Concierge questions??

[princesskenziesmom]

We are booking concierge for our upcoming cruise and we had some questions, I have searched the forum but want to make sure I have all the facts.

~ I read that they have a separate waiting section for concierge for boarding, could someone tell me what its like and do we automatically get 1st boarding with the Platinum and Gold members?

~if we do get first boarding, should we be there first thing in the morning?

~I thought I read that the concierge will bring you food from the main dining if you want to stay in your room ( not talking about Palo but rotational dining) ,,I would love this since my oldest ds is Autistic and sometimes goes into overload and not want to go out.

~can the concierge help with booking the spa villas, cabanas, and Palo/Remy?

Thanks, and if anyone else has any helpful facts I sure would appreciate it,,I just can't believe that concierge was dh's idea! Woo Hoo!

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

Great questions that I'd love to hear the answers to as well. Also, if in concierge, do I need to get online at midnight 120 days out to book Palo and Remy and excursions or can I just wait and call the concierge phone number in the morning? Does anyone have any experiences with booking things that far out? Is Remy such a hot ticket that I need to stay up and get online at midnight?

Another hot question right now is whether or not concierge guests can participate in the FEs because of the hallway possibly being off limits to most people. I'll be interested to hear about this from cruisers who are on the Dream checking things out! I'm sure there will be some way of getting around it if general access is limited.

 

[kcashner]

The waiting area was remodeled as part of the terminal expansion--I know what it WAS, but haven't seen the new space.

Gold Castaway Club do not have priority boarding, only Platinum. The boarding order is family of the day, concierge, then platinum, then group 2 and on.....If you walk in 10 minutes before boarding starts, you will board with the concierge group (you just have to be checked in before boarding starts. If you arrive after boarding starts, you will be escorted from the check in line to the front of the boarding line--in essence, you will be the next family to board after you are checked in. SO...to be in the first boarding wave, arrive no later than 11:30 (boarding usually starts at 11:45), but there is no reason to be there earlier unless you want to enjoy the sit down area!

Yes, you can order room service from the regular dining rooms if you are in a concierge level cabin. I believe it is delivered by room service, not by the concierge.

On the Magic and Wonder, the concierge would take care of all your bookings for you; no need to try to get what you wanted at midnight. This applied even if you purchased an upgrade to concierge at the port--they still kept back reservations for people making them at the concierge reception after boarding. Again, can't speak to the Dream.

 

[outahere]

~can the concierge help with booking the spa villas, cabanas, and Palo/Remy?

Thanks, and if anyone else has any helpful facts I sure would appreciate it,,I just can't believe that concierge was dh's idea! Woo Hoo!

Yes, the land based concierge team can book the spa, excursions, cabanas and Palo/Remy. If you send them an email prior to the 120 day mark with your requests, they will book everything for you (at 120 days) as long as you are paid in full. Make sure you include your reservation number in the email.

 

[cindy18]

There is also a separate check-in area for concierge guests, as well as priority boarding, so you really don't need to worry about when you check in. In addition to using the land-based concierge team for special requests, we requested a specific dining rotation to help us plan our night at Palo, and that worked very well. You also can sit with a concierge person right after you board, and they will get you any reservations you didn't already book. Really nice perk. In addition to ordering from the main restaurant menus, you will get snacks delivered every afternoon.

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

Another concierge question if you don't mind: Are concierge guests allowed to book both Palo and Remy or just choose one per cruise? I'm going with my husband, without the kids, in May for a quick 3 nighter. Since we are taking the kids with us again in August for a double dip, I'd rather try to get the adults only restaurants done on the May trip and save the other restaurants for August. Is this possible?

 

[KingRichard]

 

[jilljill]

Another concierge question if you don't mind: Are concierge guests allowed to book both Palo and Remy or just choose one per cruise? I'm going with my husband, without the kids, in May for a quick 3 nighter. Since we are taking the kids with us again in August for a double dip, I'd rather try to get the adults only restaurants done on the May trip and save the other restaurants for August. Is this possible?

Any guest can book both Palo and Remy once per meal per cruise.

 

[jilljill]

Thanks for this pic. Do you recall if the Concierge/Platinum waiting area in this same location as well?

 

[princesskenziesmom]

Thanks everyone for the great info and the picture of the waiting area! I am super excited now!

If they bring snacks to the rooms every afternoon, I guess I need to let them know early that we have a severe peanut/nut allergy in our group? I am also hoping they can help us secure a table by ourselves in the dining rooms due to his allergies.

 

[chris31997]

Thanks everony for the questions and answers. I am just waiting on hubby for the go ahead to book our cruise. I am going to surprise the family with concierge

 

[kcashner]

Thanks everyone for the great info and the picture of the waiting area! I am super excited now!

If they bring snacks to the rooms every afternoon, I guess I need to let them know early that we have a severe peanut/nut allergy in our group? I am also hoping they can help us secure a table by ourselves in the dining rooms due to his allergies.

Alert the head server, server, and concierge to the allergy. Normally, allergy issues are handled by placing the family at their own table (or with others in their cruise group of family, friends, or whatever.) Again, I'd put this on my list for the e-mail to the concierge, but I'd also re-state it myself on the ship. This is far too important an issue to assume that someone else has handled it.

 

[drparoo]

I have a feeling I know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask it anyway.

We have a concierge one bedroom suite with a connecting deluxe family room. Obviously, the connecting room isn't a concierge level, but we're all in the same family and, well, I'm paying for the connecting room.

Will those of my family "assigned" to the connecting room not be allowed to come aboard with us in the concierge line and will we not be able to get them into Palo or excursions 120 days in advance?

 

[kcashner]

I have a feeling I know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask it anyway.

We have a concierge one bedroom suite with a connecting deluxe family room. Obviously, the connecting room isn't a concierge level, but we're all in the same family and, well, I'm paying for the connecting room.

Will those of my family "assigned" to the connecting room not be allowed to come aboard with us in the concierge line and will we not be able to get them into Palo or excursions 120 days in advance?

If your reservations are fully linked and they are paid in full, you should be able to make reservations for your entire group. In the past, they would not have been allowed to wait in the concierge waiting area with you (Platinum cruisers were not allowed here most of the time either--strictly those gold KTTW cards only). However, with the enlargement of the terminal, I don't know how this is being handled in the last month or so. In the past, there were no connecting rooms at concierge level. I am aware of one situation where part of a family was concierge and part was not; all members of the family were given gold KTTW keys and had access to the suite even though they weren't all sleeping there.

We are all waiting to see whether "guests" of concierge level guests will be allowed in the concierge lounge, etc. I'm not voicing an opinion here, just that we await the policy.

 

[mousebrat]

Let your concierge staff member (ours was Danny on the Magic and he was wonderful) know of any needs and they will take care of them. He brought us baby wipes (I ran out while we were in port, wasn't getting off again, and couldn't buy any until the ship left port) and dramimine for our older son with motion sickness. We requested a table for our family of 4 without a problem.

From what I understand, we could have eaten at Palo again. Our server at Tea was the same one we had for our Palo dinner and he seemed shocked that we weren't eating their again that night. Another concierge guests that was on our cruise ate at Palo at least three times for dinner. Doesn't seem fair to normal guests but who knows???

The only peanut allergy that would exist with the snacks was the cookie tray they brought one day. I remember we had the all hands on deck platter, chocolate dipped strawberries, cookies, and some other plate with crackers and fancy stuff. Not sure we didn't eat that one.

Regarding ordering for the main dining rooms...Danny had to bring us the menus. We called room service and it was an ordeal. The lady acted like it was an inconvenience because we wanted most everything from Lumiere's but I wanted the banana bread and banana bread pudding from Parrot Cay. Just FYI on that. Room service did deliver our meal and set the table up for us. It was wonderful to have a meal in our room.

 

[drparoo]

If your reservations are fully linked and they are paid in full, you should be able to make reservations for your entire group. In the past, they would not have been allowed to wait in the concierge waiting area with you (Platinum cruisers were not allowed here most of the time either--strictly those gold KTTW cards only). However, with the enlargement of the terminal, I don't know how this is being handled in the last month or so. In the past, there were no connecting rooms at concierge level. I am aware of one situation where part of a family was concierge and part was not; all members of the family were given gold KTTW keys and had access to the suite even though they weren't all sleeping there.

We are all waiting to see whether "guests" of concierge level guests will be allowed in the concierge lounge, etc. I'm not voicing an opinion here, just that we await the policy.

Thanks for the info. We'll be sailing out of L.A., so I guess we'll have to wait and see regarding the waiting area. My in-laws will also be on the trip but I'm not as worried about getting reservations for them since they'll be arriving at a different time and won't be doing the adventure excursions with us....but I'd rather not leave out members of my immediate family from boarding together or getting spots on excursions.

I appreciate your help.

 

[jilljill]

If your reservations are fully linked and they are paid in full, you should be able to make reservations for your entire group. In the past, they would not have been allowed to wait in the concierge waiting area with you (Platinum cruisers were not allowed here most of the time either--strictly those gold KTTW cards only). However, with the enlargement of the terminal, I don't know how this is being handled in the last month or so. In the past, there were no connecting rooms at concierge level. I am aware of one situation where part of a family was concierge and part was not; all members of the family were given gold KTTW keys and had access to the suite even though they weren't all sleeping there.

We are all waiting to see whether "guests" of concierge level guests will be allowed in the concierge lounge, etc. I'm not voicing an opinion here, just that we await the policy.

Just to clarify what I have bolded in the above post. The Magic and the Wonder both have connecting cabins that are concierge and even some cabins that are concierge that connect to a non-concierge which is what the other poster was questioning. Not sure why it was posted that there have been no connecting concierge cabins in the past.

 

[Gigi22]

OP, at the onboard orientation reception for concierge guests on the Magic, the concierge offered us the opportunity to book more meals at Palo. We were able to order full dinners and hot breakfasts from Lumiere's off their menu, and we did so on several occasions. The one morning when there was a brunch menu in Lumiere's, we were able to order off the brunch menu.
I found it a bit surprising that the woman taking the room service orders had a very strong accent and could be hard to understand.