Neptune Suite Question

[sea_la_vie]

Hello all!

 

We are considering booking a Neptune suite for a roundtrip Alaskan Explorer out of Seattle and wondered if it would be comfortable for a family of four, with 2 teenagers(each about 6 ft tall), or if we're better off booking 2 verandahs, in regards to space for sleeping. The Neptune Suite extras sound lovely, and might be worth having us all in one room 🙂

 

Thank you!

 

 

[CNSJ]

Just back from Alaska in a Neptune on Noordam.  I would suggest two verandahs that connect.  That gets you everyone in a traditional bed and two bathrooms.

 

You might be able to save a few bucks with an inside across the hall from a verandah.....

 

 

[sea_la_vie]

2 minutes ago, CNSJ said:

Just back from Alaska in a Neptune on Noordam.  I would suggest two verandahs that connect.  That gets you everyone in a traditional bed and two bathrooms.

 

You might be able to save a few bucks with an inside across the hall from a verandah.....

 

 

Thank you so much. Great idea!

[Walfam]

We've done two cruises in Neptune Suites.    IMO you will be happier with two verandahs for the sleeping arrangements.  Otherwise, the teens will share a pullout sleeper sofa and it can get tight in there when it is opened out.

[sea_la_vie]

5 hours ago, Walfam said:

We've done two cruises in Neptune Suites.    IMO you will be happier with two verandahs for the sleeping arrangements.  Otherwise, the teens will share a pullout sleeper sofa and it can get tight in there when it is opened out.

Thank you so much! We have decided on 2 Verandahs 🙂

[willoL]

If you didn't book yet, all I can add is that a NS plus an Inside across the hall is what I just left this morning. We were on Nieuw Statendam with our two teens, both of full adult height.

 

The NS perks were really wonderful. I didn't think I'd enjoy them as much as I did. (It was my first cruise suite experience.) In particular, if you "hang out" in the stateroom, the larger NS makes that SO MUCH more comfortable. We could comfortably play a card game on the coffee table, or all four of us could eat an entire meal together on our balcony with room for all the dishes and such, because the suite had tons more space.

 

I don't like when people sit on my bed in street clothes, so maybe that makes me very biased on this question. The kids would sit on the couch or any of the three comfortable, upholstered chairs while we were together in our larger room. Their feet weren't even on my bed. (Yay!)

 

The kids' inside stateroom was ALL bed. They also slept a ton, probably more than usual because it was pitch black inside. But, if the second room is just for sleeping, who cares? It was probably good for them to catch up on rest.

 

If we were all four hard-core balcony people, or if they'd had to get up early for excursions every day, two side-by-side rooms with windows/balconies might've been better. (But I still don't think so.)

 

Or, my new ideal setup would be our corner aft Neptune Suite (we had 4211) with the room next door (AS4213) for the kids. The two doors share a mini hallway and could be closed off from the main corridor which would've been awesome. They'd have kept their room cleaner if I could peep in any time. (Honestly, though, I wasn't prepared to spend that much. That's a fantasy arrangement at this stage.) 😄

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 8/26/2022 at 2:16 PM, sea_la_vie said:

Thank you so much! We have decided on 2 Verandahs 🙂

 I think that's a good choice. You can have the partition between the verandahs opened so you can  share the outside space more easily. 

[sea_la_vie]

9 hours ago, willoL said:

If you didn't book yet, all I can add is that a NS plus an Inside across the hall is what I just left this morning. We were on Nieuw Statendam with our two teens, both of full adult height.

 

The NS perks were really wonderful. I didn't think I'd enjoy them as much as I did. (It was my first cruise suite experience.) In particular, if you "hang out" in the stateroom, the larger NS makes that SO MUCH more comfortable. We could comfortably play a card game on the coffee table, or all four of us could eat an entire meal together on our balcony with room for all the dishes and such, because the suite had tons more space.

 

I don't like when people sit on my bed in street clothes, so maybe that makes me very biased on this question. The kids would sit on the couch or any of the three comfortable, upholstered chairs while we were together in our larger room. Their feet weren't even on my bed. (Yay!)

 

The kids' inside stateroom was ALL bed. They also slept a ton, probably more than usual because it was pitch black inside. But, if the second room is just for sleeping, who cares? It was probably good for them to catch up on rest.

 

If we were all four hard-core balcony people, or if they'd had to get up early for excursions every day, two side-by-side rooms with windows/balconies might've been better. (But I still don't think so.)

 

Or, my new ideal setup would be our corner aft Neptune Suite (we had 4211) with the room next door (AS4213) for the kids. The two doors share a mini hallway and could be closed off from the main corridor which would've been awesome. They'd have kept their room cleaner if I could peep in any time. (Honestly, though, I wasn't prepared to spend that much. That's a fantasy arrangement at this stage.) 😄

Thank you! Haven't booked yet, and now am intrigued about the Neptune Aft Suites.  Did you feel any more motion in the aft suite? We are a bit prone to motion sickness and will be cruising to Alaska in mid-September.

[willoL]

9 hours ago, sea_la_vie said:

Thank you! Haven't booked yet, and now am intrigued about the Neptune Aft Suites.  Did you feel any more motion in the aft suite? We are a bit prone to motion sickness and will be cruising to Alaska in mid-September.

DH and my youngest are both quite prone to motion sickness, so we really debated the corner aft for the same reason. As it happens, both did really well, though we were truly blessed with great weather given our cruise crossed the north Atlantic (twice!)

 

We carried aboard meclizine (Bonine, aka Dramamine II) and we all used it on the two days we had rougher seas, so we weren't without medication options. Also, all of us use use ginger capsules for the early days of any cruise regardless of weather, seeing those as so low risk (being a food ingredient) as to be worth trying even if it just a placebo. 🙂

 

On those rough days, it felt to me personally as if higher up on the ship (e.g., Lido) was worse than our deck 4 aft location in terms of the movement.

 

We also worried about vibrations or other funny noises that some report here on Cruise Critic, but I can't report anything unusual that I heard/felt in 4211. The glassware or hangers in the closet jiggled occasionally from the ship's motion, but I think that happens everywhere. Overall, I'm a sensitive person (can be bothered by lights, sounds, strong odors), so factor that in to my judgement, though, of course, different things trigger different people!

 

My husband, who adores outdoor space, just loved the enormous balcony so much, he thinks the corner aft wrap on deck 4 of Nieuw Statendam is perfect. People who like the private Neptune Lounge more often prefer the similar cabins with smaller balconies on higher decks. It is true we had a long way to walk to many amenities, but the deeper balcony on deck 4 compared to the suites in the same position above was a total winner for DH and outweighed all negatives in his opinion.

 

For me, the added space in the suite was lovely, and, if they interiors are bigger elsewhere, it was still quite gracious compared to the outside cabins I've had in the past. (Again, this was my first Neptune Suite.)

 

I hope that helps! I can say for myself, I've never regretted paying more for a business class airline seat or other kinds of extra space in my travels historically, so I was pretty certain I would be glad for more space once the bill was paid and out of my mind. That was totally true; I think booking a suite made every day of our 24 day trip much better and more convenient for many reasons. Maybe HAL doesn't have butlers, but the Neptune Concierge solved little problems, the early access to tenders was great, and Club Orange dining was more appealing to me than I expected. (Just figure out if having some, not all, of your party able to access each kind of suite perk works for you, or if you should add Club Orange to the inside cabin to keep your group together if you go the suite/inside route.)

[sea_la_vie]

2 hours ago, willoL said:

DH and my youngest are both quite prone to motion sickness, so we really debated the corner aft for the same reason. As it happens, both did really well, though we were truly blessed with great weather given our cruise crossed the north Atlantic (twice!)

 

We carried aboard meclizine (Bonine, aka Dramamine II) and we all used it on the two days we had rougher seas, so we weren't without medication options. Also, all of us use use ginger capsules for the early days of any cruise regardless of weather, seeing those as so low risk (being a food ingredient) as to be worth trying even if it just a placebo. 🙂

 

On those rough days, it felt to me personally as if higher up on the ship (e.g., Lido) was worse than our deck 4 aft location in terms of the movement.

 

We also worried about vibrations or other funny noises that some report here on Cruise Critic, but I can't report anything unusual that I heard/felt in 4211. The glassware or hangers in the closet jiggled occasionally from the ship's motion, but I think that happens everywhere. Overall, I'm a sensitive person (can be bothered by lights, sounds, strong odors), so factor that in to my judgement, though, of course, different things trigger different people!

 

My husband, who adores outdoor space, just loved the enormous balcony so much, he thinks the corner aft wrap on deck 4 of Nieuw Statendam is perfect. People who like the private Neptune Lounge more often prefer the similar cabins with smaller balconies on higher decks. It is true we had a long way to walk to many amenities, but the deeper balcony on deck 4 compared to the suites in the same position above was a total winner for DH and outweighed all negatives in his opinion.

 

For me, the added space in the suite was lovely, and, if they interiors are bigger elsewhere, it was still quite gracious compared to the outside cabins I've had in the past. (Again, this was my first Neptune Suite.)

 

I hope that helps! I can say for myself, I've never regretted paying more for a business class airline seat or other kinds of extra space in my travels historically, so I was pretty certain I would be glad for more space once the bill was paid and out of my mind. That was totally true; I think booking a suite made every day of our 24 day trip much better and more convenient for many reasons. Maybe HAL doesn't have butlers, but the Neptune Concierge solved little problems, the early access to tenders was great, and Club Orange dining was more appealing to me than I expected. (Just figure out if having some, not all, of your party able to access each kind of suite perk works for you, or if you should add Club Orange to the inside cabin to keep your group together if you go the suite/inside route.)

Thank you! This helps so much! Now we have to decide if we want to add on Club Orange for the interior 🙂

[kazu]

12 hours ago, sea_la_vie said:

Thank you! Haven't booked yet, and now am intrigued about the Neptune Aft Suites.  Did you feel any more motion in the aft suite? We are a bit prone to motion sickness and will be cruising to Alaska in mid-September.

 

Just to let you know - the rooms in the aft Neptune suites have smaller rooms than the regular Neptune suites/cabin - the verandahs are bigger - much - but the rooms are smaller.

 

DH was subject to mal de mer with the wrong motion.  We tried an aft once and once was enough.  There can be noises and vibrations - not always but it can disconcerting.  And there can be a lot more motion of the ocean.  Not as much as forward but more than a mid ship category.  You are also further from the Neptune Lounge but closer to the MDR & Lido.

 

For DH, I always chose mid ship (unless we were on the Prinsendam - that ship rode the waves so well it made little difference where you were IMO.)

 

He did so much better with a mid ship location - there was rarely an issue.  Just one experience but when one is not well, it does not a good cruise make.  

 

Now that I am solo - I will be aft next year (not Neptune Suite sadly) because of bigger balconies on the N.Statendam but I don’t suffer from Mal de Mer.  If DH was with me, I wouldn’t do it.

 

 

[willoL]

35 minutes ago, sea_la_vie said:

Thank you! This helps so much! Now we have to decide if we want to add on Club Orange for the interior 🙂

Club Orange for only half our party made sense because only two of us preferred to dress and go to a sit down dinner. Since other two actually prefer buffet, they didn't miss this much, though it would've been nice to dine as a family in C.O. once or twice.  I like to sit down to breakfast in a restaurant, so, for me, it was a definite feature. Not all the ships have the Club Orange venue, so the value may be less elsewhere.

 

Not having to wait for tender tickets would have been a bigger issue on our cruise, but we had quite a few tender ports. You can check that in advance to decide if this matters for your group. (Or if you do ship's excursions, the tender ticket is not an issue.)

 

We were firm in our choice of cabin, so the fact that C.O. offers upgrades didn't factor, but might if you hope to get the inside crew upgraded in some way. (I have no experience with upgrades.)

[3rdGenCunarder]

20 hours ago, sea_la_vie said:

Thank you! Haven't booked yet, and now am intrigued about the Neptune Aft Suites.  Did you feel any more motion in the aft suite? We are a bit prone to motion sickness and will be cruising to Alaska in mid-September.

 

Which ship? I've been in a corner aft on three of the four Vistas and loved it. Once, on  Zuiderdam we had rough weather and it wasn't bad. That said, I'm a pretty hardy sailor. If it's Koningsdam or Rotterdam, I wouldn't do it. K'dam was an uncomfortable ride in the back and it wasn't bad weather. 

 

[BobbiSox]

Just wondering if a Neptune is booked for the two people, and a Veranda (or any other less category) is booked for the other two people, it makes sense that only the two in the Neptune would have access to the Neptune perks. All four wouldn't have access to the Lounge, for example, or any of the other many perks, so how would that work?

[kazu]

12 minutes ago, BobbiSox said:

Just wondering if a Neptune is booked for the two people, and a Veranda (or any other less category) is booked for the other two people, it makes sense that only the two in the Neptune would have access to the Neptune perks. All four wouldn't have access to the Lounge, for example, or any of the other many perks, so how would that work?

 

The only people entitled to the Neptune Suite perks are those in the Neptune Suite.  Only those are permitted in the lounge, etc.  Now, if you were sailing on a Pinnacle Class ship (and ONLY on that class), the 2 not in the Suite could buy Club Orange and do breakfast & dinner in Club Orange, receive some of the priorities that Neptune Suites have but the Lounge would still be off limits.

 

However, people in a Neptune Suite can order hors d’oeuvres for more than just themselves and entertain in their cabin.  So, at least those not in the Suite could partake in that 😉  

 

 

[willoL]

Yes, I'll clarify and confirm once more: our two suite guests got more perks than the two who were booked in the inside cabin.

 

Since one adult had to be officially registered in each cabin, even though my eldest is over 18 and not a minor for most other purposes, my husband was technically one of the two residents of the less-perk-ful room. Luckily, my husband enjoys room service more than dining out while on vacation, so he didn't mind missing out on Club Orange dinners (nor did the Neptune Lounge matter to him. Like me, my youngest enjoyed having keycard access to a special lounge, just because it made him feel special.) 😁

 

What I did find, though, is that the Neptune Concierge would happily do things for me which applied only to the non-suite cabin. (I was hesitant to ask at first.) So, while DH and the other kid didn't have priority tenders or access to C.O., it was no problem for me to ask the concierge to apply gift cards to the inside cabin, for example, or for me to book specialty dining reservations that included all of us. When I decided to pay for laundry for the inside cabin, the concierge took care of it for me, though it applied to the non-suite cabin.

 

In that way, some of the service perks did spill over a little bit toward the lower tier cabin, in my one experience on Nieuw Statendam. In addition, if my husband called from our suite, the concierge helped him, for example, when he ordered flowers for me after I said how much I liked a particular arrangement elsewhere on the ship. 🥰

 

And, by the way, the two Neptune Lounge concierges just bent over backward to offer assistance and be of service. I never felt like an imposition, even as I eventually asked for things applying to the other cabin. All the staff on HAL was pretty great, but those two ladies were simply phenomenal in their efforts. They made it seem like I should try to find more for them to do! (I think I'm pretty low maintenance usually.)

 

--willoL

Edited August 29, 2022 by willoL
added note about concierge helping DH though he wasn't technically a suite resident

[AFNavigator]

On 8/27/2022 at 8:53 PM, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 I think that's a good choice. You can have the partition between the verandahs opened so you can  share the outside space more easily. 

Another plus beyond being able to share a double-width balcony (same width as a standard Neptune balcony) is the ability to freely move between cabins without having to go out in the hallway and wait for the other person to open their door.  That's assuming both cabins' balcony doors are kept unlocked of course.

[sea_la_vie]

18 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Which ship? I've been in a corner aft on three of the four Vistas and loved it. Once, on  Zuiderdam we had rough weather and it wasn't bad. That said, I'm a pretty hardy sailor. If it's Koningsdam or Rotterdam, I wouldn't do it. K'dam was an uncomfortable ride in the back and it wasn't bad weather. 

 

Thinking of the Westerdam or Eurodam!

[willoL]

On 8/29/2022 at 2:09 PM, AFNavigator said:

...the ability to freely move between cabins without having to go out in the hallway and wait for the other person to open their door...

If I hadn't been on Cruise Critic so much before our trip, I wouldn't have even known this was possible and to ask, but:

Another thing the Neptune Concierge did for me was to make a spare keycard for each of our rooms since we were a family of four traveling in two separate staterooms. This gave my husband--officially an Inside cabin dweller!--access to the room where he and I actually slept, and gave the child (officially assigned to the N.S.) access to the Interior room where he slept.

 

I believe the front desk (Guest Services) would be able do the same for those without access to the Neptune Lounge concierge. It just might take waiting in line to get that assistance.

 

It's helpful--if you pack lanyards to wear your keycard around your neck--to have a pack with multiple colors so you don't mix up the key only cards with the useful ones that let you buy drinks and leave the vessel!

 

I had this $8 pack of 5 from Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KSRS1YL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&th=1

[sea_la_vie]

On 8/30/2022 at 4:35 PM, willoL said:

If I hadn't been on Cruise Critic so much before our trip, I wouldn't have even known this was possible and to ask, but:

Another thing the Neptune Concierge did for me was to make a spare keycard for each of our rooms since we were a family of four traveling in two separate staterooms. This gave my husband--officially an Inside cabin dweller!--access to the room where he and I actually slept, and gave the child (officially assigned to the N.S.) access to the Interior room where he slept.

 

I believe the front desk (Guest Services) would be able do the same for those without access to the Neptune Lounge concierge. It just might take waiting in line to get that assistance.

 

It's helpful--if you pack lanyards to wear your keycard around your neck--to have a pack with multiple colors so you don't mix up the key only cards with the useful ones that let you buy drinks and leave the vessel!

 

I had this $8 pack of 5 from Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KSRS1YL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&th=1

I just booked a Neptune and an interior. Can I ask if the difference in boarding times were a problem? With my husband listed on the Interior Room, and me on the Neptune, he won't get priority boarding. We haven't yet decided whether or not to add Club Orange to the Interior room. Thanks so much for all of your knowledge 🙂

[StLouisCruisers]

10 hours ago, sea_la_vie said:

I just booked a Neptune and an interior. Can I ask if the difference in boarding times were a problem? With my husband listed on the Interior Room, and me on the Neptune, he won't get priority boarding. We haven't yet decided whether or not to add Club Orange to the Interior room. Thanks so much for all of your knowledge 🙂

 

In my past experience, if I had priority boarding and the rest of my party didn't, they were allowed to board with me.  Hope that's still the way it is.

[sea_la_vie]

51 minutes ago, StLouisCruisers said:

 

In my past experience, if I had priority boarding and the rest of my party didn't, they were allowed to board with me.  Hope that's still the way it is.

Thank you so much! I'm hoping so! This is really the only reason we were thinking of booking Club Orange for the interior room.

[DaveOKC]

1 hour ago, StLouisCruisers said:

 

In my past experience, if I had priority boarding and the rest of my party didn't, they were allowed to board with me.  Hope that's still the way it is.

Did this in April - worked fine, no questions asked.

 

[sandiego1]

12 hours ago, sea_la_vie said:

I just booked a Neptune and an interior. Can I ask if the difference in boarding times were a problem? With my husband listed on the Interior Room, and me on the Neptune, he won't get priority boarding. We haven't yet decided whether or not to add Club Orange to the Interior room. Thanks so much for all of your knowledge 🙂

Pls be aware that your husband won’t be allowed in the Neptune Lounge or the Pinnacle breakfast since he is not listed as a Neptune passenger.

[sea_la_vie]

24 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

Did this in April - worked fine, no questions asked.

 

Thank you so much!