Neptune Lounge Question???

[woodranch]

Is the Neptune Lounge always packed.Its seems with only 1 concierge working and so many people that have access, that you would be waiting forever to make reservations.Am I correct?

[califgary]

We are just back from Alaska on the Zuiderdam and had access to Neptune Lounge for the first time. I have to say I was underwhelmed. It was packed (of course with families with loud children running amoke) - the coffee was good and they had good snacks for a quick "run in and leave." The gal and guy who operated the lounge were nice enough but honestly all I saw them doing was helping with shore excursions (which we had already booked online). I think they should be able to help with getting FCCs and perhaps printing boarding passes on flights back home but this is not in their pervue. Not impressed so much.

[sail7seas]

No, it definitely is not always packed. There often are only one or two people there. Our cabin is always nearby Neptune and we stop in often and the only time we usually find a crowd is embarkation day and then sometimes the day before disembarkation.

Many guests have questions and requests the first day and same for last day.

[sail7seas]

We are just back from Alaska on the Zuiderdam and had access to Neptune Lounge for the first time. I have to say I was underwhelmed. It was packed (of course with families with loud children running amoke) - the coffee was good and they had good snacks for a quick "run in and leave." The gal and guy who operated the lounge were nice enough but honestly all I saw them doing was helping with shore excursions (which we had already booked online). I think they should be able to help with getting FCCs and perhaps printing boarding passes on flights back home but this is not in their pervue. Not impressed so much.


I agree they should be able to print boarding passes for guests but their computers are not on internet access. They should be IMO

Not very many of the individual ship's computers have internet access. Should they?

[woodranch]

Do people with Suites have more or better access to dinner reservations?

[califgary]

I agree they should be able to print boarding passes for guests but their computers are not on internet access. They should be IMO

Not very many of the individual ship's computers have internet access. Should they?

There was a laptop in there with internet access so they are at least wireless enabled. The gal told me they had no printer capability. It would not take much for them to get hooked up and printer capable which would be a great perk. Even if they could print your boarding passes at the printer upstairs (which would even be easier) this would be a nice service to suite guests.

[sail7seas]

There was a laptop in there with internet access so they are at least wireless enabled. The gal told me they had no printer capability. It would not take much for them to get hooked up and printer capable which would be a great perk.


They have a laptop for internal work on the ship but they do not have access.
All our times in Neptune, I always 'assumed' they had internet but I specifically asked and learned the answer is no.

There is always a laptop on the desk and they are constantly using it.

[3rdGenCunarder]

The only time we saw the Neptune crowded was the embarkation night cocktail party. Otherwise, there was always a seat available. Sometimes we stayed and had our coffee/tea there, sometimes we took it back to the cabin. The concierges were never backed up. I think we had to wait for another couple to be finished with a question one time.

No kids running around, but it was mid-September while we were on Zuiderdam, so we wouldn't expect to see kids on board.

As for FCCs, that isn't part of the concierge's job. The person who books future cruises was in the Neptune at least one sea day on our cruise, so there was an opportunity to make a booking in the Neptue.

I wouldn't have thought to ask the concierge to print a boarding pass for me. I don't think I've seen that listed as one of their services. Has anyone had a concierge to that? I usually just print them for myself at the computer center.

[Sage]

I too have only seen a crowd on embarkation day and then maybe before the first port stop, as people are changing money to go ashore. The Concierges are always teriffic and so helpful. I agree that a printer would be nice in the Neptune to print off boarding passes.

[tangerinebunny]

We've found that if we have any problems while on board, usually a call to the Neptune Lounge can solve it. It's quick access to personalized attention.

As far as crowds go, I can't imagine spending time in the Neptune when I have a great stateroom.

[joseph41]

We were on the Oosterdam to Alaska in June in a deluxe suite and did not find the lounge to be crowded. There was always a place to sit and plenty of coffee, juice, water and snacks available. The concierge on duty was always helpful.

Accessing the internet in our cabin was a problem but not in the Neptune lounge. I would have preferred it opening before 7am since I am an early riser. We had a continental breakfast there every day except one and that was in the Pinnacle which was not that impressive. We were also able to meet several other cruisers who came to the lounge frequently.

[SwissMyst]

Is the Neptune Lounge always packed.Its seems with only 1 concierge working and so many people that have access, that you would be waiting forever to make reservations.Am I correct?

We used the Neptune Lounge on the Statendam for two weeks and it was never crowded. it was always a very pleasant, and often empty retreat space. Breakfast would be the only time it was a little busy because it is not really set up to handle a lot of sit down diners. But even then, it was a place for easy conversation with your fellow passengers.

[Randyk47]

Is the Neptune Lounge always packed.Its seems with only 1 concierge working and so many people that have access, that you would be waiting forever to make reservations.Am I correct?

We were on the Maasdam in March which is one of the smaller S class ship and therefore only has one concierge on duty at a time but never saw more than two or three people in there at once. In fact, the vast majority of the time there was nobody in the NL. Maybe it's different on the larger ships where they have more qualifying cabins but then again they do have two concierges on duty on the Vista and Signature class ships.

[bernie5]

We loved the Neptune on the Noordam this summer. Doris and Reyan were so sweet and went above and beyond to get what we needed. For instance--we went swimming with our cellphone and they acquired a bag of uncooked rice for us to put in in so it would dry out. They copied a tour book for me on restaurants in Croatia. They got an incorrect charge from the spa removed from my bill. They change money.
We only found the Neptune busy on sea days and during the cocktail party. It was a wonderful place to visit, meet for coffee, use the internet. The coffee machine is to die for!!!!
I think the Neptune is one of the best suite perks

[SwissMyst]

Our main use of the Neptune Lounge was as a very nice, readily available, high quality snack bar. And this may or may not be a Good Thing. :p If we had been on a cruise with more sea days, I think I might have used it more as reading and greeting space. Agree, it is the best "coffee bar" on the ship with its marvelous machine. Had there been a dramatic view windows, rather than an enclosed interior setting, it would have enhanced its ambiance 1000%.

[Krazy Kruizers]

On our recent Amsterdam Alaskan cruise the Neptune Lounge was quite busy on port days and after people returned from shore excursions.

The King's Room was not available for us (as we have had on previous cruises on the Amsterdam) for breakfast --instead the upper level of the dining room on the Starboard side was our desiganted area breakfast area. Two of the workers from the Pinnacle were our servers -- and they were not able to handle the large crowd of us there the first day. As a result -- it took forever to get breakfast.

The kitchen serves both levels for breakfast.

So many of us on port days ate in the Neptune Lounge -- it was busy.

And when many of us came back around noon -- quick place to grab a snack -- busy again.

There were a couple of times when there was a line at the concierge's desk.

[Silverwing]

We're just back from 12 days in the Baltic - despite the large number of eligible suites on board Eurodam's Neptune Lounge was always quiet (and I used it a lot!) Our concierges Ian and Mary-Rose were wonderful - very friendly and helpful. There were a couple of children travelling in a suite with their parents, but I only saw them pass through to grab a cookie a couple of times.

As always we loved the Pinnacle for breakfast, especially on sea days - it was open every day on the Eurodam during our last two cruises (the other one was in the Mediterranean in May).

[Typhoon1]

Do people with Suites have more or better access to dinner reservations?

The concierges will handle reservations for you, just let them know what day and time you are interested in.

[djhsolara]

We are just back from Alaska on the Zuiderdam and had access to Neptune Lounge for the first time. I have to say I was underwhelmed. It was packed (of course with families with loud children running amoke) - the coffee was good and they had good snacks for a quick "run in and leave." The gal and guy who operated the lounge were nice enough but honestly all I saw them doing was helping with shore excursions (which we had already booked online). I think they should be able to help with getting FCCs and perhaps printing boarding passes on flights back home but this is not in their pervue. Not impressed so much.

I have to say that we had quite the opposite experience on our sailing on Westerdam in April. Granted, this was our first experience with the Neptune Lounge, so perhaps we loved it a bit more...but I can't imagine them being more helpful. We were so impressed that after meeting us the first time the concierges both knew us by name anytime they saw us. There were not a lot of children on our sailing and I can't say that we really saw any children in the Neptune.

I'm not sure what happened differently for us, but they did print our boarding passes for us. We had the express luggage service, so I don't know if that made a difference, but they provided us with all that we needed.

The Neptune Lounge is something that we loved on this sailing and is now one of our favorite perks of the "suite life".

:) :)

[DeepWaterMariner]

We had our first access to the Neptune Lounge on the Noordam in March and loved it. Rarely busy and the concierges were wonderful. We quickly learned how much they could do for us, all with a big smile.

[Murray's Pop]

I'm not sure what happened differently for us, but they did print our boarding passes for us. We had the express luggage service, so I don't know if that made a difference, but they provided us with all that we needed.

The Neptune Lounge is something that we loved on this sailing and is now one of our favorite perks of the "suite life".

:) :)


Same here. We also used express luggage service on our last cruise and they printed our boarding passes as well.

Agree with other posters that the only time it is crowded is on embarkation day. They are great - every time we have cruised as soon as we walk in the door they great us by name and are very helpful. Another reason we are spoiled by HAL and Deluxe Verandah / Penthouse Suites!:D;)

[kazu]

Is the Neptune Lounge always packed.Its seems with only 1 concierge working and so many people that have access, that you would be waiting forever to make reservations.Am I correct?

Other than embarkation day I have rarely seen any type of lineup at the concierge desk. usually no one - otherwise there may be one person. You can either have a seat in one of the comfy chairs and wait or you can just drop back in a few minutes.

Since you are referring to one concierge, this would be on the smaller ships. There are not many suites on these ships so, to me, one concierge is more than ample. :)

[kyriecat]

Do people with Suites have more or better access to dinner reservations?They don't seem to. Hubby and I had an SC on Zuiderdam in April. We hadn't booked PG reservations online before the cruise because we didn't enjoy the experience previously on Maasdam. Well, we had the butler service with lunch provide by PG on the first day when we made our stop on HMC then had lunch in PG the following sea day. Both the lunches were fanatistic so we decided to try dinner at PG one night. We stopped by the Neptune Lounge that afternoon to make a reservation, but the only times left were 6 PM or earlier. That is too early for us to eat dinner so we decided to pass. We were able to get a Caneletto reservation through the concierge. I don't think it was the exact time we wanted, but it was close.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That is true about the concierges not always able to get reservations for people.

A couple of times after looking at the dinner -- nothing appealed to us - we had the concierges try to get us reservations -- nothing!!

And other timeon the Eurodam we had made reservations on line for the first week of our cruise -- but decided to wait until we were on the ship and saw the menus (back-to-back cruises) -- mistake. On the first morning of the second cruise we went to make reservations -- nothing was left for the times we like.