Concierge to Stateroom??

[dclpluto]

Also if there is ever a need for lifeboats concerige should be first off since our life is worth so much more than regular guests.

 

[NDFamily]

We have sailed concierge 4 times with the kids & non-concierge 2 times without. We have not been disappointed when sailing non-concierge. The perks are nice but we have always had a great time regardless. We will most likely be sailing non-concierge in the near future with the kids and I am not worried in the least about being disappointed.

I think this is what we are going to do. DH and I have talked about going on a cruise with just the two of us, we will probably just go with a regular room to check it out. However the kids probably wouldn't mind not being concierge anyway.

 

[SnowWhite2]

All perfectly fine. We definitely do NOT need concierge level every time. And in fact the last time the service was so cloying and fake (and we had concierge hosts that are clamored after by others) that ds and I weren't impressed at all. DH was but he always is if we can get concierge or club level anywhere.

Also, since dream has the lounge, we have found that we make that our home base and see/experience far less of the ship when we are paying for concierge (and I've only booked when the price difference was minimal), which feels sad in retrospect once the cruise is done.

We are platinum and have done one cruise concierge and it was a disappointment. The two requests we had - rebook on board and have a lounger on our extended verandah - were a bust. It was our 30th anniversary and we got a magical moments certificate from concierge hosts - not even a button.

I agree with Bumbershoot on the service being cloy and fake. We spent most of the time in the room and the lounge and didn't experience as much around the ship as we had in our previous cruises. The cost was almost double and we don't see the value for us. I would much rather cruise more often than cruise concierge. That is our preference but glad that there are options for all.

 

[NDFamily]

We are platinum and have done one cruise concierge and it was a disappointment. The two requests we had - rebook on board and have a lounger on our extended verandah - were a bust. It was our 30th anniversary and we got a magical moments certificate from concierge hosts - not even a button.

I agree with Bumbershoot on the service being cloy and fake. We spent most of the time in the room and the lounge and didn't experience as much around the ship as we had in our previous cruises. The cost was almost double and we don't see the value for us. I would much rather cruise more often than cruise concierge. That is our preference but glad that there are options for all.

Our concierge experience was the exact opposite. One of our concierge staff was from an area where I have family and so I was familiar with it (in Africa). I had some good conversations with her, when our dd got sick she brought every flavor of pedia pops and asked us to let her know what flavor was dd's favorite. We let her know and the remainder of our cruise our freezer was constantly stocked with purple and pink pedia pops. She also brought her some chicken noodle soup (dd's favorite) and was calling and stopping by to check in on her. She honestly felt like one of my aunts from the same area, her mannerisms were the same as them and I guess maybe because of that we got a different vibe.

My husband also talked quite a bit with one of the male concierge members. DH really liked the guy and he was pretty mellow.

From top to bottom our concierge staff and even the cleaning crew were great.

That being said our server from Remy was absolutely obnoxious. Our cruise was for our 10 year anniversary and we did dinner at Remy as our "date night" for it. Our server was incredibly pretentious, treated us like we were clueless about food in general (constantly questioning our choice of both of us going with the French menu), it was awful. Probably our only negative experience from our entire cruise came from Remy.

 

[NDFamily]

Wait, one more negative. I booked a pedicure at Senses and that was terrible. The woman doing it was completely disinterested and spent the entire time trying to up sell me on things and pushing products me. I tried engaging her in conversation and asking her about where she was from but she barely answered me. Unless it was about selling me something she wouldn't say more than 2-3 words to me.

 

[bumbershoot]

I should mention that on our first DCL cruise, which was in category V, the host we bonded with was awesome. And she remembered us (when we had an inside cabin and randomly ran into her while getting food) 8 months later AND helped me with something (DH asked her for help, I did not). She was amazing and sweet and kind and not fake. And she's no longer with Disney. SIGH.

NDFam, I'm glad you had that good experience when your child got sick, though I'm sorry your child got sick.


I will also mention that the less "fake" host on our second concierge cruise did help me with something I didn't think could be helped with and I was mainly just explaining the thoughtful expression on my face that he asked me about. So that was nice. One-on-one he was nice to talk to, but once the game face was on it was just all on the surface.

 

[Trera]

We love it and more importantly our 2 year old DD loves it. She really enjoys her time in the lounge getting snacks, coloring, and watching the mickey shows on TV. All of the hosts are very friendly to her and she always gets a special gift left in the room one night.

Yes it is more expensive but we find the level of service and attention to our family worth the extra money. Plus we love renting the family beach cabana.

 

[phinz]

We've sailed concierge and we've sailed steerage. We leave in 25 hours for another non-concierge cruise and cruise next Thanksgiving in concierge. We like both a lot. Then again, we are tshirt, beer and Fritos people, not Polo, Dom Perignon and Osetra folks.

 

[hubbard53]

We've sailed concierge and we've sailed steerage. We leave in 25 hours for another non-concierge cruise and cruise next Thanksgiving in concierge. We like both a lot. Then again, we are tshirt, beer and Fritos people, not Polo, Dom Perignon and Osetra folks.

first, i think calling any accommodation on a DCL ship (save perhaps staff quarters) 'steerage' is a stretch... but i think you're being facetious

I happen to enjoy "Dom Perignon and Osetra" (well, we're more into Tattinger) but would rather spend my money on MORE tattinger and osetra than on accommodations. I think the ONE concierge perk I would enjoy would be the concierge pool deck. The family pool deck is my least favorite of all spaces...

 

[PrincessShmoo]

concierge pool deck.

Not really a "pool" deck. But a separate sun deck.

 

[RebelHawk]

Not really a "pool" deck. But a separate sun deck.

Don't forget that on the Dream the sun deck now has a large hot tub and a misting area. We never went up to the sun deck until our last cruise. We were up there in the hot tub/misters almost every day and only once was there another group of adults up there. Very nice.

 

[phinz]

We've sailed concierge and we've sailed steerage. We leave in 25 hours for another non-concierge cruise and cruise next Thanksgiving in concierge. We like both a lot. Then again, we are tshirt, beer and Fritos people, not Polo, Dom Perignon and Osetra folks.

Don't get me wrong. I can drink with my pinky in the air just as well as the next person, but I don't require it to enjoy my Ripple.

 

[hubbard53]

 

[katellynne]

The concierge cruise ended up very different from our previous ones. We spent the vast majority of the time together, either in the lounge, the suite (in particular the extra large verandah that comes with 12012), or the sundeck (which the family curiously loved, we hardly saw another guest up there the entire cruise). I've never seen my extended family talk and interact as much as we did this week. I had hoped it would work that way, but it far exceeded my expectations. When someone went somewhere else on the ship, it would be to do something very specific and they would then come back and join the rest of us. Another thing, we absolutely loved, was to bail out of the MDR dinners early and have dessert up in the lounge where we'd put 3 tables together and sit, everyone together, and talk. It was _so_ much nicer and quieter.

I think this would be my main reason to try concierge, if it was in my budget! This goes along with the 'how much time do you spend in your cabin' theory of choosing where you will cruise. We are 'spend as much time as possible in our cabin' people! Even my kids, except for the youngest who loves the clubs, prefer to hang out in the cabin and watch movies etc. The extra space and the ability to order from the MDR's would be icing on the cake for them.

We cruise this May to Alaska and all along I have wished we could upgrade our 4 cabins (our family of 6 and both sets of grandparents) to concierge for the extra room and the ability to hang out together more like you mention. However, I am not sure the Wonder has capability just yet, there won't be a lounge on her until after the Fall re-imagining I believe? Plus we wouldn't get the benefit of all the free sunscreen or the cabana on Castaway in Alaska!

 

[timrousbeastie]

I think this would be my main reason to try concierge, if it was in my budget! This goes along with the 'how much time do you spend in your cabin' theory of choosing where you will cruise. We are 'spend as much time as possible in our cabin' people! Even my kids, except for the youngest who loves the clubs, prefer to hang out in the cabin and watch movies etc. The extra space and the ability to order from the MDR's would be icing on the cake for them.

We cruise this May to Alaska and all along I have wished we could upgrade our 4 cabins (our family of 6 and both sets of grandparents) to concierge for the extra room and the ability to hang out together more like you mention. However, I am not sure the Wonder has capability just yet, there won't be a lounge on her until after the Fall re-imagining I believe? Plus we wouldn't get the benefit of all the free sunscreen or the cabana on Castaway in Alaska!

Your Alaska cruise sounds like a wonderful opportunity to bring the family together. Being with such a large family for a week can be challenging and, at least in my case, required a lot of planning to figure out how things could work socially. It was important for me always to have a couple of nice locations so people could go somewhere else if the family got too much for them. The lounge and sun deck were nice, but we could have had a great trip without them. The 1-bedroom suite, on the other hand, was perfect when you wanted to be with the larger group.

As for Castaway Cay cabana, the whole family loved the Family Beach one that we got, but we ended up using it until 11:30 am when a storm came in that made it impossible to stay on the island. You could tell that the rain was bad as the family left 3 cold beers in the cabana. Oh well, at least it was fun to try and we got some nice photos in the morning.

 

[tlynk]

We upgraded to concierge cabin on our 3rd Disney cruise. Since then we have had either a balcony or an oceanview. We had a wonderful time even without the perks of concierge. I would book a standard inside in a heartbeat if it was all I could afford. I hope you enjoy your cruise whatever you decide.

 

[coloradocutie]

We've only been on Dream.


All perfectly fine. We definitely do NOT need concierge level every time. And in fact the last time the service was so cloying and fake (and we had concierge hosts that are clamored after by others) that ds and I weren't impressed at all. DH was but he always is if we can get concierge or club level anywhere.

Also, since dream has the lounge, we have found that we make that our home base and see/experience far less of the ship when we are paying for concierge (and I've only booked when the price difference was minimal), which feels sad in retrospect once the cruise is done.

Agree with both points. We have sailed Cat T on both the classic and the newer ships, and though we really loved the extra space and the in room dining option, seeing the price differential that is recently occurring, I cannot justify the upgrade to concierge. Our last sailing on the Fantasy, one of our concierge hosts (whom others rave about) was "cloy and fake" to the point we avoided that host, and ended up having to make a formal complaint due to inappropriate behavior. And though I really do love Disney service in general, all of our requests were forgotten or not addressed, and I felt that they really missed the mark, for us. If the price for concierge is in your budget, I would endorse it completely. For the upcoming cruise we are looking at, there is NO WAY that the service we received (or the space of the rooms) would have me pay DCL the $13k price difference... though for others it may be worth it. I am going to invest that difference in other experiences. For our upcoming cruise, we are going to be do what you are considering...which is going non-concierge. And I am sure it will be a great vacation still as we will be together as a family- always the true treat for me. (ok, and not having to cook or clean!)

If you end up going with a non-concierge stateroom, please do give an update!

Enjoy your cruise!!!

 

[arielchickenofthesea]

I don't think I could ever go back down, We do the 1 bedroom suite as well.

The lowest I think I could possible go is the "normal" conceriage level room that is a step below the 1 bedroom.

I can't imagine cruising in one of the regular rooms, it would be horrible.

Geeze, I have heard of spoiled and entitled, but this remark takes the cake!
If you are fortunate enough to even be on a Disney cruise, you are blessed. The regular veranda staterooms on a Disney ship are much larger than staterooms on other cruise lines.

We LOVE our veranda stateroom, because we love the crew and the ship and the fact that we are blessed enough to be able to cruise at all. I cannot imagine what being around snooty people who think regular stateroom are "horrible" would be like. The air up there where you are must be very thin. Such lofty company would give me nosebleeds...

Enjoy what you have and don't think for a second that it is permanent. Everyone could lose everything and they might "have" to travel with the regular folks. Don't kid yourself. NO one is THAT special.

We could afford to do concierge every cruise, the 3 times a year we cruise, BUT we don't need to or have to and we LOVE cruising. (And we enjoy it, because it COULD all go away, just like that, we take nothing for granted!).

We get all kinds of special little magical moments all the time from the crew because we have cruised so many times and mainly because we treat the crew as equals, not servants or lesser people. They are equal people to us. They like to be treated as what they are, equal people who just may be working on the ship, but no lesser person than you are.

Oftentimes we are surprised in our room by some treat or gift just because we treat others as we want to be treated...We have many friends in the crew that we keep in touch with via Facebook and email and these are forever friends. It is not about the fancy staterooms or the special amenities, it is about meeting folks from all over the world, enjoying yourself, and the ship and if you need special treatment and fancy accoutrements to do that, I actually feel sorry for you.

Also, we don't "need" the special magical moments, but they are given of the heart and kindness of very wonderful crew members, so they are enjoyed that much more, but expected, no. We feel so grateful for any special treatment such as a fruit plate delivered by room service to say thank you for ordering from them all week, or a rose handed to me by my Palo server, or any gesture, it is amazing. I always bring little gifts with me, maybe special See's candy, or crystal pendants and I love to give gifts to our stateroom host/ess and the Spa girls, or even a crew member we make a friendship with. Their eyes just light up and they are so thankful and special to be remembered for any kindness received from them. Yep, I love me, my cruise ship crew! They quite literally have our lives in their capable hands.

Magic and joy are found in the simplest things. I feel blessed to even be able to cruise. And meeting the wonderful crew from all over the world is a special treat! One I cannot get here at home....the simple things of cruising, enjoy those quiet moments, that moment when a child sees Mickey for the first time, the amazing people you might meet, and the sheer joy of being blessed enough to even be on a beautiful ship at sea, well fed, with a warm room and bed and being cared for by some of the hardest working people you will ever meet.

(Just an aside: Did you know the Palo servers receive NO wage for their work? They only earn what tips people give them. This is 100% accurate, and should be illegal, but is not, because these ships do not fall under the jurisdiction of U.S. labor laws. Remember this, next time you tip your Palo waiters!)

So....horrible to stay in a non-concierge room?

Horrible? No, I do NOT believe so. But some guests are....

 

[arielchickenofthesea]

Maybe if you didn't go concierge you could go more often.

Awesome reply....

 

[cypressmom]

We have sailed in a Cat T on the Magic and Fantasy. We loved the added space.

Our most recent cruise was in a 4A on the Magic. We did not miss the services of concierge, but missed the room. I'd book connectng balcony statrooms before booking concierge in the future.