Current Concierges continued

[Pencruise]

Yes, a grandson born on August 16. Hope to see you again also. We did have fun.

 

Many congratulations, he looks adorable.

[mommabean]

INHO Juan Diego is the best concierge fleet wide. From day one he has treated us like pampered guests. And we weren't in a suite then. :)

 

I agree!

[Ashland]

Just off the Brilliance last Sunday. Willie was AWESOME! BY FAR the best concierge I've cruised with.

 

He treated everyone with the same level of respect and enthusiasm in the CL. He went out of his way to please everyone - and worked his tail-end off!

 

He did sing and play his guitar two nights during the trip. He was actually quite good! I think that we all would have enjoyed a tune or two every night! It was great to have a concierge with a personality!

 

I have cruised with Juan Diego and found him to be arrogant and uninterested. He had 5 or 6 favorites in the lounge who he seemed to enjoy - and who he spent his time with/energy on. But, it was as if the rest of us were a bother to him. The only time this was different was the 3 times the Captain was in the CL. Then, he was everyone's friend. (I did at 15-night repo on the Radiance with JD.)

 

In my experience, I'd put Willie at the top of my list, JD at the bottom, and the others in between. It's funny how we all have different experiences with the same concierges!

 

If I could, I'd choose Willie to be my concierge every time! (And I'd also choose Rajiv for the bar!)

I agree with you about Juan Diego..we had a bad experience with him in the CL on an Alaska Radiance cruise..Ignored us completely (the first night) but gave him the benefit of the doubt but when we still couldn't even get one drink the second night we were out of there, and we were in a suite..Instead let himself be completely monopolized by a particular demanding family (a good concierge should know how to balance). We then opted to use the Diamond event instead and glad we did..Great service from waitstaff only in those days.

 

Glad many have had good experiences with him and how nice to have favorites...but our favorites have been..Bronswinkle, Oana, Francis & Gazetty so far.:)

[PH8]

AD Adventure -(Concierge)Sucel Nickings

(Dionne Jolly)

AL Allure --(Concierge)-Rahim Fraoui(on vacation 12/01/13-01/05/14) AND Dexter Fraser till 01/05/14

(Fernando Ugalde Nadal on vacation till 12/01/13)

(Diamond)"Ana" Anayansy Jimenez as of 09/29/13

BR Brilliance -(Concierge)Willie Salaya as of 09/15/13

(Anis Tebbeb)

(Diamond)Sascha Strack

EN Enchantment -(Concierge)Reyno Varkevisser as of 10/28/13

(Gazetty James)

(Diamond)Carlington Berry as of 10/14/13

EX Explorer- (Concierge)Nizar Laatiri till 12/12/13

(Denzil Fernandes)

FR Freedom (Concierge)-Rahul Barua as of 09/15/13

(Diamond)- Bertrand Almeida till 11/03/13

GR Grandeur-(Concierge)-Francis Calimag

(Ruth Romo Ortiz)

(Diamond)George Gutierrez

ID Independence (Concierge) Fernando Cataldo till 11/23/13

(Raj Bhugwath)

(Diamond) -Columella Arandia as of 09/21/13

JW Jewel -(Concierge)Diego Tripaldi as of 06/28/13

LG Legend -(Concierge)Larisa Curduneanu as of 09/09/13

(Luca Iorio)

(Diamond)Andrew Finegold as of 09/09/13

LB Liberty- (Concierge)-Carlos Ortiz till 12/07/13(Oana Papa)

(Diamond)-Mahmoud Messaoudi

(Oana Popa on vacation 10/06/13-12/06/13)

MJ Majesty - none

MA Mariner -(Concierge) &(Diamond)-Miao Miao Han

NV Navigator – (Concierge)Ricardo Mock

OA Oasis (Concierge) Charmaine Fernandes and Allan Fajardo

(Israel Sanchez on vacation 09/14/13-11/02/13)

(Diamond)Carolina Cullbera(on vacation 11/02/13-12/14/13) (Charmaine Fernandes in DL as of 11/02/13)

RD Radiance -(Concierge)Juan Diego Miranda-Allen as of 09/14/13

(Diamond)HaJeong Shim"JJ" till 01/19/14

RH Rhapsody -(Concierge)Amit Chattopadhyay as of 08/16/13

(Pretty Shamu)

(Diamond) Karen Hernandez as of 06/28/13

SR Serenade - (Concierge)Mario Adonis Reyes till April 2014

(Diamond) Alan del Fiero

SP Splendour–(Concierge)Gustavo Butcher(as of 09/30/13)

(Telma Santos)

(Diamond)Gisleni Araujo

VI Vision - Betsy Medrano

VY Voyager -(Concierge)Jayeon Hong as of July '13

Yangyang Qi

 

To email the concierge,use the 2 letter code for ship(i.e EX for Explorer),followed by an underscore then Concierge@rccl.com

The underscore is ONLY between the ships two letters and Concierge.

i.e

EX_Concierge@rccl.com

 

 

**For the Rhapsody RH_SuitesConcierge@rccl.com

**For the Grandeur GR_SuitesConcierge@rccl.com

 

**On Oasis and Allure you need a 01 or 02 in the email address since there are 2 concierges on each ship

i.e

OA_Concierge01@rccl.com

OA_Concierge02@rccl.com

 

On ships with Diamond lounge concierge,add the word Diamond in front of Concierge

i.e

FR_DiamondConcierge@rccl.com

[cruisenfever]

My first cruise ever was in 2004.

 

Gina

You've come a long way in 9 years.:D Took us 17 years.:p

[I Church]

Speaking of Reyno......... he is in the air on his way back from South Africa and will be landing in Orlando Sunday night at 9:24PM. I really miss that wonderful guy! If we didn't live so far away I'd go to the airport to welcome him back.:)

 

Reyno is our faviorite too! Sailed with him for many, many cruises. I still think the best was on the an Alaska cruise when he shut down the CL for Diamonds and D+ only (most of the people from suites were first time cruisers) he had invited one of the entertainers (the one with the bottle bush dress) to come up and give us a song.. call Reyno my ships grandson.. met him on the Indy, Oasis and probably the Allure. He is very, very special.

 

Take care..

Irene & Miles

[mommabean]

Reyno is our faviorite too! Sailed with him for many, many cruises. I still think the best was on the an Alaska cruise when he shut down the CL for Diamonds and D+ only (most of the people from suites were first time cruisers) he had invited one of the entertainers (the one with the bottle bush dress) to come up and give us a song.. call Reyno my ships grandson.. met him on the Indy, Oasis and probably the Allure. He is very, very special.

 

Take care..

Irene & Miles

 

Judy Kolba - the best entertainer RCI has. Or she is at least in that group of very few. Fun, positive, upbeat, I LOVE her. That dress comes in different colors. :)

 

Gina

[mommabean]

You've come a long way in 9 years.:D Took us 17 years.:p

 

We cheated - we live in FL and did all those 3 night cruises and got upgraded to JS's. :D Just kidding.

 

Two years after our first cruise, DH retired. Two years after retirement, the youngest graduated high school. That sure freed up our time.

 

I think at this point we are in the process of converting to more land time.

 

There are still a few people I like to visit. Your friend, and now mine, Reyno, is up next. With your 17 year history it's only fitting that you make these fabulous discoveries first and pass on the info. First it was Radiance, now it's Reyno. Any more secret R words you are ready to spit out? :D

 

Gina

[Beach4me]

INHO Juan Diego is the best concierge fleet wide. From day one he has treated us like pampered guests. And we weren't in a suite then. :)

 

Ahh...proves my point. We all have our favorites. Also proves a point that I didn't detail (well, I did the first 2 attempts but my posts disappeared mid-typing ;) ). JD does not care about suite guests. He is much - MUCH - more interested in D and above. Suite guests do not get "pampered" - or even acknowledged - by him in any way at all...in my experience.

[Beach4me]

Reyno is our faviorite too! Sailed with him for many, many cruises. I still think the best was on the an Alaska cruise when he shut down the CL for Diamonds and D+ only (most of the people from suites were first time cruisers) he had invited one of the entertainers (the one with the bottle bush dress) to come up and give us a song.. call Reyno my ships grandson.. met him on the Indy, Oasis and probably the Allure. He is very, very special.

 

Take care..

Irene & Miles

 

I KNOW I've read that wrong. Did the concierge actually kick the suite guests out of the CL for an event for D/D+'s? If I'm reading that right and that's what he did, I would have been all over that. The CL is for suite passengers. They have access to the CL all hours of every day. No "shutting down" the lounge to access by anyone entitled to be there.

 

btw - I am D - and I always cruise in a suite. I visit only the CL because I get bored with people comparing how many cruises they've been on, etc. Would rather skip a free drink than have to sit in the D lounge to get one! The CL on the Brilliance last week was like Nirvana thanks to 2-lounge addition and access change. (I know that not all D's and above do the cruise count continually...but a heckuva lot of them do!)

 

I would also comment on this comment "(most of the people from suites were first time cruisers)" but I am going to assume that you were not denegrating folks for being on their first cruise or implying that if it's your first cruise and you are only in the CL because of that, that you are not entitled to the benefits that come with a suite.

 

We all have our favorites. And, we are all entitled to them as our experiences are different. Enough said.

Edited October 28, 2013 by Beach4me

[mommabean]

I KNOW I've read that wrong. Did the concierge actually kick the suite guests out of the CL for an event for D/D+'s? If I'm reading that right and that's what he did, I would have been all over that. The CL is for suite passengers. They have access to the CL all hours of every day. No "shutting down" the lounge to access by anyone entitled to be there.

 

btw - I am D - and I always cruise in a suite. I visit only the CL because I get bored with people comparing how many cruises they've been on, etc. Would rather skip a free drink than have to sit in the D lounge to get one!

 

I would also comment on this comment "(most of the people from suites were first time cruisers)" but I am going to assume that you were not denegrating folks for being on their first cruise or implying that if it's your first cruise and you are only in the CL because of that, that you are not entitled to the benefits that come with a suite.

 

 

We all have our favorites. And, we are all entitled to them as our experiences are different. Enough said.

 

I took the comment to mean that D and D+ were not allowed into the CL in the evenings but had a separate area, most likely up in the Viking Crown Lounge. I've heard of that happening on occasion in the past. By saying "shut down the CL for Diamonds and D+ only" I think they meant they were the only ones not allowed in. I could be wrong but I don't think I am. :)

 

Gina

[Uri1961]

I KNOW I've read that wrong. Did the concierge actually kick the suite guests out of the CL for an event for D/D+'s? If I'm reading that right and that's what he did, I would have been all over that. The CL is for suite passengers. They have access to the CL all hours of every day. No "shutting down" the lounge to access by anyone entitled to be there.

 

btw - I am D - and I always cruise in a suite. I visit only the CL because I get bored with people comparing how many cruises they've been on, etc. Would rather skip a free drink than have to sit in the D lounge to get one!

 

I would also comment on this comment "(most of the people from suites were first time cruisers)" but I am going to assume that you were not denegrating folks for being on their first cruise or implying that if it's your first cruise and you are only in the CL because of that, that you are not entitled to the benefits that come with a suite.

 

We all have our favorites. And, we are all entitled to them as our experiences are different. Enough said.

 

 

 

I almost hit the floor when I read the same thing!!

[deepwater]

I'm glad to see that someone else likes Willie. I thought that Willie was great--friendly and helpful and he made the time we spent in the lounge a pleasure.

[mommabean]

I'm glad to see that someone else likes Willie. I thought that Willie was great--friendly and helpful and he made the time we spent in the lounge a pleasure.

 

I know someone on the ship now who is not a suite guest and they like him, too.

 

Gina

[CRUISEMAMI]

I'm glad to see that someone else likes Willie. I thought that Willie was great--friendly and helpful and he made the time we spent in the lounge a pleasure.

 

 

We know Willie since 2003, and we never had any problems with him, and we try to cruise with him at least once x year!!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[maxs mom]

We cruised with Willie back in 2005 on the Radiance. He was just a young pup back then. We recently cruised with him in August on the Freedom. He was absolutely wonderful to us. I guess everyone has different experiences. But I saw him bending over backwards for D+ and Suite Guests.

[truffles2]

Judy Kolba - the best entertainer RCI has. Or she is at least in that group of very few. Fun, positive, upbeat, I LOVE her. That dress comes in different colors. :)

 

Gina

 

I liked her too. We have seen her several times but not at all in the past few years. Have we just missed her? Have you seen her lately?

PS....I called it the "car wash dress".:p

[tocanada]

Just off the Brilliance last Sunday. Willie was AWESOME! BY FAR the best concierge I've cruised with.

 

He treated everyone with the same level of respect and enthusiasm in the CL. He went out of his way to please everyone - and worked his tail-end off!

 

He did sing and play his guitar two nights during the trip. He was actually quite good! I think that we all would have enjoyed a tune or two every night! It was great to have a concierge with a personality!

 

If I could, I'd choose Willie to be my concierge every time!

 

I totally agree. I was on Brilliance on Oct 6 and he was just outstanding. It was only on Day 5 that he finally sang and played his guitar. Wish he had done it more often.

Andrew

[mommabean]

I liked her too. We have seen her several times but not at all in the past few years. Have we just missed her? Have you seen her lately?

PS....I called it the "car wash dress".:p

 

We saw Judy last fall in the mediterranean and just missed her by a couple of weeks this summer.

 

Gina

[rednancy1]

You've come a long way in 9 years.:D Took us 17 years.:p

 

 

Our first cruise was in 2005. :)

 

The Staten Island Ferry doesn't count.

Edited October 28, 2013 by rednancy1

[spookwife]

Reyno is our faviorite too! Sailed with him for many, many cruises. I still think the best was on the an Alaska cruise when he shut down the CL for Diamonds and D+ only (most of the people from suites were first time cruisers) he had invited one of the entertainers (the one with the bottle bush dress) to come up and give us a song.. call Reyno my ships grandson.. met him on the Indy, Oasis and probably the Allure. He is very, very special.

 

Take care..

Irene & Miles

 

 

well I am certainly glad that he NEVER tried to pull that stunt on EN when she sailed out of Baltimore., cuz one of the only reasons I booked a GS for our first cruise was to experince the CL. if Reyno.. or anyone for that matter did that and did not make arrangements for any other equal access I would have raised holy hell.

[mommabean]

well I am certainly glad that he NEVER tried to pull that stunt on EN when she sailed out of Baltimore., cuz one of the only reasons I booked a GS for our first cruise was to experince the CL. if Reyno.. or anyone for that matter did that and did not make arrangements for any other equal access I would have raised holy hell.

 

It's not as it sounds. I'm sure it was shut down TO D and D+. Not shut down FOR them. I've heard of D and D+ being sent to other areas and being told the CL is for suite guests only because of crowding during happy hour. There is no chance suite guests were denied access to the concierge lounge. That poster should come back and clarify their wording.

 

Gina

[rushedmom]

Just off Freedom yesterday and wanted to say what a great concierge Rahul was on this trip. Very friendly and helpful, I think he is now one of my favorites!

[PH8]

Just off Freedom yesterday and wanted to say what a great concierge Rahul was on this trip. Very friendly and helpful, I think he is now one of my favorites!

I waved to Rahul when you docked behind us(Carnival Dream) in St Thomas last Wednesday.....hahah........Ok,really didnt see him,but emailed him I was doing that.....

 

[cruisenfever]

well I am certainly glad that he NEVER tried to pull that stunt on EN when she sailed out of Baltimore., cuz one of the only reasons I booked a GS for our first cruise was to experince the CL. if Reyno.. or anyone for that matter did that and did not make arrangements for any other equal access I would have raised holy hell.

Just to clarify..........but.......Suite Guests were the "only" people allowed to use the CL on the cruise that Irene is referring to. It was the 14 day Member's Cruise in 2007 to Alaska to LA before it went on to Hawaii and we were on board.

 

About a week prior to embarkation, Reyno received instructions from Miami to only allow access to the CL to Suite Guests because of the large number of D and D+ members on board.

 

They opened the VCL for D & D+ and offered the same amenities as in the CL during 5-8:30. The thing that most D/D+ Members were upset about was the fact that they could not access the CL to use the Specialty Coffee Machine during the day.