To concierge or not to concierge

[Terapin]

DH and I were just on the Fantasy 9/08 to 9/15 and the concierge hosts were the amazing Tawanda, Amanda and Michelle. They were wonderful!

Thanks for the reminder. Tawanda was our other host.

 

[John VN]

I think you will enjoy the Crown Loft suite. We sailed in one on the Harmony during 2017 Spring Break. Concierge service was fantastic especially enjoyed the reserved seating at the shows for suite guests, no reservations necessary. The girls loved the unlimited vroom internet...they could snap story and instagram to their hearts content.

We are sailing on the MSC Seaside over Christmas in their Yacht Club class. We were fortunate to score one of the two Royal suites on board plus a YC inside across the hall for our oldest two girls. The YC experience gets fantastic reviews and the price was quite reasonable especially for a Christmas cruise.

Spring Break 2019 we are back on the Disney Wonder in a midship Cat.T LOL, I guess you can say we like spread our concierge dollars around.

Royal Suite----NICE!!! Please post how you enjoyed/or not the Yacht Club on Seaside. We have a March Seaside YC and thinking about pulling the trigger for another in 2020. If I might ask, what discount did you get for Status Match Program with Voyagers Club?

TIA

 

[kaseyC]

Royal Suite---since we are Platinum on NCL and DC-NICE!!! Please post how you enjoyed/or not the Yacht Club on Seaside. We have a March Seaside YC and thinking about pulling the trigger for another in 2020. If I might ask, what discount did you get for Status Match Program with Voyagers Club?

TIA

Will report back. For our Christmas sailing we got the standard 5%. Since we are Platinum on NCL and DCL we were status matched at the Black Level which will give us a few extra perks on board.

 

[cruiser21]

When I say I can't afford it it's because most of the cruise's I'm interested in on DCL concierge is 40k +. I guess I could afford concierge on a 3 or 4 day cruise, but spending all that money to go to the Bahamas is not worth it to me. Some day I will try the Haven, but at moment I'm more interested in cruising to the more exotic locations and the rooms are not that important. We sailed on the EBTA in May in an inside room and a Ocean view on the Quebec cruise last month and both rooms were fine.

 

[FSU Girl]

When I say I can't afford it it's because most of the cruise's I'm interested in on DCL concierge is 40k +. I guess I could afford concierge on a 3 or 4 day cruise, but spending all that money to go to the Bahamas is not worth it to me. Some day I will try the Haven, but at moment I'm more interested in cruising to the more exotic locations and the rooms are not that important. We sailed on the EBTA in May in an inside room and a Ocean view on the Quebec cruise last month and both rooms were fine.

Wow that's crazy expensive. Are those for European sailings? You should look into the Haven's prices for Europe for a week around the Med it was about 8k for the two bedroom villa.

 

[cruiser21]

Wow that's crazy expensive. Are those for European sailings? You should look into the Haven's prices for Europe for a week around the Med it was about 8k for the two bedroom villa.

They do sell at those prices. I’ve seen them as high as 60k It would cost us 20k for two insides on DCL. I will be looking at ncl when we get ready to do a Baltic cruise.

 

[FSU Girl]

They do sell at those prices. I’ve seen them as high as 60k It would cost us 20k for two insides on DCL. I will be looking at ncl when we get ready to do a Baltic cruise.

Is that for a lot of people? I've only sailed with two, but none of my cruises were that expensive and I've only done Balcony and Concierge.

 

[cruiser21]

Will report back. For our Christmas sailing we got the standard 5%. Since we are Platinum on NCL and DCL we were status matched at the Black Level which will give us a few extra perks on board.

Are you saying that they match your status on dcl?

 

[cruiser21]

Is that for a lot of people? I've only sailed with two, but none of my cruises were that expensive and I've only done Balcony and Concierge.

4 people

 

[Riles330]

Sounds like "once you go concierge....you never go back"....Ill stick with a lowly balcony

 

[cadien]

Sounds like "once you go concierge....you never go back"....Ill stick with a lowly balcony

We've gone back without any trouble. It was fun but not necessary. We've also dropped back from balcony to oceanview.

 

[Dug720]

We've gone back without any trouble. It was fun but not necessary. We've also dropped back from balcony to oceanview.

Yep. Our first DCL family cruise my dad booked Concierge "just because". We hardly used any services. To the point that when I went to the lounge to ask for a can of Diet Coke because we were out, one of the hosts was so excited we asked for something, he brought like a 12-pack.

I have since done OV and Verandah - and even Inside on another line - and have had wonderful times each time. Zero issues "downgrading".

 

[kaseyC]

Are you saying that they match your status on dcl?

MSC will match the status of other loyalty programs. We were matched to their highest level which is Black because of my Platinum status on DCL and NCL. I sent MSC proof of both.

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/MSC-Voyagers-Club/Loyalty-Match-Program.aspx

 

[DCLDVC1]

Sounds like "once you go concierge....you never go back"....Ill stick with a lowly balcony

That's the case for us. We tried once and can't and won't go back.

 

[mmmears]

That's the case for us. We tried once and can't and won't go back.

And... that's my BIG reason for not booking concierge. That and the fact that I am very happy with my balcony stateroom, have more food and drink available than I can consume, and don't want or need to have a relationship with DCL staff. We do CL at WDW and tried going back without it and realized that we'd rather go less often than do without it. Kind of wish I didn't know it existed.

Concierge was over 40K on our last cruise (family of 3) and honestly, in my life, there are far, far better uses for that amount of money. Frankly even the regular cabins were pretty pricey. We were barely even on the ship. Maybe if it wasn't that expensive and there were lots of sea days, but even then. I just don't feel the need to cut in line for anything, especially since I booked mostly private excursions anyway.

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

So my pennies worth — DH and I work hard at high profile, high stress positions in NoVa, where commuting just compounds the stress. We are also parents: having someone care for us, our wants and needs, allows us to “be kids” and drop the responsibilities. In November 2019 we are doing a 7-day Fantasy concierge without DD. And I can’t wait.

 

[pangyal]

Yep. Our first DCL family cruise my dad booked Concierge "just because". We hardly used any services. To the point that when I went to the lounge to ask for a can of Diet Coke because we were out, one of the hosts was so excited we asked for something, he brought like a 12-pack.

I have since done OV and Verandah - and even Inside on another line - and have had wonderful times each time. Zero issues "downgrading".

We had the exact same experience minus actually finding something to ask them for. We exchanged some pleasantries with the Concierge staff and found them lovely, but did not ask them for a single thing the entire time and, to be honest, I am not sure what we could have needed them for (as a small family) that we had not previously arranged with Shoreside. Perhaps if you have a larger group, there may be more opportunities for things to need smoothing out.

We enjoyed Concierge and have booked it again for SWDAS, but that’s because we are only Silver and I didn’t want to risk not getting the activities we booked the cruise for. Otherwise, I am happy just being on the cruise and can enjoy myself with or without paying double for Concierge. I’m not knocking it...I definitely enjoyed the perks associated with it, but I would never say that it would be a dealbreaker for us if we were not able to choose a Concierge room for a sailing.

OP, I suggest weighing the tangibles against the intangibles and seeing if you feel you could be happy spending that amount of money in the event that you are, for whatever reason, unable to enjoy your cabana at CC. It’s a lot of money to have predicated on a single activity, so if you can afford it and think that the feeling of everything “just being taken care of” holds value, go for it. But if you’re expecting a life-changing experience with a group of Concierge hosts taking care of your every whim every moment of the day...that’s not the Disney way .

 

[cruiser21]

And... that's my BIG reason for not booking concierge. That and the fact that I am very happy with my balcony stateroom, have more food and drink available than I can consume, and don't want or need to have a relationship with DCL staff. We do CL at WDW and tried going back without it and realized that we'd rather go less often than do without it. Kind of wish I didn't know it existed.

Concierge was over 40K on our last cruise (family of 3) and honestly, in my life, there are far, far better uses for that amount of money. Frankly even the regular cabins were pretty pricey. We were barely even on the ship. Maybe if it wasn't that expensive and there were lots of sea days, but even then. I just don't feel the need to cut in line for anything, especially since I booked mostly private excursions anyway.

It’s nice to get a review from someone who actually booked one of the 40k rooms. Your comment about not wanting a personal relationship with the staff made me laugh. I can barely stand having the same server everynight. I’m a big fan of WDW club level. At least if you have an annual pass you can get a halfway decent rate.

 

[mmmears]

It’s nice to get a review from someone who actually booked one of the 40k rooms. Your comment about not wanting a personal relationship with the staff made me laugh. I can barely stand having the same server everynight. I’m a big fan of WDW club level. At least if you have an annual pass you can get a halfway decent rate.

Oh, I didn't book one of those rooms. I like nice things, but I can think of about 100 ways I'd rather spend that money. We were very happy in our Cat5 room and didn't even have time to take advantage of most of what was available to us on that trip. In addition to the cruise we paid for a bunch of private excursions and several days in hotels on both ends (Copenhagen & London) plus activities. There was no way to justify that kind of an upgrade (for my family anyway).

 

[cruiser21]

Oh, I didn't book one of those rooms. I like nice things, but I can think of about 100 ways I'd rather spend that money. We were very happy in our Cat5 room and didn't even have time to take advantage of most of what was available to us on that trip. In addition to the cruise we paid for a bunch of private excursions and several days in hotels on both ends (Copenhagen & London) plus activities. There was no way to justify that kind of an upgrade (for my family anyway).

Darn I thought you were the one. I'm still waiting to for a review from someone that booked a 40k room.