It's definitely a different level of service. Even if you've never sailed with Disney before, if you're booked AND paid-in-full at 120 days prior to sailing you can begin booking activities and dining. Better yet, your shore-side concierge who you would've already been in touch with would be ready to make all your bookings for you. There is a lot to be said for the better booking window for things that are in high demand such as adults-only meals (ie. brunches) and the ever-elusive private cabanas on Castaway Cay. If you had never sailed with DCL before you wouldn't be able to start doing any of that until 75 days prior to sailing and paid-in-full. Concierge and Platinum level Castaway Club members get the best advantage. Not sure where Gold level's window opens. I know Silver is 90 days.
I'll try to think this thru from embarkation on. We were in a 1-bedroom in May (upgraded at the port). There's a different check-in desk at the terminal in Port Canaveral for Concierge & Platinum guests to check-in. Not sure if they set up a special one at other terminals. Also at Port Canaveral there's a different loungy waiting area for Concierge. Also, these guests have priority boarding which means they'll be the first folks to walk onboard ahead of all the other passengers waiting anxiously for their boarding group number to be called.
On the classic ships there is NOT a dedicated concierge lounge like you see at the resorts. On the 2 new ships there is. Currently I can only speak to the experience on the classic ships that don't have the lounge. When you board you go to a reception that has free drinks (adult beverages included) and a nice little spread of munchy items. Here your personal concierge will meet with you, spend some time getting to know you, explain their services, and get a list of things you may need them to take care of for you such as dining reservations or changes, booking tastings, and any other details that need to be attended to. We were able to make a set standing order for coffee and milk to be delivered to our stateroom every morning at 8:30. The tray always arrived perfect: coffee, skim milk, and Splenda. Our concierge also arranged to get us a 3rd Wave phone to have onboard which we never were upcharged for (normally there's a deposit/fee to rent extras). The level of personal service is amazing. Throughout our cruise if we needed anything or wanted to make changes our concierge was right there to handle the details. Each day our concierge would check in with us in person and we'd often find little surprises left for us when we returned to our room. The night we had a maintenance issue she was also right there making sure we were comfortable and ready to do whatever it took to ensure that we were happy. Also, during our cruise there was a planned private reception that had a lovely spread of finger foods, more of the complimentary beverages, and a character for a special meet with the attendees. That was really nice.
I'm not sure the rooms are always all that different in size. I think on the newer ships the 00V Family Oceanview w/Verandahs are about the same as the bigger cat. 4 Deluxe Family Oceanview w/Verandahs that don't have concierge. Maybe the decor is slightly different. Obviously the larger suites are bigger and have lots of extra amenities. Also on the newer ships the concierge rooms are all right there together whereas on the classic ships they're more scattered about.
I think some of the complimentary toiletries are a little different. Last year in the cat. 4 room we had on the Dream we got a small tube of the H20 Solar Gel in our stateroom. I thought all the staterooms got it but later found out it's only the higher category rooms. It was also in our 1-bedroom on the Magic.
I'm a little fuzzy on the details with this...I think maybe it's only the cat. 00T & 00R (1-bedroom & Royal suites) that can order from Palo and have it served in your stateroom. I know that doesn't seem like a big deal. I wish we'd thought about it more. Our sons aren't old enough to dine in Palo yet but they could've had the multi-course awesome food experience had we thought to take advantage of that perk. I'm not 100% sure if the cat. 00V (concierge family verandah room) can order from the main dining room menus and have it delivered to the stateroom. It was an option given to us in the 1-bedroom on the Magic but, again, we didn't take advantage of it.
There's lots of little perks with the Concierge level that really take the pampering to places I never would've dreamed. I'm not sure I'd recommend it for a first cruise because you may spoil yourself to ever cruising without it again. LOL! Then again, the guidance and extra assistance can go a long way when it's all still new to you and you don't know as much about all the little things yet.
We're really hoping to upgrade to Concierge later this month on the Dream to see how the services differ from the classic ships to the newer ships. I think the dedicated lounge in itself will be a big difference. Because there's a lounge with a concierge desk set up I don't think we'll get the in-depth person-to-person type service we did on the Magic like how our concierge came to our stateroom every day to check in with us. The Magic staff had to conduct their services that way because they didn't have an office or desk location we could go when we needed them. We had to call or wait until we next bumped into our concierge. So basically the service had to come to us vs. having to go to the service. If that makes sense. LOL!
If you think of any questions definitely ask. I've done a lot of reading about concierge since we got back from the Magic so I'm hoping to be more on the up-n-up if we should have the opportunity to do it again.