Hi! My husband & I will be sailing concierge for the first time in February for my 55th birthday. My birthday is during the cruise, his 59th is two weeks after. We'll be on the Fantasy in a family stateroom with verandah. Our sailing is a five night with one sea day, Nassau, Lookout and Castaway. My e-mail date is next week. Other than a Cabana, I am not sure what to request. I have searched here and Facebook concierge groups. This is our 8th
DCL and I am usually our family & friends travel coordinator (I am not a TA. I just love planning.), but I am just feeling overwhelmed.
I think I can request -
Palo for dinner on Pirate Night.
A dining rotation with two Animator Palates, with neither of them on Pirate Night.
Moet in the Concierge Lounge. (I'd love Veuve but think it is too high for complimentary bubbles).
As we have a family stateroom, not a 1br, can I request bottled water and Coke, Diet Coke in our refrigerator?
Can I request to book a Rainforest Room day pass for Nassau day?
Can I request to book a champagne tasting not knowing the tasting schedule?
Thank you!! I appreciate any tips and advice.
We just finished our fifth concierge stay, and the biggest piece of advice I can give is identify the concierge on ship members and let yourself and your preferences be known to them. It wont be hard to do, they will actively seek you out and love to help. Just be friendly. And once you develop a relationship, and gain trust you wont abuse their kindness, it only gets better.
to your specific questions:
The rule on palo dinner is you can only request it once, the exception is first night is a'freebie' in which case you can get it twice. BTW, I find the palo dinner and Brunch to be sufficiently different I book both.
I have not had success requesting from onshore concierge services a schedule for when pirates night is, or any of the show nights. If you google you will find when it usually is, but they reserve the right to change it. Just saying if you ask for Palo 'on pirate night' they might not be able to guarantee they know?
They have been able to provide me the rotational dining schedule are quick to say they cant guarantee your choice, but 5 out of 5 time for me they have come through.
We always book specific spa services (massage) in advance by asking in the email, but not sure about specific day passes. Part of me remembers hearing thats an on board type of thing. The one exception for me was during the tail end of the pandemic, and they only allowed ONE group at a time in the spa, you could book through concierge 90m minutes I believe and you had the WHOLE facility to yourselves. That was amazing. I digress.
Everyone in concierge can request their refrigerators be stocked with their favorite nonalcoholic beverages (that are on board). Not dependent on room class (besides concierge).
You certainly can book any of the alcohol tastings in advance, even when not knowing the schedule. There almost always seems to be a champagne tasting on embarkment day (4pm) and this has become our family tradition. A fabulous way to start a vacation. But we dont have young children and dont mind missing the sail away party. They have champagne tastings at other times too. On shore concierge services will send an email about a week or so ahead of time that contains links to on board ship activities, including tastings, and I peruse that list and then include what I want in terms of tastings in the request email. I indicate preferred days just in case I guess right, and sometimes I am right, other times they do their best to schedule another day. You can always change it later.
Other things you can request in advance are excursions (again they provide a link to choices a week or so in advance), dining times (late or early), if you want a private main dining room table, the princess meet and greet, oh and of course cabanas! There are no doubt things I am forgetting.
But yes, the more you get to know your team, the more they will have the chance to recommend things and can help with everything! Including, getting us the times we wanted for the spa, or for other recreational activities.
Added difference is we have a separate standard inside stateroom for our daughters. How easy will it be for them to spend time in our room and / or in the concierge lounge?
Okay, did this last Christmas with our adult sons and daughter in law.
First the official answers. There are zero restrictions with them spending time in your room. There is no one checking passes on people in the hallways with concierge rooms. Having said that, NO, the official answer is they can NOT go with you into the concierge lounge or concierge hot tub or sun deck, or take advantage of any of your concierge perks (boarding time, early show access, drinks....)
Thats the official answer. And I respect it. However... And this is where I will be told I am terrible and horrible and shouldn't even say such things (how unfair of me lol), but, the unofficial answer is we had developed relationships with the concierge team on past cruises and even before boarding ran into an old concierge friend who recognized us. My wife and I were standing there with our gold buttons, our adult children were with us without the buttons, the concierge member KNEW they weren't concierge but every one got big hugs on being introduced and she took ALL of us under her wings and escorted ALL of us into the concierge waiting area ( to board). Once on board when my wife and I went to the lounge she asked where were our kids were and said they should stop by for a drink. Which they then did. We DID NOT push it, they were NOT there more than a couple of times with us. They did NOT go to the concierge sunning deck. We did NOT take them to the concierge embarkation day lunch. We DID ask if they could accompany us to the show early (was told yes). It's easy to identify who is concierge and who is not from the on board card, and there was never any problems. But again, we treated it like a privilege, a treat that we were profusely thankful for, we did not treat it as an expectation, if things looked busy, we absolutely followed the official answer, and if things were slow, we asked. An empty lounge is a sad thing for them to see. I have said this here before and got told off by folks here that I should not put the concierge team on the spot, but there are ways to ask that make it easy for people to say yes or no with no hard feelings. And the concierge team genuinely seems happy to help with the pixie dust. Shrugs. But then I am known as someone that tips well because I do think good times should be shared, and because I genuinely like the cast members. So. Thats the unofficial answer. I am not saying what you should do. Just sharing my direct experience as a terrible person. Let the tomato throwing commence lol.
Talk to the team. Enjoy your time with them and it truly is magical.
Edit: Catches the tomato and throws it back. Exhibit B below. Shrugs. I certainly wasn't the first person to make it public that being respectful and friendly often opens doors that people are often only too happy to open. If this is news to some, then okay, it's a pity thats the way the world has become. Most know that if one doesn't expect things, good things can and do happen. The disborards is a place to share experiences and information. People give tips here all the time on how to approach cast member for some pixie dust. But I also do favors all the time for people if I can if they are respectful and ask nicely. It makes me feel good. Thats the world I live in, it's a friendly place. And as for costs and unfair to those that paid... pfft. Dont abuse things and honestly no one misses the five dollar drink. But then I tip well and cover it so. Shrugs. And honestly my kids are very gregarious and people seem to enjoy their company. But okay, bad me.
Once I was told in advance (no didn't ask lol), but then was assured by a manager this was extremely rare and it hasn't happened since.
) and the hosts seem to know my Concierge history, as well-they'll mention "oh yes, you were on the Dream last summer, or the Wish the fall before that" for instance so it's not just a facial recognition but a historical record they seem to have...kind of like the "permanent record" people of a certain generation were threatened with in school...perhaps that's why I try to keep my nose clean! 
We'll be on the Treasure the month before you sail and a couple of the hosts are coming over from the Wish so they'll be very comfortable and experienced with the Triton lounge environment-you'll be in good hands!
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