Are Neptune suites worth it?

[Linda&Vern]

That's a pleasant surprise for you, Bobbie. We just became 4 stars after our TA cruise in the fall so took advantage of the priority check in an priority disembark.

 

While in HMC, I felt weird about cutting in line for the priority tender service. So we waited along with everyone else.

It is my understanding that priority tendering means you don't need a tender ticket. You just go get in the tendering line - your place is at the end of the line. Priority just means no need to wait for your tender number to be called. When leaving HMC, there is no priority. Someone correct me if I am wrong - but this is what I was told on the ship a few years agol

[magandab]

Of course, if someone hadn't made a mistake on your bill in the first place, you wouldn't have had to wait in line anywhere. ;)

 

 

I'm willing to grant that there can be human error. I've waited "in line" in the NL a time or two. It's much more pleasant to wait while sitting comfortably, having a cappuccino and a yummy snack. Plus, if I was waiting in line with a bunch of (#*#(*(@*(@(*@ who wanted to remove their hotel charge, I'd probably be put in solitary for the night.

 

Bottom line, yes, the NS is worth it to me and all the pointing out of other people's unhappiness with that choice for themselves won't change my POV. If/when it happens to me, I'll make my decisions accordingly.

 

YMMV

[peaches from georgia]

It is my understanding that priority tendering means you don't need a tender ticket. You just go get in the tendering line - your place is at the end of the line. Priority just means no need to wait for your tender number to be called. When leaving HMC, there is no priority. Someone correct me if I am wrong - but this is what I was told on the ship a few years agol

Correct. Priority tendering does not mean you cut in line and get in the front. It only means that you do not need a tender ticket with number, but can go right on down to the tender boarding area and then get at the end of the line. ;)

[Roz]

Breakfast every morning in the PG is worth the price of admission to me. The Neptune Lounge for a relaxing coffee and snack, and the concierge to take care of little details are nice touches. Taken together, I think the Neptune Suites are worth it if your budget can handle it.

 

I've been in line at the front desk on the last night or last morning when a disgruntled passenger is delivering a public manifesto on why they don't believe in tipping. It's not pretty. I much prefer settling any last minute things (like my bingo winnings :D) with the NL concierge.

 

Roz

Edited April 2, 2014 by Roz

[Barrheadlass]

Love your dog too. I play with it every time I see it. May I ask where you got it?

[innlady1]

There is a poster on here that ripped me a new one because I dared to say Seattle gives out conflicting info. I've never noticed that poster doing it to anyone else. I can't imagine why that poster gets upset considering how often this is the case.

 

Case in point: When I arranged the Meet and Greet for our recent Noordam cruise, I specifically asked the coordinator in Seattle if Mark Pells would be the Hotel Director (he's awesome so I was hoping so!). No, said he, "Mark is off for a few months so Gerard O'Reilly will be the Hotel Director on your cruise."

 

WRONG. It was Mark Pells...he came on board 1/27 and our cruise was 2/7!

 

That's not a first for me with misinformation coming out of Seattle; when he told me that, I was counting on Seattle being wrong once again.

 

[magandab]

Love your dog too. I play with it every time I see it. May I ask where you got it?

 

I was going to try to see, but it seems to have disappeared from my screen. I think if you right click it will give you the website. Someone else on CC had a stingray swimming around in their signature, so I went to see what the site had. All free too!

[iancal]

delete

Edited April 2, 2014 by iancal

[iancal]

They are worth it to the people that regularly buy them. Otherwise they would not pay price.

 

Our decision not to buy one only speaks to our preferences. It certainly does not mean that Neptune Suites are without value to others.

 

And to the person who actually claims that front desk lineups on the final night are attributable to people cancelling the auto tips......I presume that you have never had a billing error on HAL. That is one of the main reasons why people line up to get their statements of account. The next day is often too late to have corrections made. Just wish HAL would get in the game and allow us to access our accounts on our stateroom monitors.

Edited April 2, 2014 by iancal

[pv girl]

Princess has a good system - there is a kiosk near the front desk where you merely swipe your card and it prints a copy of your statement. Easy to do every few days and then if you find an error, you can stand in line for correction. Wouldn't this be nice to see on HAL?

Otherwise, the perk of doing this in the NL might be of value to HAL cruisers.

[DaveOKC]

Princess has a good system - there is a kiosk near the front desk where you merely swipe your card and it prints a copy of your statement. Easy to do every few days and then if you find an error, you can stand in line for correction. Wouldn't this be nice to see on HAL?

Otherwise, the perk of doing this in the NL might be of value to HAL cruisers.

 

I do this at the NL about 1/2 way through the cruise and the day before we depart. That way I get a jump on the crowds if there is an issue.

DaveOKC

[cinnamon123]

Hi everyone

 

Remember me?

 

You all were so right. I'm sailing solo & loving it .

 

Ruth: thanks for your words of wisdom

 

I love the Neptune suite and all it's perks I'm directly opposite it and the concierge Nikolai is fantastic!!

 

Just had dinner in the pinnacle grill

Will do a full review when I get home

Cinnamon123

[donaldsc]

Obviously a matter of opinion and I should say that I have never had a suite or even a veranda cabin but I feel that now way can the perks be worth the extra cost.

 

DON

[cruz chic]

They are worth it to the people that regularly buy them. Otherwise they would not pay price.

 

Our decision not to buy one only speaks to our preferences. It certainly does not mean that Neptune Suites are without value to others.

 

And to the person who actually claims that front desk lineups on the final night are attributable to people cancelling the auto tips......I presume that you have never had a billing error on HAL. That is one of the main reasons why people line up to get their statements of account. The next day is often too late to have corrections made. Just wish HAL would get in the game and allow us to access our accounts on our stateroom monitors.

 

I've had several billing errors. What I do is get a printout every couple of days to review and check for errors. To wait until the last day is not in my best interest. I'd be willing to bet most people are removing or questioning the hsc. Why would people line up to get their accounts when it's super easy to do that at any time?

 

I think it's pretty obvious that the people who buy Neptune suites do think there is value.

Edited April 3, 2014 by cruz chic

[sapper1]

Hi everyone

 

Remember me?

 

You all were so right. I'm sailing solo & loving it .

 

Ruth: thanks for your words of wisdom

 

I love the Neptune suite and all it's perks I'm directly opposite it and the concierge Nikolai is fantastic!!

 

Just had dinner in the pinnacle grill

Will do a full review when I get home

Cinnamon123

Thanks for checking in and I'm glad things are going well for you.

[cruz chic]

Princess has a good system - there is a kiosk near the front desk where you merely swipe your card and it prints a copy of your statement. Easy to do every few days and then if you find an error, you can stand in line for correction. Wouldn't this be nice to see on HAL?

Otherwise, the perk of doing this in the NL might be of value to HAL cruisers.

 

It's just as easy to do it on Hal at the front desk when people are not removing the hsc. I do it often. I find that the machines on princess are often not working.

[cruisun]

Hi everyone

 

Remember me?

 

You all were so right. I'm sailing solo & loving it .

 

Ruth: thanks for your words of wisdom

 

I love the Neptune suite and all it's perks I'm directly opposite it and the concierge Nikolai is fantastic!!

 

Just had dinner in the pinnacle grill

Will do a full review when I get home

Cinnamon123

 

Continue to enjoy:)

[erewhon]

Hi everyone

 

Remember me?

 

You all were so right. I'm sailing solo & loving it .

 

Ruth: thanks for your words of wisdom

 

I love the Neptune suite and all it's perks I'm directly opposite it and the concierge Nikolai is fantastic!!

 

Just had dinner in the pinnacle grill

Will do a full review when I get home

Cinnamon123

 

Thanks for letting us know that you are enjoying your cruise and the Neptune Suite.

 

Looking forward to your review when you return home.

[bevfd]

Quick question, will the concierge in the Signature Suite also help with my account, get copies of the bill etc.?

[sail7seas]

The concierge for Signature Suites is a telephone concierge and not physically present at a location you can visit as is the case with Neptune.

 

You possibly could request (s)he get a print out of your bill and ask it be delivered to your mailbox but that is mere speculation on my part.

 

We always get a copy from the concierge a day or two in advance of the end of our cruise. If we are on for 14+ days, we check it midway through, as well.

 

[HamOp]

Wonder if anyone staying in a Neptune has had the nerve to ask the concierge to remove the HSC? That would take a lot of ba.., er, make that nerve!

[RJ2002]

More often than not, we have found a stray charge on our HAL bills which needed to be adjusted.

 

On our last cruise on the Oosterdam down under, we had a drink charge from the Ocean Bar (where we frequented every night before dinner) that was not ours. The bartenders knew us well, so we just went straight to them to get it removed. It actually took a couple of days, but it did get removed.

 

Agree with others, don't wait to the final night to check your bill!

[igraf]

Well put!! I agree with you 100%.

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

.....However, my experience has been that the suites on Holland America are one of the worst values in cruising. I've spent quite a bit of time on HAL (a few days short of 5 stars at this point) and I've stayed in every kind of room but a penthouse. The suites are nice and give you lots of space, but you are still on HAL and are paying a very high price for a mass market experience.

 

The cost cutting and quality cutbacks on HAL are well documented on this site. The problem with a suite is that as soon as you step outside your cabin, you are basically just like everybody else. Yes, there are some perks, but realistically they are fairly minimal and you are paying a huge premium to get them. If you are lucky enough to snag a cheap upsell, then the value proposition is better, but you can never count on that.

 

Over the last 3 years, we have been moving away from HAL and towards the luxury lines, particularly Silversea and Crystal. If you shop around a bit, you can sail with them for roughly the price of a Neptune Suite and the quality is much, much higher. The little perks of HAL's suites are dwarfed by the consistently superior service, food and atmosphere on the ship. You will have a smaller cabin, but even an entry level cabin on Silversea (which they call a "suite") is about 50% bigger than HAL's basic cabin and is quite comfortable. I suppose that if you spend most of your time in your cabin on HAL, the bigger cabin is nice, but I can't see giving up all the advantages of the luxury lines to get that.

 

......

[Floridastorm]

Curious........ Did you "hear" this while on a ship? From a presumably reliable source?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone decides for themselves what is worth what to them.

You may think it 'worth it' to have a ski lodge or a cabin on the lake or whatever means something to you while someone else may decide it is 'worth it' to them to enjoy a Neptune or Pinnacle Suite on a ship. Thankfully, we do not all want exactly the same things. How boring would that be? :D

 

The fact of the matter in your particular comment is that the concierges all rotate from front office. One week they may be working at front office and next week it could be their turn to be concierge. ;)

 

 

As I've gotten older I accept the fact that there are some people who are better off than I am and some people not as well off as I am. I don't try to buy a Mercedes as I can't afford it. I don't cry about that fact nor do I envy someone who can buy a Mercedes. If folks can afford a Suite, so be it. I can probably afford a suite but my priorities are such that I have better places for that money. My wife and I are comfortable in the Ocean View cabin that we selected. I would not, however, get an Inside cabin as I like to see daylight.

[Tampa Girl]

I was going to try to see, but it seems to have disappeared from my screen. I think if you right click it will give you the website. Someone else on CC had a stingray swimming around in their signature, so I went to see what the site had. All free too!

 

 

Right clicking didn't work for me. Do you remember the site?