New Embarkation Day Concierge Lunch?

[phinz]

If your Concierge room happens to be ready when you board, are you able to go there before visiting the Lounge and going over your itinerary? We're just doing a 3 day cruise, so we are going to carry-on our bags. It would be nice to be able to drop the bags off in our rooms before heading to wherever we wind up having lunch.

Yes. Rarely is your room not ready in Concierge. I've yet to not have our rooms ready immediately upon boarding.

 

[kaseyC]

We do choose to have dinner delivered to our suite some nights. Since my DDs are older, we don't find the MDRs as entertaining.

 

[pezgirlroy]

I am thinking that the night that my husband and I go to Palo and my parents will have our two kids that they will order to the room. Might make it a bit easier for them.

 

[kaseyC]

I am thinking that the night that my husband and I go to Palo and my parents will have our two kids that they will order to the room. Might make it a bit easier for them.

It's a nice option to have especially after a long port day. Put some comfy clothes on, turn on a movie and have MDR dinner delivered.

 

[FSU Girl]

If your Concierge room happens to be ready when you board, are you able to go there before visiting the Lounge and going over your itinerary? We're just doing a 3 day cruise, so we are going to carry-on our bags. It would be nice to be able to drop the bags off in our rooms before heading to wherever we wind up having lunch.

Yup! I'm not sure the exact time the rooms open, but I got on the ship pretty early and our room was ready to go, I think it was 11am? When you board you'll be escorted up to the concierge area, you can ask them if the rooms are ready yet.

 

[FSU Girl]

It's a nice option to have especially after a long port day. Put some comfy clothes on, turn on a movie and have MDR dinner delivered.

How does the ordering in the room work? Can we decide day of or is it something we have to tell someone the night before?

 

[TestingH2O]

How does the ordering in the room work? Can we decide day of or is it something we have to tell someone the night before?

You let the concierges know during the day. The menus are in the lounge and give them your order. The meal is delivered in courses by a server. Table cloths and china. It's a very nice experience.

 

[Cirlonde]

This is interesting to me. I did not realize so many concierge guests skipped the MDRS to eat in their room. You miss out on some fun experiences.

We're planning to have a meal delivered to our room on our Castaway Cay day. After spending all day in the sun and sand, I think I will be glad of some "down time" and I think we will appreciate not having to rush around getting ready for dinner on our last night...plus since we chose the second seating, we'd be getting back to the room kind of late. Anyway, just offering a different perspective!

 

[BCV23]

Because I was in one when they first opened. They were only offered to concierge guests, then they built more and opened it up if any were available after the concierge guests booked.

Like I said, those left over were opened up. Even then there still were some held back and used for the waitlist if no concierge rooms wanted them.

I cant imagine they would eliminate the other lunch. Even if every concierge room went there, it would not have a significant impact on Cabanas. After seeing the mune, Im not even going to go there, Im going right upstairs to Cabanas.

My point is that the cabanas were never concierge only. We were able to book one upon boarding on our very first cruise and were not concierge. This was shortly after the original cabanas were built. Like excursions, Palo, and Remy, concierge guests got first shot at them but like those experiences, all guest could book them based on availability. The additional cabanas were built years later.

I don't think the concierge lunch would make an impact on Cabanas either. I just don't want the MDR embarkation lunch to disappear. We have never gone to Cabanas for embarkation lunch and I pray we will never need to do so.

 

[ACQUADUCK]

When we have been concierge they have given us the embarkation Meet with food and drinks there, we have stayed a short time to reconfirm our activities booking, make any requests, and leave quite quick as it always got busy, and there were limited hosts there.
We tended to go to Cabanas quickly to have a proper lunch then tour the ship.
The new embarkation lunch option would have been an interest to us, we would have considered it, mainly for guaranteed seats, not the fare on offer.
I think it's a good addition to concierge but still concierge guests pay too much and overall the full package needs enhancement.
As long as the concierge perks do not degrade the non concierge services there is no problem whatsoever.
A minority may think it's " tacky" but actually it has no effect on them whatsoever, their choices of Cabanas or another MDR.
It shouldn't put anyone out, bar them knowing concierge are served different, however, as said there was an embarkation Meet before with good and drinks, for concierge, and it seems that " out of sight, out of mind" meant no one had any issue with that, but for a few, knowing concierge has this service, seems to upset them.

 

[Trera]

When we have been concierge they have given us the embarkation Meet with food and drinks there, we have stayed a short time to reconfirm our activities booking, make any requests, and leave quite quick as it always got busy, and there were limited hosts there.
We tended to go to Cabanas quickly to have a proper lunch then tour the ship.
The new embarkation lunch option would have been an interest to us, we would have considered it, mainly for guaranteed seats, not the fare on offer.
I think it's a good addition to concierge but still concierge guests pay too much and overall the full package needs enhancement.
As long as the concierge perks do not degrade the non concierge services there is no problem whatsoever.
A minority may think it's " tacky" but actually it has no effect on them whatsoever, their choices of Cabanas or another MDR.
It shouldn't put anyone out, bar them knowing concierge are served different, however, as said there was an embarkation Meet before with good and drinks, for concierge, and it seems that " out of sight, out of mind" meant no one had any issue with that, but for a few, knowing concierge has this service, seems to upset them.

Agree. Similar to when you see cruise guests trying to walk over into the cabana family beach area not knowing it is reserved for cabana guests only. Then the posted person let’s them know they can’t use that portion of the beach. There are always a few that get upset.

 

[ACQUADUCK]

Agree. Similar to when you see cruise guests trying to walk over into the cabana family beach area not knowing it is reserved for cabana guests only. Then the posted person let’s them know they can’t use that portion of the beach. There are always a few that get upset.

Yes, we saw that, we had cabana 4/5 and there were guests swimming over as well, the concierge hosts would direct them back.
It's a bit like paying economy fare on a flight, then after take off, walking up and finding a seat in first class.
And I would reiterate prior post, I have sailed concierge and non concierge and flown economy and first class, had a cabana and used main Castaway beach.
You get what service you pay for and accept that.
If you choose non concierge you can't make snarky comments about concierge services.
If they have a cabana or an embarkation lunch, as long as it doesn't dilute your service, there isn't a problem.
Concierge guests Spend far to much with DCL, the prices are unreal, they actually deserve some services.

 

[TestingH2O]

When we have been concierge they have given us the embarkation Meet with food and drinks there, we have stayed a short time to reconfirm our activities booking, make any requests, and leave quite quick as it always got busy, and there were limited hosts there.
We tended to go to Cabanas quickly to have a proper lunch then tour the ship.
The new embarkation lunch option would have been an interest to us, we would have considered it, mainly for guaranteed seats, not the fare on offer.
I think it's a good addition to concierge but still concierge guests pay too much and overall the full package needs enhancement.
As long as the concierge perks do not degrade the non concierge services there is no problem whatsoever.
A minority may think it's " tacky" but actually it has no effect on them whatsoever, their choices of Cabanas or another MDR.
It shouldn't put anyone out, bar them knowing concierge are served different, however, as said there was an embarkation Meet before with good and drinks, for concierge, and it seems that " out of sight, out of mind" meant no one had any issue with that, but for a few, knowing concierge has this service, seems to upset them.

I agree with this summary. I would also add that many of the concierge perks are really just the opportunity to append more money: cabana, excursions, additional tipping, etc.

I also agree that, for the price, DCL is short changing their guests. We did concierge for our first two cruises, and I'm so glad we did. Now that we know the drill though, we have not found the value in reserving those cabins recently.

The suite classes on royal look interesting to me when we are ready to branch out. Honestly, we enjoy the extra service and pampering, but DCL doesn't add enough value for us in the current model.

 

[ACQUADUCK]

I agree with this summary. I would also add that many of the concierge perks are really just the opportunity to append more money: cabana, excursions, additional tipping, etc.

I also agree that, for the price, DCL is short changing their guests. We did concierge for our first two cruises, and I'm so glad we did. Now that we know the drill though, we have not found the value in reserving those cabins recently.

The suite classes on royal look interesting to me when we are ready to branch out. Honestly, we enjoy the extra service and pampering, but DCL doesn't add enough value for us in the current model.

Yes.

Done six odd Concierge cruises with DCL, they have ranked up the cost Year by year, whilst suites sell slower, they do tend to sell so DCL is getting buyers.

Other cruise lines have far better concierge services, and better support, and at say half the price.

 

[kaseyC]

Other cruise lines have far better concierge services, and better support, and st say half the price.

Exactly!! That's why IMO, Disney will "up their concierge game" on the new ships. They are already doing it for Club level at WDW Deluxe resorts. There is a definite market for better and more exclusive concierge perks, we can see it with the many upgrades and additions on the newest ships from other cruise lines. Many are even offering exclusive concierge areas and dining options on their private islands.

 

[coloradocutie]

We just got off of the Magic, and the Tianas lunch was a really pleasant surprise.... and very practical from a functional perspective. It gave everyone room to spread out (with bags and carry ons) since the rooms were not ready, without swamping the lounge and it gave the concierge hosts time to meet and talk and review itineraries in an organized manner and pace. In the past, everyone was jammed into the lounge and it was chaotic. It served a function of easier communication between the hosts and the guests. It did not seem a class-ist move on Disney’s part.
There are so many different reasons people sail concierge... my feeling is that this facilitated a communicative environment between the concierge hosts and the guests-communication which is part of doing their job, and we appreciated the fact Disney realized a better way to do the first day communication was needed- and made a trial way to fix it.

 

[polyqueen]

We are staying Concierge for our upcoming cruise and look forward to the lunch as we are pretty low maintenance and know that some guests have lots of "stuff" that needs to be confirmed. kaseyC, your comment above intrigues me. We've been staying club level at the resorts for nearly 30 years--perhaps we've even had stays together! What do you see as "upping the concierge game" at the deluxe resorts? Just curious as my family and I feel that, in general, club level is on the decline. We loved the days of Chef Dick at the Poly and love the YC staff, but recently, while nice, it's been kind of slightly above average. Just wondering!

 

[coloradocutie]

We are staying Concierge for our upcoming cruise and look forward to the lunch as we are pretty low maintenance and know that some guests have lots of "stuff" that needs to be confirmed. kaseyC, your comment above intrigues me. We've been staying club level at the resorts for nearly 30 years--perhaps we've even had stays together! What do you see as "upping the concierge game" at the deluxe resorts? Just curious as my family and I feel that, in general, club level is on the decline. We loved the days of Chef Dick at the Poly and love the YC staff, but recently, while nice, it's been kind of slightly above average. Just wondering!

The most valuable thing for us during that time is having the concierge host help us set up our phone to use the DCL app and to minimize background data usage when we did log on to our free 150 MB you can sign up for the on the first day.

 

[Billinaz]

My point is that the cabanas were never concierge only. We were able to book one upon boarding on our very first cruise and were not concierge.

Then I will put it this way.... Cabanas were originally only available to pre reserve by concierge guests. The ones left over on embarkation day were made available to reserve.

 

[disneyholic family]

Makes me wonder if we will see an exclusive concierge restaurant added to the new ships. Most of the other cruise lines have one now.

i doubt it - i believe they're doing this to solve the terribly unpleasant overcrowding of the concierge lounge upon boarding..
it was really awful when we boarded....no place to sit - we felt like we were in a crowded bus station....

being able to go straight to a relatively quiet MDR would have been a really great perk....

.