On our most recent voyage on the Disney Fantasy we had what I thought would be a once in a lifetime experience; sailing in concierge. After staying in these accommodations I now believe that this experience is something we will strive to attain again. Concierge was wonderful! Yes, it was more expensive; much more so for me since I usually sail with DVC points instead of paying cash, but it was amazing!
Booking these accommodations was impulsive and since we booked about 18 months or so before sailing I wasn’t even sure we would hold on to the room, and instead thought we might move down to a more standard cabin. We’ve previously stayed in just about every type of statement there is with the exception of a standard inside, a suite or one of the “royal” suites. Frankly we’ve been satisfied with all of our rooms, though we do believe bigger is better and a balcony is nice to have. But as time progressed I managed to come up with the necessary funds and decided to go for it.
How did this come about? We have a group of eight individuals; simply amazing friends, who sailed together in 2013 for my 60th birthday. Six of us within the group initially met on the Disney Magic in 2008 and have been traveling together ever since. Along the way we added my best friend and her husband to the mix and this year our number increased to nine with the addition of a lovely young girl who came with one of our regular couples. We call ourselves the “crazies” and have become well known among the cast members. But I digress. At the end of our voyage last year we decided we needed to celebrate the next big birthday in the group in 2014. Since one of the couples had previously sailed in concierge and was in concierge on that particular voyage, we all marched up to the concierge lounge, made our reservations and dove right in. We had one more surprise to come, but I’ll tell you a little more about that later.
So what makes it different and why was it worth the extra money? The first benefit is getting to book shore excursions, spa appointment, Remy and Palo before other passengers and through the stateside concierge agent. I didn’t personally experience this because one of our group is a travel agent and handled all of our arrangements, but I know it’s much easier than booking online. One phone call does it all. The second thing we were looking forward to was getting onboard the ship first. Concierge guests are the first to get on; boarding only after back to back sailing guests have been allowed to board. But that was just the beginning. Not only do you get to board first, but we were escorted directly to the concierge lounge where cocktails and snacks were waiting for us. The wonderful staff included Amanda, Kemisha and PJ. They welcomed us onboard and asked if we had any last minutes requests that we still wanted to book. We had decided just the night before that we wanted to dine in Palo and like magic PJ was able to get us a reservation. We’re not really a very demanding group and had planned most things way in advance so we didn’t have much else we needed them to do for us, but it was still wonderful to know they were there when we needed them. Additionally, we never needed to go to guest services because all of our billing questions could also be addressed directly through the concierge staff.
Drinks and snacks were provided each day throughout the day with specific cocktail hours in the evening. Shel typically spends each morning at the Cove Cafe with her morning coffee, so this was a really nice bonus for her. Coffee, tea, water and soft drinks were offered during all the hours the concierge lounge was open and our staterooms were stocked with both water and sodas; all included in the cost of the cabin. Another item that people might not think of that was quite handy to not have to pack was sunscreen, which was also made available to us.
The lounge is not large but served our group quite well. We regularly used it as a meeting place as everyone was individually getting ready for meals, shows, etc. We probably would have used it even more except for our big surprise. The birthday girl actually secretly changed their cabin to a one bedroom so that became our private lounge for the trip. WONDERFUL! As much as I loved he whole concierge experience, I covert that one bedroom. I don’t know that I will ever be able to afford to stay in one myself, but one can always dream. One additional benefit that was not specific to concierge is that we booked three out of our four cabins together (sadly the fourth was in a different location). I don’t know why we never did that before, but from this point on I know we’re going to try to stay close together.
Bottom line is all of us loved it! I don’t know if dollar for dollar it’s worth the extra money, but it sure felt like it. I always feel somewhat pampered on a cruise, but this made me feel even more so. Everyone within the area knew us by name, always wanted to help, and were incredibly friendly. We may not be able to do this on every cruise, in fact our next cruise is only ocean view, but I believe we felt the value and experience combined would well worth what we paid.
Of course we were with some of the most amazing people in the world, so concierge or not our trip would have been wonderful. Thank you to my very good friends (daughter) Shelley, Pam & John, Steve & Allison, Tina, Steve & (our birthday girl) Mary. I am so lucky to have met all of you!
Here’s a few picture of our cabin. Concierge cabins are more formally decorated than others, with nicer finishes, bigger sofas and tons of storage. Just lovely.
Jo Scholl, grateful Disney Vacation Club (DVC) owner and proud mom to three amazing adult children, one of whom is fellow columnist Shelley Scholl. And a small black dog named Mickey Mouse!
Jo is also co-host with fellow columnist Darlene Nagi of the new WDW Fan Zone Radio Blogcast – DVC Edition.
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