Pre-cruise Concierge

[GUEST71919]

1 hour ago, Relax@Sea said:

Sorry was not trying to be confrontational, just was defending my responses. Have a great day too, and a Happy New Year.

Thank you, I appreciate you saying so! Sorry if I had any bite, but there is so much snarkiness here these days and with only the written word it sometimes is difficult to tell and it sadly gets to the place I am on guard. I think most of us, certainly you and I, are just trying to help others when we post (as there are so many details and so many ships and differences among lines and ships within a line and changes over time complicating matters). But some posters seem to be getting some strange needs met 😳 

 

Happy New Year 🎉

Lynn

[Relax@Sea]

56 minutes ago, 2Beeze said:

Thank you, I appreciate you saying so! Sorry if I had any bite, but there is so much snarkiness here these days and with only the written word it sometimes is difficult to tell and it sadly gets to the place I am on guard. I think most of us, certainly you and I, are just trying to help others when we post (as there are so many details and so many ships and differences among lines and ships within a line and changes over time complicating matters). But some posters seem to be getting some strange needs met 😳 

 

Happy New Year 🎉

Lynn

☺️ Thanx

 

Adam

[papa B me]

We are in a DOS on Pride of America and will be boarding February 23rd.  I know there are quite a few difference with the Pride of America vs the rest of the NCL fleet(primarily because it is the only US flagged ship).  Does anyone know if I should receive the Concierge pre cruise letter.  I haven't as of yet.  And does it come "snail" mail or email?  Thanks

[Relax@Sea]

5 hours ago, papa B me said:

We are in a DOS on Pride of America and will be boarding February 23rd.  I know there are quite a few difference with the Pride of America vs the rest of the NCL fleet(primarily because it is the only US flagged ship).  Does anyone know if I should receive the Concierge pre cruise letter.  I haven't as of yet.  And does it come "snail" mail or email?  Thanks

 

Out of all the cruises that I have been on in DOS's and Garden Villa's I only received a Concierge pre-cruise letter once.

I just call them to make my requests.

Haven Concierge Ph: 855-625-4283.

[papa B me]

7 minutes ago, Relax@Sea said:

 

Out of all the cruises that I have been on in DOS's and Garden Villa's I only received a Concierge pre-cruise letter once.

I just call them to make my requests.

Haven Concierge Ph: 855-625-4283.

 

Thank You!

[dexddd]

23 hours ago, papa B me said:

We are in a DOS on Pride of America and will be boarding February 23rd.  I know there are quite a few difference with the Pride of America vs the rest of the NCL fleet(primarily because it is the only US flagged ship).  Does anyone know if I should receive the Concierge pre cruise letter.  I haven't as of yet.  And does it come "snail" mail or email?  Thanks

No difference in that aspect.  Letter and tags should come around 50 days out so any day now.

 

One difference would be no 3 bottles of booze but 3 wine plus suite champagne.

[papa B me]

28 minutes ago, dexddd said:

No difference in that aspect.  Letter and tags should come around 50 days out so any day now.

 

One difference would be no 3 bottles of booze but 3 wine plus suite champagne.

 

I think I'm 52 days away so will be exciting to get the letter.   Thanks

[Sailing12Away]

On 1/1/2019 at 6:36 AM, papa B me said:

We are in a DOS on Pride of America and will be boarding February 23rd.  I know there are quite a few difference with the Pride of America vs the rest of the NCL fleet(primarily because it is the only US flagged ship).  Does anyone know if I should receive the Concierge pre cruise letter.  I haven't as of yet.  And does it come "snail" mail or email?  Thanks

I'm in a DOS on the Jade sailing a day after you. I never received any correspondence from the concierge. I put in an email request to regular customer service asking a bunch of questions about our upcoming trip, and they left me a voicemail saying they were forwarding my questions on to the Haven concierge. Got an official email from them a few days later with the attachment of our available pre-cruise choices (pillows, soft drinks, etc). 

 

When I wrote back to the concierge and asked some follow-up questions, that was ignored. I resent my email to them stating "2nd request for assistance" in the subject and even then it took them a few days to get back to me. Long story short, I still have no info on my flights (they said it would be in my edocs but the link for them just gives an error) and they don't respond to emails. Call them for faster responses.

[BirdTravels]

Your correspondence from the concierge normally arrives 50 days before departure (that's 1/5). But, I agree that the pre-concierge has been useless to us and we ignore the letter and contact information and just work with our butler and concierge on the ship. 

[Julma]

A bit late on my "post back".  We received nothing we had requested.  Boo

[dexddd]

5 minutes ago, Julma said:

A bit late on my "post back".  We received nothing we had requested.  Boo

At least they are consistently inconsistent.

[Paphillyguy]

Just off the Escape and nothing requested had made it to the ship.   I had a list of things that I left with my bags sitting on my carryon bags.  We dropped in the room and was going to review with the butler after lunch.  When I got back to the room a bunch of things had already been addressed by the steward.   I saw him a bit later and he said I saw your paper there and thought I would help get a start on things.  I was very impressed.    

[pbenjamin]

I've seen excursion reservations mentioned as things that they can do.  We were planning on booking on board as we want to use OBC and if you make there reservations by calling the shore excursions desk you have to pay by credit card when making the reservation.  Can a pre-cruise concierge request get the reservation made and booked against the suite?

[Paphillyguy]

When I called about booking excursions they rudely sent me to the excursions desk.  They said they do not book excursions.  They had in the past, I guess not anymore.   I did not have to pay up front for the excursion through the excursion desk.  I just told them I had the $50 credit and she said ok and just booked the trips.  

Edited March 19, 2019 by Paphillyguy

[NW Pacific]

Never on many  cruises that included a letter sent about contacting the concierge pre cruise, were any of my few requests  taken care of until we got onboard and then asked for them from the Butler.  Do not count on any requests made happening until you get on the Ship.

[Julma]

Why even have them?  Seems like a huge waste of time and money and puts pressure on already stretched butlers.  I think it is time for the NCL brass to go through their list of "perks" and put them to the test.  I can't believe they wouldn't be disappointed in what they found. 

[takeadip]

On 12/13/2018 at 7:21 AM, Julma said:

Have a Deluxe Owner Suite on the Pearl in January.  What are some of the requests people make of the concierge via email, pre-cruise?  TY

This is not advice for pre cruise but once on the ship...take the cordless phone with you when you get off the ship and enjoy the day away...when returning to the ship call up to the butler (from the cordless phone) and ask him/her to run the bath for you. The large tub takes about 20 minutes to fill...then get on ship as normal...head to your favorite bar and order your favorite drink...bring said drink to your stateroom and slide into the waiting warm bubble bath. 

 

You worked hard your entire life...you deserve this.

 

Best,

Mark

[dexddd]

6 hours ago, Julma said:

Why even have them?  Seems like a huge waste of time and money and puts pressure on already stretched butlers.  I think it is time for the NCL brass to go through their list of "perks" and put them to the test.  I can't believe they wouldn't be disappointed in what they found. 

 

There have been enough threads over the years that the PR department would know of these issues.  I have been critical of them over the years but the last two trips everything was taken care of perfectly (except the illusive reading wedge pillow).  Maybe it is the ship side where things fall apart?  I know we've had two times where we were selected the booze for the room and the butler "had to get it from stores and it might not be until the next day" which in one case it was and in the other they got all but one bottle of the three that come with the room category.

 

But in either case, I have zero desire to have to take part of my 7 days to have to request things from a butler where there should be a system that works.  We have taken lists lately to hand over just in case.

 

DCL has a shoreside concierge and they are excellent!

[TPgal]

On 3/19/2019 at 1:02 PM, pbenjamin said:

I've seen excursion reservations mentioned as things that they can do.  We were planning on booking on board as we want to use OBC and if you make there reservations by calling the shore excursions desk you have to pay by credit card when making the reservation.  Can a pre-cruise concierge request get the reservation made and booked against the suite?

I tried this avenue with dining reservations and was told they could only book things that were available to book on ncl.com, and they also gave me the excursion phone number.   As I'm a person who can book online, I did that...

 

I sent an email to see if my 75-year-old mom (who isn't in our suite because she snores and refuses to use her c-pap) could board with us and was politely told no.  I get it, it's not fair to those who have to wait, but I wasn't asking to bring an extra team onboard with us but it also seemed like a pretty small concession.

 

Thus far, I'm not too impressed with the early services, and I don't really have any asks for onboard but I'm still excited to see what the suite life brings that is unexpected.  

[Greenpea2]

26 minutes ago, TPgal said:

I tried this avenue with dining reservations and was told they could only book things that were available to book on ncl.com, and they also gave me the excursion phone number.   As I'm a person who can book online, I did that...

 

I sent an email to see if my 75-year-old mom (who isn't in our suite because she snores and refuses to use her c-pap) could board with us and was politely told no.  I get it, it's not fair to those who have to wait, but I wasn't asking to bring an extra team onboard with us but it also seemed like a pretty small concession.

 

Thus far, I'm not too impressed with the early services, and I don't really have any asks for onboard but I'm still excited to see what the suite life brings that is unexpected.  

Once you get to the port to board, ask your concierge (or whomever they put in the Haven waiting area). They certainly WILL allow your elderly mom to board with you. That's not something a preconcierge has the power to do, I don't think.