To Butler or Not to Butler - that is the question

Once we'd picked our resort, it was a matter of choosing which room category to go with. I saw they had a "Butler" category and that intrigued me.  Like really, what would a butler actually do for you?  As someone pointed out, it's not like they would have to open the doors for anyone.  So I did a little bit of googling and read some reviews and we decided to go for it.  After all, (hopefully) there will only be one honeymoon so why not treat ourselves?

For those of you who were wondering what the butler actually did, here's a list (as a side note, we actually had two butlers - Bailey & Gisele- who worked shifts):

• With the butler room, we got private car transfer to and from the airport.  Regular transfer was in a shuttle bus and from what we heard from the others, almost everyone got carsick in it because they were packed in and the island was so hilly.  It also took most people 2-3 hours to get to the resort, while we were there in under 1h30min. 
• Upon arrival, the butler sat us down with a cold drink and then took our bags to the room to unpack them. They also offered to iron two items free of charge.
• Once that was done, he came back to give us a private tour of the resort.
• He had also set up a chilled bottle of champagne for us in our room. It was a combined wedding gift from the lovely Lisa and Jpack, and it was a gift that kept in giving - we ended up getting a bottle of champagne every day!  Thanks guys!

Yay! Champagne!

• The following morning, he ordered us breakfast in bed, which was a nice treat after a day of travel.
• And then after breakfast, he brought us down to the beach where he had reserved us an excellent spot. This actually continued daily - every night, they would ask us if we wanted to sit by the beach or by the pool and then they would reserve us great seating.  Which meant we could take our time waking up and getting breakfast, whereas everyone else had to either get up early and lay down a towel or else just pick and choose between what was left.  
• They would also bring us down a little cooler stocked with our favorite drinks or order us the cocktail of the day from the bar and have it sent over.

The butler phone and the daily cocktail

• And any time we had a question, we could give them a call on the "butler phone" they'd left with us - this phone could also be used in case you needed anything, ie you forgot your book or your sunscreen in your room and they'd go get it, but we never asked them to do anything like that for us. We mostly just asked questions about the island or times of certain things like the water sports or the gym.
• The butlers also had three beach cabanas at their disposition, so we were able to reserve one of those for free instead of paying the $90 per day fee - this actually ended up being one of my favorite days!

What could be better than a bed on the beach??

• They also took care of all of our restaurant reservations and basically just said "Be ready at X time and we'll come and get you to escort you to the restaurant"
• At the restaurants, the butlers had the best tables reserved for their guests, so we always got the ones with the nicest views or that were the most secluded.
• We also had the right to eat at the fancy four-star, white-glove service restaurant on the pier, which was payant for all the other guests.

• They also confirmed all of our tours for us and notified us of any time changes.
• They had our rooms cleaned twice per day (though this was a bit unnecessary and wasteful IMO)

Our beach-side cooler

• The butler room also meant we could order room service 24/7, so we'd often order salmon plates or little petits fours to drink with our champagne.
• They'd also decorate our room while we were out, with those crazy towel animals you usually see on cruise ships.

• Most days too the butler would leave us a little snack plate in our room, either fresh fruit or cheese cubes or mini-sandwiches.
• They would also bring us lunch on the beach or poolside if we requested.
• And every once in a while, they would send the chef over with a sweet treat for us while outside - here he was with chocolate mousse-covered strawberries!

 

•  They also asked us what our favorite alcohols were and then stocked our fridge with them on a daily basis.
• They would turn down our bed every night while we were at dinner.
• And the night we had a candlelight dinner on the beach, we had a hot bath with rose petals waiting for us - oh la la!

• Lastly, I stupidly forgot all of my chargers in MN, and my camera ran out of battery two days in. I was really upset, thinking I was either going to have to pay mega bucks to buy one in the gift shop or not have pictures of most of our honeymoon.  But I decided to ask the butler just in case, and they actually had chargers on hand and were able to charge it for me.  It was a HUGE lifesaver.  She was also able to provide me with an iPhone radio docking station, so I was able to charge that as well. These two things alone almost made having a butler worthwhile.

Hmm, that's about all I can think of for now.  But to sum it up, having a butler made our honeymoon 100% relaxing. We basically had nothing to think or worry about - they took care of it all and we just had to show up, which is exactly what we were looking for. Plus all of the extras we got probably added up to more than the extra we paid for the butler room. All in all, I would definitely do it again for a big anniversary or some other major event.

Go Butlers!