I STILL cannot get over the concierge room pricing which is often twice the inside stateroom price. I just don't think it's worth it for that price. We cruised concierge on the Disney Dream in a Family Verandah room in February 2015 (4 days Bahamas cruise). We paid a LOT for that room, and while it was pricey it was not nearly as exorbitantly priced as concierge rooms have been on opening day the last few times prices have come out. They are almost always about 50% more than we paid for the same itinerary and often hover around twice the cost of inside rooms.
There were a lot of perks to cruising concierge, but I'm just not sure these are worth the crazy prices:
1. First dibs on booking a Castaway Cay cabana. It was AMAZING but cost an extra ~$600. I know there are also excursions we could do instead on CC, and I might do that instead next time if we don't book concierge again. Excursions may be somewhat inferior experiences to lounging on that hammock and playing in the sand. But realistically for $600 you can buy an awesome hammock with a nice stand and have it at home to use for many years, rather than just a few hours for a day on a semi-secluded beach. I think you could even buy 2 hammocks for that price! Plus, I felt itchy while laying in the hammock like there were bugs or something (I think sand fleas). I googled and others have experienced this as well. It wasn't the most comfortable experience for $600. It was nice that we had a little shower that I did use and that helped a bit, but I know there are also public showers on the non-cabana part of the beach.
It was nice having chips, fresh fruit, drinks and a refrigerator but food and drinks are free on the island so we could have gotten whatever we wanted although of course there are lines to wait in (it wouldn't be Disney if there were no lines, right?!).
On CC, we had a safe which was awesome, but it broke and we had to have island security come fix it so that we could retrieve our belongings at the end of the day.
There is music in the cabana but you can hear neighbors' music since they really are on top of one another.
The biggest plus was the beach which is terrific for little kids since it's so shallow but as our kids get older they are more interested in going over to the slides. Why pay for a cabana if we are not using it the entire time?
You can snorkel for free if you have a cabana, but need to stand in line just like non-cabana guests (and they can snorkel for a fee). Bikes are free for cabana guests, but I assume you wait in line to rent one of those as well. Our kids were too small for biking so this wasn't a valuable perk for us.
While this all may sound a bit negative, we LOVED our cabana and would get one in a heartbeat. I know lots of people want to get a cabana and cannot. They are amazing but if you are cruising concierge solely to get a cabana, I'm not sure it's worth the cost.
2. We had amazing seats at Animator's Palate. My kids got to talk to Crush, but they have done this a few times at Epcot so they seemed pleased but it would not be a huge deal if we just saw crush interacting with other guests and were not part of the action.
3. The hot tub on the Concierge deck was amazing. There are hot tubs available to non-concierge guests but they are obviously more busy. You can pay to use Senses spa during your stay which has nice hot tubs as well. The concierge deck was very nice and had lots of lounge chairs, but we spent a lot of our time on the rest of the ship in the pool, Aquaduck, and kids club which are open to all guests.
4. We got to meet sailor Goofy in the concierge deck but then we had already met so many other characters in the park and on the ship that it did not seem super special really. We were also given tickets to Anna and Elsa but we did not get to pick the time. Tickets were given to us by concierge so we did not need to wait in line at guest services. However, anyone on the ship could see them if they are willing to wait in line.
5. The snacks in the concierge lounges were very good, and the coffee machine was awesome. I have one coffee a day however so I figure I could have spent less than $50 at Cove Cafe for decent coffee. I like Joffrey's coffee and I always get it in the parks. I assume there are lines involved in waiting at Cove Cafe, but they never seemed awful. I thought I saw that you can get free pastries at Cove Cafe (but I had no idea during our cruise, so we never went there. I assumed you had to pay extra).
6. We got a free fruit basket which was really nice on the first day of our cruise, but there is so much food on a cruise that most of it went uneaten. It was the same arrangement you could order prior to the cruise for about $30. We had a refrigerator stocked with stuff but all of the rooms have a refrigerator.
7. We got cookies delivered by concierge without our asking for it. All guests can order cookies from room service free to charge.
8. We waited in a concierge lounge and were in the first group to embark. This was nice, especially for a shorter cruise. On a longer cruise I'm not sure I'd place as much value on this perk.
9. On disembarking, Concierge helped us to get an elevator that he keyed so it didn't stop on our way down as we left the ship. This was nice since we had an early flight but next time I think I will just book a later flight and I can deal with a crowded elevator. Everyone has to be off the ship at the same time anyway.
10. Our room slept up to 5, and there were only 4 of us so we were very comfortable. The room had lots of storage and nice finishes. We had the round tub and nice soap/shampoo but I could buy fancy shampoo myself and pack it in my bag.
For 2018, I'm leaning towards trying to book an intinerary that excludes CC. We could get a deluxe inside room for 1/2 the price, and see if we can pay to upgrade at the port. Concierge service was great, but I'm not really high maintenance and I'm just not sure it's worth the cost. Curious what others think.
There were a lot of perks to cruising concierge, but I'm just not sure these are worth the crazy prices:
1. First dibs on booking a Castaway Cay cabana. It was AMAZING but cost an extra ~$600. I know there are also excursions we could do instead on CC, and I might do that instead next time if we don't book concierge again. Excursions may be somewhat inferior experiences to lounging on that hammock and playing in the sand. But realistically for $600 you can buy an awesome hammock with a nice stand and have it at home to use for many years, rather than just a few hours for a day on a semi-secluded beach. I think you could even buy 2 hammocks for that price! Plus, I felt itchy while laying in the hammock like there were bugs or something (I think sand fleas). I googled and others have experienced this as well. It wasn't the most comfortable experience for $600. It was nice that we had a little shower that I did use and that helped a bit, but I know there are also public showers on the non-cabana part of the beach.
It was nice having chips, fresh fruit, drinks and a refrigerator but food and drinks are free on the island so we could have gotten whatever we wanted although of course there are lines to wait in (it wouldn't be Disney if there were no lines, right?!).
On CC, we had a safe which was awesome, but it broke and we had to have island security come fix it so that we could retrieve our belongings at the end of the day.
There is music in the cabana but you can hear neighbors' music since they really are on top of one another.
The biggest plus was the beach which is terrific for little kids since it's so shallow but as our kids get older they are more interested in going over to the slides. Why pay for a cabana if we are not using it the entire time?
You can snorkel for free if you have a cabana, but need to stand in line just like non-cabana guests (and they can snorkel for a fee). Bikes are free for cabana guests, but I assume you wait in line to rent one of those as well. Our kids were too small for biking so this wasn't a valuable perk for us.
While this all may sound a bit negative, we LOVED our cabana and would get one in a heartbeat. I know lots of people want to get a cabana and cannot. They are amazing but if you are cruising concierge solely to get a cabana, I'm not sure it's worth the cost.
2. We had amazing seats at Animator's Palate. My kids got to talk to Crush, but they have done this a few times at Epcot so they seemed pleased but it would not be a huge deal if we just saw crush interacting with other guests and were not part of the action.
3. The hot tub on the Concierge deck was amazing. There are hot tubs available to non-concierge guests but they are obviously more busy. You can pay to use Senses spa during your stay which has nice hot tubs as well. The concierge deck was very nice and had lots of lounge chairs, but we spent a lot of our time on the rest of the ship in the pool, Aquaduck, and kids club which are open to all guests.
4. We got to meet sailor Goofy in the concierge deck but then we had already met so many other characters in the park and on the ship that it did not seem super special really. We were also given tickets to Anna and Elsa but we did not get to pick the time. Tickets were given to us by concierge so we did not need to wait in line at guest services. However, anyone on the ship could see them if they are willing to wait in line.
5. The snacks in the concierge lounges were very good, and the coffee machine was awesome. I have one coffee a day however so I figure I could have spent less than $50 at Cove Cafe for decent coffee. I like Joffrey's coffee and I always get it in the parks. I assume there are lines involved in waiting at Cove Cafe, but they never seemed awful. I thought I saw that you can get free pastries at Cove Cafe (but I had no idea during our cruise, so we never went there. I assumed you had to pay extra).
6. We got a free fruit basket which was really nice on the first day of our cruise, but there is so much food on a cruise that most of it went uneaten. It was the same arrangement you could order prior to the cruise for about $30. We had a refrigerator stocked with stuff but all of the rooms have a refrigerator.
7. We got cookies delivered by concierge without our asking for it. All guests can order cookies from room service free to charge.
8. We waited in a concierge lounge and were in the first group to embark. This was nice, especially for a shorter cruise. On a longer cruise I'm not sure I'd place as much value on this perk.
9. On disembarking, Concierge helped us to get an elevator that he keyed so it didn't stop on our way down as we left the ship. This was nice since we had an early flight but next time I think I will just book a later flight and I can deal with a crowded elevator. Everyone has to be off the ship at the same time anyway.
10. Our room slept up to 5, and there were only 4 of us so we were very comfortable. The room had lots of storage and nice finishes. We had the round tub and nice soap/shampoo but I could buy fancy shampoo myself and pack it in my bag.
For 2018, I'm leaning towards trying to book an intinerary that excludes CC. We could get a deluxe inside room for 1/2 the price, and see if we can pay to upgrade at the port. Concierge service was great, but I'm not really high maintenance and I'm just not sure it's worth the cost. Curious what others think.
