Eurodam Signature Suite vs. Neptune Suite

Hello, First let me thank everyone who has posted so much information on this board that almost every question I have I have been able to find an answer for in an existing thread.

I am ready to book a 7 day cruise to Alaska for DH, myself and our 2 young adult daughters for next September. We need to decide between 4 of us sharing a NS, or DH & I in SS & the "kids" in an inside cabin.

Are SS balconies generally large enough for 4 adults to hang out on?

We would love the roominess and perks of the NS but are concerned about sleeping comfort on the sofa bed.

The SS balconies are 13.5 ft by 6 ft, which IMO is plenty roomy enough for 4, but you won't have 4 chairs. Two would have to make do with sitting on a footstool or desk chair. Still I think you would all be more comfortable with two rooms and two bathrooms and two TVs, and possibly different sleeping hours, etc.

Hello, First let me thank everyone who has posted so much information on this board that almost every question I have I have been able to find an answer for in an existing thread.

I am ready to book a 7 day cruise to Alaska for DH, myself and our 2 young adult daughters for next September. We need to decide between 4 of us sharing a NS, or DH & I in SS & the "kids" in an inside cabin.

Are SS balconies generally large enough for 4 adults to hang out on?

We would love the roominess and perks of the NS but are concerned about sleeping comfort on the sofa bed.

The SS's are very nice and the balcony is 15' Wide. IMO, plenty of room for your family of 4! The Neptunes are 5' wider. If you go on Halfacts.com, you can see the difference in the balcony size. We would go with an SS and have the "kids" across the Hall in an Inside unless you really want the NS perks! This way, too, they would have their own bathroom as well as you and your Husband.

If the room is designated for more than 2 ppl, you may have an extra chair already on it. They used to have the "Bistro" Table with 2 chairs plus two other chairs on the balcony. Since the remodel of some Ships they eliminated the two chairs for the Bistro Table for the SY/SS (at least on Oostie they did). We have asked for an extra chair for my DD who sometimes will Cruise with us and they have gotten us one.

Good Luck on your decision! :)

Insides are 9 feet wide, SS are 13.5 feet wide, and NS are 18 feet wide, so you will have more total space with two rooms - and better beds for the two in the "sleeper" Inside.

OP-have your daughters ever been in a Neptune Suite? Our very first cruise we took our

two adult children on the Ryndam to Alaska and booked a Neptune suite. I told them we might have a window if we were lucky wanting to keep it a surprise.

Honestly, their mouths dropped as we walked into our suite. We are a close family and had no issues with one bathroom at all. The perks of using the Neptune lounge were very handy for our "kids". They got to have breakfast in the Pinnacle, enjoy the Neptune lounge, have a huge suite that we enjoyed having afternoon tea and snacks delivered one day, the huge balcony when they got tired of being on deck where we all could fit and listen to the calving of the glacier.

It worked out wonderful for our family and is a a memory I still cherish.

Just be careful. Some of the SS balconies on Deck 6 aren't as deep as the ones on Deck 8. We happened to notice that when visiting some CC friends' room a few years ago. (Actually, my wife noticed it. I, apparently, am lacking in observational skills.) You can't really tell from the deck plans.

If you do 4-to-a-room, it might be helpful to make use of the spa showers and bathrooms too. I believe that they are always available. m--

I love Neptune Suites and there is plenty of space but..

If the cost is the same, I'd be tempted to do the Signature and inside (who knows maybe you will be upgraded or upsold ;) )

why? Everyone needs their space and one bathroom for four people can be tough.

the Signature suites are a good deal IMO (we often book them on ships that offer them) and the other 2 can easily join you on the balcony or in the cabin.

And everyone has their space and privacy when needed.

JMO.

OP-have your daughters ever been in a Neptune Suite? Our very first cruise we took our

two adult children on the Ryndam to Alaska and booked a Neptune suite. I told them we might have a window if we were lucky wanting to keep it a surprise.

 

Honestly, their mouths dropped as we walked into our suite. We are a close family and had no issues with one bathroom at all. The perks of using the Neptune lounge were very handy for our "kids". They got to have breakfast in the Pinnacle, enjoy the Neptune lounge, have a huge suite that we enjoyed having afternoon tea and snacks delivered one day, the huge balcony when they got tired of being on deck where we all could fit and listen to the calving of the glacier.

 

It worked out wonderful for our family and is a a memory I still cherish.

This will be our first cruise, and that scenario is what is making us consider the NS. Sitting on the balcony seeing the sights comfortably. Such a difficult decision.

Just be careful. Some of the SS balconies on Deck 6 aren't as deep as the ones on Deck 8. We happened to notice that when visiting some CC friends' room a few years ago. (Actually, my wife noticed it. I, apparently, am lacking in observational skills.) You can't really tell from the deck plans.

I don't see any SS on 8?

This will be our first cruise, and that scenario is what is making us consider the NS. Sitting on the balcony seeing the sights comfortably. Such a difficult decision.

Can you watch for a special where the 3rd & 4th passenger is cheaper when sharing the cabin? That would certainly help.

It was priceless seeing the expressions on our kids faces. For our family it was a special occasion so we did our first cruise together and picked the Neptune suite and it was worth it to us. You have to think about if the four of you could manage with one bathroom but honestly, it was no problem for us at all.

The balcony alone was huge and we really enjoyed bringing snacks & hot chocolate back from the Neptune lounge to enjoy it-some days wrapped in blankets & winter coats!

Good luck on your decision. Whatever you decide will work out just fine and create great memories as a family.

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Can you watch for a special where the 3rd & 4th passenger is cheaper when sharing the cabin? That would certainly help.

 

 

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Yes, that is the special right now, making NS $500 cheaper than SS plus inside (but with NS 3rd &4th passengers don't get the drink package included so that evens it out somewhat).

I am sure we would have fun together even if we all squeezed into the smallest cabin, but we are able to spend time together so infrequently we want to maximize our together time.

The SS balconies are 13.5 ft by 6 ft, which IMO is plenty roomy enough for 4, but you won't have 4 chairs. Two would have to make do with sitting on a footstool or desk chair. Still I think you would all be more comfortable with two rooms and two bathrooms and two TVs, and possibly different sleeping hours, etc.

Thanks I am making a chalk outline of this on our patio to think about it. I may be over thinking this, but I am the vacation over-planner.

Just be careful. Some of the SS balconies on Deck 6 aren't as deep as the ones on Deck 8.

I was in cabin 5591 on Eurodam in March and was very disappointed in the balcony. It wasn't deep at all, if I wanted to sit on the chair and stretch my legs, I would have had to do it sideways. The cabin was really nice, but we rarely used the balcony both because of the depth and also the view wasn't that great (we had a view of a lifeboat and post). I had booked an SZ guarantee and this was an SS.

We wanted our grown daughters to see Alaska and HAL had a 3rd/4th guest free special so we booked a NS. The girls enjoyed the Neptune Lounge and the overall size of our cabin and balcony but they hated sleeping on the sofa sleeper. We decided never to do that again.

A couple of years ago we were lucky enough to be doing a Christmas sailing where we had reserved two veranda cabins and found out when boarding that both cabins were upgraded to NS. Woo!Hoo!

My husband and I sometimes do Signature Suites when it's just the two of us. He's not really into the Neptune Lounge and we get some perks for being 4 star so signature gives us just enough extra room. We booked an SY on Koningsdam last year and that was a cabin we didn't care for very much. It was totally forward which normally doesn't bother us but the seas were rough; sometimes we couldn't even open our balcony door. And there are some restrictions on lights on the balcony and having your draperies open because you are in front of the bridge (outside lights on the balcony are actually controlled by the bridge.)

St. Louis Sal

ps-a little off topic but one of the things that disappoints me about the Pinnacle Suites (which I had a chance to visit on one of my cruises) is that they didn't do a two bedroom. It's a lovely space for four people but two of them are still sleeping on a sofa sleeper!

Thank you to everyone who replied. Despite my dire warnings about the comfort of the sofa bed, the family voted for NS. My daughters' responses were that they sleep on the ground frequently while camping so a sofa bed doesn't scare them (unlike me I guess they have never tried to sleep on a bad sofa bed). They cannot say they were not warned.

Thank you to everyone who replied. Despite my dire warnings about the comfort of the sofa bed, the family voted for NS. My daughters' responses were that they sleep on the ground frequently while camping so a sofa bed doesn't scare them (unlike me I guess they have never tried to sleep on a bad sofa bed). They cannot say they were not warned.

You know, our kids were the same-used to camping, sleeping on a boat, bunk beds at the cabin-they didn't care! One tip-if the sofa bed isn't comfortable ask for one of the toppers to be put on which might help.

I think that it will be a lot of fun for all 4 of you being able to use the Neptune lounge, have the relaxing breakfast in the Pinnacle, and of course the large balcony. Hope you all have a blast! Now the waiting....

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That’s the right choice , IMHO. We always book an aft Neptune Suite due to the size of the veranda. The room is slightly smaller but that balcony makes up for it. The motion is also a little different. All locations come with pros and cons. Some folks hate aft cabins. We love them. Go figure. Have a great cruise!

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Thank you to everyone who replied. Despite my dire warnings about the comfort of the sofa bed, the family voted for NS. My daughters' responses were that they sleep on the ground frequently while camping so a sofa bed doesn't scare them (unlike me I guess they have never tried to sleep on a bad sofa bed). They cannot say they were not warned.

It's like when we were in Hawaii on a cruise with our kids and I had cars rented in each port. I was able to get a Ford Mustang convertible for a small increase over what I was going to pay for a Toyota Corolla and was concerned that my kids would be squished in the back seat but they had no problem with it. The benefits of driving around the island in a convertible far outweighed any discomfort.

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One other thing you might want to be aware of. We had a signature suite on the Westerdam on Deck 8. We were under the Lido buffet and every evening around midnight there was quite a bit of noise from carts rolling overhead and other loud noises.

Hello, First let me thank everyone who has posted so much information on this board that almost every question I have I have been able to find an answer for in an existing thread.

I am ready to book a 7 day cruise to Alaska for DH, myself and our 2 young adult daughters for next September. We need to decide between 4 of us sharing a NS, or DH & I in SS & the "kids" in an inside cabin.

Are SS balconies generally large enough for 4 adults to hang out on?

We would love the roominess and perks of the NS but are concerned about sleeping comfort on the sofa bed.

Just returned from an Alaska cruise and our adult daughter came along. We were in a Neptune Suite and absolutely no problem with the 3of us in the same room, personally, I think 4would of been pushing it. As for the balcony, it’s Alaska, very little time was spent on it. We used it for Hubbard Glacier and to see the Northern Lights one night, nothing like when sailing in warm weather.

You know, our kids were the same-used to camping, sleeping on a boat, bunk beds at the cabin-they didn't care! One tip-if the sofa bed isn't comfortable ask for one of the toppers to be put on which might help.

 

I think that it will be a lot of fun for all 4 of you being able to use the Neptune lounge, have the relaxing breakfast in the Pinnacle, and of course the large balcony. Hope you all have a blast! Now the waiting...

Only 11 months to lose 10 pounds so we can go nuts.

There will be drinking and games and hilarity and bickering :)

Thank you to everyone who replied. Despite my dire warnings about the comfort of the sofa bed, the family voted for NS. My daughters' responses were that they sleep on the ground frequently while camping so a sofa bed doesn't scare them (unlike me I guess they have never tried to sleep on a bad sofa bed). They cannot say they were not warned.

Well since you've chosen the NS here are a few pointers and tips. Your room steward will make up the sofa bed each night and put it all away in the morning. Nice! One of your suite perks is tea in the afternoon delivered to your suite (although the lovely snacks in the Neptune Lounge are delicious and not that far away) but it is still fun and worth doing at least once for the heck of it. You can also have appetizers delivered before dinner and you will have a lovely big balcony to sit out and enjoy them on. The Pinnacle Grill is available to you for breakfast each morning, my husband and I love that (our daughters choose to sleep in and have room service or dash to the NL). It's great to have the laundry service. And when you get onboard head to the NL and meet the concierge who will become your best friend, making your entire cruise run beautifully. I do love a NS, have fun!

St. Louis Sal