I'm Gary Bembridge and this is another of my tips for travellers. We're about to
explore the world of butlers on cruise ships, and find out the 10 things that
they will do and the four things they will say absolutely no way will they do.
I've built this based on my own experiences and also talking to
and interviewing a number of Butlers around the different cruise lines that
I've cruised with. First of all, let's find a little bit about the myths and
realities of exactly what is a butler on a cruise ship.
Not all cruise ships offer Butlers, but many of the cruise lines will offer a
butler for those passengers travelling in a suite. It's quite interesting
because Butlers aren't necessarily all on one particular grade or type of
cruise line, for example there are a number of mass-market cruise lines that
will offer their passengers a butler. For example, Norwegian Cruise
Line, Costa and MSC Cruises in the mass category, in the premium category you do see many more
cruise lines offering Butler service, for example Cunard, Celebrity, Oceania, Azamara
and P&O Cruises - and all those cruise lines is for passengers in their Suites.
In the Ultra-luxury segment you would expect most of the cruise lines to have
Butlers, however that's not true. You find Butlers on board Silversea,
Regent Seven Sea and Crystal. Silversea, as far as I can tell, is the only
cruise line that offers a butler to every single cabin or suite on board
their ship and everyone has a butler. The second important thing to understand
about Butlers is forget Downton Abbey, forget Carson, forget all the imagery of
the posh English Butler. You'll find the Butlers are both male and female, you'll
find that they come from all around the world. I've had Butlers from Italy.
the Philippines, from Indonesia and from India. The other
kind of myth about Butlers is, unlike again like Downton Abbey,
unfortunately your Butler will be looking after a number of people. They
don't just look after you. It's not a one-on-one relationship with your Butler.
Let's take a look at the 10 things that you can reasonably expect a butler
to do for you. On many cruise lines the Butlers will actually meet and greet
you at the check-in desk or when you board the ship.
They will then introduce themselves obviously and show you through the ship
and to your suite. Right from the very beginning you have a sense of feeling
really important because you have a meet-and-greet service. That
happened, for example, on MSC where a butler met me when I checked in if
you were in the Yacht Club. However, on other cruise lines, so for
example on Cunard, the Butlers doesn't meet you and just introduce themselves
later in the suite. The other thing that the Butlers will do is they will spend
some time explaining to you the facilities and how the ship works.
They will give you a personal one time briefing about the ship and where to find
the facilities and how things operate. They also explain how you
access certain parts of the ship so, for example, on some of the ships like on MSC
Cruises where the Suites and the Butlers are in a very distinct area,
they also tell you how your access that area and what facilities are within that
whole ship within a ship. The next thing they will do for you is set up and
manage your room. For example in most Suites they will explain to you the pillow
concierge service or the pillow menu and they'll help you choose the right
pillows for you. They'll also set up your minibar and agree what you want in your
minibar, and they will keep replenishing that. They'll perhaps check what snacks
or fruit you want, and they'll make sure that's then set up and constantly
replenished. If you want they'll also occasionally run a bath for you if you
want a particular bath set up or when you're coming back from a big day
out on excursions they can set up a nice scented bath. Also if you want perhaps
DVDs or CDs or books brought to the cabin they also make sure that your
cabin is stocked with those. They'll bring you
daily canapes every evening just before dinner.
Of course what they'll also do is they'll supervise and make sure that
your cabin is kept fresh and they'll make sure that it's reset whenever you go out.
They will do the nightly turndown service and they normally partner with a
cabin steward who will do some of the more heavy duty cleaning. They
basically set up and maintain the suite with what you want in it and how you
want it run. The other thing they will do for you is pack and unpack. On some
Cruise Lines I found the Butlers will actually offer to do that, in others they
wait to be asked because, of course, in many cases a lot of people want to
unpack themselves because they know exactly where they want to put things.
But certainly a key part of a butler service is unpacking,
putting everything away and when you're ready to pack instead of that awful
evening or day before you leave they will pack it all up again for you.
The fifth thing that a Butlers will do is look after all your grooming
needs. They'll make sure that your shoes are polished if you need them, they
will also handle all your laundry and dry cleaning requirements. So, anything to
do with looking after your clothes and looking after your shoes,
including if you perhaps have broken a heel they also make sure that things
like your shoes are fixed up. Also if you want a dress or a
shirt freshly pressed ready for perhaps a big night out or gala evening,
they'll also do that for you. One of the most popular things that people get
Butlers to do is bring meals to them. They will also organize with you for
breakfast, lunch or dinner. Normally in a normal cabin you just phone room
service, you order room service and someone from the room service department
will come in dump a tray and they might a little set up and go. A butler will
actually do much more of a full-on meal service and they'll lay a nice table,
they'll serve the meal very nicely and if you having dinner in your
cabin they serve it course-by-course, so bring each course
individually and serve that for you. Perhaps you wanted a nice cappuccino or
a nice coffee, they will also organize that and bring
that to you. If you have any dietary requirements or needs they
will also, if you want, deal with the restaurant and the chef on your behalf.
Another great service that Butlers will provide, and one that I probably
haven't taken enough advantage of when I've had a butler, is they will act as a
concierge. They will make all the arrangements if you want like specialty
dining bookings, they can also book appointments for things like gym classes,
personal training or reservations at the spa. They will also book and arrange for
you the excursions you want or they will take on your behalf to work with the
excursions department to arrange a private tour. They can also, if you want,
give you advice and tips and even make reservations off the ship. They have
a huge amount of experience of the ship and the ports and they are a mine of
information. Take a look at your Butlers as providing a kind of a concierge and
booking service. Another thing that people use Butlers for very frequently
is to arrange parties or events within the suite. They will set up an arrange
for you to have a cocktail party or some kind of event within your suite. They
will reorganize the furniture, arrange the canapes and arrange the
drink. If perhaps it's your partner or travel companions birthday or some
special event, they will also (if you ask them) decorate the cabin,
arrange a cake. So, any event or activity that you want within your suite they
will also arrange. Another thing the Butlers will do is escort you around
the ship, to certain events or activities or places that you want to go.
Particularly at the beginning of a cruise if you're on a ship that you're
not familiar with, they will take you if you want to to the dining
room or they'll take you to where a particular event or activities going on,
for example a cocktail party. They take you where you want
to go. Another great thing that Butlers do is problem solving, and the great
thing about having a Butlers is if you have any issues you have someone you can
turn to and they will sort it out. For example, I was traveling with someone and
they were in a suite and a suitcase had a broken handle and
the butler took the suitcase away and I guess worked with some workmen
down somewhere in the depths of the ship and fixed the suitcase up. It was
ready to use again. If you have any problems or issues Butlers are great at
helping solve problems. We've taken a look at what butters will do, but what
will they refuse to do? What will they not do for you? There's four key things
that fall into this category. The first thing that a butler will refuse to do is
babysitting. They will not look after your children. If you want to go out and
do anything you have to make other arrangements, the butler will not do that
partly because they don't have time, but also they don't have the expertise the
skill and I guess the clearances to do that. They will not babysit. Secondly
they won't act as carers or support people. So won't for example travel with you
on excursions if you have limited mobility. They will not help you if you need
caring activity in terms of getting out of the bath or around your suite.
Any of those sort of activities which are Carer activities they will not provide
those for you. If you do have any of those needs you have to be travelling
with someone who can provide that service for you.
Thirdly, they will not act as your personal companion. Although they
might take you places or escort you places, they will not come along and sit
with you at dinner or come to the show with you.
They won't go out on tours with you. They're not any kind of a companion. Of
course they can't solve all problems. They will do their damned best and
actual what I found is they sometimes like a challenge, because if it
shakes things up and gives them something different to do from the
normal and the routine. But a butler will not be able to solve everything for you.
If you're lucky enough to be travelling in a suite, or you're in one of those
ultra luxury lines that have Butlers, hopefully this has given you a better
sense about what you can actually expect. I do really wish I'd had
this advice before I went on a cruise and had a butler. I was kind of
embarrassed about it because I thought "Well I'm paying for this. I have a
butler and I don't really know what I should be asking them to do and I don't want to
embarrass myself by asking to do things that are way out of
the scope". Hopefully this has given you a good sense about what a butler is
and isn't for. If you enjoyed this video, I'd love it if you watched many more of my
Tips For Travellers videos because they're designed to help you make much
more of your precious travel time and money on both land and at sea.