mathed101

Thanks but I actually didn't take that first cabin! 😏 I opted to take one further towards the aft and on the starboard side of the ship. I am so happy to be able to get that one!!

Thank you! We love to eat breakfast on our balcony and try to do it every day that we can onboard! I am sure that we will like sailing in a NS this trip as it is a special occasion for us. We want to cruise more and our budget just won't allow us to book NS straight up so we will look for upsells if necessary but we are pretty happy with a balcony as that is our must have.

The first cabin I was offered was across from the Neptune Lounge so IDK if that is a best location or not?

The email was sent at 12:38 pm and I saw it at 12:45 pm. I called at 2:38 pm and was on hold for about 20 minutes. While I was on hold I was on HAL's website looking at what SA cabins were still available. There were still the same 10 suites on deck 7, that were available when I checked the night before, so I thought that was a good sign. It does make me wonder about the whole upsell process, especially since it was only a few days until sail date. The rep was ready to go with room offers as soon as I gave her my booking number. It was a quick and easy process and I think I waited on hold longer than it took to make a decision and pay for it! She only offered me that non adjoining suites at first until I asked her about one of them. She said it was available but most people don't really want them if there are others that are not adjoining so she offers those first. I took one that was not adjoining. I just checked again and there are still 6 Neptune Suites available on deck 7 and 2 on deck 6. All of the Signature Suites are sold out.

I just printed our luggage tags and they do say Priority on them so hopefully they will get to our room faster than the average. Our boarding pass still has a later time to board at 12:20 so I hope we will be able to still make it to the MDR for lunch.

I watched a youtube video tour of a NA Neptune suite from a travel agent and I just couldn't believe the amount of closet space! The guy who gives the tour happens to be 6'6" tall and when he said he could fit in the shower I was hooked! My husband is 6'5" so this will be so nice for him. The dual sinks and the size of the bathroom looks awesome as does the vanity space, which will be great for me! We aren't too far from the lounge so I think that will be a big plus, but we will definitely have to put some time in walking around the ship!

I am so happy for you!! Thanks for the info...I cannot wait to enjoy our balcony! We love balconies!! What time did you get to the port? Was it before your assigned check-in time listed on your boarding pass?

Thank you for answering my questions! I am taking notes!!

We are going to try the Zaandam for the New England cruise in September. We have an OV partial obstruction like we did on the Volendam in 2019. The Vista Suite was very nice on the Volendam and we hope to make our 3rd Hal cruise in one as well if we get an upsell offer again. Fingers crossed!! Totally lucky! Plus the luckiest and best part for us was the huge balcony of the Vista HC suite on the aft starboard side!

Wow, thanks for all of that - everything sounds wonderful!! We could use some spoiling! We will definitely go to the lounge on day one and meet the concierge members! I didn't remember about the breakfast in Pinnacle grill so that will be a nice. Is it crowded? The priority boarding and tendering sound great, do I need to ask for a ticket or something? What does priority seating/dining actually mean? I thought I read about High Tea in the suite, is that still an option?

Thank you for pointing that out. It was definitely stated in the offer. What is interesting to me is that the first cruise we went on Hal was in 2019 and we upgrade from an OV on the Volendam to a Handicap Vista Suite and received the double Mariner points. Things have changed!

Thanks so all of you for your opinions, they really helped me with the decision! I decided to go with the Neptune suite! Since the price of the suite $3199 pp is out of our normal range the upgrade allows to try it without the full expense. Our cabin was $1169 with HIA and crew appreciation so I think we did pretty good! I only have three days to learn all about the Neptune. I have checked HAL's website and I will do some searching on CC. If anyone wants to tell me about any and all things that they like about the Neptune suite life, please do!! 🙂

That is a good question! We have thought about that too but since this cruise was originally booked in 2019 for March 2020 we had FCC to use so it didn't cross our minds at that time. So much has happened since then that it's difficult to say. Thanks for your input!!

Agreed! The Neptune seems to be the only option because we chose that room for the balcony!

Thanks for all the replies!! We are just a one star. The blank space next to it is a stairwell for the staff and reports of little to no noise for the cabin.

My husband and I are on the NA sailing this Sunday, December 4th in stateroom 4168 which has the double sized balcony and is a VB category. The offer we received today is as follows for a 7 day cruise: Neptune $499 pp or Signature $199 pp. What do you think about this offer? What would you do and why? Thanks for your input!