Disney Cruise Line to Add New Concierge Staterooms to Disney Magic

[Kennywood]

Disney Cruise Line to Add New Concierge Staterooms to Disney Magic
by Jackie Gailey - Senior Editor



Disney Cruise Line announced this morning that 12 existing staterooms on the Disney Magic are being converted into Category V, Concierge Family Oceanview Staterooms with Verandah accommodations.  The upgrades to the furnishings and amenities will be completed by the October 2, 2020 sailing on the Disney Magic.

Stateroom numbers include: 8026, 8028, 8036, 8038, 8040, 8042, 8526, 8528, 8536, 8538, 8540, and 8542.

These staterooms will be open for sale as Category V, Concierge Family Oceanview Staterooms with Verandah beginning January 30, 2020.

Reservations made for the staterooms listed above for sailings prior to October 2, 2020 will remain as Category 4A, Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah.
Reservations booked for sailings October 2, 2020 and beyond will be treated as Category V, Concierge Family Oceanview Staterooms with Verandah.
Concierge Guest Services will be reaching out to guests and Travel Partners with guests booked in the affected staterooms for sailings October 2, 2020 and beyond to advise of the category change and review Concierge benefits.

Source: https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-storie...add-new-concierge-staterooms-to-disney-magic/

 

[lilsonicfan]

Sad, there are already so few rooms on the Magic for families of 5. Concierge sounds lovely but wowza the price.

 

[BadPinkTink]

aha, I was waiting for some sort of announcement, as there is a gap in the schedule between the end of my cruise 18 September and the departure of the transatlantic on October 2. This solves that mystery. I wonder will the ship be docked at Dover for this refurb or will it sail somewhere else for the missing 2 weeks.

 

[chirogrrl]

So, I am guessing that the guests who have already booked those rooms between Oct 2 and Jan 30 will get a comp upgrade to concierge? That would be amazing pixie dust!

 

[SamFaniam]

So, I am guessing that the guests who have already booked those rooms between Oct 2 and Jan 30 will get a comp upgrade to concierge? That would be amazing pixie dust!

That is what happened when the Wonder added concierge cabins.

 

[KashasMom]

I don't understand staying in those "regular" rooms at Concierge prices!

 

[pezgirlroy]

I don't understand staying in those "regular" rooms at Concierge prices!

At least for us we aren't necessarily doing it for the room but for the other Concierge perks.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

So, I am guessing that the guests who have already booked those rooms between Oct 2 and Jan 30 will get a comp upgrade to concierge? That would be amazing pixie dust!

Yep, that's the case for us! Very excited but the downside is now my family will be completely spoiled and never want to sail non-concierge from this point forward. We're only lowly silver so it's nice to get the bump for booking Palo. I'm so curious about what else they'll be changing during the drydock!

 

[chirogrrl]

Yep, that's the case for us! Very excited but the downside is now my family will be completely spoiled and never want to sail non-concierge from this point forward. We're only lowly silver so it's nice to get the bump for booking Palo. I'm so curious about what else they'll be changing during the drydock!

Yep, you will not want to go back! Palo and potentially getting a Cabana at Castaway Cay are amazing perks. Not to mention the lounge and amazing hosts. We sailed concierge as a "one-time splurge" for our 25th. Guess what? All 3 sailings since have been concierge.

 

[kaseyC]

The more concierge cabins means it will be more difficult to get a Cabana even for concierge folks. I expect in time DCL will have find some way to allow those in full concierge suites (Cat. R, S and T) to have first dibs on Cabanas within the concierge hierarchy.

 

[pezgirlroy]

The more concierge cabins means it will be more difficult to get a Cabana even for concierge folks. I expect in time DCL will have find some way to allow those in full concierge suites (Cat. R, S and T) to have first dibs on Cabanas within the concierge hierarchy.

I don't disagree with you but I will say we are coming up on our 3rd concierge trip (2 in fantasy once on magic) and we have been able to get one each time. Not sure if it is just because we have been lucky but each time we have sent in requests at exactly 12am at 125 days out.

 

[chirogrrl]

The more concierge cabins means it will be more difficult to get a Cabana even for concierge folks. I expect in time DCL will have find some way to allow those in full concierge suites (Cat. R, S and T) to have first dibs on Cabanas within the concierge hierarchy.

I agree. There are not that many cabanas available. I have always suspected that they already do that, but I am not sure. We have always gotten a requested cabana, but we always send the email at exactly 12a EST when booking opens. We have also been in Cat T rooms, so who knows?

 

[pezgirlroy]

We have also gotten the one we requested each time. So again who knows.

 

[CM Dad]

Yep, you will not want to go back! Palo and potentially getting a Cabana at Castaway Cay are amazing perks. Not to mention the lounge and amazing hosts. We sailed concierge as a "one-time splurge" for our 25th. Guess what? All 3 sailings since have been concierge.

Not necessarily. I took my wife on a cruise for her 60th birthday and splurged and had us in the Walt Suite on the Wonder. On that cruise I also paid for 4 additional (non-concierge) cabins to take our adult children and their families. My wife and I have been on 11 cruises since then, none in concierge. We really did enjoy the Walt suite, but we can certainly afford to cruise more often going in a regular verandah (or occasionally oceanview or inside).

I will admit that my wife is considering going on a NCL cruise, but only if we can book a room in their Haven class on a newer ship.

 

[CM Dad]

The more concierge cabins means it will be more difficult to get a Cabana even for concierge folks. I expect in time DCL will have find some way to allow those in full concierge suites (Cat. R, S and T) to have first dibs on Cabanas within the concierge hierarchy.

The one concierge cruise I booked was in the Walt suite. I was able to book 2 cabanas on the family beach for our traveling party of 15. The unfortunate part was that we ended up not being able use them when the Wonder was unable to dock at Castaway Cay

 

[ScooterScott44]

Since the Magic does the summer in Europe, the chances to book a cabana are already limited. Just a theory but as the Wish comes onboard, it might further reduce the number of visits the Magic does to Castaway Cay. Lighthouse point may have different/more opportunities for cabanas if that becomes a more regular stop for her so that even further convolutes the cabana discussion.

What is potentially more problematic is the lounge on the Magic. It seems it is the smallest of the lounges in the fleet. (We have not done concierge on the Wonder yet, as we had the San Juan to NOLA booked but had to postpone.) We did the WBTA this past falL on the Magic and at peak times the lounge could be full. A new “Disney island” helps with cabanas but there is not really a spot for more lounge. So either the lounge moves completely, another guest space get absorbed by the lounge, they just cram more people into that area or lounge access gets restricted. All of the options look like it impacts guest experience in some way, be it loss of guest areas by the non-concierge guest or impacts/changes on the concierge guest experience.

 

[ScooterScott44]

BTW, any changes to the lounge or lounge access is purely speculation on my part but just looking at the numbers it makes sense. If the Magic has full occupancy for each concierge stateroom currently it comes out to something like 164 guests. (That is an estimation since I only allowed 4 guests for 4 of the cat. T staterooms, most sleep 5 but a few do not and I wasn’t exactly sure how many.). With the addition of the 12 new cat. V rooms at maximum occupancy that is another 60 guests. 224 guests will never fit in the lounge.

The two dinner seatings and shows helps disperse the crowd but that could still put 112 people trying to get in for “happy hour”. Which would not seem to be so happy anymore. The good news is I’m guessing the rooms are never ALL at capacity at the same time. Still there was only seating for about 50 in there and with the one small bar, One bartender and an assistant bartender, it would appear this stretches the resources pretty thin. The concierge hosts probably not be impacted too much as the workload for the three would be similar to the Dream class ships.

 

[mousefan73]

Wow people can’t believe people book concierge just to be guaranteed a Palo spot and a cabana. That is one expensive meal and beach day. For the price difference you could sail regular AND book a land extension at a beautiful island resort. ( some differences in price would cover airfare and resort ).

Is there really so much demand they will book all these? Many sailings I look at there is often just concierge avail.

 

[KashasMom]

At least for us we aren't necessarily doing it for the room but for the other Concierge perks.

We recently did our first concierge on the Magic and honestly, there were so few perks (and we knew that in advance) that I would have never booked the smallest room.

 

[pezgirlroy]

We recently did our first concierge on the Magic and honestly, there were so few perks (and we knew that in advance) that I would have never booked the smallest room.

Really, we have done Concierge on the Magic and I thought there were a good number. To me being able to have access to shoreside and get in requests ahead of time is very important (especially because always do a Cabana). The ease of embarkation and disembarkation is very important to my parents who also travel with us. And we use the lounge and the perks of the lounge (happy hour, popcorn, place to decompress) a great deal.