Neptune upgrade!

[threebluestars]

Just got invited for a upgrade and decided to go for a Neptune Suite. I'm a casual cruiser, never done anything more than a verandah, so this will be crazy. But my mom didn't get to celebrate her 70th last year so this will be fun!

 

Since I've never been in a Neptune, what can I expect, besides a nice, huge balcony? Any tips or tricks? Will our boarding time change?

[*Miss G*]

I love that you are excited.  Congratulations!  Off the top of my head (and apologies if somebody already mentions some of these before I finish my post):

 

• >> You can check in anytime you like.  If the terminal staff don’t recognize you are a suite passenger, point it out so you can be directed to the proper line and embarkation room.  You will be among the first to board.  Snacks will be available.
• >> There will be bottled water and champagne in your room.  The water will be replaced when empty.
• >> Attend the suite reception in the lounge on the first evening.  It is a good opportunity to meet your concierges and fellow passengers.  Feel free to ask any questions you like.  All are helpful.
• >> Your Neptune Lounge Concierges are worth their weight in gold.  If you run into a road block, they are the ones who can remove it.
•  >> You can request afternoon tea or hors d’oeuvres to your room.

 

I know there are many things I have missed but others will be along to add more.  Enjoy your cruise!  Are you telling your Mom or will it be a surprise?  (I vote surprise.)

Edited August 23, 2022 by *Miss G*

[ilv4cruising]

We have done a few Neptune Suites in the past (always to celebrate a specific milestone).  Other than a much larger cabin and balcony here are some additional perks:

 

NOTE:  our experience in the Neptune is based on pre-Covid times.  We have no idea if anything has changed so hopefully someone will respond who has done the Neptune recently.

 

1. Neptune Lounge - you can get different coffees (including cappuccino's), teas and in the morning a continental breakfast and in the afternoon a "mini-tea" with cookies, sandwiches and various pastries.  NOTE: if you know early enough you can also arrange for a nice assortment to be brought to your suite in the afternoon to enjoy.
2. Neptune Lounge can also be a great place to mingle with fellow passengers without the crowds.
3. Neptune Lounge concierge - These are wonderful and always extremely helpful people.  You can have them make your dining reservations, book ship excursions, make spa appointments, get cash etc.  Also, if you have any issues with something on your cruise bring it to the attention of the concierge as soon as possible.  They can be miracle workers.  If they aren't working there is a special phone line for them as well.
4. There is usually a special Officer and Captain cocktail reception for Neptune Suite passengers
5. If you want to make a reservation for a future cruise, the onboard agent usually has some special times set up in the Lounge for Suite passengers

 

I hope you enjoy the suite and it is a great treat.  Your mom should love it.

Edited August 23, 2022 by ilv4cruising

[ilv4cruising]

I should have asked you where are you going on this trip?  I believe the suites also have umbrellas and binoculars (if memory serves 🙂 )

[threebluestars]

It's Alaska roundtrip from Vancouver. My mom already knows about the suite, but I'm thinking of getting some kind of treat delivered for her on embarkation day, like chocolate dipped strawberries or something.

[crystalspin]

29 minutes ago, threebluestars said:

It's Alaska roundtrip from Vancouver. My mom already knows about the suite, but I'm thinking of getting some kind of treat delivered for her on embarkation day, like chocolate dipped strawberries or something.

The flower arrangements are said to be long-lasting.

[*Miss G*]

Laundry!  I forgot about the included laundry, pressing, & dry cleaning!  Here is a complete list of amenities from HAL’s Suites Page.

 

[kazu]

1 hour ago, threebluestars said:

It's Alaska roundtrip from Vancouver. My mom already knows about the suite, but I'm thinking of getting some kind of treat delivered for her on embarkation day, like chocolate dipped strawberries or something.

 

Don’t get the chocolate covered strawberries - get something else.  they aren’t that great IMO.  Lots of room for flowers in that cabin and they are done well.  she will just be thrilled with this and being on the cruise, I’m sure 👍 

[GrammieK]

Don’t know if it’s still possible, but pre Covid we had afternoon tea served in our Neptune suite. 

[LewiLewi]

1 hour ago, GrammieK said:

Don’t know if it’s still possible, but pre Covid we had afternoon tea served in our Neptune suite. 

We had afternoon tea served every afternoon in our Neptune Suite. It was a British tea with sandwiches, scones and wonderful desserts. This was just 3 months ago, so, yes, they are still doing it. The Neptune Lounge concierge will arrange this for you.

[1ANGELCAT]

Congratulations.. Breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill. Love the mimosas.🍾🎉

[Trapper44]

I was just about to post that on non Pinnacle class ships you can have breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill. On the three Pinnacle class ships you will have breakfast in the Orange Dining Room.

 

 

[kdakda]

5 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

• >> There will be bottled water and champagne in your room.  The water will be replaced when empty.
•  

Hmmmm.....   never had any water replaced and would have loved that (last cruise was January, just before COVID).   The Suite concierge substituted additional water for the champagne we traded in.  

The little snacks available in the lounge were so convenient and tasty ---- especially the macarons.  

And Holland America does such an EXCEPTIONAL job on laundry, which will be complimentary.   We send laundry out daily and pack much less.  

We're "balcony people", so really loved the big balcony, with large table and chairs.   It was so nice to eat out there when we ordered room service, or dinner delivered to the room.  

There was a post last week that one of the ships was piloting a new perk of including complimentary soda (and some alcohol drinks) in the Neptune Lounge.   I'd really love to see that.  I plan to take advantage of the special coffee in the lounge on our next cruise.  

You might enjoy the complimentary mimosas at breakfast.  

[mrspeck]

See you on board!  I also upgraded my in-laws yesterday to a Neptune next door to us!  They were in a balcony that I had added club orange to, so it was only $250 total to move to a Neptune, couldn’t pass it up!  Sounds like they are at the 70% capacity level now.  When I was on the phone with ship inventory they said they could only sell one more cabin before hitting capacity. Enjoy!

[threebluestars]

My mom has celiac and has to eat gluten free - do you think they'd be able to accommodate that for things like afternoon tea in the room or snacks in the Neptune Lounge?

[REOVA]

42 minutes ago, threebluestars said:

My mom has celiac and has to eat gluten free - do you think they'd be able to accommodate that for things like afternoon tea in the room or snacks in the Neptune Lounge?

You should make that request now on the website so they will be ready and remind the concierge when onboard .

[threebluestars]

We did call after we initially booked to let them know, so hopefully it will be passed on. Where on the site can I check that?

[ilv4cruising]

15 hours ago, threebluestars said:

It's Alaska roundtrip from Vancouver. My mom already knows about the suite, but I'm thinking of getting some kind of treat delivered for her on embarkation day, like chocolate dipped strawberries or something.

Hi,

 

You should be getting a flower arrangement in the suite.  Unless there is something really special for your mom I'm not sure I would order more flowers (but that is me 🙂 ).  I know another poster said they weren't impressed with the chocolate dipped strawberries.  I'm a huge strawberry person.  Sometimes they aren't as fresh so that can make a difference.  My understanding is July can be strawberry season in Vancouver and August for Alaska.  So I would assume (or hope) that the ship will have fresh ones. 

 

For me a glass of sparkling wine (or champagne) with some chocolate dipped strawberries would be lovely.

 

NOTE: if you do order them and aren't impressed, I would go to the concierge and let them know how disappointed you were with them and wished you had ordered something else.  In the past they would usually do something special for you. 

[ilv4cruising]

7 hours ago, threebluestars said:

We did call after we initially booked to let them know, so hopefully it will be passed on. Where on the site can I check that?

I'm not sure you can check that online (although I've never looked for it either 🙂 ).  Who did you call to mention it?  Was it Ship Services?  If not, that is who I would phone. 

 

Also, as a fyi, my husband lives with chronic back and leg pain.  He finds the mattresses a little too hard for him so we always pre-arrange HAL to add the foam topper to the bed.  Sometimes they forget but the cabin crew will always do it quickly for us (or if we are in a Neptune suite the concierge will quickly arrange it for us) .  So if you or your mom find the bed uncomfortable remember that as an option 🙂 .

Edited August 24, 2022 by ilv4cruising

[pghflyer]

How are folks getting upgrade offers (ex. phone, email)? I am new to HAL and have used the cruise line emails for bidding from NCL/RCL but how does it work here? We booked through an agent and have a balcony for Australia on Noordam........just wondering if I need to whitelist something other than hollandamerica.com in my junk mail ha ha

[*Miss G*]

15 minutes ago, pghflyer said:

How are folks getting upgrade offers (ex. phone, email)? I am new to HAL and have used the cruise line emails for bidding from NCL/RCL but how does it work here? We booked through an agent and have a balcony for Australia on Noordam........just wondering if I need to whitelist something other than hollandamerica.com in my junk mail ha ha

 

If you booked directly with HAL (general reservations or with a HAL Personal Cruise Consultant (PCC)) you will start receiving email paid upgrade offers about two weeks from sailing.  Mine normally come about a week before but the last one came 12 days out.

 

If you booked through a non-HAL travel agent then the offer goes to them.  In my experience, they never forward them on.  As well, if the offers are funneled through your TA, there will be a lag time which is detrimental to the process since you need to call right away or they’ll be gone.

[glutenhab]

21 minutes ago, pghflyer said:

How are folks getting upgrade offers (ex. phone, email)? I am new to HAL and have used the cruise line emails for bidding from NCL/RCL but how does it work here? We booked through an agent and have a balcony for Australia on Noordam........just wondering if I need to whitelist something other than hollandamerica.com in my junk mail ha ha

We will be 4 star after our next cruise in October & have NEVER received an offer for an upgrade, paid or otherwise. We have booked multiple different ways over the years (trough HAL, on-line travel agents etc.). What’s up with that?

[pghflyer]

Thank you @*Miss G* exactly what I feared ha ha but good to know!!

 

All the cruise lines have different problems with these upgrade programs but directly emailing the passengers seems obviously superior (I get RCL/ NCL emails directly regardless of who I book with, as long as the agency hasn't requested to NOT participate...cough..coustco...cough)

[threebluestars]

We booked directly with the site - they sent an email yesterday, I thought it was another check in time change or something and was surprised it was an invite to upgrade. We never got one on our last cruise.

 

The weird thing is our cruise is showed as sold out yesterday - today it doesn't but you can't try and book anything because it says it has no rooms lol.

[oakridger]

8 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

If you booked through a non-HAL travel agent then the offer goes to them.  In my experience, they never forward them on.  As well, if the offers are funneled through your TA, there will be a lag time which is detrimental to the process since you need to call right away or they’ll be gone.

 

I book through a TA and if she didn't let me know about an upgrade offer ASAP, I would get another TA!!

 

Fortunately, mine knows what I may or may not be interested in as far as upgrades, but she still has let me know when one comes in even though I had told her I didn't want to upgrade.  Who knows, I may change my decision on a whim at the last minute, so I appreciate the heads up anyway!

 

~Nancy