Have it All now Excluded from Honor Bar in Neptune Lounge

[Mermen]

On 6/15/2023 at 3:59 AM, mtncruzr2 said:

Recently on the NA. There were forms at the beverage area in the Neptune Lounge.  The form is a list of each beverage and the price. You print your name and cabin number, check off the item you take and leave the form.  If the price is more than the HIA allowance the overage is automatically charged to your stateroom account. 

Exactly. We were on the Rotterdam last July and the drinks within our package were covered up to the maximum drink allowable in the Neptune Lounge. We never paid additional. 

[YourWorldWithBill]

52 minutes ago, Mermen said:

Exactly. We were on the Rotterdam last July and the drinks within our package were covered up to the maximum drink allowable in the Neptune Lounge. We never paid additional. 

Same for us on the Rotterdam one month ago.

[cccole]

I never anticipated Neptune Lounge beverages would be accepted on our HIA.  That's awesome.  Cherie

[terrydtx]

23 minutes ago, cccole said:

I never anticipated Neptune Lounge beverages would be accepted on our HIA.  That's awesome.  Cherie

For what you pay for a suite on HAL all drinks in the Neptune lounge should be free regardless of whether you have a drink package. 

[cccole]

I agree, but the Neptune Lounge has never been the same as a suite on Celebrity, RCI.  Those are the other two lines we have enjoyed really nice suite lounges.  I do not expect it on HAL and will be happy if the HIA applies.  Who knew?!!!   Frosting on the cake.   Plus we have the Neptune Suite because we wanted the aft wrap balcony.    Cherie 

Edited June 26, 2023 by cccole

[Florida_gal_50]

There was a very interesting comparison done by @cruisemom42 about the price of Neptunes and inside cabins very recently.  It turns out that the price for both cabins was pretty much the same for the inside and Neptune per sq ft.  There is no “extra” charge for Neptune suites other than the size.  The same can’t be said for celebrity.

[DaveOKC]

32 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

There was a very interesting comparison done by @cruisemom42 about the price of Neptunes and inside cabins very recently.  It turns out that the price for both cabins was pretty much the same for the inside and Neptune per sq ft.  There is no “extra” charge for Neptune suites other than the size.  The same can’t be said for celebrity.

I really question the per sq ft cost being the same.  The Neptunes are generally twice as large as the verandah/vistas (look at a picture of the side of a HAL ship and you will see what I mean).  But the fare for a Neptune is normally much more than twice as much.  Now consider that the Insides are even less expensive as the Verandahs.  

I looked at my upcoming Volendam cruise and the Neptunes are being offered at 4 to 6 times the cost of an Inside (used lowest price for each category) vs the 2 that is based on the size.

[OlsSalt]

 

 Neptunes - twice the real estate of veranda, but fewer of them than other cabin categories

Willing buyers meet willing sellers. 

 

“The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.” 

 

― Thomas Sowell, Is Reality Optional?: And Other Essays (Hoover Institution Press Publication)

 

 

[YourWorldWithBill]

4 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

There was a very interesting comparison done by @cruisemom42 about the price of Neptunes and inside cabins very recently.  It turns out that the price for both cabins was pretty much the same for the inside and Neptune per sq ft.  There is no “extra” charge for Neptune suites other than the size.  The same can’t be said for celebrity.

It's interesting that what appeals to us about the Neptune is more the benefits. We actually don't mind a smaller stateroom, but I really love access to the concierge, and the other benefits. On our May cruise I made sure we got a suite pretty close to the Neptune lounge, as we're back and forth there for various reasons (and my wife gets extra ice) pretty often.

[Florida_gal_50]

4 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

I really question the per sq ft cost being the same.  The Neptunes are generally twice as large as the verandah/vistas (look at a picture of the side of a HAL ship and you will see what I mean).  But the fare for a Neptune is normally much more than twice as much.  Now consider that the Insides are even less expensive as the Verandahs.  

I looked at my upcoming Volendam cruise and the Neptunes are being offered at 4 to 6 times the cost of an Inside (used lowest price for each category) vs the 2 that is based on the size.

It doesn’t look like you read what I wrote.  The price is the same per sq foot.  Not that they are the same price. 

Edited June 26, 2023 by Florida_gal_50

[alwaysfrantic]

I get free wine, soda and water in hotel lounges….now HAL us going to say nope to suites getting what out to be a really basic benefit.  Such a strange change.   
 

Bad form, HAL

[DaveOKC]

2 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

It doesn’t look like you read what I wrote.  The price is the same per sq foot.  Not that they are the same price. 

I read it closely.  My point is that a Neptune cabin is about TWICE the size as an Inside, with the BASE fare being 4 to 6 times as much.  Of course this is only for the base fare and does not include port fees, taxes, tips, or other packages.

[Florida_gal_50]

16 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

I read it closely.  My point is that a Neptune cabin is about TWICE the size as an Inside, with the BASE fare being 4 to 6 times as much.  Of course this is only for the base fare and does not include port fees, taxes, tips, or other packages.

No, I don't know how else to explain it.  Per Sq foot, both are the same price.  The Neptune is just larger not more expensive per square foot.

[DaveOKC]

15 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

No, I don't know how else to explain it.  Per Sq foot, both are the same price.  The Neptune is just larger not more expensive per square foot.

Let me try it this way.  On my upcoming Alaska cruise (late Sept) an Inside is $459 while the Neptune is $2819.  Or about 6 times as much.  Based on what I have seen on this ship, the Neptune is twice as large as the Insides and Vistas (verandah basically).  So if we did the analysis on a sq ft basis, the Neptune should be priced at twice as much as the Inside, or $918 in this example.  But the Neptune is a much higher $2819, or almost 3 times as much, not even close!

Another way to look at it - on a 7 day cruise the Inside is about $65 per day, while the Neptune is $400.  If the price per sq ft was the same, the Neptune would have to be over 6 times as large as the Inside, which it obviously is not.

 

I hope this clarifies my statement that the price per sq ft for a Neptune is MUCH higher than the price per sq ft for an Inside.

   

 

[cruisemom42]

35 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

I read it closely.  My point is that a Neptune cabin is about TWICE the size as an Inside, with the BASE fare being 4 to 6 times as much.  Of course this is only for the base fare and does not include port fees, taxes, tips, or other packages.

 

At a mininum, the Neptunes are 3x the size of Inside cabins when I looked at the listed square footage.

 

On Nieuw Amsterdam, for example, the smallest insides are 143 square feet and the smallest Neptune is 506 square feet -- that's  about 3.5 times more footage. And that's not even comparing with the largest Neptunes.

 

On Westerdam, the smallest insides are 151 square feet, compared with the smallest Neptune suites at 500 square feet -- again, more than 3x more space.

 

 As I said on another thread, I'm sure there will be people who can spin any story out of this. But from my quick "sanity check" it seemed like prices per square foot were pretty consistently in the same ballpark.  

[AncientWanderer]

Doesn't the pricing vary depending on how many of a certain type of cabin is on a ship?  The old supply and demand?  I have a friend who will not book on a vista-class because she pays single supplement and there aren't many ocean-views on those ships?  Same with scarcity of insides.  They are relatively expensive.

Yet there are some classes of ships that have more suites, and so upsell offers are more likely.

Trying to distill it down to price per square foot seems...unlikely.  Maybe that shoe fits some cabins going head to head on some ships, but not all categories and not on all ships.

 

 

[Florida_gal_50]

2 minutes ago, AncientWanderer said:

Doesn't the pricing vary depending on how many of a certain type of cabin is on a ship?  The old supply and demand?  I have a friend who will not book on a vista-class because she pays single supplement and there aren't many ocean-views on those ships?  Same with scarcity of insides.  They are relatively expensive.

Yet there are some classes of ships that have more suites, and so upsell offers are more likely.

Trying to distill it down to price per square foot seems...unlikely.  Maybe that shoe fits some cabins going head to head on some ships, but not all categories and not on all ships.

 

 

Yes if it’s very exotic, maybe.  Just because it hurts the narrative doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

[YourWorldWithBill]

2 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 As I said on another thread, I'm sure there will be people who can spin any story out of this. But from my quick "sanity check" it seemed like prices per square foot were pretty consistently in the same ballpark.  

After reading through all these, it seems pretty accurate to me.

[AncientWanderer]

3 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Yes if it’s very exotic, maybe.  Just because it hurts the narrative doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

 

I think the narrative here is that when booking a suite, one is paying for the square footage and not entitled to one whit more than that square footage.  That idea will have to stand on its own legs.

[ScoutDiver]

My brother and I traveled in a Neptune Suite in Alaska.  I considered briefly booking two inside or balcony cabins.   The aft Neptune balcony cabin had a less closed in feel.  

We got a great rate about 2 months out.  

 

The little perks were nice.  

 

Both of us have our own homes of about 1500 sf.   The tiny inside cabins or even balconies were going to be cramped.   I do not think we would have been happy sharing an inside oven a balcony cabin.   My brother looked at the exterior of some of the Princess Cruises and he just kind of freaked.

 

The drinks on the Koningsdam in August in the Neptune Suite were included in then HIA package.

 

[Caribbean Chris]

4 hours ago, ScoutDiver said:

My brother and I traveled in a Neptune Suite in Alaska.  I considered briefly booking two inside or balcony cabins.   The aft Neptune balcony cabin had a less closed in feel.  

We got a great rate about 2 months out. 

 

The drinks on the Koningsdam in August in the Neptune Suite were included in then HIA package.

 

In your last paragraph, did you intend to say drinks in the Neptune Suite (such as mini fridge drinks)?  My guess is you meant drinks in the Neptune Lounge (Honor Bar).

[SVBing]

On 6/14/2023 at 5:18 PM, tymike said:

I'm new to HAL (first cruise this fall).  I booked Have It All and am in a Neptune suite.  Obviously when I booked the drinks in the Neptune lounge were part of the HIA program.  I'm guessing there's no chance folks who booked it before the change can be 'grandfathered in" so we get what we expected upon booking?

This is not new…. Has been in place for years

[AroundWithMAPTravels]

On 6/15/2023 at 1:31 PM, AncientWanderer said:

 

Do officers still mingle with guests on other cruise lines?  I thought access to the bridge and officer mingling went the way of the dodo because of Covid.  

Not sure of the details, but the night we were at pinnacle grill on Zaandam a week ago there was a table that included a number of passengers and two officers….

[alwaysfrantic]

14 hours ago, ScoutDiver said:

e drinks on the Koningsdam in August in the Neptune Suite were included in then HIA package

They are back to being included.  Just sign. That’s all.  

[BermudaBound2014]

33 minutes ago, alwaysfrantic said:

They are back to being included.  Just sign. That’s all.  

 

Yea, that appears to have been a VERY short experiment 🙂