Disappointed not going concierge after concierge cruise?

[Bear3412]

.... Do you have to put more money down than the $200 regular placeholder? ....

No.

Placeholder, non CL = $200 (no/less restrictions).
Placeholder, CL = $ 200 ( many / CL restrictions).
CL Booking, committed date and cabin = 20%. (some / CL restrictions)

Expect the typical sales pitch, annoying banter, and wrong info, especially about $$$ and details unfortunately at the Future Sales Desk lately. [that is an experience btw] Count on the Future Sales Desk to exercise their power to try to sell you .... even though apparently lately they are clueless.

Educate yourself before you "sail and sit" down.

Best of Luck @ the Desk to All.

May You Sail Free . . . . .

 

[Bear3412]

... it makes no logical sense to me why someone would book a non-refundable place holder deposit. ....

Exactly.

That is why only the clueless do so, IMO. Unfortunately, with the sales team aboard, it may be easy at all levels to lure such commitments. eek

DCL is following the wrong path. IMO. And we have heard this through the various threads.
And many have experienced it through various sailings.

DCL will be losing bookings. DCL will be earning less with all these changes. DCL has pissed off it's loyal clientele. DCL will be having more FL/CM sales. It's already changing.
Is it only I that sees this. My $$$ can only go sooo far. DCL took some wrong turns, and I feel they will pay for them. ... I will enjoy less pax aboard though.

Sell DIS.

IMO

 

[bumbershoot]

The main thing that we missed was the coffee machine. The coffee from Cove Cafe was good but we remembered the lounge coffee was better.

Ah, perhaps it's a difference in ships, but I will take the coffee "shop" lattes over that machine in the lounge on the Dream any day.

I found we did less around the ship and hung out more in the concierge areas including our room

YES. This is it exactly. It likely doesn't bother people who pay what they pay and aren't inclined to find the value in what they bought, but I'm a value-seeker, and since I paid for concierge, by gum I'm going to experience concierge. So that meant hanging out in the lounge more than I wanted to, instead of exploring and seeing the ship. I had the same problem with the cabana.

 

[Bear3412]

...

Do you have to put more money down than the $200 regular placeholder?
No. Not for a CL placeholder. At least last I asked. Summer 2015. YMMV.
Not unless you book a specific CL cabin and date. Then you could shell out a 20% deposit.

If you do, then that makes even less sense to me.
Exactly.

See red letters.

 

[suebecdan]

I might get shot for this but I have cruised concierge only one time because I did not think it was worth the extra $. I always get amazing serives either way. I know plenty of friends who will only cruise concierge, I respect their opinion it's just not for me. I have been crusing since I was 6 years old, 37 years later I can say that it is one of my favorite ways to vacation. I can't imagine never cruising again just bc I concierge was not in my budget.

 

[Skiton]

I might get shot for this but I have cruised concierge only one time because I did not think it was worth the extra $. I always get amazing serives either way. I know plenty of friends who will only cruise concierge, I respect their opinion it's just not for me. I have been crusing since I was 6 years old, 37 years later I can say that it is one of my favorite ways to vacation. I can't imagine never cruising again just bc I concierge was not in my budget.

Yes, that's pretty much what I was trying to say. I did notice a huge difference in RCCL between concierge and non-concierge, but on Disney, I just didn't! We had such a wonderful time on our first cruise, and our experience wasn't measurably improved by sailing concierge the second time around. If it's in the budget, we'll go for concierge next cruise, but if it's not I know we'll still have an amazing time.

 

[TestingH2O]

I might get shot for this but I have cruised concierge only one time because I did not think it was worth the extra $. I always get amazing serives either way. I know plenty of friends who will only cruise concierge, I respect their opinion it's just not for me. I have been crusing since I was 6 years old, 37 years later I can say that it is one of my favorite ways to vacation. I can't imagine never cruising again just bc I concierge was not in my budget.

It's reviews like this that are making me excited to try our non concierge cabin next February.

 

[tankin]

Our family has done both concierge on the new ship (cat v) and suite on the Magic. Honestly, we can't justify the added money for a cat v for us. We're happy in a "normal" deluxe family cabin and redirecting the money we would have spent on the upgrade to cat v on other things (like additional cruises).

 

[Sunseeker17]

We cruised Category T B2B on the Dream in January 2015 and then cat 7 (secret veranda) on the Magic Nov. 2015. Did we miss concierge? For some things, like the 2 happy hours a day, for sure (knowing we definitely had already paid for those "free" drinks!), as well as the quick response to questions/needs, and the little extras (surprising my son with popcorn when he was going to watch movies in our room, and arcade cards (pre-Vanellope's!!)). But we still loved the DCL experience non-concierge. We DID get a tour of the new concierge lounge on the Magic though, because, by chance, our concierge host from the Dream (Andy...who is amazing), had transferred to help open the Magic concierge lounge. He spotted us on the Magic one evening and invited us in for a tour. It is very nice...large windows looking out onto the pool deck below, with a private shaded outdoor deck area, also with the same pool view. Nicer concierge lounge than the Dream, really!

 

[turtle27]

OK, so my traveling group had the luxury of experiencing concierge on the Wonder last year. We booked the 2BR (4 adults & we had a 25% coupon from a previous sailing on the Fantasy). It was a 5 night cruise and the price was just a bit more than booking 2 Cat 5 rooms. We enjoyed concierge. We enjoyed the "free" water and drinks. It was nice being in a larger living space. It was nice not having to arrange any of the tastings/tickets on our own. Of course, this is very little work anyhow, so there was just a bit of value to that. It was nice being told what we were doing each day with a personalized itinerary. Was it worth the few hundred extra we each paid, you betcha. Is it worth thousands of extra for us. Nope. But that is an individual/family decision. Concierge rooms make sense for some families, they enjoy being able to order from the menus and having it delivered, the convenience of having a host, for those on the Dream, Fantasy, and now Magic, the lounge access. Or, for some that just want to be able to say they are in concierge. Or, if you have a larger family and would be purchasing multiple rooms anyhow, sometimes I think there is great value in it.
DM and I did the EBPC sailing this past October and the concierge level was 2x as much as our Cat 5. Neither of us felt that was worth it. But that is us. So no, we did not miss it. We missed not seeing our host, whom we loved, more than we missed being in Concierge. In fact, we barely even thought about it once on the ship! I think we did miss the bathroom, there was that. I think there are some CM's who suck up to you more when you are in concierge, because it is noted. Of course, we had such a fabulous group on the cruise, that nothing could have brought us down!