We booked a Grand Suite and were new to the concierge experience on cruises. We received an email about one week before the Dec 29, 2013 sail date from the concierge to ask if we needed anything booked (specifically cabanas, which turned out to be a great thing).

Even though the timing of this email wound up being on Christmas Day, which was one week before our cruise, I took the time to reply to the concierge welcome email. I did not book spa services in advance because I thought the concierge could help with that and he did. I said I wanted a manicure/pedicure for my daughter (11yr) and I some time in the morning or early afternoon of New Year's Eve. If it couldn't be arranged I could do this before the cruise but I thought it might be a fun to do on the cruise. Rahul (who is awesome) emailed back that he would book it and we got a note saying there was a mani/pedi booked at 11am. It didn't mention if it was for just me or my daughter as well so I went down the first day to ask him. He was overwhelmed that first day with other guests and we left after waiting over 30min without talking to him. I went to the spa to just confirm that it was an appointment for two. The (australian?) lady at the desk was very rude and unhelpful. She said the note was wrong and that all she had was two manicures in the system. After a few go rounds the other lady at the desk tried to help. She also said the note was not in the system and tried to get me other times but they were either at 8:30pm (for just pedicures) or other ridiculous times. At this point I had promised my daughter a fun spa trip and almost took the 8:30pm slot. I wanted to check if my daughter really wanted it (bad enough to miss a show/evening activities) but was told I would really need to do it then and that if I booked I couldn't back out. I luckily didn't book it and spoke with the concierge the next morning. He said we absolutely DID have a reservation for two and it was through the spa manager so it might have not been in the system but not to worry.

When I showed up at 11am for the appointment, the same lady, Mitzy, was the person doing my manicure. She asked if my being there meant I chose to only do the manicure. I said I was going to do both. I could tell she was very irritated. Apparently this affected her lunch time and she was not happy. It was a miserable spa experience. Silent hostility, cold water for the pedicure that was suddenly TOO, TOO HOT when I mentioned it. Miserable. As the rest of the spa cleared out (completely empty except my daughter and I at 11:30) the Jamaican background music progressed into very explicit rap music.  Luckily my 11yr old daughter was busily reading her book. Mitzy noticed my horrified face and did get up and change the music...but why was it even on in the first place? Read more