Any feedback about cruising concierge?

Totally fine to do both. 😊
Also, if there’s a certain type of soda that you like you can request for them to stock your stateroom refrigerator with that. Or alternatively, if you don’t drink soda, they can stock it with bottled water for you.

Yep, totally fine. This was my view every morning while my family snored... I'd step over to the lounge and load up on coffee and almond croissants (oh how I miss those croissants), and then take them out to our balcony with our fruit plate: 497134

One thing that really charmed our kids was that the staff in the lounge got to know what they liked and would be ready to hand it over. Our older son would barely be through the door and the bartender would already be mixing him a Roy Rogers.
 
And oh!!!! The coffee in the lounge! That machine makes such delicious lattes and au laits!
The bartenders in the lounge are great! Shirley temples every day for my two!

Another thing to consider with the Concierge hosts, is there a goal is to take care of anything you would need. You should not have to go to guest relations for anything as they will take care of you in the lounge. We have never had them plan big excursions meals or reservations or fancy things for us, and we are low maintenance for them. But the logistics of life still happen on a boat. They had Tylenol and Motrin for us when we had a foot injury. They helped us when our dining server, who was brand new, was struggling. (That was atypical- usually the servers for concierge are outstanding- this guy was brand new) The Concierge staff reached out to the head server to get him help. They can take care of on board bookings so that you don’t have to wait in line at the OBB desk below. They have popcorn for you if you want it to go see a movie. We had a little one not feeling well and they arranged for us to have a DVD and movies for her in our state room. You can pay your balance with them. The lounge is such a great get away and we love concierge for that reason. Every time you walk on the staff will welcome you- they know your name from the start 😊
 
A little off topic, do we need to tip the bartender during happy hour?
 
A little off topic, do we need to tip the bartender during happy hour?
We did. We accounted for 2 kids drinks a day, and 2 adult wine/cocktails. There is not a steadfast rule about what to tip anyone in the lounge- the concierge hosts or server or bartender. We personally looked at what DCL recommended for tips for the dining room hosts, and compared what the concierge staff did for us compared to that. Some cruises we tip more than others depending on what was done for us and how much we used them. We are not high maintenance at all and do not ask much, except if we needed help.... and the drinks at happy hour 😉.
 


We've only sailed concierge once but did not have Elemis products. Instead it was the big bottles of H2O that other staterooms have. This was late January on the Fantasy.
 


We did. We accounted for 2 kids drinks a day, and 2 adult wine/cocktails. There is not a steadfast rule about what to tip anyone in the lounge- the concierge hosts or server or bartender. We personally looked at what DCL recommended for tips for the dining room hosts, and compared what the concierge staff did for us compared to that. Some cruises we tip more than others depending on what was done for us and how much we used them. We are not high maintenance at all and do not ask much, except if we needed help.... and the drinks at happy hour 😉.
We tipped him at the end of the cruise. We also tipped the people who took care of the food in the lounge.

fab, so I don’t need to worry about cash tips each evening or each time I get a drink?

(sorry first timer and a Brit who’s not used to the tipping!)
 
fab, so I don’t need to worry about cash tips each evening or each time I get a drink?

(sorry first timer and a Brit who’s not used to the tipping!)

You can tip each night or per drink if you want. There's no right or wrong way. We tip generously the first night and then again later in the cruise.
 
You can tip each night or per drink if you want. There's no right or wrong way. We tip generously the first night and then again later in the cruise.
Agree you can tip any time. I guess for what it's worth I can share what we plan to do, which is tip all at once on the last night. That's when we hand out our tip envelopes to the rest of the staff anyway, so it'll be easier to just do it all at once. With DCL, the service is so over-the-top outstanding, I never feel like my service suffers from waiting to tip to the end, which is kind of an old cruising tradition anyway.
 
Everyone has touched on all the extras and it just makes for a more special trip in our opinion. The conci hosts themselves make for a great trip, they are awesome and make you feel special. The escort on and off, special requests in your room, the lounge, the private deck and most importantly first access to booking. I am pretty certain at this point you will not get a cabana without concierge. We are platinum and have tried every which way and the only success was with the onshore team.
 
We didn't have a good concierge experience. We went for our 30th anniversary so we splurged. The first day when they book activities for you, all we asked for was an on-board booking. It was scheduled but when we showed up for the meeting, concierge forgot and had to hurry to get the OBB agent to the lounge. Ugh...I didn't expect to sit in the lounge for 1/2 hour waiting for this to happen. The food in the lounge was fine but the vultures descended on it immediately and it took a long time to restock. Sometimes we didn't have time to wait for additional food and walked to the back of the ship to Cabanas to get breakfast. For our anniversary we got a magical moments certificate. It was nice but I expected at least a swan towel animal and maybe some chocolate dipped strawberries. Maybe my expectations were too high since we are platinum cruisers. Oh I forgot about the Cabana on CC. Besides the initial explanation of the amenities of the cabana, we never saw the host again and was never able to get a drink without running out on the beach to give our order. No one ever came to check on us even after we pushed the call button. At the end of the day, I was told by someone cleaning out the cabanas that they would take us back to the ship but then they left and we were the only ones around for as far as we could see. It was only about 15 minutes to all aboard so we left to catch the tram. We subsequently had a cabana on a non-concierge cruise and the same thing happened. For the amount of money spent on a cabana, I think the least they can do is check up on you once. Just my experience and hopefully yours will be better.

Sorry to hear about your experience. That sounds like a big let down to what should have been an amazing anniversary trip. I would think that platinum + concierge + anniversary trip would get you top notch service.
 
Congrats on your first concierge booking - I know how excited you must be!!! We've done it twice. First time in 2017 for our anniversary. I don't know all the lingo, but it was the smaller room - for four of us. Kids loved going to the lounge themselves, the concierge staff was very nice, we did book a Cabana (but spent barely any time there) - I wasn't sure if I thought it was "worth" it.

This past Labor Day we were on the 3 night Dream, in a regular room 10th floor - and we asked about upgrading at port and were told to call later. We badgered them all day/night until they had the bigger room (a one bedroom?) available. We moved everything to our new room at 8pm lol. The upgrade cost was 1700. BUT, the only reason we did this was because our cruise had turned from a 3 night into a 5 or 6 night because of Hurricane Dorian (I don't even remember lol). So I felt the cost was justified for the bigger room which we really liked.

This was the MOST important thing though - the concierge lounge and use of their phone to call the airline multiple times to keep switching our flights. OMG, this was a lifesaver lol!!! They kept extending the cruise day by day, and we had to switch flights each time. I think with concierge it just makes the experience of cruising less stressful!

I think you will have a fantastic time. We've sailed concierge and non-concierge and like either - as long as I'm on the ship lol!!!
 
Re: the pull-out bed in the Cat V, depending on how old/tall your son is, you might want to ask your hosts to drop the bunk down from the ceiling and leave the couch in place. The pull-out bed blocks access to the balcony and some of the storage space in the vanity. I do like my early morning coffee time on the balcony while the rest of the family is sleeping, so I had to climb over a sleeping kid to get out there every day... but it wasn't a major inconvenience.

When doing this, have you found you can comfortably sit on the couch and get on and off of it without danger of whacking one's head on the bunk above ?

We are considering doing this for our next cruise and leaving the upper bunk down all the time, but are not sure how much comfortable clearance there is for anyone using the couch while the upper bunk is down as we've never used the upper bunk.

Thanks !
 
Below is a pic of the concierge area on 13. It is surrounded by the adult only area of the forward deck. It can be accessed by stairs in the lounge or doors at the corners of the area.
View attachment 496174
It is usually quiet up there. This happened to be when they had a reception going so it was pretty full.

I miss this view. Hope it comes back soon.
 
For us the difference going concierge is even more valuable on a short cruise. Short cruises are so short and concierge means you are very unlikely to be waiting in lines. No wait to board. No wait for cabin. No waits for cabanas buffets. (I never go to cabanas when we’re concierge.) Private character greet, first off the ship and so on...

When the cruise is only like 60 hours that is the real perk. A seamless, fully pampered 3 days vs. regl 3 days for us is well worth the upgrade.
 
For us the difference going concierge is even more valuable on a short cruise. Short cruises are so short and concierge means you are very unlikely to be waiting in lines. No wait to board. No wait for cabin. No waits for cabanas buffets. (I never go to cabanas when we’re concierge.) Private character greet, first off the ship and so on...

When the cruise is only like 60 hours that is the real perk. A seamless, fully pampered 3 days vs. regl 3 days for us is well worth the upgrade.

So true!
 
Thanks for asking this question. We had our once in a lifetime Med cruise cancelled- would have been in France today I think. This was for our sons High School graduation. We took the 125% credit for the two of us and decided to book a concierge room on the dream that will be back in Florida the same day we need to get him out of his dorm ( he's going to college in FL). It was a way to treat ourselves as empty nesters and make use the credit. We could never afford this stateroom, and after all of this, we deserve a little treat to us...Maybe when he graduates college we can try the Med cruise again....
 
When doing this, have you found you can comfortably sit on the couch and get on and off of it without danger of whacking one's head on the bunk above ?

We are considering doing this for our next cruise and leaving the upper bunk down all the time, but are not sure how much comfortable clearance there is for anyone using the couch while the upper bunk is down as we've never used the upper bunk.

Thanks !
Sorry for the late response, I've been offline for a few days. We have two kids so I don't really know, we need to have to have both beds made up and our room stewards have always put the top bunk away during the day. But if we only had one child, I don't think there'd be a problem. The bunk is up high and although the ladder might be in the way during the day, it could be moved aside. That said, we're a short family, I'm 5'2"and Mr. MacSpiff is 5'7", so take this for what it's worth. Our older DS, 14 on our last cruise, was still comfortable up top, so depending on how old your child is it could be totally doable.
 

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