sciencewonk

I am aware of that. This thread is about Neptune Suite perks. This is a Neptune Suite perk on Noordam.

On Noordam, you also get breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill every morning. It was one of our favorite activities on our recent cruises.

I can't answer your value question because I've never been whale watching in New England. I have been whale and porpoise watching in San Diego and Nelson Bay (Australia) and it was similar to those (not better / not worse). What was different was the type of whale. We saw lots of orcas and a couple of humpbacks. We also saw many sea lions and a bald eagle. I hope this helps a little.

I've wondered about the security of placing the key cards outside the door, but based on the limited descriptions of mishaps on this thread, I'd say it generally hasn't been an issue and if it happens, you have yet another travel story to tell people.

My DW has this issue, so I've researched it a lot online. Studies of these bands (called portable acustimulation devices in the medical literature) have not shown any benefit. (for reference, see https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15018290/) The medical literature shows mixed results with the use of ginger. Current recommended treatment is still scopolamine, a first generation antihistamine (eg dramamine), or habituation. Disclaimer, I am not a physician and am not offering medical advice. I am summarizing what I found in the medical literature. I hope your wife finds an effective treatment and you can both enjoy cruising.

We were on a Nov/Dec cruise from Auckland to Sydney. That was our second time on Noordam. The first was a year earlier when we cruised from San Diego to Sydney. We absolutely loved it.

Kristina (the Neptune Lounge concierge) was our favorite crew member on our recent cruise on Noordam. She took such good care of us when my DW and I got COVID (sequentially, not together). She was also proactive when we were having troubles with room service. I think she put the fear of God into the room service staff. After the first couple of issues, the service was prompt and over-the-top gracious. I can actually picture her as horrible embarrassed at the situation.

We love the aft Neptune Suites, especially for scenic cruising days. Now we don't want to sail in anything else. We have been on Noordam in aft Neptune Suites for transpacific and New Zealand cruises and loved the cabin and the ship. I can't address your other questions.

As others said, only the Neptune Suites and Pinnacle Suites have coffee makers. In my experience, the coffee they made was so bad I preferred to find my coffee elsewhere. If you're in a NS or PS, the coffee maker in the Neptune lounge is terrific. I thought the Lido was hit and miss. If you got it freshly brewed it was ok (but not great). If it had been sitting there a while it wasn't drinkable. Room service coffee was also ok. Exploration Cafe was better because it was always made fresh.

Many (but not all) of the tables in Noordam's Pinnacle Grill are next to large windows. The view would be great. On our New Zealand cruise, we booked the PG during our cruising of Milford Sound for this reason. Unfortunately, I came down with COVID and we had to cancel the reservation. (The Sound still looked great from our balcony.) The Morimoto pop-up wasn't available on our most recent Noordam cruise so I can't comment on that.

We do know the whole story. They were late for the ship. The ship left.

For us, breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill is usually one of the highlights of cruising in a Neptune Suite on a Vista Class ship.

I've not cruised on NCL, but here's my take on HAL given your priorities. (These are all my opinion, your mileage may vary.) Entertainment is probably the weakest part of the HAL experience but they don't have many game shows. I love the food in the MDR and have rarely had a bad meal there. The daytime activities can be hit and miss. Check your roll call and there might be some passenger-organized games like Mexican Train Dominoes or bridge. I think the education talks on HAL are great, especially the nature ones (As a retired biologist, I might be biased here.) I was on a 34-day HAL cruise (transpacific) and it actually felt too short when we reached the end.

I can't remember the answer to your question, but I do remember that there is some fine print on the menu that warns of any additional charges.

When we embarked Noordam in San Diego, we were scheduled for a 18:00 departure but didn't get underway until about 22:00. My parents are buried at Fort Rosecrans Cemetery, which all ships from San Diego Bay sail past to get out to the ocean. We were permanently moving from San Diego to Australia and wanted to say our good-byes as we sailed past (they loved to cruise, also) but it was too dark to see anything.