Guarantee Neptune Suite Question

[WaterSky]

We never book guarantee cabins for reasons you have heard many times.   BUT HAL had a special that we couldn't refuse.  To get the special price we have to take a guarantee cabin.  From what I can see there doesn't seem to be physical bad locations such as obstructed views.  Likely we would have to take

a cabin with adjoining doors which we can live with.  What is your opinion regarding poor Neptune locations.  I would appreciate your opinions.

Edited September 25, 2022 by WaterSky
sentence structure

[crystalspin]

Which ship?

[Roz]

I personally don't think there are any bad Neptune locations.  After all, it's a Neptune Suite.  

[CruiserBruce]

Agree with @Roz...I don't think there are any bad Neptune suites. I have to say we haven't stayed in the SCs on the Pinnacle Class, decks 10 and/or 11, at the front of the ship...but I am suspicious of those. The balconies on those look very small, but the cabin overall looks standard Neptune size, maybe even a little bigger. There are no obstructed view Neptunes. I don't recall, in 15 HAL cruises, any Neptune that has a door to an adjoining cabin.

[Roz]

49 minutes ago, WaterSky said:

 Likely we would have to take a cabin with adjoining doors which we can live with.  

 

Why?  Where are seeing Neptunes with adjoining cabins?

Edited September 25, 2022 by Roz

[dixiejen]

Hi WaterSky — I hate to be the bearer of anything negative, but I’m in the same boat and I’m a little distressed after doing some research. I, too, booked a guarantee Neptune — only because, like Roz, I thought surely all the Neptune suites are very comparable.  When I logged into my Manage my Cruise the other day, I noticed it said “Stateroom SC”. No cabin #…just SC.  So I started researching, looking at deck plans, video/pics of an SC cabin, reviews, etc. The results are as follows:

 

SC is on deck 11, at the front. There are only 2 SCs.  First thing I noticed, like CruiserBruce, was that the balcony was basically the same size as the veranda stateroom (half the price of the Neptune!) next door.  From what I found online, in addition to being tiny with room for only 2 small chairs (no loungers or table for 4 as pictured in HALs Neptune description), there is nothing to break the wind, so when the ship is moving, the wind is nearly unbearable. I also learned that, because of its location and shape, there is no powder room as in regular Neptunes, and because the toilet is within the bathroom itself, the shower is smaller than other Neptunes.

 

After scouring the deck plans, it looks to me like, in addition to the 2 SCs on deck 11 (cabins 11005/11006) there are 2 SQs (cabins 10005 and 10006) on deck 10 which appear to be identical to the SCs. So there are apparently 4 Neptunes which are definitely not on par with the SA and SB Neptune suites.  I have to say, I find it a little shady passing off these 4 cabins as the equivalent as the other Neptune suites.

 

I actually posted the same question on one of the first topics under HAL — the “New to HAL/HAL for dummies” topic.  A couple CC members offered me some good advice and I shared what I was told by HAL when I called, if you’d care to read that thread.  I think it starts on page 210.

 

Fingers crossed - Hopefully neither of us will end up in one of those 4 suites, but wanted you to be aware of them. I would have flipped out if I had arrived on board to find that teeny balcony while expecting a legit Neptune suite balcony!!

Good luck!!

 

Jen

[CruiserBruce]

@dixiejen your observations apply only to the Pinnacle class ships. We don't know what ship the OP is on.

[dixiejen]

9 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

your observations apply only to the Pinnacle class ships. We don't know what ship the OP is on.

Oops - I stand corrected! You are so right, CruiserBruce. We are booked on the Koningsdam. I should have clarified that….

[mfanderso]

I was in an aft wrap around Neptune Suite on the Eurodam years ago and there was an adjoining door with the veranda cabin facing the side of the ship.  Not great, but if it was the only Neptune cabin available, I would take it.  In my earlier days of cruising I booked an SC Guarantee because that was all that was available.  We ended up in an SA across the hall from the Neptune Lounge.

[zelker]

Don't forget that the Neptunes on Deck 7 of the few remaining R class ships are directly below the Lido deck so you can definitely get noise from above.  We only book Neptunes on those ships that are directly under Canaletto which provides some amount of buffering but friends who were Port side under the pool area and said never again.

[DaveOKC]

I also dislike booking guarantees, even with Neptunes, as on some ships you can end up with less desirable cabins.

One though - book a Signature cabin (hopefully paying less) and hope for an upsell offer.  That way you can usually pick your Neptune cabin from what is still available.   We like the Signature cabins, so if we do not get an upsell offer we are not too disappointed,

 

[GeezerCouple]

We've only been on one HAL cruise thus far, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was on the Noordam, and we had a Neptune Suite.  Post #6 above suggests that Neptune suites on some ships have a 1.5 bathrooms... is this correct?  If so, which ships?  That would be wonderful for us.

 

Thanks!

 

GC

[KAKcruiser]

I think it's the Koningsdam.

[CruiserBruce]

34 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

We've only been on one HAL cruise thus far, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was on the Noordam, and we had a Neptune Suite.  Post #6 above suggests that Neptune suites on some ships have a 1.5 bathrooms... is this correct?  If so, which ships?  That would be wonderful for us.

 

Thanks!

 

GC

No. Pinnacle Suites have1.5 bathrooms. Neptunes have a single bathroom. 

[REOVA]

29 minutes ago, KAKcruiser said:

I think it's the Koningsdam.

Koningsdam has the commode and a sink in a separate private WC from the full bathroom so its still 1 bathroom but with 3 sinks and allows dual access from hall or bathroom which is nice for guests or family in the room. Similar to the old Prinsendam Neptune suites. For some reason they did not build the NS and Rotterdam with the same design Neptune Suites. 

[GeezerCouple]

23 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

No. Pinnacle Suites have1.5 bathrooms. Neptunes have a single bathroom. 

 

Thanks very much.

 

It was the following part of Post #6

"...because of its location and shape, there is no powder room as in regular Neptunes..."

that was the reason for my question.

 

It would have been very nice if there were indeed some Neptune suites with 1.5 bathrooms on some HAL ships.  (There are aspects of the Pinnacle suites' arrangements that make them something we actually don't want, unfortunately.)

We've had 1.5 bathrooms in suites on some other lines, and it has been a real convenience.

 

So I won't go searching all of the HAL deckplans. 😉

Thanks again!

 

GC

[WaterSky]

I want to thank those who replied to my our post.   I apologize that I neglected to state the the ship

is the MS Oosterdam.  That makes a big difference.   Given the information everyone provided there are a few SC Neptune Suites on Deck 7 and two handicaped suites on deck 6 that I assume would be reserved for those who need them.  So Dixiejen;  you can always be assigned an SA or SB cabin.   Only time will tell!!!

[Oceanwench]

45 minutes ago, WaterSky said:

I want to thank those who replied to my our post.   I apologize that I neglected to state the the ship

is the MS Oosterdam.  That makes a big difference.   Given the information everyone provided there are a few SC Neptune Suites on Deck 7 and two handicaped suites on deck 6 that I assume would be reserved for those who need them.  So Dixiejen;  you can always be assigned an SA or SB cabin.   Only time will tell!!!

 After final payment, HAL will put the accessible suites into the general inventory, so they can be assigned to people with guarantees.
There are difference in these cabins, but I cannot remember them. My late husband and I stayed in accessible suites many years ago. 

[Balliett]

We had an SB guarantee on the Nieuw Amsterdam in Alaska in July.  It was "upgraded" to an SQ, which is at the very front of the ship.  It was a bad suite in that the veranda was tiny.  Otherwise fine, with big front-view windows.  Wife liked it.  I had wanted the SB with a wraparound veranda.  No more Neptune guarantees for me.  

[DaveOKC]

13 hours ago, Balliett said:

We had an SB guarantee on the Nieuw Amsterdam in Alaska in July.  It was "upgraded" to an SQ, which is at the very front of the ship.  It was a bad suite in that the veranda was tiny.  Otherwise fine, with big front-view windows.  Wife liked it.  I had wanted the SB with a wraparound veranda.  No more Neptune guarantees for me.  

Waiting for my assignment on sister ship Eurodam, so hoping NOT to get this cabin.  I also dislike guarantees, but sometimes you cannot avoid them.

 

[Roz]

1 hour ago, DaveOKC said:

Waiting for my assignment on sister ship Eurodam, so hoping NOT to get this cabin.  I also dislike guarantees, but sometimes you cannot avoid them.

 

 

On the Coastal voyages, it's impossible to get anything but a Neptune guarantee.  Just got my assignment (SA) for my upcoming Oct. 2 6-day Coastal on Noordam.  

[DaveOKC]

6 minutes ago, Roz said:

 

On the Coastal voyages, it's impossible to get anything but a Neptune guarantee.  Just got my assignment (SA) for my upcoming Oct. 2 6-day Coastal on Noordam.  

Did you get a well located SA?

 

[GeezerCouple]

16 hours ago, Balliett said:

We had an SB guarantee on the Nieuw Amsterdam in Alaska in July.  It was "upgraded" to an SQ, which is at the very front of the ship.  It was a bad suite in that the veranda was tiny.  Otherwise fine, with big front-view windows.  Wife liked it.  I had wanted the SB with a wraparound veranda.  No more Neptune guarantees for me.  

 

Do you happen to have any photos of the SQ with "big front-view windows"?

We both LOVE forward views, be it a balcony or *large* windows.  (Small windows, not so much.)

 

Some ships seem to have none, others have several...

 

Many thanks!

 

GC

[Roz]

3 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

Did you get a well located SA?

 

 

It's near the Neptune lounge, stairs, and elevators.

[crystalspin]

5 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

Do you happen to have any photos of the SQ with "big front-view windows"?

We both LOVE forward views, be it a balcony or *large* windows.  (Small windows, not so much.)

There are two videos 10005 and 10006 respectively:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYRZ5fUcrM

and 

https://halfacts.com/signature-class/10006-nieuw-amsterdam/