Signature Suite Perks

[bluewatercoulpe]

What exactly are the Signature Suite perks on the Noordam?

Searching the HAL site only give a vague list.

Is laundry included?

Is there a coffee/ espresso maker?

This is our 7th HAL cruise and now as 3 star.

We are on the December 7 cruise out of Sydney.

Thanks

Hal and Sharon

[catl331]

You get a "telephone concierge" and double Mariner credits. That's about it. No laundry, no priority boarding/tendering, no coffee machine.

[Gigi1977]

Beyond the extra room, separated bathtub/shower there are no real perks for a Signature Suite.  In order to have free laundry, Neptune Lounge, coffee maker, breakfast in Pinnacle and automatic club orangevyou need to be in a Neptune Suite or Pinnacle Suite. 

[DaveOKC]

The Signatures are only about 20-25% smaller than the Neptunes and the baths are about the same size, so the room size you get is a big plus.  As already mentioned, no othe real perks.  However, unless you are travelling on a very busy cruise week, you have a decent chance of getting an upsell offer to a Neptune cabin about 2-4 weeks prior to sailing when you are in a Signature.   We have booked about 10 Signature cabins and I think 8 times we ended up in a Neptune due to upsells.  Expect to pay $100-300 pp for a 7 day cruise - well worth it IMO.

 

Since you are sailing in a week, call your TA and have them check into it.

Edited November 30, 2019 by DaveOKC

[Caribbean Chris]

That’s good to know, DaveOKC. Thanks for the tip.

 

We booked a Zuiderdam Signature once and loved the double sinks, separate shower, and big balcony.

 

But as noted above, SS passengers are second class citizens to the “real” suite passengers - in comparison to Celebrity where our lowly Sky Suite bookings offer the Luminae suite dining room, butler, lounge with very attentive concierge, bartender, free drinks, private party with officers on first formal night, live entertainment some evenings, heliport sailaway party one night, and so on. They are retrofitting all the older ships with a “retreat” sun area for suites as well.

 

I love HAL but my spouse loves those X perks for even the junior-level suites. So we sail both, but X has been tipping the scale a bit lately, especially with the longer itineraries out of Tampa.

[creel5857]

A little extra space in cabin and bathroom..........

[1ANGELCAT]

Do SS still come with Binoculars?

[kazu]

31 minutes ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

Do SS still come with Binoculars?

 

Yes they do.  At least they did earlier this year on our cruise 😉 

[catl331]

18 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

about 20-25% smaller

Exactly 25%. Neptunes are 18 ft wide, Signatures 13.5

 

[sevenseasnomad]

10 hours ago, Caribbean Chris said:

That’s good to know, DaveOKC. Thanks for the tip.

 

We booked a Zuiderdam Signature once and loved the double sinks, separate shower, and big balcony.

 

But as noted above, SS passengers are second class citizens to the “real” suite passengers - in comparison to Celebrity where our lowly Sky Suite bookings offer the Luminae suite dining room, butler, lounge with very attentive concierge, bartender, free drinks, private party with officers on first formal night, live entertainment some evenings, heliport sailaway party one night, and so on. They are retrofitting all the older ships with a “retreat” sun area for suites as well.

 

I love HAL but my spouse loves those X perks for even the junior-level suites. So we sail both, but X has been tipping the scale a bit lately, especially with the longer itineraries out of Tampa.

What fares are we talking here?  I've generally found the lower suites on X to be much more expensive, more comparable money-wise to NS on HAL.  I must admit, though, that I haven't checked fares lately.  Are the suites on both lines the same fares now?  If so, why not sail with X, since it seems to bring more bang for the bucks?

Edited November 30, 2019 by sevenseasnomad

[Caribbean Chris]

37 minutes ago, sevenseasnomad said:

What fares are we talking here?  I've generally found the lower suites on X to be much more expensive, more comparable money-wise to NS on HAL.  I must admit, though, that I haven't checked fares lately.  Are the suites on both lines the same fares now?  If so, why not sail with X, since it seems to bring more bang for the bucks?

 

You are definitely right that the lowest suite prices have gone way up lately on X. We’ve found the only affordable way to go now is book when the cruise is initially announced. It often  includes all four strong perks, and we’ve seen fares climb $2,000 or more very quickly after we booked.

 

But even HAL signature suites are pretty high, too, based on some I was looking at earlier today, with far fewer benefits.

 

I still love HAL, though, for aforementioned reasons.

[expectGREATthings]

The last time we were in an SS we did receive the the suite breakfast cards to hang on the door. This offered an enhanced selection to choose from as well as mimosas and some pretty awesome steak and eggs.

 

[bobpell]

Be alert

we just did a transatlantic on Nieuw Statendam in a signature suite and were given the smaller breakfast in room dining menu offered to inside rooms

We complained that for the last 18 HAL SS suites we were given the expanded menu, why all of a sudden were we given  a smaller offering ?

the room steward did not want to lose face and suddenly produced the expanded menu and continued to give us the preferred card each night

Mentioned the change in our survey

I am not pleased

Bob

[Hlitner]

Signatures might be about 25% smaller, but they are a lot cheaper :).  Since we get laundry anyway, and have little interest in a "lounge" that does not serve free drinks, those SS cabins seem like a good deal.  If they want to sell me a Neptune for 25% more then a SS we might be interested :).

 

Hank

[DaveOKC]

13 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Signatures might be about 25% smaller, but they are a lot cheaper :).  Since we get laundry anyway, and have little interest in a "lounge" that does not serve free drinks, those SS cabins seem like a good deal.  If they want to sell me a Neptune for 25% more then a SS we might be interested :).

 

Hank

Agree with you.  We like the Signatures for the "value" they represent, especially for the 4/5 Star crowd.  We keep a close eye out for upsells to the Neptunes, which we just got by the way for Dec cruise, as they generally cost us about 20% more this way, keeping in line with the room difference, plus some extra perks (like Pinnacle Breakfast).  We seem to get upsell offers to Neptune on about 80% of the cruises when we book a Signature.