Gigi1977

You do not need CO if you are in a Neptune Suite.   The HIA package includes various things…. Drink package, Excursion $, OBC, Crew Gratuity (sometimes), Dining Package for speciality restaurants, - it depends on the HIA when you book.   
 

You have CO with Neptune along with free laundry and you have added drink package.   You could pre purchase WiFi, book specialty dining and prepay tips…. 

We took a taxi.  It was easy. Traffic was light that day… might have been Saturday or Sunday.  Traffic can be awful per my son who travels there frequently-  so we booked a 1:30 flight to be on safe side.  

We had to meet in world stage and were escorted off until the ship was zeroed.   We had a long,  unfortunate wait because two ’ privileged’ passengers didn’t think they had to get off in spite of letter in cabin, multiple announcements etc.  They showed up in bathrobes  hours late.  😳. Don’t be that guy.   The faster the ship zeros, the faster you get to reboard.  

My experience- no.  You get the prepaid discount OR purchase onboard at a higher price and get the Mariner discount.  This was N Statendam in August.   Different ships/guest services might handle it differently.  The prepaid discount was better than the Mariner discount in my case.  

It depends on when your cruise is….. they usually load restaurants at least 6 months prior but be aware that sometimes changes are made when they add pop dinners. ie Tamarind in the Pinnacle when there is no Tamarind restaurant onboard.  

Sometime they scan the barcode and it makes things faster.   Just depends on the port. They will let you in with or without it.  

No. I do not recommend as it is just not our ‘taste’ but taste is so subjective.  
 

Yes. There is an up charge- more than the Pinnacle Grill up charge and it is not eligible for your star discount if you receive one under your Mariner discounts.  Everyone pays the full price.  

4 hours ago, Cruise NH said:

 

Did you find the transfer in with the shore excursions, or some other way?  We have to go from SeaTac to Canada Place next September.  

 

I would love to take the train but the very early and very late departures aren't convenient.  Quick Shuttle is fine if you really love riding on a bus and making a lot of stops!  Amtrak does run a bus a few times a day from the King Street station on better times, that can be an option but in the end we might just do the one hour flight unless HAL offers a shuttle.

It is not with Shore Exc.  You will find it with pre and post cruise travel

with Flight Ease.  

We took the HAL transfer from Canada Place to SeaTac.  It was fine except we had time constraints because of a flight.   I would not recommend it for a same day flight.  

You could then transfer to a hotel and then to ship.  

We turned 5 star in April on a 42 day cruise.  The last night they put pins on our bed.   They do have medallion ceremonies but no pin ceremony. 

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Under 2 weeks, occasionally earlier. Discussed here frequently.

And I will add - they sometimes change it several times before your cruise….  

We always check both.  
 

Usually flight ease is best but occasionally, it is not.   Our most recent trip to and from Copenhagen we booked ourselves simply because we did not care for flight ease choices and the cost was comparable.  
 

Be sure to pick flexible fares on flight ease so that you are able to change them up until final payment - which is another perk - you don’t pay for air tickets until final payment.  

There are options for ordering from other restaurants but you pay for them.  
 

You can have dinner in your room.  The Neptune concierge will set that up if you request it.  
 

in my experience we have ALWAYS answered the door for room service breakfast and tipped whoever brought it.  Guess you can hop back in bed if you want it there! 
 

The concierge staff is always great and will help with most requests including restaurant reservations, shore exc, and billing.  

2 hours ago, RuthC said:

There is no 'port days only' restriction in the 5* Mariner list of benefits. However, the spa people do try to enforce that 'rule'. The one that doesn't exist. Sometimes they get away with it. 

Thank you!  Several  different spa managers have presented this as the RULE…. And I fell for it! 🤣. Not the next time….  

16 minutes ago, Riversedge said:

Do I gather from this that we can only use the spa pass on a port day?

Yes.   It’s only valid on port days.  
 

Have you achieved 5 star or is it achieved on you next cruise?   You have to wait until after it is achieved to be able to use the status.   Just like free laundry for 4 star.  You get the perk the cruise after you achieve your ‘status’.  

You go to the restaurant or to where they are making reservations onboard and make a reservation and then tell them you would like to use your five star benefit.  You cannot make reservations until onboard.  
 

For the spa, go to the desk on a port day and tell them you would like to use your five star benefit and they will give you a key.  
 

Alll is very easy to do.  

We were on N Statendam in August and we had a choice of once per day or twice per day. We chose once per day  because our cabin stewards had so many more rooms than they did prior to shutdown.  We also requested ice in the evenings - just ice but they always checked our towels and took any dirty dishes.   Not a ‘full turn down’ but they took very good care of us.  

We love Movenpick.  It’s quiet while still close enough to the city  center and central train station.  They have a very nice breakfast and their on site restaurant is good too. 

2 hours ago, alwaysfrantic said:

Do prices generally change on the flexible fare?  I know the disclaimer says they can….but I’ve not read here that they do.  

 

Do I cancel my backup flight? 

We have booked many expensive international flights flexible fares through flight ease and we have never had a fare change.   We have had time changes and when connections are tight, it can be concerning.  On domestic flights, we have not found significant savings, so we usually book those directly with the airline to have more control.  
 

Also, sometimes you are able to pick your seats on flight ease but if you fail to, you cannot pick with the airlines.   They will assign.  We try to pick our seats when booking flight ease.  

3 minutes ago, Alifay said:

I’ll be sailing the Eurodam later this month. I have reservations at Tamarind and Pinnacle Grill and will be eating in the MDR at night. If I want to get lobster once on the cruise, where is the best option?

We ate at Rudi’s on N Statendam and my lobster was so tough I couldn’t cut it.  Server noticed and was going to replace but after that experience I just asked for grilled shrimp which they were glad to bring and did.   
 

My BEST lobster onboard was the MDR lobster.   There was an up charge of $15 but SO worth it.   I had it on a night when nothing else appealed.  Will order again.  It was delicious! 

My PCC could not figure this out.  He told me it couldn’t be done.  My former PCC did it for us all the time.  There are a lot of new people that have not figured out the system.  We eventually had to cancel all flight and book ourselves.  Today we start the first leg of the trip.  We love booking through HAL flight ease …. Just wish for our old PCC or HAL would do more training.  Good luck. 

We love only having to fly one way internationally.  Also try and book something of the ‘front end’ - another cruise or river cruise or a land trip to justify the cost of the international flight.  I have gotten too old to fly in coach, imo! 😜

We have found there are far more dining ‘events’ offered on longer, less port intensive itineraries.  This spring we did a 40+ day New Zealand to Vancouver cruise.  The first 14 days in new Zealand and Australia, there were no ‘events’ but once we departed from Sydney porting a few times, there were many - 2 Cellar masters - one in Pinnacle and one in Canelletto , an Indonesian dinner, the Seafood boil was offered 3 different times, Sunday Brunch in the Pinnacle and main dining room.  

1 hour ago, Sea Hag said:

I booked us into 10001 on the Eurodam today. Usually, I look carefully at deckplans to make sure there's nothing iffy above or below, but this time for some reason or another I didn't do that. That cabin has the Crow's Nest above it and the Fitness Center below. I'm not worried about the fitness center, since we've been above or below it on other ships. But I am a bit worried about noise from the Crow's nest. This cabin ticks all the boxes for us otherwise - high up and as forward as you can get. Any info will be greatly appreciated. 🙂

I’ve only been on one ship that I would be concerned about being beneath the Crows Nest - the old Ms Rotterdam had BB King there nightly…. It would have been loud. 
 

Eurodam - I would not be concerned. 

Shrimp tacos I had in the MDR aboard Ms Rotterdam.  For some reason, they were outstanding.  Have had them since….just not the same.