I wanted to present what I perceived was less then stellar service. I am booked on two RCL cruises and for the money they are a better value and I prefer the service.

[nevernever]

I also have a gripe about Azamara's policy of making gratuities mandatory. If they are afraid that some people will choose not to pay the recommended amounts, then why don't they simply add the gratuities to the initial cruise price and adopt a no-tipping policy. Admittedly I come from an environment where tipping is not the usual practice, but on cruise ships where the majority of passengers are accustomed to this, why not leave things open so that we are at liberty to tip staff at levels we think commensurate with the quality of service they offer. It seems somewhat difficult to sustain Azamara's argument that this would be difficult on their ships since we had the same 'butler' and stateroom attendant throughout, paid extra gratuities each time we ate at a specialty restaurant, had variable wait-staff in Windows or Breeza (the same as on any cruise ship with a flexible gratuities policy), and could have asked for the same wait-staff each time we dined in Discoveries.

 

A brief word about 'butlers'. On Quest, ours was very good, but probably didn't do much more than the Stateroom Stewards that we have had on other ships. Our Stateroom Attendant, however, worked like a slave, doing most of the 'dirty work' in the rooms and passages and helping to transport luggage at the beginning and end of the cruise.

 

Nevernever

[Moeve]

I object to this business of calling the regular stateroom attendant a butler - all cabins less than suites only have this person. Not that I think they don't diserve the higher gratuity but that should have brought about the reduction of the number of staterooms they take care of but unfortunately exactly the opposite happened - they got even more cabins to take care of reducing the service they are able to give.

 

On top of this it seems the REAL butlers for the suites are apparently a total disaster and are regularly put to shame but their conterparts on the M class.

 

X should never have started this business calling their stateroom attendants butlers because it changed what passengers expected to find and it has backfired on them. I haven't really seen an Azamara report where passengers have been really glowing about the crew. Sad isn't it because I bet they do work very hard but the line out of Miami marketed something that just cannot be provided by crew with none or minimal training so expectations are just not being met.

[brian_uk]

Just two points.....we were on Quest last Summer is an Owners Suite and The But-ler was a waste of space. I hyphenated the word because he always replied....BUT I cannot do that at the moment !!

 

As far as Mandatory tipping is concerned in the SDR we had such bad service one night that I called for the Manager and told him that I would NOT be paying any tips for that meal and I was not charged.

 

Other than that the cruise was great and we would go again on Az.

 

Brian