To Concierge or Not?

[pxefig]

Hey all, I’ll start with a little background. My older sister has been stationed in Japan for the last 8 years and is finally returning to the States. She and I have a sister trip (leaving 8 kids behind between the two of us) April 2023 where we will sail on the Wish and then do Galactic Starcruiser.
Sister went on a Carnival cruise for her honeymoon 20 years ago and I went on the Dream in 2011 (and was in the Navy- not the same LOL). We’ve stayed concierge together at the Contemporary and at Disneyland Hotel and loved the experiences.
Should we do concierge for this cruise? My family is a party of 6 so just having to only pay for my sister would be the least expensive way I can try cruise concierge out and I’m curious about the experience. But it is also double the cost of our balcony room and will we even know what we are missing if we don’t do it?
I would love to hear y’all’s thoughts on this! Thank you!

 

[Karin1984]

Will you enjoy the extra quietness and privateness of the lounge, a larger/better room and want to make use of the ease to have the concierge staff at your back and call?

Then go for it.

If you plan to be on the go all day and only go to your room to sleep and are low maintenance, then stick with the room you have.

On the other hand, the Starcruiser is already an extravagant experience, complete it with a concierge experience.

There is of course the danger of loving concierge so much, what will you do when it is your family of 6 again

 

[Dug720]

Will you enjoy the extra quietness and privateness of the lounge, a larger/better room and want to make use of the ease to have the concierge staff at your back and call?

Then go for it.

If you plan to be on the go all day and only go to your room to sleep and are low maintenance, then stick with the room you have.

On the other hand, the Starcruiser is already an extravagant experience, complete it with a concierge experience.

There is of course the danger of loving concierge so much, what will you do when it is your family of 6 again

I'd agree with this - though larger is relative. The concierge stateroom (not a suite) is only 7 sq ft larger than the Deluxe Family Stateroom with Veranda.

My family and I buck the "trend" of "OMG we went Concierge, we can NEVER go back." Our first DCL cruise was part of a trip for my parents 45th anniversary and my dad for some reason booked a concierge stateroom for us (yes - we also defy the "4 people cannot possible share a stateroom - much less 4 adults"). Other than my sister and I each having one drink during happy hour each day and us doing the special picture with a character the whole thing was lost on us. We realized that are just too low-maintenance for what all they offer. (Actually when I went to ask if there was any way I could get two more cans of diet Coke, the host I spoke with was so excited we asked for anything he brought a 12-pack to the cabin.)

My parents and I have happily cruised since then and never gone back to concierge - done all other types, and never missed it at all.

 

[holula]

My family and I buck the "trend" of "OMG we went Concierge, we can NEVER go back." Our first DCL cruise was part of a trip for my parents 45th anniversary and my dad for some reason booked a concierge stateroom for us (yes - we also defy the "4 people cannot possible share a stateroom - much less 4 adults"). Other than my sister and I each having one drink during happy hour each day and us doing the special picture with a character the whole thing was lost on us. We realized that are just too low-maintenance for what all they offer. (Actually when I went to ask if there was any way I could get two more cans of diet Coke, the host I spoke with was so excited we asked for anything he brought a 12-pack to the cabin.)

I’m the same. I did it for my wedding cruise - and it was great for the extra space and larger room (we did the Walt suite.)

But I get zero benefit from concierge. I’m quite happy in an inside room and just doing my own thing.

 

[Marthasor]

For a shorter cruise, (unless you really want a cabana or need special assistance in booking experiences), I don't think it's needed.

 

[viper17d]

My family (my wife, 3 year old daughter and I) just booked our first Disney cruise on the Wish for September 2023.

We had this conversation and ultimately decided to book Concierge to try it out. For our first cruise with our daughter, our situation is a bit different, but we landed on the concept that we wanted all the help we could get (booking things, having a couple extra quieter places to relax, having an opportunity to get a drink in the evening in a more casual setting). Is it going to be “worth” the 2x premium? Probably not dollar-for-dollar. Will it provide extra peace of mind on a vacation that’s likely to have some curveballs here and there? Yes.

All this is to say, I don’t really have the expertise to tell you one way or another, but you need to settle on why you’re doing it. If the intangible feeling of having those things available to you is valuable, go for it!

Of course, we first booked standard concierge room with balcony for $6K and less than a week later, decided to pay the $2K extra to go up to the one bedroom suite. Double the space for $2K? Disney has me brainwashed to think that’s a no brainer

(Prior to kids, we’d gone on a number of Royal Caribbean cruises)

 

[HeatherLassell]

I'd love to try it....one day! Probably on a 5 night double dip!

 

[SandyinMonterey]

We did Concierge on the Fantasy. We were celebrating a couple big milestones so we splurged. I did like the ease of getting on the ship and that we secured a cabana but honestly other than that I don't think it's worth all that extra money. We'd rather not do concierge and take more cruises.

 

[Calantha]

We'd rather not do concierge and take more cruises.

This has become my view of the world...that being said I watched a vlog last night of a family that had the Roy suite on the Dream...wow it was amazing!

 

[MomOTwins]

It’s always hard to advise someone else on value because it is so subjective. I recently opted to spend $2,000 more on flights for our family of 5 to fly at a convenient midday nonstop route instead of all day travel getting home at midnight after a cruise. But then I switched from verandah to oceanview on another cruise because it save us $1,000. For me, I really loathe long travel with small kids so I grit my teeth and paid the cost difference. But I really don’t care much about having a verandah as I don’t spend much time in the room and prefer taking in the views from the outdoor spaces on the pool decks. But my inlaws for example always drive 17 hours to florida rather than pay for airfare, so they made the opposite choice on that. And I know many people won’t cruise without a verandah because they spend hours on it each day.

Likewise, while I almost sailed concierge for a milestone anniversary and because I had a good discount (covid cancelled it, so have never actually gotten to sail concierge), I don’t think I could ever justify it personally for just a regular vacation. I enjoy planning (color coded spreadsheets, are my jam!) so having a dedicated planner is not a benefit. I like a good cocktail (or two… or three) but our bar tab never comes close to the cost of the concierge upgrade. I prefer the lively atmosphere at a lounge that has trivia/music/games and I prefer swimming in the pool to sitting on a lounger, so the concept of a quiet lounge and sun deck does not appeal much. But then again, you might feel the opposite on all of those things.

All I would say is actually look at the features of concierge and decide if it is something you want to pay for. If not save that money for some pampering at the spa!

 

[pxefig]

Thank you to all of you for your thoughts! I love the different perspectives of what people feel is best use of vacation dollars. I had wanted to surprise my sister with an awesome upgrade but I think at this point I’ll show her this thread and see what her takeaway is. We have a veranda room booked in the 9th deck that is at the start of the bump in the middle so it looks like it might be a bigger balcony? I’ll be curious to see when reviews of rooms and concierge start doming in after the maiden voyage. Maybe the FOMO will overtake me and I’ll just HAVE to upgrade!

 

[mlayman7]

Double the cost makes it more difficult. We've never sailed concierge before because with our family of 5, we usually get 2 staterooms and that is still much cheaper than 1 concierge room. However, we booked the Wish for next July and getting two verandah rooms was several thousand more than 1 concierge room (the Oceanview) and also 'only' 1k more than one verandah stateroom. Because of that and because we are excited about the new Oceanview forward room, we are trying it for the first time. More excited about the room type compared to the rest of the concierge benefits, with the exception of possibly having a better chance at a cabana.

 

[Lillebelle]

Because we live far away from most of DCL's ports, we choose to splurge on concierge since funneling that money towards more cruises instead isn't really practical for us.

We love concierge, but we really do make a lot of use out of it. We go to the lounge multiple times a day and enjoy interacting with the staff there. Most of the CM's I've really 'bonded' with over our past sailings were part of the concierge team (either hosts/hostesses, lounge servers, or the bartender). For me, the lounge feels like an extension of my room and is one of my favorite places to be. You mentioned loving the experience doing club level at the Disneyland Hotel -- I've done that as well and DCL concierge is easily 5x better in terms of really making you feel cared for. Don't get me wrong, there were some nice people staffing the DLH lounge, but on DCL, it feels like the concierge team really holds themselves accountable for making sure your entire cruise experience is as wonderful as it can be.

If you don't think you'll make use of the lounge and the staff that comes with it, concierge is probably not worth the extra cost.

 

[Terapin]

We love concierge. Just came back from Hawaii after sailing from Vancouver in a 1bedroom suite. What we loved:
-could arrive at the port at any time
-got into all the tastings and brunch that we wanted, even able to rebook to another time when it suited us
-lounge for specialty coffees, drinks at night, snacks
-free popcorn!
-concierge helped return items we needed to exchange, brought our alcohol purchases up on the last day, walked us out express on the debarkation day
-let me use a laptop to book another cruise rather than my phone
-sorted out issues like credit for broken washers
-sent down treats when my daughter was sick
-the room was so lovely and big. And had a bathtub which we used daily.
-the concierge lounge was a great place to meet people: we've stayed in touch with 4 couples we met there and are traveling together on a future cruise (and have travelled with another family we met on a previous cruise!). It made the ship feel more intimate, more friendly. We would often hang on in the lounge after dinner until 10pm (free bar) and chat and socialize like it was a bar. It was nice on the longer cruise getting to know people.

It really was like having someone there to smooth out any issues, and help us optimize our experience, and the suite was amazing.

We cruise less often to afford concierge.

 

[pxefig]

All of you have been so great with your input and I am so grateful. I orgianlly wanted the upgrade to be a surprise but realized of my sister didn’t care what was the point? So I asked her and she said the idea of a concierge to help plan things sounded like heaven (she’s in the process of moving from Japan to the US) coupled with my desire to see what the deal is I’ve upgraded us. There is enough time to adjust my budgeting and I apparently just really want to know if I personally like it- there have been so many opinions you’ve offered! Thank you for your thoughts!

 

[pxefig]

Oh, and I should add she and I live in different parts of the country so a sister trip is already a decadence- we won’t take more or less cruises regardless of what this costs because we don’t have endless matching calendar days.

 

[Lillebelle]

I hope you and your sister have an absolutely amazing time!

 

[shananigans]

Enjoy!