Concierge service??

[BuzzNutt]

I will be going with a party of 10 in October and am so hoping I can get help making an actual set appointment to do the lifestyle pictures. If I can give the 3 families a time to be where ever we need to be I will have a better chance of pulling off the entire group in one picture. Otherwise we will only have a few of us Has anyone ever tried this?

 

[AlexandNessa]

We cruise concierge primarily because like to have a SPOC (single point of contact, if you're not familiar with the term. ). We like to pick up the phone and call one person for anything we need ... no separate number for the pursers office, the shorex desk, maintenance, etc. Whatever we need, we just call the concierge. Now, that said, we didn't use their services all that much.

We met with them after we got on-board, and they primarily confirmed our current reservations for Palo/CC, and asked if they could do anything for us. They told us about the Gingerbread house making and martini tastings, and asked if we'd like tickets to those. We tried to get Palo reservations pushed back an hour (couldn't do it online, even at the 105 day window ... we were traveling with 2 other folks that were linked to our reservations/non-concierge. Although we were able to make reservations for the 4 of us instead of the 2 of us, that severely limited the times available). The concierge had a hard time moving our reservation, so don't count on them fully for Palo.

The only other things we asked them to do was to have our tips added to our on-board account and to add our Disney Dollars to our OBC, which they did. And, although the moulding is beautiful in the suites, it can creak like a nagging mother when there are swells. We called the concierge who called carpentry to caulk the moulding for us.

We did not tip them. Perhaps next time I will bring a goodie bag of candies or something for them if they will not accept a tip.

The only thing we did do for tipping was double our room steward's tip and then some. It is ridiculous that the recommended tip for room attendants is the same whether you're in a suite or a Cat 12. On RCI, tips for suite attendants are higher than for non-suite attendants, due primarily to having more real estate to care for. DCL does not do this, but I would encourage them to consider it. I'm sure the inequity in the current set up doesn't faze some suite cruisers, and that some suite cruisers feel good about tipping the recommended amount. Don't get me wrong, I would not blame them for feeling good about that because "them's the rules." This is my opinion only, but I personally don't see how DCL can justify the same tip for an attendant whether he's cleaning 184 square feet (Cat 11/12) or 614 sq feet (Cat 3)? There could be more people in a Cat 1 or Cat 2 to make up the difference, but still. With the extra bathroom(s), the suites are at least twice the work to clean. Again, MHO only, and those who do not choose to tip extra for this are within their rights to do so, given DCL's current guidelines.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

We cruise concierge primarily because like to have a SPOC (single point of contact, if you're not familiar with the term. ). We like to pick up the phone and call one person for anything we need ... no separate number for the pursers office, the shorex desk, maintenance, etc. Whatever we need, we just call the concierge. Now, that said, we didn't use their services all that much.

We met with them after we got on-board, and they primarily confirmed our current reservations for Palo/CC, and asked if they could do anything for us. They told us about the Gingerbread house making and martini tastings, and asked if we'd like tickets to those. We tried to get Palo reservations pushed back an hour (couldn't do it online, even at the 105 day window ... we were traveling with 2 other folks that were linked to our reservations/non-concierge. Although we were able to make reservations for the 4 of us instead of the 2 of us, that severely limited the times available). The concierge had a hard time moving our reservation, so don't count on them fully for Palo.

The only other things we asked them to do was to have our tips added to our on-board account and to add our Disney Dollars to our OBC, which they did. And, although the moulding is beautiful in the suites, it can creak like a nagging mother when there are swells. We called the concierge who called carpentry to caulk the moulding for us.

We did not tip them. Perhaps next time I will bring a goodie bag of candies or something for them if they will not accept a tip.

The only thing we did do for tipping was double our room steward's tip and then some. It is ridiculous that the recommended tip for room attendants is the same whether you're in a suite or a Cat 12. On RCI, tips for suite attendants are higher than for non-suite attendants, due primarily to having more real estate to care for. DCL does not do this, but I would encourage them to consider it. I'm sure the inequity in the current set up doesn't faze some suite cruisers, and that some suite cruisers feel good about tipping the recommended amount. Don't get me wrong, I would not blame them for feeling good about that because "them's the rules." This is my opinion only, but I personally don't see how DCL can justify the same tip for an attendant whether he's cleaning 184 square feet (Cat 11/12) or 614 sq feet (Cat 3)? There could be more people in a Cat 1 or Cat 2 to make up the difference, but still. With the extra bathroom(s), the suites are at least twice the work to clean. Again, MHO only, and those who do not choose to tip extra for this are within their rights to do so, given DCL's current guidelines.

Thank you for your full report, its very informative and helpful, I am saving the tips form here for my 2009 cruise.

I agree with you points on tips.

 

[lillygator]

we've sailed in a cat 3 and we used the concierge team for extra Palo reservations and Floudners reservations....they were great.
They also organized a wine and cheese party for our cabin.

 

[all5ofus]

...

The only thing we did do for tipping was double our room steward's tip and then some. It is ridiculous that the recommended tip for room attendants is the same whether you're in a suite or a Cat 12. On RCI, tips for suite attendants are higher than for non-suite attendants, due primarily to having more real estate to care for...

I completely agree with this. We tip more than double the recommended amount for our room steward because the sixe of the suite as well as how messy my kids are.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

we've sailed in a cat 3 and we used the concierge team for extra Palo reservations and Floudners reservations....they were great.
They also organized a wine and cheese party for our cabin.

I completely agree with this. We tip more than double the recommended amount for our room steward because the sixe of the suite as well as how messy my kids are.

Thank's for the input.

 

[Barbosa's 1st Mate]

I appoligize if this is in the wrong place,
Can Cat 3 request/choose dinning rotation??

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I appoligize if this is in the wrong place,
Can Cat 3 request/choose dinning rotation??

Everyone can request, but I think they will do it for Cats1>3.

Have to contact them in advance of cruise.

 

[outahere]

Everyone can request, but I think they will do it for Cats1>3.

Have to contact them in advance of cruise.

We've sailed in a cat 3 on 4 of the 5 (soon to be 5 out of 6) DCL cruises we've been on and our experiences have been......

We have requested a dining rotation on 2 of the 4 and did not receive it either time. Since they recently started using a land-based concierge, we have requested a rotation for our cruise next month, through her, but we'll have to wait to see if we get it. A few months prior to your cruise, you will receive the email address for the land-based concierge.

On our first 2 cat 3 cruises, the room was stocked with 6 cans of soda, but was not restocked. On the last 2 cat 3 cruises, the room was stocked with six bottles of bottled water, and not restocked. We have always received a plate of "goodies" every day and had a bowl of fruit in the room when we boarded.

You can order a hot breakfast, except on the last morning (you can order continental that morning - order it the night before). You can also order room service dinner from the regular dining room menu. Cats 1 and 2 can order room service from Palo.

On the EB repo in 2005, our DS received a few arcade cards and they decorated our cabin door on my birthday (and gave me a lithograph as a birthday present).

I would definitely advise going to the Concierge meeting when you board and they will do their best to get you any Palo or spa ressies you want. One of the times that we did not get our requested dining rotation, they went to the dining manager and got it changed while we relaxed with a cup of coffee and cookies.

If you have kids in either the Lab or the Club, they will register them and give you your pager at the Concierge meeting - no need to do anything in the terminal or go to the Lab/Club.

Hmmmm... if I think of anything else, I'll pop back onto this thread and post again.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

We've sailed in a cat 3 on 4 of the 5 (soon to be 5 out of 6) DCL cruises we've been on and our experiences have been......

We have requested a dining rotation on 2 of the 4 and did not receive it either time. Since they recently started using a land-based concierge, we have requested a rotation for our cruise next month, through her, but we'll have to wait to see if we get it. A few months prior to your cruise, you will receive the email address for the land-based concierge.

On our first 2 cat 3 cruises, the room was stocked with 6 cans of soda, but was not restocked. On the last 2 cat 3 cruises, the room was stocked with six bottles of bottled water, and not restocked. We have always received a plate of "goodies" every day and had a bowl of fruit in the room when we boarded.

You can order a hot breakfast, except on the last morning (you can order continental that morning - order it the night before). You can also order room service dinner from the regular dining room menu. Cats 1 and 2 can order room service from Palo.

On the EB repo in 2005, our DS received a few arcade cards and they decorated our cabin door on my birthday (and gave me a lithograph as a birthday present).

I would definitely advise going to the Concierge meeting when you board and they will do their best to get you any Palo or spa ressies you want. One of the times that we did not get our requested dining rotation, they went to the dining manager and got it changed while we relaxed with a cup of coffee and cookies.

If you have kids in either the Lab or the Club, they will register them and give you your pager at the Concierge meeting - no need to do anything in the terminal or go to the Lab/Club.

Hmmmm... if I think of anything else, I'll pop back onto this thread and post again.

Thank you for this great report.

 

[outahere]

Thank you for this great report.

You're welcome.

BTW..... I saw that your are booked on the 8/15/2009 Eastern to Tortola. We are also booked on that cruise, in a mid-ship cat 3.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

You're welcome.

BTW..... I saw that your are booked on the 8/15/2009 Eastern to Tortola. We are also booked on that cruise, in a mid-ship cat 3.

Yep so we will meet up in the concierge meeting, It will be a great trip, looking forward to the Cat 3 for that one, mines to-wards the Aft at the Aft elevators.

 

[CustardTart]

The only thing we did do for tipping was double our room steward's tip and then some. It is ridiculous that the recommended tip for room attendants is the same whether you're in a suite or a Cat 12. On RCI, tips for suite attendants are higher than for non-suite attendants, due primarily to having more real estate to care for. DCL does not do this, but I would encourage them to consider it. I'm sure the inequity in the current set up doesn't faze some suite cruisers, and that some suite cruisers feel good about tipping the recommended amount. Don't get me wrong, I would not blame them for feeling good about that because "them's the rules." This is my opinion only, but I personally don't see how DCL can justify the same tip for an attendant whether he's cleaning 184 square feet (Cat 11/12) or 614 sq feet (Cat 3)? There could be more people in a Cat 1 or Cat 2 to make up the difference, but still. With the extra bathroom(s), the suites are at least twice the work to clean. Again, MHO only, and those who do not choose to tip extra for this are within their rights to do so, given DCL's current guidelines.

Good point! We tipped our steward more than the recommended amount due to the size of the suite which he kept immaculate...

BTW..... I saw that your are booked on the 8/15/2009 Eastern to Tortola. We are also booked on that cruise, in a mid-ship cat 3.

See you there! We're in a mid-ship Cat 3 too...

Yep so we will meet up in the concierge meeting, It will be a great trip, looking forward to the Cat 3 for that one, mines to-wards the Aft at the Aft elevators.

On this cold, miserable March evening, I can't wait...

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Good point! We tipped our steward more than the recommended amount due to the size of the suite which he kept immaculate...



See you there! We're in a mid-ship Cat 3 too...



On this cold, miserable March evening, I can't wait...

Karen that is three of us in the Concierge meeting, forgot that, 9 shouldnt have sorry)

And yes been enjoying our ''WHITE EASTER''

 

[flexsmom]

We have sailed concierge three times now and definitely enjoy the "perks", but we've come to realize that if there's anything "out of the norm" that is requested, or that can be just as easily directed to the applicable shipboard department, it's better to do it that way.

For example, it's great to get the nightly "treats" and all that. We love being able to go to one place once we board for a "one stop shop" to confirm our ressies or adjust anything that needs to be changed. But what we have found is that while the concierge team will stop by periodically to ask how everything is and if we need anything, if and when we said yes, from there on things went bad!

On Christmas Eve we decided to have cocktails in our room for all of the families in our party before dinner, so we could exchange gifts. (We had 11 adults and 3 kids.) Our friends were supplying the champagne, so we asked for 11 champagne glasses and a bottle of sparkling cider for the 2 non-drinking adults we had. The glasses arrived right on time, and I called no fewer than 4 times about the sparkling cider. Each time the concierge seemed shocked and surprised that "it isn't there yet?" She said it was probably in a group of orders being delivered at the same time. Finally, 5 minutes before we were to leave for dinner, they stopped by to "see how we were doing" - still no cider. The poor guy walked up while they were there - one hour late. Anyhow - next time I'd just call directly to order it and cut out the middleman, which is fine with me if all they are doing is calling the very same people we would be calling.

Our arcade cards also had a zero balance on them - that was kind of funny, actually - my kids were really confused! But even then they insisted there were credits on them, until they looked for themselves.

I think we just had a not-so-great team that was thrown for a loop anytime something went "off script". So - I'll play along and stick to the script, since for me, the main benefit of concierge is the bigger room and the advance reservation period.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

We have sailed concierge three times now and definitely enjoy the "perks", but we've come to realize that if there's anything "out of the norm" that is requested, or that can be just as easily directed to the applicable shipboard department, it's better to do it that way.

For example, it's great to get the nightly "treats" and all that. We love being able to go to one place once we board for a "one stop shop" to confirm our ressies or adjust anything that needs to be changed. But what we have found is that while the concierge team will stop by periodically to ask how everything is and if we need anything, if and when we said yes, from there on things went bad!

On Christmas Eve we decided to have cocktails in our room for all of the families in our party before dinner, so we could exchange gifts. (We had 11 adults and 3 kids.) Our friends were supplying the champagne, so we asked for 11 champagne glasses and a bottle of sparkling cider for the 2 non-drinking adults we had. The glasses arrived right on time, and I called no fewer than 4 times about the sparkling cider. Each time the concierge seemed shocked and surprised that "it isn't there yet?" She said it was probably in a group of orders being delivered at the same time. Finally, 5 minutes before we were to leave for dinner, they stopped by to "see how we were doing" - still no cider. The poor guy walked up while they were there - one hour late. Anyhow - next time I'd just call directly to order it and cut out the middleman, which is fine with me if all they are doing is calling the very same people we would be calling.

Our arcade cards also had a zero balance on them - that was kind of funny, actually - my kids were really confused! But even then they insisted there were credits on them, until they looked for themselves.

I think we just had a not-so-great team that was thrown for a loop anytime something went "off script". So - I'll play along and stick to the script, since for me, the main benefit of concierge is the bigger room and the advance reservation period.

Sorry to read of the issues.

 

[Barbosa's 1st Mate]

Thanks for the info, we cuise next month. I'm trying to get some information together for our group of 12.

 

[LisaSp]

Our arcade cards also had a zero balance on them - that was kind of funny, actually - my kids were really confused! But even then they insisted there were credits on them, until they looked for themselves.

We were traveling with friends who were in a Cat. 3 and had concierge service, we did not (alas, poor us!!). But their concierge staff had arcade cards for all of the kids, including ours, which was really sweet. But they didn't work either! I don't even remember what ended up happening, as the arcade was the dads' area to deal with, but it was funny to me at the time and more funny to see this problem was not an isolated incident!

Other than that I know our friends loved their concierge team and had a great experience.

 

[Barbosa's 1st Mate]

do you know if they recieved a disney print? Our june 06 cruise, on our last night, the concierge team left us a frameable Disney print.

 

[flexsmom]

Sorry to read of the issues.

Oh it won't detract us from doing it again - so not so bad, believe me. I almost hestitated to post it, because I didn't want to imply that our entire experiences have been unpleasant. On the contrary! I think for the advertised services, concierge is a wonderful plus. I just think we've learned now what to request and what to do on our own!