There was an interesting exploration of this topic in Robert Forward's "Dragon's Egg", which envisioned a manned visit to the orbit of a neutron star. In this scenario, the crew was kept in nearly-centralized spheres filled with water and kept in the center of their pods by piezo-electric waves compensating for the high forces. This was only for transition from extremely high orbit to a lower parking orbit, centered between 6 fast-spinning "compensator masses" that theoretically prevented them from being torn apart by the tidal forces of the star. Quite a fascinating read. I have no idea how good any of the science is, but still entertaining. It's sequel, Starquake, continues the story.