Thoughts on our first (and maybe only) concierge sailing

[MomOTwins]

Since we started sailing with Disney (currently Gold CC member), it's been my dream to sail in a suite in concierge. The sticker price has generally been out of reach for us, but each cruise I've diligently arrived to port as early as I could get in and raced to the upgrade desk to check for upgrades, but none were ever available... until lucky cruise #7! We were able to upgrade from a 4B family verandah room to 2B 1-bedroom suite at port for our 7 night cruise on the Disney Fantasy, for a total cost (factoring in the original price we paid with a Disney+ discount plus the port upgrade cost) of about 40% of the original list price for a 1BR suite for a family of 5.

I feel like most posts I read about concierge are by guests who can easily afford it, and while we are lucky to be able to afford this, it will come at the cost of another vacation and is a stretch for us, even with the amazing discount we got. So I thought it might be worth sharing thoughts on whether it was "worth it" from someone who would ordinarily be priced out of the experience. I won't say the good, bad and ugly, because that isn't quite right as the experience was pretty phenomenal (though not flawless, as explained below), so let's go with "exceptional, not-as-good, and the unpleasant."

• The Exceptional
  • Stateroom decor, verandah and bathrooms: Oh my goodness, the 1BR suite was even more breathtakingly gorgeous in person that it looks the youtube videos--all the furniture and decor feels incredibly luxurious. Having two full bathrooms was heavenly with three kids, and I could have spent hours in that amazing jacuzzi tub (the kids went bananas over the in-mirror TV). The two (enormous) tvs in the stateroom were also great because it meant my twins could watch a scary pirates of the caribbean movie while my little one cuddled up in our bed and watched peter pan during our in-room quiet time (our kids are past the napping age, but they need midday rest breaks on cruises or they get tuckered out and can't stay up for the evening entertainment). We were also pleasantly surprised with the size of our verandah on deck 11--I didn't realize the deck 11 rooms are not only longer but deeper than the regular verandahs, even though we weren't on the "bump out part"--though in hindsight that makes sense at the "bubble" on deck 11 extends out from the ship. We even had reclining loungers on our verandah which I thought was unique to bump outs and extended verandah room categories, so that was a pleasant surprise.
  • The CMs: They are flawless. We didn't need any help booking things as I had booked brunch, royal tea etc. at midnight on our gold booking day, so I thought we'd not really need much from the hosts, but I was impressed by the how they still found ways to improve our experience, giving helpful about the ports and making our kids feel special with games and conversations. We also had exceptional dining room servers and stateroom hosts. Our dining team pulled out all the stops with riddles, jokes, magic tricks in addition to on point recommendations and just super attentive service. Our stateroom hosts were ninjas that kept the room spotless. And while we've had as good service experiences on some of our other DCL cruises, we've also recently had a few misses with just ok service, so I do think it is a concierge perk to be guaranteed experienced/superb MDR and stateroom teams, and it made for a lovely cruise experience.
  • Evening shows: One of the best perks in my opinion was the special access to the evening shows. We showed up in the lounge 45 minutes before the show, got drinks and popcorn, and were escorted into the theater through a back entrance before general admission. Although you do still have to arrive early and wait, it is so much pleasant to do so in a seat of your choosing instead of waiting in the halls and then rushing in and struggling to find seats for a family of 5 together. We had close to 4,000 people on our sailing so we avoided a lot of stress knowing we had the concierge priority access. P.S., special pro tip I didn't know about--concierge also gets free popcorn at the movie theater any time, including for events other than movies like the big jackpot bingo that were held in the theater.
  • The lounge and sundeck: I loved having the lounge as a hangout. The little snacks throughout the day were delicious, there were board games for the kids, and it offered a quite respite from the crowds (see the about comment re 4,000 people). I also realized I had forgotten the Fantasy does not have a family hot tub, and my kids LOVE hot tubs, so we were very glad to have the one on the concierge sundeck, although I wish there was a view of the water from there. Sounds like they fixed that part on the Wish.
  • In room beverages: In the past when I read about the in-room sodas and waters I thought that was a bit silly because of the 24hr beverage stations on the pool deck. But I actually found this perk surprisingly useful. We took loads of bottled water with us on excursions, and never had to leave the room at bedtime to refill the water bottle. Also, for some reason the diet coke at the deck 11 fountains was tasting horrible this cruise (I suspect they ran out of diet coke and surreptitiously replaced it with coke zero, ugh) so the in-room beverage cooler saved this diet cook addict from much agony and suffering.
  • Embarkation and disembarkation: This perk is obvious and really requires no explanation. I always hated the crowds in port canaveral on embarkation day or in the atrium on the last morning, and concierge made that disappear.
• The Not-As-Good
  • The "free" drinks: I was expecting to love this as my husband and I enjoy our adult beverages on vacation, but I actually was quite disappointed. The first night we didn't realize how strong the concierge are relative to the other bars and after a couple (basic, nothing special) old fashioneds, I was feeling pretty woozy, and DH and I both woke up the next day with a killer hangover. The next night I watched them make the drinks and holy cow, they put like 5 or 6 shots of hard liquor in each drink. I'm sure they do it because most guests want to feel they are getting their money's worth, but for me I like the taste of drinks and enjoying a variety of drinks over the course of the evening, and that just doesn't work so great when each sip of a drink is straight alcohol. I also didn't love the more limited set of ingredients in the concierge bar -- e.g., when I ordered a lemon drop martini, they didn't have lemon vodka or limoncello so it was basically plain vodka with a little bit of lemon juice and sugar. I think I read somewhere that the Wish concierge lounge has a specialty cocktail menu, and I wish they had one on our cruise. By about the 4th day, after a lot of trial and error, I finally found a cocktail that I liked, and ordered that exclusively from then on. But if it were up to me, I'd much prefer they use some kind of voucher/drink plan type system, i.e., do away with the concierge lounge bar and allow free drinks up to a certain dollar value at any on-ship lounge or the MDRs for concierge guests. It'd probably work out costing them the same in alcohol, because each drink at the concierge lounge was like half a bottle of booze.
  • In-room dining: I've read how great the breakfast room services is in the 1BR suites, but I didn't realize it wasn't available until 8:15. We're early risers and my husband exercises in the gym at 6am each day, so by the time Cabanas opens at 7:15 he is starving for a big breakfast at Cabanas. So I guess that perk 1BR was just wasted for us, though I could see how others might like it.
  • The fireworks viewing: Because I loved the special stage show access, I was really excited to learn we also had a private pirate night fireworks viewing. However, it was a bit of a dud. The viewing area is up by satellite falls on deck 13, so you can't see any of the pirate stage show, just the fireworks. I suppose some people might like that but for the kids and I felt a bit sad listening to the pirate party from a distance and not being able to see it at all, and the fireworks lost their impact without the show to build up excitement beforehand. The view wasn't really any better than sailing in a regular starboard room and watching fireworks from the balcony. I'd definitely skip this if we ever do concierge again.
• The Unpleasant
  • The sleeping arrangements: I really didn't like the bed the set up in the 1BR suite for kids. My twins were very miffed at having to share a double pull out couch instead of the bunk beds they were used to from the non-concierge staterooms, and the murphy for our third child was in a very awkward place blocking the hallway between the living room/twins' bed and the bathroom/door, instead of up against the verandah like it is in other rooms. We had a lot of banged shins this cruise getting past that bed. We also felt the adult bedroom was a bit claustrophobic when the doors panels were shut and disliked that there was no window/natural light, so we ended up opening the panels making it more of a studio suite than a one-bedroom. I don't know if this is just the fantasy, but I'd definitely research room layouts on the other ships if we ever are inclined to do this again.
  • Location: I can't fathom why they thought it was a great idea to put all the concierge rooms all the way forward on the ship. I get seasick and while medicine helps, we had quite rough seas this trip and I sometimes had to leave the room to go sit somewhere midship to feel better, although that wasn't practical at night so I just didn't sleep very well. We overheard quite a few other concierge guests complaining in the lounge about how they've never been seasick before this cruise, so maybe we just got unlucky, but it is definitely a downside on the newer ships (I know classic ships have midship concierge, which seems much better to me). The location was also poor for families with kids as the deck 11 rooms are "cut off" from the rest of the ship by the adult only area (you could go up to deck 12 and across, but it was often very windy and cold up there). We ended up a lot of times just dragging the kids through the adult area at a brisk pace and ignoring the stink eye we got from other other guests. I'm glad they fixed that location issue on the Wish by putting the adult area at the opposite end of the ship from concierge.
  • Tipping: The paper we got just says concierge host and bartender tips are "at your discretion" so that was no help at all. Fortunately I remembered the $8 per person per day guideline that others on these boards had posted about at some point, or I would have felt completely lost, but I still felt very self conscious about whether I was tipping enough, particularly as you have to take to the paper to one of the hosts to add the tips to your account, which is super uncomfortable. I also gave some extra cash tip to host who took extra good care of us, but then felt nervous maybe that was against the rules since the room charge tip was pooled for all the hosts. I probably was overthinking it, but the whole thing just felt needlessly stressful and confusing.

So you've probably by now guessed where I'm going with this. At the discounted price we paid, yes I think it was worth it, ONCE, just to have a special one-in-a-lifetime, glamourous taste of the VIP life. It was unique, special, and beautiful--I'll never forget the feeling of walking into that suite on the first day or watching my youngest son's face light up watching the "Frozen" show from the best seats in the house. But it was also a little flawed, and I can't imagine paying full price for 5 guests at DCL's current concierge prices and feeling good about that choice. In a way I'm kind of relieved that it wasn't perfect, because now I'll be happy/content going back to the "vanilla" DCL experience on future cruises. Though perhaps on a very special occasion (e.g. milestone anniversary), we might spring for it again, especially on the Wish or Treasure or other ships that seem to have resolved some of the issues noted above.

Anyhow, feel free to tear me apart if I'm totally off base, or chime in with your thoughts on concierge. And if you're considering concierge, I'm happy to answer any questions if I'm able!

 

[gatordoc]

I don’t think you’re off-base at all. Everyone has different likes/dislikes. Of our 32 cruises, we’ve done one in concierge on the Dream because we wanted to try it, but have no desire to do it again. We had several of the same likes/dislikes. Loved the 1BR, especially the living area and the shower. We were able to get our MDR dinner in the room one evening when we didn’t want to wait for our dining time, which was great. We liked the lounge, but don’t drink alcohol, so that was wasted on us. And although we had put our request in prior to the cruise, we never did get our requested in-room sodas. We also hated the sun deck - couldn’t believe that it was set up so you couldn’t see the ocean. And we found many of the people sailing with us to be very off-putting. Nearly every time we were in the lounge, there seemed to be a barrage of complaints and demands from guests who seemed to believe the entire world revolved around them. I understand that at those prices, people expect a certain level of service, but the amount of downright rudeness and disrespect to the staff and other guests was unbelievable.
Sorry for the vent - I didn’t post about our experience at the time, but your report prompted me to do so. We still love DCL and have a number of future cruises planned, but we’re perfectly happy sailing in regular staterooms.

 

[NephieRN]

Just want to say that being concierge does not mean you’ll have excellent MDR servers. We’ve had really great and some real duds when sailing in concierge. Stateroom hosts on the other hand are the best of the best in my opinion so I do agree there.

 

[randumb0]

@MomOTwins I feel like you're always talking about your next cruise. I figured you were almost Pearl. Also, how did you order your drink once you figured out a plan?

 

[MomOTwins]

And we found many of the people sailing with us to be very off-putting. Nearly every time we were in the lounge, there seemed to be a barrage of complaints and demands from guests who seemed to believe the entire world revolved around them. I understand that at those prices, people expect a certain level of service, but the amount of downright rudeness and disrespect to the staff and other guests was unbelievable.

Oh my goodness, okay I'm glad it wasn't just me imagining it, but I felt the exact same thing and almost added this to the unpleasant column, but I figured maybe that wasn't to do with concierge at all and was just a bad batch of fellow guests our sailing. But yes, we witnessed so much snobby/rude/entitled behavior by the other concierge guests I joked to my husband I felt like we were watching the show "White Lotus" but in real life.

 

[MomOTwins]

@MomOTwins I feel like you're always talking about your next cruise. I figured you were almost Pear. Also, how did you order your drink once you figured out a plan?

Lol, not even close to Pearl, but we've done a lot in a short period of time (7 cruises in 5 years, but really more like 3 years since we had the Covid interlude and had a bunch of cruises booked in 2020 and 2021 that never happened because of the closure), so yeah I guess I have been chattering a lot about cruises.

For the drinks, I ended up just looking at all the alcohol and ingredients available and composing my own drink based on what was there (i.e, told the bartender make me a drink with x plus y plus z ingredients), rather than asking for a drink by name.

 

[randumb0]

Lol, not even close to Pearl, but we've done a lot in a short period of time (7 cruises in 5 years, but really more like 3 years since we had the Covid interlude and had a bunch of cruises booked in 2020 and 2021 that never happened because of the closure), so yeah I guess I have been chattering a lot about cruises.

For the drinks, I ended up just looking at all the alcohol and ingredients available and composing my own drink based on what was there (i.e, told the bartender make me a drink with x plus y plus z ingredients), rather than asking for a drink by name.

What were the ingredients?

 

[MomOTwins]

What were the ingredients?

I've been trying to be careful as I don't want to make it too obvious who I was and get a bartender in trouble, lol, so will PM you

 

[princesscinderella]

We did the same upgrade you did on our June Fantasy sailing. I don’t think you are off base at all with your thoughts. My kids figured out early on about being able to get popcorn any time it’s offered and enjoyed that perk. We loved having access to the lounge and the drinks and upgraded snacks. We are tons of macarons every day they were offered as most of my family eats GF and our options were limited. By day three they had learned our needs and they would have a GF option in the back set aside for us. I loved the breakfast cheese plate with the meats from the palo antipasto appetizer.

Our kids are teens so it wasn’t really a problem for them to walk through the adult area as they look like adults almost.

The jacuzzi tub in the one bedroom is definitely amazing and I watched a movie in there one night til I got pruned and finished it in the living room. I agree that the kids having to share the pull out is not ideal or an upgrade compared to the family staterooms.

We just decided to upgrade our 10 day Iceland cruise to concierge for the advanced booking window of excursions because of how small some of the ports are I didn’t want to plan ones on my own and some of the ports offered nothing through viator. One of the conditions for the upgrade was the understanding that my girls would have to share the couch bed again and not complain about it. They heartily agreed that if it meant sailing concierge they would do it. We only got the family veranda but it’s on the bump out on deck 11.

The access to the drinks was one our favorite things too. Two of my three kids don’t drink soda at all but love sparkling water. They drank so many Perrier that they ran out on day 6. I agree the bartenders were not mixologists, but very willing to follow instructions on exactly how you want your drink and what mixers etc to add. I would get a lemon drop martini with a bit of chambord added or a champagne with a splash of chambord too.

We have 50% off our cruise from the wish cancellation so the cost of our concierge room is the same as if we were to pay full price for a family veranda so that the logic we are using to justify the price. We had very nice fellow cruisers in the concierge lounge and didn’t notice anyone giving the staff a hard time but maybe that’s not the norm. We will happily upgrade at the port, but I too would not pay the crazy prices of concierge without a discount.

 

[Mango7100]

Thanks for the review. Even though I have never sailed concierge, I can totally see your points. I have been looking at splurging on a concierge for a shorter sailing but not sure if it be worth it. We have done NCLs Haven with private pool, sun deck, and restaurant with upgraded menu and I’m not sure if I would find enough value of DCLs concierge since it is more limited with its private spaces. We are a family of 3 so fitting in a regular veranda isn’t an issue for us.

 

[FastPasser.]

It's just two of us and being very active we're never in the stateroom. Other than sleeping, showering or getting dressed, we spend hardly any time there. For us I don't feel that a concierge cabin and the perks that come with it would enhance our cruising enjoyment enough to justify the cost. If it were up to me I would opt for the least expensive cabin but we always get one with a verandah.

 

[holula]

I’ve done Concierge pre lounge on the Magic and I definitely agree with most of this. At the time we had 5 adults and the Walt was basically the same cost as 3 staterooms so it wasn’t too bad, but now I would not pay the high prices DCL charge for it!

 

[shananigans]

I can def see your pros and cons re: Concierge. I’ve only sailed concierge on the Wonder and it was fabulous and well worth the price. Did the 1 bedroom suite and the verandah room on another sailing. Not much of a drinker so the alcohol perk was lost on me. I had one drink per day, maybe. Enjoyed the snacks and the fact that the staff was able to get us a couples massage after we were on board.

Our MDR staff on the first one was wonderful. The second cruise? Far less so.

Concierge staff always great. We sail the Fantasy in a few days - just an oceanview room. But we will be concierge this upcoming Sept on the Magic and in Jan 2024 on the Wish. I’ve read on this forum that the Wish seems designed with concierge guests in mind. Be interesting to see how that works out. Sailing in a regular verandah room for my bday cruise in Nov.

The Dream and Fantasy we may never end up sailing concierge. We’ll see. Perhaps when the Treasure starts sailing the cost of the Dream class will go down enough to justify concierge.

 

[tidefan]

DW is Pearl and I am close and we've never done Concierge and have no desire to. I'd rather cruise more.

However, that's just us and it's a personal decision for most people and what they value for themselves. If you want Concierge, go for it!

 

[AquaDame]

The one year we tried it we had more money than vacation time (and even then it was off season/back when the Southerns were cheaper/the same price as a normal verandah is now five years later). It was an easy decision when it wasn't between taking "just" one or getting to take two cruises.

Everytime I read these I get a little sad as we somehow missed out on many of these benefits. No one told us about the separate lineup for shows, the free popcorn, or any of that. They did not offer to escort us on or off the ship (maybe because we sailed out of San Juan?). We did know about the drinks in the fridge, booking excursions early through them and of course enjoyed the lounge. That was pretty much it though.... we had a verandah room, so no meals in the room either.

 

[soniam]

Great info! After doing a suite on Celebrity, but only as an adult couple, I wondered if a concierge suite on DCL was worth it. I am thinking it isn't compared to what we get on Celebrity. With our son, we will just continue doing DCL regular verandahs. It's not bad with only the 3 of us. Will still do a suite on Celebrity though.

 

[NephieRN]

No one told us about the separate lineup for shows

That only recently started within the last year so you didn’t miss out on that at least.

 

[rdevans_2000]

Since we started sailing with Disney (currently Gold CC member), it's been my dream to sail in a suite in concierge. The sticker price has generally been out of reach for us, but each cruise I've diligently arrived to port as early as I could get in and raced to the upgrade desk to check for upgrades, but none were ever available... until lucky cruise #7! We were able to upgrade from a 4B family verandah room to 2B 1-bedroom suite at port for our 7 night cruise on the Disney Fantasy, for a total cost (factoring in the original price we paid with a Disney+ discount plus the port upgrade cost) of about 40% of the original list price for a 1BR suite for a family of 5.

I feel like most posts I read about concierge are by guests who can easily afford it, and while we are lucky to be able to afford this, it will come at the cost of another vacation and is a stretch for us, even with the amazing discount we got. So I thought it might be worth sharing thoughts on whether it was "worth it" from someone who would ordinarily be priced out of the experience. I won't say the good, bad and ugly, because that isn't quite right as the experience was pretty phenomenal (though not flawless, as explained below), so let's go with "exceptional, not-as-good, and the unpleasant."

• The Exceptional
  • Stateroom decor, verandah and bathrooms: Oh my goodness, the 1BR suite was even more breathtakingly gorgeous in person that it looks the youtube videos--all the furniture and decor feels incredibly luxurious. Having two full bathrooms was heavenly with three kids, and I could have spent hours in that amazing jacuzzi tub (the kids went bananas over the in-mirror TV). The two (enormous) tvs in the stateroom were also great because it meant my twins could watch a scary pirates of the caribbean movie while my little one cuddled up in our bed and watched peter pan during our in-room quiet time (our kids are past the napping age, but they need midday rest breaks on cruises or they get tuckered out and can't stay up for the evening entertainment). We were also pleasantly surprised with the size of our verandah on deck 11--I didn't realize the deck 11 rooms are not only longer but deeper than the regular verandahs, even though we weren't on the "bump out part"--though in hindsight that makes sense at the "bubble" on deck 11 extends out from the ship. We even had reclining loungers on our verandah which I thought was unique to bump outs and extended verandah room categories, so that was a pleasant surprise.
  • The CMs: They are flawless. We didn't need any help booking things as I had booked brunch, royal tea etc. at midnight on our gold booking day, so I thought we'd not really need much from the hosts, but I was impressed by the how they still found ways to improve our experience, giving helpful about the ports and making our kids feel special with games and conversations. We also had exceptional dining room servers and stateroom hosts. Our dining team pulled out all the stops with riddles, jokes, magic tricks in addition to on point recommendations and just super attentive service. Our stateroom hosts were ninjas that kept the room spotless. And while we've had as good service experiences on some of our other DCL cruises, we've also recently had a few misses with just ok service, so I do think it is a concierge perk to be guaranteed experienced/superb MDR and stateroom teams, and it made for a lovely cruise experience.
  • Evening shows: One of the best perks in my opinion was the special access to the evening shows. We showed up in the lounge 45 minutes before the show, got drinks and popcorn, and were escorted into the theater through a back entrance before general admission. Although you do still have to arrive early and wait, it is so much pleasant to do so in a seat of your choosing instead of waiting in the halls and then rushing in and struggling to find seats for a family of 5 together. We had close to 4,000 people on our sailing so we avoided a lot of stress knowing we had the concierge priority access. P.S., special pro tip I didn't know about--concierge also gets free popcorn at the movie theater any time, including for events other than movies like the big jackpot bingo that were held in the theater.
  • The lounge and sundeck: I loved having the lounge as a hangout. The little snacks throughout the day were delicious, there were board games for the kids, and it offered a quite respite from the crowds (see the about comment re 4,000 people). I also realized I had forgotten the Fantasy does not have a family hot tub, and my kids LOVE hot tubs, so we were very glad to have the one on the concierge sundeck, although I wish there was a view of the water from there. Sounds like they fixed that part on the Wish.
  • In room beverages: In the past when I read about the in-room sodas and waters I thought that was a bit silly because of the 24hr beverage stations on the pool deck. But I actually found this perk surprisingly useful. We took loads of bottled water with us on excursions, and never had to leave the room at bedtime to refill the water bottle. Also, for some reason the diet coke at the deck 11 fountains was tasting horrible this cruise (I suspect they ran out of diet coke and surreptitiously replaced it with coke zero, ugh) so the in-room beverage cooler saved this diet cook addict from much agony and suffering.
  • Embarkation and disembarkation: This perk is obvious and really requires no explanation. I always hated the crowds in port canaveral on embarkation day or in the atrium on the last morning, and concierge made that disappear.
• The Not-As-Good
  • The "free" drinks: I was expecting to love this as my husband and I enjoy our adult beverages on vacation, but I actually was quite disappointed. The first night we didn't realize how strong the concierge are relative to the other bars and after a couple (basic, nothing special) old fashioneds, I was feeling pretty woozy, and DH and I both woke up the next day with a killer hangover. The next night I watched them make the drinks and holy cow, they put like 5 or 6 shots of hard liquor in each drink. I'm sure they do it because most guests want to feel they are getting their money's worth, but for me I like the taste of drinks and enjoying a variety of drinks over the course of the evening, and that just doesn't work so great when each sip of a drink is straight alcohol. I also didn't love the more limited set of ingredients in the concierge bar -- e.g., when I ordered a lemon drop martini, they didn't have lemon vodka or limoncello so it was basically plain vodka with a little bit of lemon juice and sugar. I think I read somewhere that the Wish concierge lounge has a specialty cocktail menu, and I wish they had one on our cruise. By about the 4th day, after a lot of trial and error, I finally found a cocktail that I liked, and ordered that exclusively from then on. But if it were up to me, I'd much prefer they use some kind of voucher/drink plan type system, i.e., do away with the concierge lounge bar and allow free drinks up to a certain dollar value at any on-ship lounge or the MDRs for concierge guests. It'd probably work out costing them the same in alcohol, because each drink at the concierge lounge was like half a bottle of booze.
  • In-room dining: I've read how great the breakfast room services is in the 1BR suites, but I didn't realize it wasn't available until 8:15. We're early risers and my husband exercises in the gym at 6am each day, so by the time Cabanas opens at 7:15 he is starving for a big breakfast at Cabanas. So I guess that perk 1BR was just wasted for us, though I could see how others might like it.
  • The fireworks viewing: Because I loved the special stage show access, I was really excited to learn we also had a private pirate night fireworks viewing. However, it was a bit of a dud. The viewing area is up by satellite falls on deck 13, so you can't see any of the pirate stage show, just the fireworks. I suppose some people might like that but for the kids and I felt a bit sad listening to the pirate party from a distance and not being able to see it at all, and the fireworks lost their impact without the show to build up excitement beforehand. The view wasn't really any better than sailing in a regular starboard room and watching fireworks from the balcony. I'd definitely skip this if we ever do concierge again.
• The Unpleasant
  • The sleeping arrangements: I really didn't like the bed the set up in the 1BR suite for kids. My twins were very miffed at having to share a double pull out couch instead of the bunk beds they were used to from the non-concierge staterooms, and the murphy for our third child was in a very awkward place blocking the hallway between the living room/twins' bed and the bathroom/door, instead of up against the verandah like it is in other rooms. We had a lot of banged shins this cruise getting past that bed. We also felt the adult bedroom was a bit claustrophobic when the doors panels were shut and disliked that there was no window/natural light, so we ended up opening the panels making it more of a studio suite than a one-bedroom. I don't know if this is just the fantasy, but I'd definitely research room layouts on the other ships if we ever are inclined to do this again.
  • Location: I can't fathom why they thought it was a great idea to put all the concierge rooms all the way forward on the ship. I get seasick and while medicine helps, we had quite rough seas this trip and I sometimes had to leave the room to go sit somewhere midship to feel better, although that wasn't practical at night so I just didn't sleep very well. We overheard quite a few other concierge guests complaining in the lounge about how they've never been seasick before this cruise, so maybe we just got unlucky, but it is definitely a downside on the newer ships (I know classic ships have midship concierge, which seems much better to me). The location was also poor for families with kids as the deck 11 rooms are "cut off" from the rest of the ship by the adult only area (you could go up to deck 12 and across, but it was often very windy and cold up there). We ended up a lot of times just dragging the kids through the adult area at a brisk pace and ignoring the stink eye we got from other other guests. I'm glad they fixed that location issue on the Wish by putting the adult area at the opposite end of the ship from concierge.
  • Tipping: The paper we got just says concierge host and bartender tips are "at your discretion" so that was no help at all. Fortunately I remembered the $8 per person per day guideline that others on these boards had posted about at some point, or I would have felt completely lost, but I still felt very self conscious about whether I was tipping enough, particularly as you have to take to the paper to one of the hosts to add the tips to your account, which is super uncomfortable. I also gave some extra cash tip to host who took extra good care of us, but then felt nervous maybe that was against the rules since the room charge tip was pooled for all the hosts. I probably was overthinking it, but the whole thing just felt needlessly stressful and confusing.

So you've probably by now guessed where I'm going with this. At the discounted price we paid, yes I think it was worth it, ONCE, just to have a special one-in-a-lifetime, glamourous taste of the VIP life. It was unique, special, and beautiful--I'll never forget the feeling of walking into that suite on the first day or watching my youngest son's face light up watching the "Frozen" show from the best seats in the house. But it was also a little flawed, and I can't imagine paying full price for 5 guests at DCL's current concierge prices and feeling good about that choice. In a way I'm kind of relieved that it wasn't perfect, because now I'll be happy/content going back to the "vanilla" DCL experience on future cruises. Though perhaps on a very special occasion (e.g. milestone anniversary), we might spring for it again, especially on the Wish or Treasure or other ships that seem to have resolved some of the issues noted above.

Anyhow, feel free to tear me apart if I'm totally off base, or chime in with your thoughts on concierge. And if you're considering concierge, I'm happy to answer any questions if I'm able!

Great review and insights. Obviously everyone has different tastes, budgets, likes/dislikes, etc. My wife and I do lots of cruises without our kids (all grown men now with significant others). We only do concierge as we love the quite, less crowded deck space, drinks and food in the lounge, upgraded staterooms, concierge staff attention, and other benefits. With just two people it's a reasonable cost IMHO. But when traveling with, and paying for, others (like children) it would be a different story. Yikes. When our men and their ladies go with us we stay concierge and they don't. We spend lots of time with them in ports, at meals, going to entertainment, etc. then we steal away for some one-on-one time in the lounge or in the concierge hot tub. Best of both worlds!

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Great info! After doing a suite on Celebrity, but only as an adult couple, I wondered if a concierge suite on DCL was worth it. I am thinking it isn't compared to what we get on Celebrity. With our son, we will just continue doing DCL regular verandahs. It's not bad with only the 3 of us. Will still do a suite on Celebrity though.

We've sailed concierge once, on the Fantasy. We were celebrating several major milestones and went all in. Looking back, for us, it wasn't worth it. We were back on the Fantasy last December in an Deluxe Family Ocean with verandah and it was great. Would not sail concierge again, but that's just us. There's 3 of us also. Been looking into other cruise lines. I thought I heard getting suites on Celebrity (and RC) were very hard to snag.

 

[soniam]

We've sailed concierge once, on the Fantasy. We were celebrating several major milestones and went all in. Looking back, for us, it wasn't worth it. We were back on the Fantasy last December in an Deluxe Family Ocean with verandah and it was great. Would not sail concierge again, but that's just us. There's 3 of us also. Been looking into other cruise lines. I thought I heard getting suites on Celebrity (and RC) were very hard to snag.

Not from what I have seen; however, we have only done 1 and are doing another in July. The first one we booked really early, not opening day but about 2 years out, on Summit, an older ship, sailing 2018 Southern Caribbean out of San Juan. We had booked a Sky Suite but got offered an upgrade for the Royal Suite, 2nd highest suite on Summit, for $1000, so I took it. It was for our 20th anniversary. Great experience. We also booked this July cruise pretty early, about 2 years. It's on Beyond, one of the newest ships, 11 night Italy/Turkey/Greece. Our July cruise is sold out for suites, aka The Retreat. All summer is. However, the September one still has availability, exact same itinerary/ship. I think Celebrity is way easier to get a suite than DCL. I think it would be hard to find a concierge room on DCL for a cruise in September, but I could be wrong.

EDIT: We have only done it as adults, so only 2 of us. Many of the Celebrity suites only accommodate 2 people, so you have to watch out for that.