Concierge service??

[Subi WRX]

We were in a category 3 last year (7-night). We tipped our room steward $125 (there were 2 of us), and our room steward came running after us to thank us. He was so incredibly grateful. Think he almost tackled my wife with a giant hug. As we got to talking, he said not many tip extra for the extra room. Sad. Guess people don't think about it.

My wife contacted the concierge at least a week or two before our 105 day mark (she is in charge of these things). She wanted to find out when pirate night was so we could plan Palo accordingly. Concierge responded within 48 hours. I'm sure they would've helped her with anything else she needed then.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

We were in a category 3 last year (7-night). We tipped our room steward $125 (there were 2 of us), and our room steward came running after us to thank us. He was so incredibly grateful. Think he almost tackled my wife with a giant hug. As we got to talking, he said not many tip extra for the extra room. Sad. Guess people don't think about it.

My wife contacted the concierge at least a week or two before our 105 day mark (she is in charge of these things). She wanted to find out when pirate night was so we could plan Palo accordingly. Concierge responded within 48 hours. I'm sure they would've helped her with anything else she needed then.

I found them to be very quick, so you doubled the stateroom host tip as there were two of you.

 

[cindy18]

Just a comment on concierge services before the cruise: we pretty much planned and booked everything ourselves online at the 105 day mark, including Palo. We made our Palo reservation based on our expected dining rotation (concierge was able to confirm our seating time), but then the restaurant rotation changed, and it was impossible to change our Palo night online. We emailed concierge, and they called the next day to say they had changed our reservation. So that was really nice.

Also, after we got home we discovered that our younger daughter's favorite stuffed animal had been left on the unmade sofa bed when we disembarked. We called DCL lost and found, but all they could tell us was that things left in the cabins spend the next cruise (i.e., another week) in the ship's lost and found before coming off the boat the following Saturday. My daughter was terrified that her stuffed animal was lost permanently, so I emailed concierge and asked if they could get in touch with our team (Patty and Nelsy, who told us they would be on the Baltic cruises, by the way -- we loved them) to see if they could track down the stuffed animal and confirm that it was found, not lost. We got a call from them the next day that Patty had confirmed the safe location of the stuffed animal. Big relief, and we really appreciated it.

 

[OurDogCisco]

So how soon do you contact ground concierge? I'm not planning to anytime soon, but I know that with the WDW trips (with GF RPC) we always contacted them prior to the opening of the reservation time.

I didn't. I did all my reservations at 105 days and really didn't have a reason to contact them. We did go to the Meet and greet on the 1st day which was really nice. I wouldn't skip it. There we made extra reservations for Palo. I'm glad we had done our excursions at 105 days as they even had slim pickings for available tours left. This was on the Mediterranean cruise. They did have extra SPA times as well so, you could book through them as well. We didn't have to contact them prior to the cruise. I'm sure other people may have specific issues and may need to contact them sooner.

During the cruise, they kept in contact with our airlines in regards to our missing lugggage. So, it was nice that they did all the internet work as we didn't buy the internet package on the cruise. They were able to print out a few things we needed for insurance reasons. However, our luggage never did show up. They said at the time there was only one window of opportunity to get your luggage in Rome. They did offer free tux rental to dh which we took but then, later cancelled because others on this particular cruise needed it more. Many people on our cruise were without any luggage. We got all but one piece which just happened to have a our dressy clothes but we made due with the ship store.

 

[BethA]

Does anyone know the current team on the Magic?

I think the team makes all the difference. We have had several excellent, a few okay and 1 that was dreadful. It is sad that DCL is not more careful about who is in this position. I agree they should have a lounge like we experienced on RC. Maybe on the new ships.

We go to the reception just to meet the team-we usually have things already booked, but like them to know who we are in case we need them or a problem arises.

On RC they now have a higher suggested tip for suites and this seems only fair. We always tip extra for the suites. In a cat 1 they have three times the area-at least-to clean.

Any recent cruisers have anything to add? I hope we get someone good in June!
Are they still having the concierge reception later in the cruise?

 

[HallsofVA]

Does anyone know the current team on the Magic?

I think the team makes all the difference. We have had several excellent, a few okay and 1 that was dreadful. It is sad that DCL is not more careful about who is in this position. I agree they should have a lounge like we experienced on RC. Maybe on the new ships.

We go to the reception just to meet the team-we usually have things already booked, but like them to know who we are in case we need them or a problem arises.

On RC they now have a higher suggested tip for suites and this seems only fair. We always tip extra for the suites. In a cat 1 they have three times the area-at least-to clean.

Any recent cruisers have anything to add? I hope we get someone good in June!
Are they still having the concierge reception later in the cruise?

We were on the Magic in December and had Andreia and another lady whose name I forgot. They were fine, and were very helpful when we needed assistance. But I didn't think they were nearly as attentive as the team we had on our previous cruise in Dec 2005. We very rarely saw these guys during the cruise, and always got voice mail when we called instead of an actual person.

We did attend the concierge reception when we first got on board, and we didn't even see either of them there. We were assisted by another person on their behalf, who was extremely helpful shifting around the dining rotation for us and our friends and family, and booking some additional items.

We were on an Eastern cruise, and they held the concierge reception as a St Thomas sail away party on the Topsiders deck. This was much later in the week than the Western cruise we'd done previously. They couldn't have planned it more perfectly as a storm pulled into St Thomas as we were sailing away and the most beautiful double rainbow appeared behind the boat, making for a fantastic photo shoot. We joked about how they really arranged everything!

We were in Cat 1 on the last cruise, and we definitely tipped our Stateroom hostess generously, since she really had so much more space to clean, and really went above and beyond to accomodate our two little ones. Plus it seemed like she would probably get fewer tips since she'd have fewer rooms assigned to her.

 

[mommyto3princesses]

We loved our team of Connie and Richard on the Magic. We are a family of 5 so we need the space, but we also loved the perks of concierge.

We ate at Palo a lot on our cruise and that's only because Connie made the reservations. Sometimes she'd even take our order and have it sent down. We were not thrilled with the dining room food, so were very happy to have Palo room service.

They were great about getting us on the tenders quickly and always making sure we had a stroller the night before we were going to need one -- port days.

The extra treats were nice but we asked them to not bring them because we really weren't eating them and I hated to be wasteful, but since we have children, they always brought by cookies and milk for the kids instead of the sweets. I also commented that I enjoyed the truffles one evening and they brought them again a second night. yum!

Also enjoyed the Meet n Greet and ability to sign up for the Club, wine tasting, galley tour, etc. My girls sat in the chairs and listened to Disney music and nibbled while we confirmed our plans.

My parents were on the ship with us in a Cat 6 and our ressies were not connected, but since they were with us a lot, they also got great treatment from Connie and Richard. My mom joined us at one of the cocktail parties, etc.

They had the characters sign a 12 x 12 paper for my scrapbook. I supplied the markers and paper.

Originally Posted by Davids-Coco View Post
Odd question... in a Cat 3, can a pack n' play fit in the master closet? I am thinking about the possibilities if my 18 mo kiddo won't sleep in the same room as us (we had this problem at 17 mo with my DS at Disneyland).

We put the PnP right next to our bed. It fit snuggly between the bed and the wall in a midship Cat 3 (8532). Our baby was so exhausted on most nights that she didn't care where she was sleeping. She even slept through the Sail Away party going on above us.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I have found all of these posts very helpful, thank you, and look forward ot my first time in a suite this year.

 

[cindy18]

Does anyone know the current team on the Magic?

We were on the March 21 Western and had Patty and Nelsy. They were terrific and we grew very fond of them.

 

[BethA]

Thanks-hopefully we will get a good team.

We had a Richard few cruises back from the Netherlands-not sure if that is the same one mentioned above, but we really liked him.

We were on the March 21 Western and had Patty and Nelsy. They were terrific and we grew very fond of them.

 

[HappyGrumpy]

Reading all this Concierge stuff is really making me want to book a suite.

Can anyone tell me, is the 2 bedroom suite an actual 2 bedroom that have doors for privacy? If we get a suite and if my parents come along and share the suite I am just curious about privacy

Also we are currently scheduled in a cat 9 for Dec 5th St Croix should we get on the wait list for a suite or take our chances when we get to port? I am really looking for the $$ difference to just getting it now or seeing what they offer when we get there. In my mind if we do it now they are going to say it's and additional $5k on top of the $2500 I am already paying

Anyone who would like to pass on their wisdom I am listening!

 

[Subi WRX]

Reading all this Concierge stuff is really making me want to book a suite.

Can anyone tell me, is the 2 bedroom suite an actual 2 bedroom that have doors for privacy? If we get a suite and if my parents come along and share the suite I am just curious about privacy

Also we are currently scheduled in a cat 9 for Dec 5th St Croix should we get on the wait list for a suite or take our chances when we get to port? I am really looking for the $$ difference to just getting it now or seeing what they offer when we get there. In my mind if we do it now they are going to say it's and additional $5k on top of the $2500 I am already paying

Anyone who would like to pass on their wisdom I am listening!

This is just me, but the 2-bedroom is going to be a lot more than $7500 for a week. Think you could pay more than that for a 1-bedroom.

All the suites have dedicated bedrooms.

The category 1 and 2 suites are very popular. I would doubt that they would be available on a 7-night cruise at the port. There is usually a waitlist for them.

 

[HappyGrumpy]

So would $15k get me in one prior to boarding? We are just tossing the idea of parents around so a One bedroom might be fine but it probably won't change the price as much


Maybe what I am trying to ask which I will end up asking the TA is what is the least expensive you can cruise in the concierge level. I mean if it is $15K then I would have my parents come along and enjoy their first Disney Cruise so we can split the cost. We will have to see!

 

[kaseyC]

Reading all this Concierge stuff is really making me want to book a suite.

Can anyone tell me, is the 2 bedroom suite an actual 2 bedroom that have doors for privacy? If we get a suite and if my parents come along and share the suite I am just curious about privacy

Also we are currently scheduled in a cat 9 for Dec 5th St Croix should we get on the wait list for a suite or take our chances when we get to port? I am really looking for the $$ difference to just getting it now or seeing what they offer when we get there. In my mind if we do it now they are going to say it's and additional $5k on top of the $2500 I am already paying

Anyone who would like to pass on their wisdom I am listening!

This is just me, but the 2-bedroom is going to be a lot more than $7500 for a week. Think you could pay more than that for a 1-bedroom.

All the suites have dedicated bedrooms.

The category 1 and 2 suites are very popular. I would doubt that they would be available on a 7-night cruise at the port. There is usually a waitlist for them.

Yep, You're probably looking at probably around 7-10K more for a 2 bedroom suite.

 

[Subi WRX]

So would $15k get me in one prior to boarding? We are just tossing the idea of parents around so a One bedroom might be fine but it probably won't change the price as much


Maybe what I am trying to ask which I will end up asking the TA is what is the least expensive you can cruise in the concierge level. I mean if it is $15K then I would have my parents come along and enjoy their first Disney Cruise so we can split the cost. We will have to see!

Call your TA to see if a 2-bedroom is even available. Your TA will likely have to put you on a waitlist.

On average for the 3-4-and 7-night cruises, a category 3 for 2 adults runs approx $1k/day (rough rule of thumb, give or take a few hundred), so it's going to be a lot more for a category 2.

If your waitlist clears, then DCL will offer it to you at a hard price (no negotiating) at which time you can say yes or no. If it's available now, your TA will be able to tell you the price difference.

Just brace yourself. You will pay whatever the current rate for the suites are, which could be substantially more than when they first became available to book.

 

[outahere]

On average for the 3-4-and 7-night cruises, a category 3 for 2 adults runs approx $1k/day (rough rule of thumb, give or take a few hundred), so it's going to be a lot more for a category 2.

DCL has really been raising the prices on the suites lately. The $1k per day rule of thumb used to be somewhat accurate for a cat 3, but now it's more like $1.5k - $1.7k per day for a cat 3. The cat 1 and 2 suites are considerably more than that. If you price a cat 1 or 2, be prepared for some serious "sticker shock".

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

DCL has really been raising the prices on the suites lately. The $1k per day rule of thumb used to be somewhat accurate for a cat 3, but now it's more like $1.5k - $1.7k per day for a cat 3. The cat 1 and 2 suites are considerably more than that. If you price a cat 1 or 2, be prepared for some serious "sticker shock".

Oh yes, and for the Baltic a second mortgage!!!

 

[Subi WRX]

DCL has really been raising the prices on the suites lately. The $1k per day rule of thumb used to be somewhat accurate for a cat 3, but now it's more like $1.5k - $1.7k per day for a cat 3. The cat 1 and 2 suites are considerably more than that. If you price a cat 1 or 2, be prepared for some serious "sticker shock".

Wow, that's unfortunate. We booked a 4-day for later this month, not long ago (fall 2008) and it's $4k. Are you talking just for the Baltics/Med? Or the 5-night Wonder? Know those prices are crazy. We priced out a 7-night in the fall of this year, and it was $7.9K. My guestimate was for 2A, no kids. Does your pricing include children?

At $1.5-1.7K/day -- I cannot imagine -- for the life of me -- $10.5 to 11.9K for a 7-night cruise. DCL would be cuckoo for cocoa puffs for a standard 7-night caribbean at those prices for just 2A.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Wow, that's unfortunate. We booked a 4-day later this month, not long ago (fall 2008) and it's $4k. Are you talking just for the Baltics/Med? Or the 5-night Wonder? Know those prices are crazy. We priced out a 7-night in the fall of this year, and it was $7.9K. My guestimate was for 2A, no kids. Does your pricing include children?

I can say any special cruise the price is up and high, but they have been cranking it up on all Magic cruises. When you have waitlists you can charge more.

 

[Subi WRX]

I can say any special cruise the price is up and high, but they have been cranking it up on all Magic cruises. When you have waitlists you can charge more.

Wonder if the waitlists will subside a bit once the Wonder moves out west and Dream begins her rotation.

We love Disney cruises, but we also love suites. I can't see paying 2x/2.5x more on Disney than for Celebrity, Princess, Holland being only 2 adults. We've been pricing out Crystal lately. That is becoming to look like a bargain.