What is Concierge class?

[fragilek]

 Just trying to figure out the benefits of booking Concierge class over a traditional balcony (move up offer ).  I know there is an embarkation lunch and that I think nibbles in the cabin per day. (I am coeliac so not sure the nibbles would be any use to me and I rarely manage more than fruit/ yogurt for lunch or occasionally gf crackers and cheese if I missed lunch while out in port)

 

But trying to find out what concierge do above any normal cabin.  

 

I have never found the need to ask my cabin steward for anything so as I don't seem to need anything more than my cabin cleaned (last celebrity cruise I only met my cabin guy once) thus I am not sure what concierge do.  I have already got my excursions booked and my meals reserved. 

 

Is there something I am missing that cabin stewards/ concierge do also is there an upgraded room service menu for concierge if so is there room to dine in the cabin (Edge)

 

Move up to concierge from £110pp  to Aqua £260pp

[mom says]

You can find the added amenities of concierge class on the Celebrity website. They're listed under the different cabin categories. Don't confuse the concierge and cabin steward with the butler service you would have in a suite. The concierge can assist with bookings or reservations. The steward provides the same service as any other cabin.

[jelayne]

While there is a concierge for Concierge Class there is also a Concierge for all passengers should one have the need for his/her assistance. 

There is a expanded breakfast room service  however there is no table suitable for dining.  Not even a coffee table like on the unrevolutionized ships.  The only surface is the vanity/desk top which would work for one person.

 

[cachouonacruise]

Concierge may not adequately depict services/advantages of Concierge Class.

 

In short, a « Concierge » is sitting at a desk, during designated hours, and CC class guests requiring assistance for dining, excursions reservations etc. can proceed to that desk instead of going to the main Guest Relations desk. That desk is located on a floor, close to most CC cabins.

 

CC benefits, as mentioned above, are detailed on the Celebrity website, and they include, to name a few, embarkation lunch in MDR, bottle if bubbly wine upon request, daily bites ( given your dietary requirements, your cabin attendant may be able to change them to better suit your needs), more pillow options, more Captain Club Points etc.

 

Furthermore, on M Class ship, CC cabin are a bite larger than regular verandah.

 

Other services may include, free shoe shine upon request. Lastly, during our last cruise in CC, we were invited to a sail away from a port, on the helipad as well as to participate to a free slot pull tournament. These « invitations », however are not guaranteed. ( at least to my knowledge), they may vary from cruise to cruise. 

[TFLG]

What is Concierge class?

Its a way for Celebrity to make some extra cash.....

[39august]

Unless you prefer a higher deck than 9, I see no reason to book concierge class. We have done a few times before we got familiar with X ships. The afternoon snacks are pretty awful and no need for a bottle of wine in your cabin if you have a drink package. We have no interest in the embarkation lunch in the dining room. We now book plain veranda  cabins or go up to Sky Suites. All veranda cabins are the same size on S class ships. 

[Langley Cruisers]

4 minutes ago, 39august said:

...The afternoon snacks are pretty awful and no need for a bottle of wine in your cabin if you have a drink package. We have no interest in the embarkation lunch in the dining room....

 

Absolutely agreed. The snacks were nasty 😏, although we did take the bottle of sparkling wine and shared a toast with the couple we were traveling with. The Concierge himself call our cabin twice a day and left a message, mostly offering his services (which we did not require). We received Concierge class as an upgrade from our TA and have since decided it was not worth it for us.

[drakes2]

28 minutes ago, TFLG said:

What is Concierge class?

Its a way for Celebrity to make some extra cash.....

I just dropped down from CC to a regular verandah and saved us $600. 

[DrivesLikeMario]

The ONLY reason we book Cat. C1, Concierge Class is for the location on the M-Class ships.  To us, the little perks aren't worth it.  The balconies on Deck 7 aft are worth it though!  Best, deepest balconies of all the regular balconies including Aqua Class!  

[Ken the cruiser]

We used to book an aft-facing concierge cabin for the 5 loyalty points per day versus 3 for a regular balcony to get us faster to Elite as well as to enjoy some great aft-facing views! However, I believe you now only get the loyalty points associated with the cabin you originally book. In your case you're still only going to get 3 points per day for a regular balcony.

 

We enjoyed the evening canapes most of the time and would also ask our steward to swap the bottle of sparkling wine on embarkation day for either a bottle of red or white and never had an issue. Having access to a concierge also came in handy when we would have an issue that needed resolving, but that only happened on rare occasions. Also, as someone noted earlier, the concierge cabins on M class ships are about 20+ sq ft bigger than a regular balcony.

[dani negreanu]

We've been lucky enough to be able to upgrade for free from balcony to C2.

We enjoyed the bigger room on Millie, and "used" the concierge for printing out our boarding passes.

We don't eat lunch so early as to take advantage of the "Concierge lunch" and we don't drink - we left the bubbly in the fridge...

And, with so much to eat -- the canapes were useless.

[fragilek]

thanks for responses.  Going to stay put as seems very little advantage (to us) to pay the additional costs.  Will look at booking some restaurants instead but I notice there is no longer a 3 dinner deal for our sailing just 4 meals and above. So will probably just wait until on board

[Scottygirl1]

We didn't get the afternoon snacks after day two - they really were not good.  We did enjoy the embarkation lunch and the priority boarding.  One thing though with Concierge this time though was a free galley tour plus a sail away with officers on the helipad.  We only upgraded for a larger balcony and are not going with concierge next time.

[upwarduk]

I have decided to do Concierge for our next cruise, mainly due to the 5 points per night, as we are not far away from Elite+. We are fortunate that we have one of the larger balconies, 1st off the hump, 1044.

Does anyone have a screen shot of the menu for the embarkation lunch? I’m asking as I am Dairy Intolerant, so hope that there will be something on the menu that I can eat.. I have already filled in the Special Needs form.

[bikerunner]

CC is worthwhile if your on one of the M class since as many pointed out the rooms are bigger.  I mostly have just done CC since I usually get pricing that is very close to regular verandah after shopping around and finding a group rate.  I do like being on the upper decks mainly 9-11 on S class.  The afternoon snacks are not good, I usually just ask for a veggie platter or cheese since the rest is not really appetizing.  Tho it is fun to play guess whats under the cover at times.  Ill probably stick with doing CC for now since I am only about 3-4 cruises depending on length to Elite +.  

[Purplsmurf]

While we have never been in Concierge class we are booked in that class for our upcoming cruise. We booked it because it was cheaper than a regular veranda. Now we will get the extra CC points at a cheaper cost to us.....along with the few perks. Win win for us!

[gordiej]

On 12/19/2019 at 5:36 AM, upwarduk said:

Does anyone have a screen shot of the menu for the embarkation lunch? I’m asking as I am Dairy Intolerant, so hope that there will be something on the menu that I can eat.. I have already filled in the Special Needs form.

I was on Equinox a month ago - the embarkation lunch was super-lame. The couple next to us got up and left after sitting down and looking at the menu. I think there were only like 3 starter and main choices. We had caesar salad and a chicken "paillard" but it was really just a sauteed thin-cut chicken breast (paillard is usually grilled, this was in a light sauce). Service was also a bit on the slow side, but it was nice to not have to fight the crowds at the buffet on embarkation day.

[drakes2]

7 hours ago, gordiej said:

I was on Equinox a month ago - the embarkation lunch was super-lame. The couple next to us got up and left after sitting down and looking at the menu. I think there were only like 3 starter and main choices. We had caesar salad and a chicken "paillard" but it was really just a sauteed thin-cut chicken breast (paillard is usually grilled, this was in a light sauce). Service was also a bit on the slow side, but it was nice to not have to fight the crowds at the buffet on embarkation day.

I've done the embarkation lunch a few times but even with the fewer entree choices its still better than fighting the buffet crowds. We found a table for 2 right by the window. Very relaxing and the service was excellent and unrushed.

[aml3679]

We book it for location and the 5 Captain's Club points.

[Luckiestmanonearth]

On 12/18/2019 at 6:21 PM, DrivesLikeMario said:

The ONLY reason we book Cat. C1, Concierge Class is for the location on the M-Class ships.  To us, the little perks aren't worth it.  The balconies on Deck 7 aft are worth it though!  Best, deepest balconies of all the regular balconies including Aqua Class!  

this looks amazing.  What ship is this ?

[Moby Jones]

Concierge class is a very clever marketing gimmick offered by Celebrity. The above is all my humble opinion of course..

Pros

Arguably some of the best verandah staterooms onboard will be the concierge cabins. 

With a regular booking, excluding move up, you will receive 5 captains club points as opposed to 3 for a regular verandah. This may be of interest for those wanting to achieve elite and above status etc.

You might be invited to a helipad sailaway or sailin subject to weather and availability etc. 

Meh

The concierge lunch served in the MDR has a very limited menu and is nothing at all to get excited about. Assuming you board early and can find a seat in the ocean view cafe whist avoiding the mad rush it isn't really worth bothering with. 

The canapes are pretty ordinary at best and can be terrible. You can request that the canapes be replaced with a cheese or shrimp plate but this is not guaranteed and varies from sailing to sailing. 

The concierge can't really do anything that the regular guest relations team can't. 

Cons

 

I have seen 14 night sailings where concierge class is £1000 or around $1250 more than a regular verandah cabin. In my opinion there's no way on earth it's worth that much more. Base your decision on a sailing by sailing case. If it's only $20 to $50 more or in rare occasions the same price as regular balcony rooms then go for it. 

So I'd personally think long and hard about booking it. If it's not much more and you can book one of the more desirable concierge rooms on a trip where you will spend plenty of time in your room them go for it. If it's a lot more on a port intensive itinerary then I'd ask why bother with the additional expense? Each to their own regardless...... :) 

[Moby Jones]

4 minutes ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

this looks amazing.  What ship is this ?

Any of the M class ships. 😉 

[DrivesLikeMario]

6 hours ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

this looks amazing.  What ship is this ?

Summit, cabin #7206.  That's not even all of the balcony.  There's a big round table with 4 chairs out there too (you can just see the edge of it in this picture).  The people next to us had hammocks rigged up out there too.  

[mdpa]

7 hours ago, Moby Jones said:

Concierge class is a very clever marketing gimmick offered by Celebrity. The above is all my humble opinion of course..

Pros

Arguably some of the best verandah staterooms onboard will be the concierge cabins. 

With a regular booking, excluding move up, you will receive 5 captains club points as opposed to 3 for a regular verandah. This may be of interest for those wanting to achieve elite and above status etc.

You might be invited to a helipad sailaway or sailin subject to weather and availability etc. 

Meh

The concierge lunch served in the MDR has a very limited menu and is nothing at all to get excited about. Assuming you board early and can find a seat in the ocean view cafe whist avoiding the mad rush it isn't really worth bothering with. 

The canapes are pretty ordinary at best and can be terrible. You can request that the canapes be replaced with a cheese or shrimp plate but this is not guaranteed and varies from sailing to sailing. 

The concierge can't really do anything that the regular guest relations team can't. 

Cons

 

I have seen 14 night sailings where concierge class is £1000 or around $1250 more than a regular verandah cabin. In my opinion there's no way on earth it's worth that much more. Base your decision on a sailing by sailing case. If it's only $20 to $50 more or in rare occasions the same price as regular balcony rooms then go for it. 

So I'd personally think long and hard about booking it. If it's not much more and you can book one of the more desirable concierge rooms on a trip where you will spend plenty of time in your room them go for it. If it's a lot more on a port intensive itinerary then I'd ask why bother with the additional expense? Each to their own regardless...... 🙂

 

All great points but I believe you are downplaying the benefits a little too much....and I agree that it is primarily marketing (not much different than paying for different category rooms (2A, 2B, 2C, etc.)

 

On our most recent cruise it was only $100-200 more which is often worth it for the upgraded location alone (we had one of the better aft balconies). We also appreciated using the shorter line for dining, enjoyed the lunch, etc.

 

That said, in most cases the value for me would be $100 - $500 depending on room choice. I bid blindly for a move up bid for a family veranda or a concierge cabin @ $230 for our upcoming cruise. Most likely won't get it but either of these will be a good deal for our family of 3.

[mdpa]

I'll also just add it is no more a marketing gimmick (or more properly; way to increase perceived value) than almost every upgrade available.

 

After all people using inside cabins get the same ship, same pool, same food, same ports, and same level of service. If we were all accountants we would only choose inside cabins and pocket the savings. These are the "best deal" on the ship.

 

Conversely, most people booking suites would be better off on a premium cruise line like Silversea where everyone gets butler service and airfare included as part of their fare.