Concierge Florentina

[bean24]

Just found out she will be our concierge on our Jan cruise. Anyone have any opinions on her. Thanks

[smeyer418]

Just found out she will be our concierge on our Jan cruise. Anyone have any opinions on her. Thanks

I've been on three cruises with Florentina...Her first cruise as concierge on the Majesty and two others on the Gem. I love her. She is great.IMO...

 

tell her Sid with the two grandkids says hello....ask her how her kids are :)...

[emcelh]

Florentina is a delight. She was very visable. We saw her in Cagney's every morning, either at her desk or making the rounds talking to everyone. She even called our cabin one morning after a night of rough seas to make sure we were OK. We didn't ask much of her, only a couple of restaurant reservations, but she was always asking if there was anything we needed.

 

I've read reports the some passengers felt that the concierge paid more attention to those in high level suites. I suppose that might happen sometimes but we were in an aft penthouse and couldn't have asked for more.

[jaja]

Florentina was on the Gem in May --we found her very friendly and helpful..we did not use her services much at all..but she was always asking how we were and if we needed anything....would enjoy sailing with her again :)

[Novastar]

Florentina was our concierge on the Gem in September. She was wonderful. My SO, unfortunately, had to depart the cruise in Quebec at the half way mark due to an emergency at work. Florentina expedited the customs and immigration process for him on board the ship in Quebec and made sure I was very well taken care of after he left. I was in an aft penthouse. Loved her!

[Clay Clayton]

Novastar (and all the PPosters) are correct. Florentina is great. DDP and I were lucky enought to be granted VIP status or otherwise we wouldnt' have had the opportunity to meet her. As others have mentioned, with the exception of one morning when she was ill, she was at Cagney's every morning we were there (which was most:D) and if you didn't stop by her desk to ask for something, she usually stopped by the table to say hello.

 

We didn't ask much of her, the biggest was gettting our ice cider from Ile d'Orleans that was confiscated (as expected) upon reboarding in Quebec released on the last night of the trip - as opposed to having to pick it up after 7am on the morning of disembarkation. I can only imagine how awful that would have been given the general chaos that was reigning that morning anyway.

 

The most amazing thing to me was that given we weren't in a suite that not only she but the Cagney's hostess remembered our names on every visit subsequent to the first.

 

Have a great trip!

(and be sure and try the swordfish sandwich with wasabi mayo and ginger slaw for lunch)

[boopsahoy]

I guess I will be the only one not agreeing! We didnt use her for anything (yes we got all her notices about early choc buffet etc and that was great) We made all our own reservations easily but one day we wanted to change the time. I called her and she said she would get back to me and never did. The next day Hi there! like nothing ever happened. Not pleased. If you cant help me (which is FINE) just call and tell me? So I was disappointed.

[boopsahoy]

Novastar (and all the PPosters) are correct. Florentina is great. DDP and I were lucky enought to be granted VIP status or otherwise we wouldnt' have had the opportunity to meet her. As others have mentioned, with the exception of one morning when she was ill, she was at Cagney's every morning we were there (which was most:D) and if you didn't stop by her desk to ask for something, she usually stopped by the table to say hello.

 

We didn't ask much of her, the biggest was gettting our ice cider from Ile d'Orleans that was confiscated (as expected) upon reboarding in Quebec released on the last night of the trip - as opposed to having to pick it up after 7am on the morning of disembarkation. I can only imagine how awful that would have been given the general chaos that was reigning that morning anyway.

 

The most amazing thing to me was that given we weren't in a suite that not only she but the Cagney's hostess remembered our names on every visit subsequent to the first.

 

Have a great trip!

(and be sure and try the swordfish sandwich with wasabi mayo and ginger slaw for lunch)

 

Did they discontinue the tuna steak sandwich?:eek:

[bean24]

Thanks for the info. I was just disappointed that Ryan who we loved last year on the Gem will be on vacation. Although with two wonderful children including one just about to turn one I am happy he will be spending time with them.

[SuiteCruiser]

Florentina's the best concierge I've had by far. I even had the legendary Claudio back on my first NCL cruise, and he was fine, but Florentina was much more hands on and in tune with us.

 

She too has young kids at home, twins. We have twins too, though ours teens now. I can't imagine how tough it must be.

[youngestof9]

Funny, I didn't care for her. She was pleasant enough, but I felt like any time I asked her for anything (which wasn't much at all since it was my first suite experience), I seemed to be inconveniencing her. I seem to be in the minority, but she didn't thrill me.

[boopsahoy]

Funny, I didn't care for her. She was pleasant enough, but I felt like any time I asked her for anything (which wasn't much at all since it was my first suite experience), I seemed to be inconveniencing her. I seem to be in the minority, but she didn't thrill me.

 

Im glad I wasnt the only one!:)

[cassie55]

Im glad I wasnt the only one!:)

 

Us too.

 

We were in an aft PH and we only asked her to do a couple of things.

 

The first was to change the time of a reservation at Cagneys (we tried ourselves but they said they were full). We called her several times to check if it had been done and left messages as she was never there. Eventually we decided to just stick with the earlier booking and when we arrived they were suprised to see us the reservation had been changed!

 

The second was to track down a letter opener that my husband had bought at one of the ports (they said it was too sharp to keep and we had to get it back on the final morning - the steak knives at Cagneys were far sharper! :confused: ). We asked Florentina where we would collect it and she acted like it just wasn't her job to find out.

 

We have had a couple of outstanding concierges including Virginia on the Dawn in October but Florentina wasn't one of them unfortunately.

[njsonja]

thought she was outstanding and we used her for many things...

 

sonja

[ZoneHPH]

Florentina goes down on the list of Great Concierges (though I haven't had a concierge that didn't earn their position).

 

I agree visibility is key! But visibility on the pax end is also key. I wake up way too early for my DD and DW, so I dine alone in Cagney's for breakfast. And we all know the concierge is there in the morning. A little hello; some friendly chat; then off i go. Call it playing politics...I call it "having them get to know you".

 

While I don't ask for too many things, I will say...if it is within their control to provide it for you...they WILL!

 

And in the end...that Vacation Hero comment card (formerly the S.T.Y.L.E. card) is a must for me! For that they will remember you!

[mommyto2girls]

Thanks for the info. I was just disappointed that Ryan who we loved last year on the Gem will be on vacation. Although with two wonderful children including one just about to turn one I am happy he will be spending time with them.

 

When is Ryan leaving? we are on the January 9th Gem

[NayRN]

Did they discontinue the tuna steak sandwich?:eek:

 

:( Yes, unfortunately they switched from the tuna steak to the swordfish! I loved that tuna sammie!!

[time2cruise1]

Thanks for the info. I was just disappointed that Ryan who we loved last year on the Gem will be on vacation. Although with two wonderful children including one just about to turn one I am happy he will be spending time with them.

 

Ryan just came back onboard Nov 8th. He sould still be there when you cruise. Never heard of a 2 month contract for a concierge.

[dutchess43]

We had Florentina on the Gem in Oct she is the pinnacle of a true concierge. She went above & beyond for us. Due to surgery with my left knee & a full replacement on my right it is difficult to get on the buses. On one of the shore excursions she called the bus company when she could not get through she sent her asst. down to make sure I was comfortable & was sitting towards the front of the bus. Florentina was in Cagney's every morning & fully accessible. When there was a pillow problem I needed extra for my knees she got on the butler's behind & the next thing you knew here came the extra pillows. We bought wine in N.S. it was taken when we boarded she made sure that she sent for it so we did not have to wait on line. Florentina was one of the most personable concierge's we have ever had the privilege to sail with. We sailed in category SF aft facing cabin & hope in the future we will sail with her again.

[aussie cruzer]

We had Florentina on the Gem in Oct she is the pinnacle of a true concierge. She went above & beyond for us. Due to surgery with my left knee & a full replacement on my right it is difficult to get on the buses. On one of the shore excursions she called the bus company when she could not get through she sent her asst. down to make sure I was comfortable & was sitting towards the front of the bus. Florentina was in Cagney's every morning & fully accessible. When there was a pillow problem I needed extra for my knees she got on the butler's behind & the next thing you knew here came the extra pillows. We bought wine in N.S. it was taken when we boarded she made sure that she sent for it so we did not have to wait on line. Florentina was one of the most personable concierge's we have ever had the privilege to sail with. We sailed in category SF aft facing cabin & hope in the future we will sail with her again.

 

 

I was on the same cruise in the Garden Villa......Florintina is outstanding at her job......She went out of her way for us and she is the benchmark for conceirges for all our other Ncl cruises.

 

Florintina has a great personality and is great company.....many evenings she would come up too to GV to check on us and make sure everything was in order.

 

We have been lucky,we have had Carlos......who is the best and Florintina as our conceirge on two of our three cruises with Ncl.

 

A good conceirge does make a big difference to your cruising experience if your in a suite.

[david_sobe]

She was briefly on the Epic in 2010. I really cannot comment too much since we did not use her that much. She had an assistant that made any reservations for us. She is friendly in one on one situations. She is from Romania and we were surprised she also speaks spanish because her husband is from the Dominican Republic.

We ate at the Epic Club every morning and never saw any concierge check in on any passengers. At first this surprised me since other ships this is customary. But on Epic the concierge seems so distant since juggling 75 suites seems to be an overwhelming task. So while I was not overly impressed with her, I dont think it was her, it is just how the Epic is handled.

When she was escorting us off the ship, I asked her what was her favorite NCL ship. She told us she would be leaving Epic soon (Dec 2010) and going to the Gem. She stated the Gem was her favorite ship and she listed the reasons (but now I forget).

So she must be at home on the Gem. There have been other threads on CC raving about her if you read Gem reviews from the Haven.

[maulers2000]

We had an excellent cruise with her this summer. I believe she is back on the Gem in early Jan.

[JACruiser]

Florentina has been the concierge on multiple cruises now and she is amazing! Warm, very professional, and so attentive. She's always everywhere on board and is the best we've ever seen at checking in multiple times a day to see how everything's going.

 

She really has a way of making you feel like you're the only ones on board!

[boopsahoy]

Florentina has been the concierge on multiple cruises now and she is amazing! Warm, very professional, and so attentive. She's always everywhere on board and is the best we've ever seen at checking in multiple times a day to see how everything's going.

 

She really has a way of making you feel like you're the only ones on board!

 

Well we must have been invisible. Maybe its because we made our own reservations? She said hello in Cagneys every morning but that was it and like I said earlier the one thing we asked her to help us with she never even called us back. We ended up giving the tip we had earmarked for the Concierge to the waitstaff at cagneys. They were much more friendly, accomodating and helpful than she was.

[JACruiser]

Well we must have been invisible. Maybe its because we made our own reservations? She said hello in Cagneys every morning but that was it and like I said earlier the one thing we asked her to help us with she never even called us back. We ended up giving the tip we had earmarked for the Concierge to the waitstaff at cagneys. They were much more friendly, accomodating and helpful than she was.

 

I wasn't discounting your experience you talked about earlier in the thread, simply offering another perspective. 20+ NCL cruises and Florentina is one of the best concierges we've encountered. I'm sure that there are others with other opinions as well :)