Holland America Line: Choose Your Own Stateroom Or Roll The Dice?

[MadamedelaMer]

Hello HAL travelers--Husband and I are considering an Alaska cruise (Seattle-Seattle) on HAL and are a bit stumped over the more expensive 'choose your own' stateroom option.

 

Aside from being able to choose a stateroom away from the elevator, I don't necessarily see any other significant advantages to paying the upcharge but perhaps I am mistaken? It is impossible to tell which staterooms are adjoining (another thing I'd want to avoid) or which are across from crew areas (which I prefer to avoid after experiences in the past on other cruise lines with constantly opening and closing of service doors at all hours of the day and night).

 

I'm a bit baffled as to whether it is worth the extra approx $1,400 for the opportunity to choose our own Neptune Suite stateroom. And frankly as a frequent Cunard traveler I was surprised to see that there's an upcharge for this on HAL, which is something I've never encountered previously.

 

Any thoughts would be enormously helpful!

 

Thanks!

 

🙂

 

 

[janmcn]

For a Neptune it would be location. Some don’t want to be 2 decks away from the Lounge. Other than that, not a lot of difference.

[boatmad]

Deck plans show adjoining rooms.  We avoid those after a bad experience.

[MadamedelaMer]

Thank you both for your replies! Re: the deck--it this case it appears there is only deck 7, midship rooms available (it's for a relatively soon cruise). Unless they are only showing the 'choice' rooms that are available. 

[CruiserBruce]

26 minutes ago, janmcn said:

For a Neptune it would be location. Some don’t want to be 2 decks away from the Lounge. Other than that, not a lot of difference.

That would depend on the ship. Zaandam and Volendam's Neptunes are all on the same deck.

[CruiserBruce]

1 minute ago, MadamedelaMer said:

Thank you both for your replies! Re: the deck--it this case it appears there is only deck 7, midship rooms available (it's for a relatively soon cruise). Unless they are only showing the 'choice' rooms that are available. 

You can't really tell what is available, only what is unassigned, because you can't see the guarantee bookings, which is what you are buying when you let them pick your cabin. We have done that 4 cruises in a row ( two sailed, two coming up) with no issues.

[ExpatBride]

I generally roll the dice and book a guarantee. It's only bit me in the 🍑 once on Zuiderdam when they stuck me next to the elevator and I had to listen to the constant dinging into the night and early morning. Other than that, I like to walk so I don't mind being far away from things and I don't notice a difference in motion whether I'm up, down, forward, or aft. It's worth the cost savings to me to take my chances.

[Florida_gal_50]

I notice lately hal seems to be charging a good chunk of money extra to pick your room (in the cruises I've looked at).  It didn't used to be that way.  Its a way to make extra $ I guess.

[cruisemom42]

The key is to "know thyself".  Some people are zealots about their rooms -- only want particular cabins on specific floors and often book well in advance to get them.

 

Personally, I spend little time in my cabin and I am a sound sleeper. Location doesn't matter that much to me. I'm happy enough to let the line pick my cabin if it's a substantial savings. 

 

I even turned down two very good upsell offers on most recent cruise -- it's just not worth it to me. More than happy with an OV cabin or even an Inside one...

 

[57redbird]

53 minutes ago, MadamedelaMer said:

Thank you both for your replies! Re: the deck--it this case it appears there is only deck 7, midship rooms available (it's for a relatively soon cruise). Unless they are only showing the 'choice' rooms that are available. 

Don't know what ship you're looking at but 7085 on the Koningsdam was in the perfect location for us....steps to the Neptune Lounge & steps the other way to the elevators & stairs.

[cbr663]

I agree with @cruisemom42 - the key is to know thyself.

 

When we first started cruising we rolled the dice on guarantee cabins and upgrades.  It worked well until it didn't and we ended up in one of the forward cabins with the steel balconies.  The movement of the ship quite noticeable that far forward and since then we have booked our own cabin and noted no upgrades on our bookings.

 

Take a really good hard look at the ship's deck plan.  Understand what category your preferred stateroom type is and then compare.  A Neptune Suite, for instance, is typically SA, SB, SC, and SQ.  Reviewing all the deck plans can show that there may be some of these cabins that are in locations you never thought.  For instance, on the Rotterdam there are Neptune Suites at the very forward of the ship on Decks 10 & 11.

[Susanmaz]

We always choose our cabin. I like Deck 7 aft, accessible to Lido deck and MDR deck.

[scooter6139]

we are rolling the dice for the first time on our Alaska cruise.  Booked SC Guarantee, likely get an SA as those are the only ones left.   So we saved well over $1k ($2k+ if booked today)

[kazu]

All good advice being posted here. Did a guarantee once (for an NS ironically) and got a nice SA - but it was a connecting room and i don’t know what the people next door were doing but three times a night we heard the sound.

 

I’m fussy and I know it.  I don’t want another connecting cabin and have had my TA pull cabins out of inventory for the 2 segments when I am on a Collectors.  Some cabins have a nicer location than others IMO.

 

For 2024, first time I am doing an aft cabin with the wake view.  None of them were available on the collectors - so yes, for me, I want to choose.

Others are happy to see what they end up with.  Each to their own.  As long as YOU are happy, that’s what counts.

[FlorenceItaly]

I have done guarantees multiple times.  With this said, with guarantees I always say you have to be willing to accept the worst stateroom on the ship.  If you can accept this then guarantees are for you.  If not, then maybe guarantees are not for you.

[DaveOKC]

We have done guarantees on Neptunes several times this past year or two.  Generally they have worked out fine, but the last time our assignment was not that great.  

A couple of points - now that the ships are sailing closer to full, getting a good assignment on a Neptune is harder.  HAL uses the Upsell offer to fill these cabins and thus by the time the assignment process happens, the pickens are slim (upsells get to pick first).

Second, the Neptune options vary by ship.  For example, on an upcoming Volendam cruise we selected a guarantee as we felt that all the Neptunes are pretty much located together, thus not a big difference.  On other ships, some Neptunes can be far forward with small balconies, others can be right by the outside elevators, and others have limitations that we do not like, so we really try to avoid guarantees on those ship.

 

[oakridger]

Welcome to Cruise Critic @MadamedelaMer!   I have very specific criteria for the location I want so always choose my own.  The only time I did a guarantee on HAL we actually got a cabin I would have chosen so that worked out well for us but after that I decided to select my own.

 

Depending on the category you are looking at there could be some real "Oh Hell No" cabins for me.  Anything above or below the galleys, music venues or Main Stage would drive me crazy, day or night!! No one would want to be around sleep deprived Nancy!!!  😬

 

As others mentioned, study your deck plans and read cabin reviews.  The website "Cruise Deck Plans" has a couple of tools that are really helpful called Cabin Guru and Cabin Check Tool.  You can overlay decks to easily check what is above or below. I use it often. 

 

Zuiderdam Main Deck Plans (cruisedeckplans.com)

 

Happy cruising,

~Nancy

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by oakridger

[jaywoods678]

2 hours ago, MadamedelaMer said:

Hello HAL travelers--Husband and I are considering an Alaska cruise (Seattle-Seattle) on HAL and are a bit stumped over the more expensive 'choose your own' stateroom option.

 

Aside from being able to choose a stateroom away from the elevator, I don't necessarily see any other significant advantages to paying the upcharge but perhaps I am mistaken? It is impossible to tell which staterooms are adjoining (another thing I'd want to avoid) or which are across from crew areas (which I prefer to avoid after experiences in the past on other cruise lines with constantly opening and closing of service doors at all hours of the day and night).

 

I'm a bit baffled as to whether it is worth the extra approx $1,400 for the opportunity to choose our own Neptune Suite stateroom. And frankly as a frequent Cunard traveler I was surprised to see that there's an upcharge for this on HAL, which is something I've never encountered previously.

 

Any thoughts would be enormously helpful!

 

Thanks!

 

🙂

 

 

Even though we don't book suites, we always choose our own room even if it costs extra to do so. I am prone to motion sickness, and I hate noise. So, for me, I want a room on the ship that is mid-ship and as low as possible (to reduce motion). Also, I always make sure our cabin does NOT have a door to an adjoining room. That increases the noise level. Plus, I'm a bit of a control freak and always prefer knowing what my room number is.

[OHCruiser]

We only take guarantees on free cruises [no, I'm not kidding]. 

 

If I'm paying, I'm picking--but then again, I rarely book anything more than an oceanview cabin anymore, so the upcharge for choosing my own room is in the $100-150 range. 

 

Yes, we've sailed in Neptune Suites, aft balconies, etc.  They're lovely, but we spend so little time in the room that we've decided it's no longer worth it to us--especially if the cruise is port intensive.

 

I can't even imagine paying an additional $1400 to choose a Neptune Suite.  That's absurd.  The whole idea of Neptune Suites is that they're the best rooms in the balcony suite category outside of the Pinnacle.  Ideally, there is no "bad" Neptune Suite, but giving such an option surely makes people think that they have to pay a lot more to get the best of the best. Quite the marketing psyop, in my opinion.

[MadamedelaMer]

Thanks for all the super-helpful replies! I too am rather picky (hate connecting rooms or to be near the elevator in any hotel) so there may be merit in shelling out for the choice option.

 

Oddly, when I look at the current choice options for the Neptune staterooms it only shows midship, 7th deck. Not sure whether that means there are ONLY those rooms left (and so a guarantee option would give us one of those rooms) OR whether it is only showing options for what is considered the 'better' rooms. Argh. I would hate to find that we choose a guarantee and then wind up elsewhere on the ship over the dang theater or some such... 

[MadamedelaMer]

Oh and BTW re: choosing a Neptune suite--it is only because all the lower categories have queen or smaller beds. We have actually nixed other Alaska cruise ideas for this very issue. My husband is 6'5" and I'm 5'10" and we feel like sardines in anything smaller than a king bed. Otherwise I'd be perfectly happy with a smaller room 🙂

[CruiserBruce]

25 minutes ago, MadamedelaMer said:

Thanks for all the super-helpful replies! I too am rather picky (hate connecting rooms or to be near the elevator in any hotel) so there may be merit in shelling out for the choice option.

 

Oddly, when I look at the current choice options for the Neptune staterooms it only shows midship, 7th deck. Not sure whether that means there are ONLY those rooms left (and so a guarantee option would give us one of those rooms) OR whether it is only showing options for what is considered the 'better' rooms. Argh. I would hate to find that we choose a guarantee and then wind up elsewhere on the ship over the dang theater or some such... 

What ship are you looking at? As mentioned above, some ships only have Neptune Suites on one deck. NO Neptune Suite, on any ship is over or under a theater or other main entertainment venue. Yes...some are over dining rooms or under the Lido Deck. You can look at deck plans to see this.

[oaktreerb]

The ship is really important here if you want advice.  The Koningsdam has two NS with extremely small balconies far forward on the ship.  Most NS will be great staterooms but some do have a connecting door to the stateroom next door.  You may also get an aft wrap NS which are highly regarded by some.  In the Alaska market I think the K is the only one with far forward NS’s.  That would keep me from booking a NS guarantee on the K.  On other ships a guarantee might be a good deal.

[highscar]

I have m,y favorite cabin. Had it more then once.  People turn it down but I love it for deck and location.  No, I ain’t gonna tell you where or why.  

[klsd]

4 hours ago, MadamedelaMer said:

 

Aside from being able to choose a stateroom away from the elevator, I don't necessarily see any other significant advantages to paying the upcharge but perhaps I am mistaken?

 

🙂

 

 

On the Volendam I had a cabin at the rear elevator 1917 - perfect and no noise. Volendam is a smaller ship and it was a Grand Voyage probably = older people + longer cruise. I never hear anyone even talking. 

It may be different for larger ships, shorter itineraries that appeal to younger people, and other elevator locations.