@Jen&Kyle especially. You asked about our most recent Penthouse party, what was included, costs etc. The room was one of our freebies from Premier so I'm not sure if below is the same for a non freebie Premier booking or regular booking. Set up cost for the party wasn't anything. We paid $150 last time, but it seems that was for the hostesses who bought round canapes and snacks. We didn't have them this time. Drinks provided were one bottle each of: Licor 43 Johnny Walker Black Label Baileys Grey Goose Bombay Sapphire Don Julio Havana Club Fireball Various Sodas / Mixers / Limes Salt etc. We ordered a ton of room service items early in the night that were of course free, being Premier. I forgot before but at our previous party we also asked room service for 'body shot equipment'. They brought us another bottle of tequila, salt, lime, strawberries, chocolates and some gummy bears That was free. We had about 5 bottles of Fireball including the freebie, 2 of our own and 2 that guests brought with them. We still ran out so ordered another two from Room Service at $65 for two. On a previous trip (when in a regular OV room) I had ordered from the front desk and it was $65 for 1. The bartenders magicked up three extra bottles of Skyy vodka at some point after the Grey Goose was gone. Again no charge. Our bartenders were Oliver and Fredy, imho two of the very best. They were both "floating" that night - they didn't have a designated bar but were due to fill in for any absences wherever they may arise due to sickness holidays etc. There weren't any so they would have just overstaffed somewhere. The guys were keen to do it and we double checked with their Manager who was fine about it - didn't want to get anyone into trouble. They arrived at 10pm (as we had asked) and stayed until 3am. They did a fantastic job, all the stuff they love to do interacting with guests and genuinely enjoying themselves. The antics they can't do either because they aren't allowed or are too busy when working the regular bars. There was no set price, just what we decided to tip them. We gave them $200 each, they were close to tears. Over the night I guess we had about 80 people in terms of footfall. As with any party, people arrive and leave at different times, I'd say we had about 50 max at any one time. It was amusing, people would leave and 10 minutes later show back up with 4 more people in tow. Sara69 was there, Chinos wanted to come but he had an early flight the next morning and since he is the only person I know that believes in arriving 5 hrs early for his flight ... it was really early The balconies are huge, the same size as a Master Suite I guess, but the room is much larger so even with 50 it wasn't squashed at all. The in room stripper pole got some use and the party wound up about 4am when the last stragglers left. Those Penthouse beds are amazing, so comfortable! We were a little worried about numbers, we had already invited a few people that we had got to hang out with a day or two in advance but then people kept coming up and asking us about it and we invited them too. On the day itself we kind of went incognito and hung around the lobby bar instead of our usual haunt at Premier as we were worried that word had got around so much we might have 200 people show up at the same time. At about 6pm we started worrying maybe we hadn't invited enough, only have 10 people and it would be a flop. As Bash started to get going about 8pm we sent Laura Claire out to round up 20-30 or so more couples, which took her about 5 minutes! In the end numbers turned out just about right, but more than we were officially allowed. One of the couples we invited "Ernesto and wife" had a Penthouse party the following day and invited us. "Give, and ye shall receive!" Their deal was different, they had a Penthouse Room but weren't sleeping there. Instead, they had it for 4 hrs, 4pm until 8pm, although their party wound up about 10pm which was fine by us since we had a Boobs Cruise the next day. I didn't ask the details of price or anything, but again they had bartenders and good bottles. Since it was a late afternoon early evening party they also had a hot buffet and grill with cooks set up on the balcony. They cooked some amazing fancy food. Moral of the story, if you ever get the chance to stay in one of the four penthouses, do it! And if you don't get chance to stay there but get invited to a party, don't miss it!
Pretty sure you were the instigator @marshe, at least at TTR. We make a big thing of it on the cruise too, and we have a lot of people, so word gets around. We meet people every cruise that haven't tried it and when they do they love it.
Fireball has taken off big style here in the UK too Steve, I believe I started it off in our local after supping a bottle with you and Jannet in Patio's They now go through half a dozen bottles every weekend. Watching the live feed from the party at 9am in the frozen UK almost made us sick with envy Glad you managed to bag the best two barmen in the resort too. See you soon May 16th - 30th. (Cheese & onion or salt & vinegar or both???)
Thanks @Steve very helpful and it sounds like we all missed quite a party. Yeah when we did things like this at Desire the management would want set times but then we tipped the staff very well and well they were so appreciative and having so much fun that they didn’t want to leave and the party went on and on. So a couple questions for clarification on some things I am not sure I understood. Sounds like the $150 was for waitress service. But for them to setup the bar with that list of alcohol was nothing? And did you do that thru premier or your butler? And lastly, how did you determine Oliver & Fredy were available? Thru premier or your butler or asking directly? Just want to be sure I talk to the right person and follow the right protocol. Thanks!!!
Oh and reading this Liquor 43...is that something that is common at the resort now? Maybe it always was and I just never noticed or asked.
Yes $150 is for the waitress service. I think the bar is set like that for every guest regardless of if they are having a party. We didn't really do it through anyone. The first time we did tell Premier, but probably didn't need to. This time we just went ahead. We declined a dedicated butler at check in, we know them all anyway and if we need anything (we rarely do) we just ask the next one we see. We were also asked if we wanted a map, declined that too We saw them by chance and asked if they were available, they said yes and we checked with their boss if it was ok and he said yes too.
