Past Carnival Cruiser Looking For An Upgrade

[Mikesa1721]

Hello All! Our family of 4 just returned from a 7 night, Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Valor. For the most part we did enjoy ourselves but were left a bit disappointed with the service and accommodations aboard this ship. We are looking at a 10 night Southern Caribbean cruise from Fort Lauderdale next March, aboard the Noordam and since this will be our first time aboard a Holland America ship we do have a couple of questions.

 

First: How are the kid clubs aboard? Our daughter(13), loved her club on Carnival, I guess that's why we never saw her all cruise long except at dinner time. I want to be sure HAL has a kids club she can be a part of.

 

Lastly: We would like to book a suite on this particular sailing and would like to know if the outlets in the bathrooms can accommodate using a hair dryer and or a hair straightener. The outlets in the bathrooms aboard the Carnival Valor would only accommodate a razor, so you can imagine the frustration of my girlfriend when she was forced to use a magnified make-up mirror in the bedroom to do her hair because these were the only outlets that had enough of power to run her hair dryer.

 

Thank You for all of your replies and or suggestions.

[mollyanne]

Hello All! Our family of 4 just returned from a 7 night, Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Valor. For the most part we did enjoy ourselves but were left a bit disappointed with the service and accommodations aboard this ship. We are looking at a 10 night Southern Caribbean cruise from Fort Lauderdale next March, aboard the Noordam and since this will be our first time aboard a Holland America ship we do have a couple of questions.

 

First: How are the kid clubs aboard? Our daughter(13), loved her club on Carnival, I guess that's why we never saw her all cruise long except at dinner time. I want to be sure HAL has a kids club she can be a part of.

 

Lastly: We would like to book a suite on this particular sailing and would like to know if the outlets in the bathrooms can accommodate using a hair dryer and or a hair straightener. The outlets in the bathrooms aboard the Carnival Valor would only accommodate a razor, so you can imagine the frustration of my girlfriend when she was forced to use a magnified make-up mirror in the bedroom to do her hair because these were the only outlets that had enough of power to run her hair dryer.

 

Thank You for all of your replies and or suggestions.

 

I can't answer your questions on the kids club (our "kid" is 27!) but I can answer the question about the hair dryer.

 

If you book a Neptune Suite it will have a dressing area outside the bathroom with a separate vanity area. A hair dryer will work here. I take a powerful travel-sized one. I expect the straightener has the same type of plug so will also work out fine.

[Mikesa1721]

I can't answer your questions on the kids club (our "kid" is 27!) but I can answer the question about the hair dryer.

 

If you book a Neptune Suite it will have a dressing area outside the bathroom with a separate vanity area. A hair dryer will work here. I take a powerful travel-sized one. I expect the straightener has the same type of plug so will also work out fine.

 

Thank You Molly. We are looking to book a suite so this information is invaluable to us. I truly appreciate the information.

[mollyanne]

My pleasure! The suites on HAL are amazing and you will be forever spoiled!

 

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[AZNative2000]

The Neptune Suite dressing room also has it's own hard-wired hair dryer built in. So, you can save some packing space if you choose. We were in a Neptune Suite last fall aboard Noordam. Click thumbnails for a look at the dressing area outside the huge suite bathroom. The dryer is inside one of the drawers.

 

Enjoy!

[sail7seas]

The dressing rooms in HAL Neptune Suites are one of my favorite parts of being in a Neptune Suite....... One of my favorite parts but certainly not only. ;) All of the dressing tables hae a plug that can be used for hair dryer..... your own or the one supplied by the ship.

 

If you are on a Vista or Signature Class ship, there will be two sinks in the bathroom and a dressing table outside the bathroom with outlet for hair dryer.

 

If you are on an "S" or "R" class ship, the dressing table will have a sink and there will be a single sink in the bathroom. All have combination tub/shower but the Signature and Vista ships have a separate stall shower in addition.

 

The outlet in the bathroom is for shavers only.

 

Edited April 1, 2014 by sail7seas

[DaveOKC]

Hello All! Our family of 4 just returned from a 7 night, Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Valor. For the most part we did enjoy ourselves but were left a bit disappointed with the service and accommodations aboard this ship. We are looking at a 10 night Southern Caribbean cruise from Fort Lauderdale next March, aboard the Noordam and since this will be our first time aboard a Holland America ship we do have a couple of questions.

 

First: How are the kid clubs aboard? Our daughter(13), loved her club on Carnival, I guess that's why we never saw her all cruise long except at dinner time. I want to be sure HAL has a kids club she can be a part of.

 

Lastly: We would like to book a suite on this particular sailing....

 

Thank You for all of your replies and or suggestions.

 

We have done a suite on Carnival and on Holland (HAL). No comparison - HAL is by far the better one - size, services, Neptune Lounge, other perks. On Carnival it was just a sightly larger cabin (still much smaller than HAL's) without any perks.

[Mikesa1721]

Thank you all for the great information and especially the pictures. It's amazing how a 10" make-up mirror can cause so much frustration, especially for a woman trying to do her hair, so the large mirror in the pictures is a welcoming sight.

We will definitely book a Neptune Suite, now to call Holland and get the different categories explained. Thank You all once again!!!

[NYteacher]

My son really enjoys the HAL kids' clubs. He is younger than your daughter (now twelve) but has had fun on five HAL cruises since the age of nine. There are usually far fewer children aboard HAL than Carnival or NCL but he actually prefers the quieter atmosphere. Also, fewer children means less waiting time for popular things like gaming consoles.

[Mikesa1721]

My son really enjoys the HAL kids' clubs. He is younger than your daughter (now twelve) but has had fun on five HAL cruises since the age of nine. There are usually far fewer children aboard HAL than Carnival or NCL but he actually prefers the quieter atmosphere. Also, fewer children means less waiting time for popular things like gaming consoles.

 

That's good to know NY. I just wanted to be sure that there were activities and other kids her age she could interact with. She really enjoyed the club aboard our Carnival cruise so it's important she has something similar to look forward to.

Thank You!

[kelleherdl]

We are booked on the 30 March 2015 Southern Caribbean on the Noordam. This is a nice itinerary. The Noordam was the first HAL ship my wife and I cruised (Alaska). We have 2 Noordam itineraries booked. We always book a Neptune Suite as we love the Neptune Lounge and quite frankly the slightly added attention of suite amenities. I really appreciate breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill. It is much more relaxed in the morning.

 

We will be taking our kids as well. However, they are significantly above the HAL KidsClub stage. Three extra inside cabins for a bunch of 20/30 somethings. That aside HAL KidsClub is fine, but certainly not the level of Carnival activities. This will be an Easter cruise so there may be quite a few families aboard.

 

Dennis

[Mikesa1721]

We are booked on the 30 March 2015 Southern Caribbean on the Noordam. This is a nice itinerary. The Noordam was the first HAL ship my wife and I cruised (Alaska). We have 2 Noordam itineraries booked. We always book a Neptune Suite as we love the Neptune Lounge and quite frankly the slightly added attention of suite amenities. I really appreciate breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill. It is much more relaxed in the morning.

 

We will be taking our kids as well. However, they are significantly above the HAL KidsClub stage. Three extra inside cabins for a bunch of 20/30 somethings. That aside HAL KidsClub is fine, but certainly not the level of Carnival activities. This will be an Easter cruise so there may be quite a few families aboard.

 

Dennis

 

Good information Kelle. I think our daughter enjoyed doing her own thing with the friends she met on board, more so than the group activities. I'm waiting for my cruise consultant to call me back so I can get one of those Neptune Suites booked before they fill up. Nothing cures a cruise hangover like booking another cruise I guess!!

[DaveOKC]

Thank you all for the great information and especially the pictures. It's amazing how a 10" make-up mirror can cause so much frustration, especially for a woman trying to do her hair, so the large mirror in the pictures is a welcoming sight.

We will definitely book a Neptune Suite, now to call Holland and get the different categories explained. Thank You all once again!!!

 

Not sure what you are questioning about the Neptune categories, but I will try to answer.

 

Basically, the Neptune suites are all about the same size (on the same ship). An exception are the aft wrap around cabins (most are now SB) which normally are a bit smaller, but no big deal IMO (plus you get a huge balcony). In most cases, the difference between an SA, SB and SC are the locations. Center ship near the Neptune Lounge are normally all SA.

 

Does this help?

DaveOKC

[Mikesa1721]

Not sure what you are questioning about the Neptune categories, but I will try to answer.

 

Basically, the Neptune suites are all about the same size (on the same ship). An exception are the aft wrap around cabins (most are now SB) which normally are a bit smaller, but no big deal IMO (plus you get a huge balcony). In most cases, the difference between an SA, SB and SC are the locations. Center ship near the Neptune Lounge are normally all SA.

 

Does this help?

DaveOKC

 

Thank You Dave, that explains the categories of the Suites much better. After speaking with Lori at Hal, we decided to go with stateroom 8140 on the Navigation Deck which has the aft wrap balcony you mentioned.