![]() ![]() These suite guests have their own beach club and pool, lounge and restaurant, and private elevator. The one I saw had two bedrooms, two real bathrooms (one with ocean views) and a stylish Asian-influenced décor in burgundy and sand. But the 60 courtyard suites and villas on Decks 16 and 17 are an exception. ![]() “Elegance” is not a word I’d associate with the Epic’s ambience. There are no assigned mealtimes, no luck-of-the-draw cruise-long dinner partners. “Freestyle cruising” - a big selling point for NCL - largely means partaking on your own schedule, whether that’s drinking at any of Epic’s 20 bars and lounges or choosing among its 21 dining options, including pizza delivered anywhere onboard 24 hours a day ($5). Weren’t the staterooms just a bit too cozy for two? Tim, a former Navy man, laughed. The cabins attract couples such as Tim and Cheryl Timmons of Woodbridge, Va., who shared one studio and booked another for their 18-year-old daughter and her friend. The solo traveler complex is not intended to be afloat. He arranged for us to have dinner on the house one night at an alternative restaurant. Another frequent visitor was fleet hotel director Klaus Lugmaier, who seemed to be everywhere at once, taking notes about malfunctioning TVs or safes, seeing that they were fixed, using his influence to book group dinner reservations for us when we couldn’t get them. Trygve Vorren, a single himself, visited us twice in our lounge. “I can’t believe how we’re being treated,” said Geipert, not like “some poor rejects who can’t find anyone to go on a cruise with them.” We were guinea pigs, albeit very pampered guinea pigs. We came from different states and different backgrounds but had one thing in common: We signed on because of the studios. But our core group ranged from 40 to 86 years old, women outnumbering men 2 to 1. I had envisioned a young crowd of studio dwellers and figured I would be the housemother. Only a line buried in the daily onboard calendar mentioned this get-together. (But because the keycard system that blocks the lounge from the rest of the ship wasn’t yet in place, people felt free to come in and snack and leave or use the space as a shortcut.)Ībout two-thirds of the studios were sold on this trip, but only about a dozen of us met each evening for drinks in the lounge. Wainscott, an insurance professional from Winston-Salem, N.C., liked having other solo travelers to hang out with and liked the concept of the Studio Lounge. “I don’t enjoy the wild singles scene,” said Peter Balmain, a retired nuclear engineer from Austin, Texas. The solos I met, who chose this ship not for the destination but for the single accommodations, gave the studios a thumbs up. Ultimately, though, these were minor annoyances. Turns out it was the trash can, and her cabin steward disposed of all her makeup. Susan Wainscott thought the nice metal-lined drawer to the left of the sink was ideal for her cosmetics. Little buttons with emblems (a half-moon, a heart, etc.) could be pressed to create mood lighting - just what’s needed in a solo cabin, said Ginger Moore of Panama City, Fla.Īlas, no one pointed out the room features. The lighting was unduly complicated and dim. All are inside, with a big round window that looks onto a corridor (but can be closed off for privacy). ![]() The studios are cute, with a padded white vinyl headboard wrapping around two of the white walls, a purple duvet cover, and green and purple pillows. At the other end of the stateroom were a vanity with a too-small, too-shallow sink, an enclosed toilet module and an all-glass separate shower, with a strategically placed band of frosted obfuscation. The bed, two twins made up as one, was pushed against one wall, leaving a narrow path to access a tiny desk with a flat-screen TV above it and two small closets. But they are marvels of engineering, with more storage space than I could fill. They are 100 square feet, about 30 square feet less than a standard inside cabin on this ship. Stepping into one of the studios was a small shock. ![]() NCL may not benefit, but budget-minded consumers may. Chief Executive Kevin Sheehan, who was onboard for our cruise, estimated that the Epic’s profit would dip as much as $5 million in its first year of operation because of the loss of half the revenue from the studios. One person occupying a double inside stateroom paid $2,037-$2,398. The fares for studios on this trip were $1,271-$1,409. NCL is making news in an industry in which solo travelers traditionally pay a steep supplement or take a (sometimes unwanted) roommate. ![]()
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