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What exactly does a butler on a cruise ship do? And what are the things they will refuse to do? Many cruise lines provide butlers for guests in their premium suites and many cruisers who have them are not sure what they can ask, or expect, them to do. Based on my experiences across several cruising lines and by interviewing butlers on board I share the 10 things that a butler will do for their cruise passengers - and importantly 4 things they will refuse to do.
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0:00
hi I'm Gary Bid And this is another of
0:02
my tips for travelers we're about to
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explore the world of butlers on cruise
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ships and find out the 10 things that
0:10
they will do and the four things they
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will say absolutely no way will they do
0:15
and I've built this based on my own
0:17
experiences and also actually talking to
0:19
and interviewing a number of butlers
0:21
around the different cruise lines that
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I've cruised with but first of all let's
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find a little bit about the myths and
0:27
realities of exactly what is a but on a
0:30
cruise ship not all cruise ships offer
0:33
Butlers but many of the cruise lines
0:35
will offer a butler for those passengers
0:37
traveling in a suite now it's quite
0:39
interesting because Butlers aren't
0:40
necessarily all on one particular grade
0:42
or type of cruise line so for example
0:44
there are a number of mass Market cruise
0:46
lines that actually will offer their
0:48
passengers a butler so for example
0:51
Norwegian Cruise Line Costa and MC
0:54
Cruisers in the premium category you do
0:56
see many more Cruise Lines offering
0:58
Butlers so for example kunard
1:01
celebrity oania Azamara and Pano
1:06
Cruisers and on those Cruise Lines is
1:08
for passengers in their Suites in the
1:10
Ultra Luxury segment you'd expect most
1:12
of the cruise lines to have Butlers
1:14
however that's not true you'll find
1:16
Butlers on board silver sea region 7 sea
1:19
and Crystal and silver sea as far as I
1:21
can tell is the only cruise line that
1:23
offers a butler to every single cabin or
1:27
Suite on board their ship so everyone
1:29
has a butler the second important thing
1:31
to understand about Butlers is forget d
1:33
and Abby forget Carson forget all that
1:35
imagery of the Posh English butler
1:38
you'll find the Butlers are both male
1:40
and female you'll find that they come
1:42
from all around the world so I've had
1:43
Butlers from Italy Spain from the
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Philippines from Indonesia and from
1:48
India and the other kind of myth about
1:50
Butlers is unlike again like down T
1:52
Abbey unfortunately your butler will be
1:54
looking after a number of people they
1:56
don't just look after you so it's not a
1:58
one-on-one relationship with your butler
2:00
so let's take a look at the 10 things
2:02
that you can reasonably expect a butler
2:05
to do for you on many Cruise Lines the
2:07
Butlers will actually meet and greet you
2:09
at the check-in desk or when you board
2:12
the ship and they will then introduce
2:14
themselves obviously and show you
2:15
through the ship and to your Suite right
2:18
from the very beginning you have a sense
2:20
of feeling really important because you
2:22
have a meet and greet service so that
2:24
happened for example in MC with a butler
2:26
metu when you checked in if you were in
2:27
the yach club however on other cruise
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lines so for example on card the butler
2:31
doesn't meet you they just introduce
2:32
themselves later in the suite the other
2:35
thing that the butler will do is they
2:36
will spend some time explaining to the
2:38
facilities and how the ship works so
2:40
they will give you a personal onetoone
2:42
briefing about the ship and where you
2:44
can find the various facilities and how
2:46
things operate they also explain how you
2:49
access certain parts of the ship so for
2:51
example on some of the ships like on MSE
2:53
Cruises where the sweets and the Butlers
2:55
are in a very distinct area they'll also
2:57
tell you how you access that area and
2:59
what facil ities are within that whole
3:01
ship within a ship the next thing they
3:03
will do for you is set up and manage
3:06
your room so for example in most Suites
3:08
they will explain to you the pillow
3:11
concierge service or the pillow menu
3:13
they'll help you choose the right
3:14
pillars for you they'll also set up your
3:16
mini bar agree what you want in your
3:17
mini bar and they will keep replenishing
3:20
that they'll perhaps check what snacks
3:22
or fruit you want and they'll make sure
3:24
that that's then set up and constantly
3:26
replenished if you want they'll also
3:28
occasionally run a bath for you if you
3:29
want a particular bath set up or when
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you're coming back from a particular
3:32
vigorous day out on excursions they'll
3:34
set up a nice scentered bath also if you
3:37
want perhaps DVDs or CDs or books
3:40
brought to the cabin they'll also make
3:42
sure that your cabin is stocked with
3:44
those and also what they'll do is
3:45
they'll bring you daily canipes every
3:47
evening just before dinner of course
3:49
what they'll also do is they'll
3:50
supervise and make sure that your cabin
3:52
is kept fresh they'll make sure that
3:55
it's reset whenever you go out and they
3:57
will do the nightly turn down service
4:00
and they normally partner with a cabin
4:02
Steward who will do some of the more
4:03
heavy duty cleaning so they basically
4:05
set up and maintain the suite with what
4:07
you want in it and how you want it run
4:10
the other thing they will do for you is
4:11
pack and unpack now on some cruise lines
4:13
I found the buters will actually offer
4:15
to do that in other words they wait to
4:16
be asked because of course in many cases
4:18
a lot of people want to unpack
4:20
themselves because they know exactly
4:21
where they want to put things but
4:22
certainly key part of a butler service
4:25
is unpacking putting everything away and
4:27
when you're ready to pack instead of
4:29
that awful evening or day before you
4:31
leave they will pack it all up again for
4:33
you and so the fifth thing that a butler
4:36
will do is look after all your kind of
4:37
grooming needs so they'll make sure that
4:39
your shoes are polished if you need them
4:41
they will also handle all your laundry
4:43
and dry cleaning requirements so
4:45
anything to do with kind of looking
4:47
after your clothes and looking after
4:49
your shoes including if you perhaps have
4:52
broken a heel that also make sure that
4:54
things like your shoes are fixed up that
4:57
also for example if you want a dress or
4:59
shirt freshly pressed ready for perhaps
5:02
a big night ass or a garet evening
5:04
they'll also do that for you one of the
5:06
most popular things that people get
5:07
buters to do is bring meals to them so
5:10
they will also organize with you want
5:12
breakfast lunch or dinner so normally in
5:15
a normal cabin you just phone room
5:16
service you order room service and
5:18
someone from the room service department
5:20
will come in dump betray and they might
5:22
be a little bit of set up and go a
5:23
butler will actually do much more of a
5:26
full-on meal service so they'll lay a
5:28
nice table they'll serve the meal very
5:31
nicely and if you're having dinner for
5:33
example in your cabin they will serve it
5:35
course by course so they'll bring each
5:37
course individually and serve that for
5:39
you perhaps you wanted a nice cappuccino
5:42
or a nice coffee they will also organize
5:45
that and bring that to you as well so
5:48
also if you have any dietary
5:49
requirements or needs they will also if
5:51
you want to deal with the restaurant and
5:54
the chef on your behalf another great
5:56
service that Butlers will provide and
5:58
one that I probably haven't taken enough
6:00
advantage of when I've had a butler is
6:02
they will act as a concierge they will
6:05
make all the arrangements if you want
6:07
special dining bookings they can also
6:09
book appointments for things like gym
6:12
classes personal training or
6:14
reservations at the spa they will also
6:17
book and arrange for you the excursions
6:19
you want or they will take on behalf to
6:22
work with the excursions Department to
6:23
arrange a private tour they can also if
6:26
you want to give you advice and tips and
6:29
even make reservations of the ship they
6:31
have a huge amount of experience of the
6:33
ship and the ports and they are a mind
6:35
of information take a look at your
6:38
butler as providing a kind of a conci
6:41
and booking service another thing that
6:44
people use Butlers for very frequently
6:46
is to arrange parties or events within
6:49
the suite they will set up an arrange
6:52
for you to have a cocktail party or some
6:55
kind of event within your Suite they
6:57
will reorganize the furniture they'll
6:59
arrange the canipes that arrange the
7:00
drink or perhaps it's your partner or
7:02
travel companion's birthday or some
7:04
special event they will also if you ask
7:07
them they'll decorate the cabin they'll
7:09
arrange a cake so any event or activity
7:12
that you want within your Suite they
7:13
will also
7:15
arrange another thing the Butlers will
7:17
do is escort you around the ship and to
7:20
certain events or activities or places
7:23
that you want to go so particularly at
7:25
the beginning of a cruise if you're on a
7:27
ship that you're not familiar with they
7:28
will actually take you you if you want
7:30
to to the dining room or they'll take
7:31
you to where a particular event or
7:34
activity is going on for example a
7:35
cocktail party and they will basically
7:37
take you where you want to go another
7:40
great thing that Butlers do is problem
7:42
solving and the great thing about having
7:43
a butler is if you have any issues you
7:46
have someone you can turn to and they
7:48
will sort it out so for example I was
7:50
traveling with someone and they were in
7:51
a suite and their suitcase had broken
7:53
the handle their suitcase had broken the
7:55
butler took the suitcase away and I
7:58
guess worked with some workmen
8:00
down somewhere in the depths of the ship
8:01
and fixed the suitcase up so it was
8:04
ready to use again so if you have any
8:05
problems or issues Butlers are great at
8:08
helping solve problems we've taken a
8:11
look at what Butlers will do but what
8:13
will they refuse to do what will they
8:14
not do for you there's four key things
8:17
that fall into this category the first
8:19
thing that a butler will refuse to do is
8:21
babysitting they will not look after
8:23
your children if you want to go out and
8:25
do anything you have to make other
8:26
arrangements the butler will not do that
8:28
party because they don't have time but
8:30
also they don't have the expertise the
8:32
skill and I guess the clearances to do
8:33
that so they will not babysit secondly
8:37
they won't act as carers or support
8:40
people they won't for example travel
8:42
with you on excursions if you have
8:43
limited Mobility they won't help you if
8:45
you need any caring activity in terms of
8:47
getting out of the bath or around your
8:49
cabin so any of those sort of activities
8:51
those sort of caring activities they
8:53
will not provide those for you if you do
8:55
have any of those needs you have to be
8:57
traveling with someone who can provide
8:59
that service for you thirdly they will
9:01
not act as your personal companion so
9:04
although they might take you places or
9:06
escort you places they will not come
9:07
along and sit with you dinner have
9:09
dinner with you they won't come to the
9:10
show with you they won't go out on tours
9:12
with you so they're not kind of a
9:14
companion of course they can't solve all
9:17
problems they will do their damned best
9:18
and actually what I found Butler
9:20
sometimes like a challenge because I
9:21
guess it shakes things up it gives them
9:22
something different due from the you
9:24
know the normal and the routine but a
9:26
butler will not be able to solve
9:28
everything for you
9:29
if you're lucky enough to be traveling
9:31
in a suite or you're in one of those
9:33
Ultra Luxury lines that have butas
9:36
hopefully this has given you a better
9:37
sense about what you can actually expect
9:39
a butler to do I really wish I'd had
9:41
this advice before I went on a cruise
9:43
and had a butler I was kind of
9:45
embarrassed about it because I thought
9:46
well I'm paying for this I've got a
9:47
butle and I don't really know what I
9:49
should be asking them to do and I don't
9:50
want to embarrass myself or show myself
9:52
up by asking to do things that are way
9:54
out of the scope so hopefully this has
9:55
given you a good sense about what a
9:57
butler is and is and fall if you enjoyed
10:00
this video I'd love it if you watch many
10:02
more of my tips for travelers videos
10:06
because they're designed to help you
10:07
make much more of your precious travel
10:09
time and money on both land and at sea
10:14
[Music]
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[Applause]
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