rhinomike Posted January 6, 2020 #1 Share Posted January 6, 2020 Hello, We are not new to cruising. We have about 50 cruises under our belts. But primarily with Carnival, NCL and Royal Caribbean. This will be our first time on HAL and we are excited to give it a try. I am wondering if there is some type of VIP or front of the line passes that you can purchase on HAL. Carnival has faster to the fun, RC has the key program. NCL has excellent suite benefits. We are currently booked this July sailing in Europe on the Nieu Statendam. We have balcony cabins reserved. I was thinking about upgrading to a suite. Are there any perks when upgrading to a suite besides a larger room? NCL has priority boarding, debarkation, tendering, reserved show seating, butler and some others. What does HAL offer? Is it worth paying extra for the suite? Thank you in advance. The advice is greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhinomike Posted January 6, 2020 Author #2 Share Posted January 6, 2020 So doing a little research I found out about Club Orange. Also I found out my wife had already purchased it with our two Verandah Cabins. It was $2500 for our group of 5. To upgrade us to suites would be $3000. Do the club orange perks come with the suites or would I still need the club orange package? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted January 6, 2020 #3 Share Posted January 6, 2020 15 minutes ago, rhinomike said: Hello, We are not new to cruising. We have about 50 cruises under our belts. But primarily with Carnival, NCL and Royal Caribbean. This will be our first time on HAL and we are excited to give it a try. I am wondering if there is some type of VIP or front of the line passes that you can purchase on HAL. Carnival has faster to the fun, RC has the key program. NCL has excellent suite benefits. If you don’t want to upgrade to a suite, you could look at Club Orange. I’d be tempted to wait until closer to sailing in the hopes there is a “deal” on it but Club Orange will give you a special dining area for breakfast and dinner with an additional entree that is not offered in the MDR. Also gives priority embarkation, tendering and a special line at the front desk. (I’m sure there are a couple of other benefits I’ve forgotten). 15 minutes ago, rhinomike said: We are currently booked this July sailing in Europe on the Nieu Statendam. We have balcony cabins reserved. I was thinking about upgrading to a suite. Are there any perks when upgrading to a suite besides a larger room? NCL has priority boarding, debarkation, tendering, reserved show seating, butler and some others. What does HAL offer? Is it worth paying extra for the suite? Thank you in advance. The advice is greatly appreciated. To get any “real” benefits on HAL you need to book a Neptune Suite or above. No butler service but there is the Neptune Lounge with concierges that take care of basically anything you need. They take care of specialty restaurant reservations, shore excursions, front desk duties, etc. No free bar but there is priority boarding, disembarkation & tendering. Neptune Suites have all of the Club O benefits along with free laundry, drycleaning and pressing. Coffee machine in the room, Bose speaker, lots of space. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few benefits but that’s it in a nutshell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Roz Posted January 6, 2020 #4 Share Posted January 6, 2020 (edited) What kind of suite are you considering? The Neptune suites have the most perks. Is the $3,000 on top of the $2,500 you already paid for Club Orange? Edited January 6, 2020 by Roz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted January 6, 2020 #5 Share Posted January 6, 2020 5 minutes ago, rhinomike said: So doing a little research I found out about Club Orange. Also I found out my wife had already purchased it with our two Verandah Cabins. It was $2500 for our group of 5. To upgrade us to suites would be $3000. Do the club orange perks come with the suites or would I still need the club orange package? Thank you. Club Orange perks come with the Neptune suites - not the Signature nor Vista Suites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floridiana Posted January 6, 2020 #6 Share Posted January 6, 2020 25 minutes ago, rhinomike said: Do the club orange perks come with the suites or would I still need the club orange package? Thank you. The Club Orange comes automatically with the Neptune and Pinnacle suites, no extra charge. The N and P guests also have privileged embarkation and don't need tender tickets for tender rides. Just show up and join the line at the end if there is one. Laundry service is included and it is done very well. These suites have a separate lounge with first rate concierges. They make reservations for you and help you in any which way. The lounges have snacks and the only decent coffee according to my husband. I drink tea or hot chocolate. Although the lounge itself is a windowless space, it is great for the concierges, the coffee, the newspaper excerpts, the books (The Koningsdam had no library, the Nieu Statendam probably doesn't either). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhinomike Posted January 6, 2020 Author #7 Share Posted January 6, 2020 2 hours ago, Roz said: What kind of suite are you considering? The Neptune suites have the most perks. Is the $3,000 on top of the $2,500 you already paid for Club Orange? It was $3k more to upgrade to a basic suite. Not the Neptune class suite. That is on top of the $2500 we spent on club orange. With the info I read here I will keep our Verandah Cabin with the Club Orange. To go up to Neptune suites was an additional $10k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Roz Posted January 7, 2020 #8 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Definitely not worth it IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalspin Posted January 7, 2020 #9 Share Posted January 7, 2020 I didn't see it mentioned, but suites (even Vista Suites) give you double "days" i.e. loyalty points in the Mariner Society. Just for the first two people in a room, I believe. If you get the suite as an "upsell" i.e. paid upgrade for a lower rate, it will not give you the double-days. Spending "bonus days" comes at a rate of $300 per point to the first two in the cabin. Pretty sure that your up-payment for Club Orange counts as bonus spending, whereas paying for the Suite would not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Mary229 Posted January 7, 2020 #10 Share Posted January 7, 2020 One thing to consider is the largest HAL ship is dwarfed by most of the ships on the cruise lines you mentioned. I sailed a full capacity Koningsdam last spring. The only time we encountered issues was reboarding the ship at Half Moon Cay and dinner. We didn’t have a set dining time. If I were to go again I would be sure to have fixed dining Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now