Concierge Question

[ZerasPride]

Who has gone back to a regular cruise after a concierge sailing? We have an upcoming Wish cruise in a few months sailing concierge for the first time on a Disney ship. So excited! We are also considering a January 2025 Fantasy cruise and the price difference between a regular family veranda stateroom and a concierge family stateroom is $2,000. Not sure it is "worth" it to spend that extra coin when we have not even sailed Disney concierge yet!

If you have gone back to a regular stateroom after concierge did you feel like it was a big downgrade?

I am thinking with that extra $2,000 we can book a rainforest pass and several upcharge dining venues like Palo, etc. Plus we can wait to book when we are on the Wish and do a placeholder and get the 10% discount.

 

[llachance]

17 cruises under my belt, 1 concierge (Past October), 3 more planned in 2024 that are not concierge. I didn't find it worth the extra expense and so won't be spending that money again. YMMV

 

[RedHead0186]

Who has gone back to a regular cruise after a concierge sailing? We have an upcoming Wish cruise in a few months sailing concierge for the first time on a Disney ship. So excited! We are also considering a January 2025 Fantasy cruise and the price difference between a regular family veranda stateroom and a concierge family stateroom is $2,000. Not sure it is "worth" it to spend that extra coin when we have not even sailed Disney concierge yet!

If you have gone back to a regular stateroom after concierge did you feel like it was a big downgrade?

I am thinking with that extra $2,000 we can book a rainforest pass and several upcharge dining venues like Palo, etc. Plus we can wait to book when we are on the Wish and do a placeholder and get the 10% discount.

We just sailed concierge for the first time last November (on the Fantasy). Loved it! We already had a cruise booked for September 2024 on the Magic (not concierge), and enjoyed concierge on the Fantasy so much we upgraded our Magic sailing to concierge while still on the Fantasy (it was a very reasonable cost to upgrade). We had considered upgrading the Magic cruise to concierge before our Fantasy sailing, but decided to wait until we had experienced concierge to decide if we wanted to upgrade future sailings. I have a Treasure cruise booked for February 2025 and will not be doing concierge for that (wayyyyyy to expensive).

So no, I haven't yet sailed a non-concierge sailing after doing concierge, but I plan to. Depending on how many people are in your party, $2,000 actually seems pretty reasonable to upgrade to concierge (based on some of the concierge prices I've seen). But it depends what the per person cost (and of course, everyone has their own threshold for 'reasonable'). You are right that $2,000 would go a long way towards Palo, rainforest room, etc.

 

[Pixie Dust Believer]

Since we started sailing concierge we have done 2 cruises non concierge, but mainly because we booked last minute and everything was sold out. We found that on our 3 night on the Dream to the Bahamas that we did not miss it, but we did on our 5 night to Bermuda. YMMV

 

[ladyofthetramp]

We really enjoy sailing on concierge level when we can and it makes sense to us-cost wise. Having a quiet space-the lounge- to land is wonderful for us and we enjoy it. That said, we have a Mediterranean cruise booked next June as non concierge. The cost was double. We have a deluxe family verandah room booked. Not worth it-imo. We may miss some things, but the expense more than pays for flight upgrades and private tours. The cruise is so port intensive, the amount of time we would spend in the lounge would be quite small. And we have booked private tours, so no need for help with booking Disney excursions. The cost of 2k seems very reasonable for the upgrade, I would jump on it, but what is worth the cost to one person, may not be for another. Only you can make that choice.

 

[Dug720]

1st DCL was concierge. Every other one has been OV or Veranda. Absolutely no issue moving to those.

I never saw it as a downgrade, probably because we didn't really use the concierge for anything other than the happy hour. We're just not that high maintenance. (The one time I asked if I could get just 2 more cans of diet coke, the host was so happy one of us had asked for something he brought a 12-pack because we literally had asked for nothing the whole cruise.)

 

[NephieRN]

Half of my 14 DCL cruises have been in concierge. The other half have ranged from inside to deluxe family verandah. We go back and forth routinely. Do I miss the lounge, “free alcohol” and other concierge perks? Yes. But it’s not always worth it to us to pay the difference depending on price, ship, itinerary, and make up of our party. If you’re going from the Wish to Fantasy I’d skip concierge. The fantasy lounge and sundeck are nothing compared to the Wish.

 

[RedHead0186]

The fantasy lounge and sundeck are nothing compared to the Wish.

Good point, but when we were on the Fantasy in November, oftentimes we were the only ones using the concierge sundeck/hot tub. Kenan (one of the hosts) said that sundeck was the most underused part of the ship. While it doesn't compare to the Wish, I will give it points for exclusivity.

 

[John VN]

DW and I only cruise Concierge level since a wonderful 1 Bedroom Dream cruise in 2015 but have abandoned DCL following a disappointing Dream 1 Bedroom Concierge in 2017. We are low maintenance, enjoy the extra perks and have found that we get far greater bang for our $$$$ elsewhere while being able to cruise more often.

 

[EveV]

For our family the longer cruises in concierge are worth it, as it gives us additional space and a little respite from the crowds, especially if the cruise is packed. We enjoy the service getting on/off the ship, the space, the early booking window, accommodation, and service overall. So a few factors in play for us. I don't think the concierge food and drinks are anything particularly amazing, but good quality. All that said, I am also very happy with veranda room and to relax at sea! I honestly never felt like it was a let down to go from concierge to a veranda cabin.

 

[ShaneDJ]

DW and I only cruise Concierge level since a wonderful 1 Bedroom Dream cruise in 2015 but have abandoned DCL following a disappointing Dream 1 Bedroom Concierge in 2017. We are low maintenance, enjoy the extra perks and have found that we get far greater bang for our $$$$ elsewhere while being able to cruise more often.

@John VN Was the "disappointing Dream 1 Bedroom Concierge in 2017" experience due the concierge?

 

[John VN]

@John VN Was the "disappointing Dream 1 Bedroom Concierge in 2017" experience due the concierge?

Yes.
Wait in pre-board area lacked enthusiasm experienced in 1st cruise. DW and I were 1st to board and no WELCOME ABOARD when getting on ship + we were not escorted to Concierge Lounge like 1st cruise. We were not greeted by Concierge Members when arriving in Lounge and never approached for an introduction to DCL Concierge as 1st cruise. ON our 1st cruise we had every dinner in our cabin and CM's were all attentive from ordering to serving with this cruise we again ate in cabin with CM's not being very enthusiastic. Our current cruise line of choice provides a FAR SUPERIOR Concierge EXPERIENCE often at half the price of DCL allowing more cruising.

If DCL stepped up their game and brought down the price (unlikely) we would return.

 

[ShaneDJ]

John: thank you for the info. Sorry that happened. That would be disappointing.

 

[Marthasor]

I've done 9 DCL cruises - 7 concierge, 2 non-concierge. Especially on longer cruises, I would want concierge just for the lounge space, extra help booking dining and excursions, early seating in the theater, embarkation/disembarkation perks, etc. It is absolutely worth it for us. Why not wait until your Wish cruise and see what you think?

 

[Stitch'sCousin]

We had done a number of non-concierge cruises before we did a 7 day Western on the Fantasy in concierge. For that cruise, the difference between a Cat. 4A and Cat. V was only about $500 including the tip for the concierge staff. We went back to 4A for our subsequent cruises. We are fairly low maintenance and didn’t make much use of the lounge staff and had no interest in getting a cabana. In addition, with a Cat. 4A each of our kids gets their own sleeping space while two of them had to share the sofa bed in the Cat. V, so as far as rooms go, we actually prefer the 4A. Although the lounge was nice, we found that aside from the excellent coffee machine and a nightly drink, we could get comparable snack offerings for free in Cove Cafe. From a strictly financial point of view, we thought that for an extra $500 over 7 days it was worth it for that particular cruise. However, we won‘t spend the additional amount required for a concierge room, at least $3000 now for a 7 day cruise for the five of us, as we can use that amount to more than cover all of our excursions, spending and tips on a cruise.

 

[goofy4prez]

My first Disney cruise was on the Fantasy in 2019 and was not in concierge. We really enjoyed it. We sailed on the Dream December, 2022 in concierge and loved it. We just sailed the Wish last week in concierge and once again loved it. We have a cruise coming up with 4 of us and have a 1-bedroom suite concierge on the Fantasy and really looking forward to it.

As long as I can afford it, I hope to always do concierge. For me the benefit of early booking and knowing I'll get all my onboard activities, adult restaurants, dining rotation, excursions, private lounge and deck area, entry to shows, early arrival, and early debarkation may not be worth the price for many (and I do understand), but for me it is well worth the price to pay for these benefits.

On a side note. I guess if I was going to put a dollar value on anything Disney, from their cruises, to their parks, to the Disney property hotels compared to other cruise lines or vacation destinations I would say it is not worth it. Disney is a premium product with a premium price. Why do I/we do it? Because we all love Disney. It just depends on how much each of us wants to fork over to the Mouse to experience Disney.