Nieuw Amsterdam corner aft Neptune???

[cruisin'mama]

We are currently booked on Nieuw Amsterdam for Alaska next June in Neptune Suite 8169. We were hoping for an aft corner on Deck 7 but none were available so we went with one on Deck 8. Now our friends want to join us and want us to be on the same deck, us on one corner and they would take the opposite corner. The only decks with both corners available are 6, 5, and 4. Which one would you choose? Would you definitely stay away from one? Thanks for any input!

[CruiserBruce]

Deck 4 is very frequently recommended here as the biggest balconies on the aft. Deck 5 has amongst the smallest.  Only Dec we haven't experienced is Deck 6, until next month when we will be in a Deck 6 aft corner. 

[IPB4IGO]

We just returned from a cruise on the Nieuw Amsertdam, cabin 6164, the port side aft wrap. The cabin seemed smaller than the only other Neptune Suite we have ever had, but still quite roomy. The part of the deck on the side, parallel with the ship, was too cold and windy while underway on this Alaska cruise, but the rear portion was calm, and when the sun was out it was warm.

Personally, I would stay away from the Deck 8 aft wraps because of noise from deck furniture on the Lido deck being moved in the early morning hours.

[Djptcp]

DH and I had aa corner aft Neptune Suite on the Oosterdam as a  result of a guarantee booking (had to do a guarantee to get the deep casino discount). It was much smaller than the regular Neptune Suites on previous cruises and we disliked it a lot. Same amount of furniture and we were always bumping into something. Also disliked the way aft location and prefer a mid-ship location close to the Neptune Lounge. For us it was the unfortunate location of having to book a guarantee.

[DaveOKC]

2 hours ago, Djptcp said:

DH and I had aa corner aft Neptune Suite on the Oosterdam as a  result of a guarantee booking (had to do a guarantee to get the deep casino discount). It was much smaller than the regular Neptune Suites on previous cruises and we disliked it a lot. Same amount of furniture and we were always bumping into something. Also disliked the way aft location and prefer a mid-ship location close to the Neptune Lounge. For us it was the unfortunate location of having to book a guarantee.

My solution to Neptune guarantees depends on the ship.  If it is one of the smaller ships I will go with it as most of the Neptunes are of similar size and are in decent locations IMO.  Also, there are no Signature Suites on these ships.

 

On the other HAL ships I closely review ALL of the Neptunes and see if I would be OK with any of the Neptunes.  If not, I book a Signature Suite (nice sized cabins IMO) and then closely watch for an upsell offer about 4 weeks prior to sailing.  With an upsell I can usually select my cabin (very often an SA) plus I save some money over booking a Neptune Guranantee.  Given the low occupancy of most sailings, this is a good approach IMO.  Of course, if I get "stuck" with a Signature I am happy with that as they are nice cabins.

 

[jm485]

On 6/11/2022 at 1:20 PM, CruiserBruce said:

Deck 4 is very frequently recommended here as the biggest balconies on the aft. Deck 5 has amongst the smallest.  Only Dec we haven't experienced is Deck 6, until next month when we will be in a Deck 6 aft corner. 

We have a Deck 8 aft wrap on K'dam next month.  Did you find the noise from above to be a problem?  We're morning people to begin with and coming from the East Coast, so I suspect we'll be up early anyway -- but wondering how you found it.  Also, do you recall any issue with smoke from the smoking area above?

 

Thanks!

[CruiserBruce]

22 minutes ago, jm485 said:

We have a Deck 8 aft wrap on K'dam next month.  Did you find the noise from above to be a problem?  We're morning people to begin with and coming from the East Coast, so I suspect we'll be up early anyway -- but wondering how you found it.  Also, do you recall any issue with smoke from the smoking area above?

 

Thanks!

They do some furniture movement for cleaning most mornings. Didn't bother us. But others have mentioned it.

[zgscl]

On 6/12/2022 at 10:35 AM, jm485 said:

We have a Deck 8 aft wrap on K'dam next month.  Did you find the noise from above to be a problem?  We're morning people to begin with and coming from the East Coast, so I suspect we'll be up early anyway -- but wondering how you found it.  Also, do you recall any issue with smoke from the smoking area above?

 

Thanks!

On Kdam deck 4 is the best if you can get it as the balcony is literally double the side (downside is that everyone above you can see). Deck 6 has a weird layout IMO. I have never had a problem with lido noise in any of the aft wraps. Do take a look at all of the decks on halfacts.com as the layout varies widely from one deck to another on the Pinnacle class ships. Both of the K'dam live threads in my signature have pictures (one was deck 7 and the other deck 4). 

[zgscl]

On 6/11/2022 at 9:51 AM, cruisin'mama said:

We are currently booked on Nieuw Amsterdam for Alaska next June in Neptune Suite 8169. We were hoping for an aft corner on Deck 7 but none were available so we went with one on Deck 8. Now our friends want to join us and want us to be on the same deck, us on one corner and they would take the opposite corner. The only decks with both corners available are 6, 5, and 4. Which one would you choose? Would you definitely stay away from one? Thanks for any input!

I personally prefer deck 8 on the Signature class ships because it is the most shaded. All of the decks below stick out and will have more sun on the aft portion as well as the ability of people above you to see down onto at least some portion of the balcony (though possibly just if you are at the railing looking out). Deck 4 might be larger but I am not sure on the NA/Edam, I know it is larger on the Vista class and significantly larger on the Pinnacle class. 

 

If you are frequent Neptune lounge users I would go with 6 so you can just run up or down the stairs if you want. I have found that being farther away I do use the lounge a lot less and will complete a lot of my transactions by phone or maybe stop by a couple times on the cruise to take care of whatever I need to. We used to get a room right across the hall and we would spend a lot of time in the lounge, but I have found the aft wraps to be well worth the extra walk/reduced lounge usage and slightly smaller cabin size.