Studios; is the lounge open 24/7?

[caliSue1234]

Thinking of getting a studio cabin.  Can you go sit in the lounge and hang out 24/7?  Or is the door locked sometimes?

Are the snacks/drinks free?  Or do you pay with your seapass card for certain items (coffee).  I saw alcohol bottles on a youtube tour, but I can't imagine they're just free to all studio people (?)

 

[All-ready2cruise]

Interesting questions, I'd like to know the answer as well.  I'm booked in a studio end of June on the Escape. Thanks for asking the questions. 

[dbrown84]

4 minutes ago, caliSue1234 said:

Thinking of getting a studio cabin.  Can you go sit in the lounge and hang out 24/7?  Or is the door locked sometimes?

Are the snacks/drinks free?  Or do you pay with your seapass card for certain items (coffee).  I saw alcohol bottles on a youtube tour, but I can't imagine they're just free to all studio people (?)

 

it is open 24/7.  The snacks are free as well as the coffee and tea.  The alcohol is not free, unless you have the drink package.  and it's only available when there is a bartender there.  Assuming it's a lounge with a bar.  They don't all have a bar.  For the ones with the wine dispenser, you have to always pay for that.  It's not included in the drink package

[hallux]

Yup, a 24/7 venue for those with access.  

[All-ready2cruise]

Yeah, I wondered if that should be made clear, as well.  There was someone asking if they could bring their relatives into the lounge, as well and wondered how many of the passengers would like to take over the studio lounge for some privacy and free beverages.  I guess they'd have the privacy and we'd be stuck in our studio cabins with other's attempting to look in our "windows"? 

I'm afraid it would the one and only time I'd be submitting a complaint if that happened.  

[hallux]

9 minutes ago, All-ready2cruise said:

There was someone asking if they could bring their relatives into the lounge,

Someone on my cruise in March let some family into the Studio area, including a couple KIDS.  A couple people were ready to complain after the second instance.

[All-ready2cruise]

 I guess some just don't understand that there are certain parameters.

[dbrown84]

on my last cruise, the solo lounge was the location for the after, after party.  After the club, and after O'Sheehans 

[Urban trekker]

I will be trying out a studio cabin on my Bliss cruises next March for the first time. I am wondering just how big is the studio lounge and for those of you who have use it just how busy does it get.

Dennis

[LauraAnneC]

I’m just back from the Breakaway. The lounge is always open but one night I was having trouble sleeping and I went to the lounge at around 2 am. The coffee machine was off and the food areas were empty. I was looking to get a warm drink but went back to my cabin empty handed! 

[Portia!]

Hi,

I've experienced the Studio Lounges on Epic, Bliss, Getaway, Escape and Prima.

Bliss Studio Lounge has seating for about 50 (tables and chairs and some bench seating by walls) in a large squarish space. There is decent spacing between the tables. It is generally fairly busy the first day as people are exploring the Studio environment and making new friends. It is very busy (sometimes full and very loud) from 5-6 pm when the solo group meets in the Lounge. Mornings have a steady stream of people getting their morning caffeine dose, but most take it with them. During the day/evening, it is usually not very busy. Often completely empty. Card players sometimes. Studio guests sometimes give tours to family/friends staying outside the Lounge. They may sneak a cappuccino or a snack. Other non-studio guests sometimes take advantage of someone leaving the complex to slip in and hang out. I haven't seen many kids. Most Lounges do not have a bar with bartenders, just a wine machine that is not on the drinks package. However, during the Solo gathering the NCL team member assigned to coordinate activities sometimes requests a bar waiter to take drink orders. There are staff that replenish snacks, keep the Lounge clean and check on the coffee machine throughout the day and into the evening, but not late night. It's all a little different every time, of course, but overall a great amenity for Studio guests.

[www3traveler]

8 hours ago, Urban trekker said:

I will be trying out a studio cabin on my Bliss cruises next March for the first time. I am wondering just how big is the studio lounge and for those of you who have use it just how busy does it get.

Dennis

It is not a very large space.  Except for early mornings and early evenings (if there is a solos gathering is being held) very few people use the lounge.  On my cruises during the day the lounge has been empty or nearly empty.

[Ellis1138]

2 hours ago, LauraAnneC said:

I’m just back from the Breakaway. The lounge is always open but one night I was having trouble sleeping and I went to the lounge at around 2 am. The coffee machine was off and the food areas were empty. I was looking to get a warm drink but went back to my cabin empty handed! 

 

Ugh. I mean it's understandable, but unfortunate. I guess when I go, I'll have to ask what the coffee machine hours are. And hope nobody on my sailing in the Studios does the 'bring all the family and kids into the lounge for a party' thing.

[All-ready2cruise]

3 minutes ago, Ellis1138 said:

'bring all the family and kids into the lounge for a party' thing.

Yea, as far as bring the family and kids, I could always offer to bring my family, 15 Grand kids and 8 adults, that's not too many is it? lol

[hallux]

9 hours ago, Urban trekker said:

I will be trying out a studio cabin on my Bliss cruises next March for the first time. I am wondering just how big is the studio lounge and for those of you who have use it just how busy does it get.

Dennis

Here's a panorama of the lounge on the Escape, it's the same size as on the Bliss.  The Bliss feels a little smaller due to the wood paneling, the white of the Escape makes it feel bigger.  I have a video of climbing the stairs (behind me in this picture) and panning the lounge on the Bliss, I'd have to go find it.

 

As for busy?  This was taken at 9 AM on a port day (that's my backpack on the chair at the left of the picture, I'm ready to go ashore).  On our busiest solo meet day we had over 30 people in the room.

[Urban trekker]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences about the studio lounges. One further question - how good is the wi-fi in comparison to other areas of the ship.

[hallux]

9 hours ago, Urban trekker said:

how good is the wi-fi in comparison to other areas of the ship.

This may depend on the ship but I think it was on par with the rest of the ship.  Remember - the ship is made up of a bunch of steel walls, WiFi doesn't like those.  They wire the ship with access points all over, I'm sure there is at least one within the lounge (I think I count two in my picture of the Escape lounge).  The bigger concern at that point is how many clients are connecting as most industrial AP's have a maximum number of concurrent clients.

[sailingships]

On 6/9/2023 at 4:34 PM, caliSue1234 said:

Thinking of getting a studio cabin.  Can you go sit in the lounge and hang out 24/7?  Or is the door locked sometimes?

Are the snacks/drinks free?  Or do you pay with your seapass card for certain items (coffee).  I saw alcohol bottles on a youtube tour, but I can't imagine they're just free to all studio people (?)

 

It is on the Epic The door is always locked. You use your room key to get in. Its just for Studio passengers. Theres a coffee machine and snacks etc

Edited June 12, 2023 by sailingships

[hallux]

7 hours ago, sailingships said:

It is on the Epic The door is always locked. You use your room key to get in. Its just for Studio passengers

It has been this way on the BA+ ships I've sailed.  The Studio Lounge was part of the Studio "complex" and was behind a card-access door that could only be opened by room keys held by those in a Studio cabin.  That's actually a bit of a perk of the cabins, being isolated from kids running down the hall screaming.

[caliSue1234]

12 hours ago, sailingships said:

It is on the Epic The door is always locked. You use your room key to get in. Its just for Studio passengers. Theres a coffee machine and snacks etc

Thank you for your reply... I meant is it locked so even Studio guests cannot access it at times?  Example, I've been to hotels at concierge level, and at times the concierge lounge is closed to concierge guests.  I was wondering if that's the case here. 

[Ellis1138]

I believe that the Studio Lounge Room as a space is available to Studio cabin guests who have the key card, but that at, say 3 am, there won't be any coffee or food or drinks. 

[sailingships]

51 minutes ago, caliSue1234 said:

Thank you for your reply... I meant is it locked so even Studio guests cannot access it at times?  Example, I've been to hotels at concierge level, and at times the concierge lounge is closed to concierge guests.  I was wondering if that's the case here. 

On the Epic last month it was open 24/7 for the Studio guests using our key cards. Its right across from the keyed door to the cabins. At 5-7pm there was someone at the bar to sell beer wine and some mixed drinks. There was a very large TV on the wall and plenty of comfortable seating. The studio was on Deck 11 and the Deck 12 passengers just came down a stairwell into the room from their corridor where they had access to that outside door. All the studio cabins are in a corridor down the middle of the ship forward Nobody can access the corridor itself without a key card. Very private.

[All-ready2cruise]

1 minute ago, Ellis1138 said:

I believe that the Studio Lounge Room as a space is available to Studio cabin guests who have the key card, but that at, say 3 am, there won't be any coffee or food or drinks. 

That makes perfect sense, for cleaning purposes, right? That's how I'd see it anyway. 

[Portia!]

The Studio complex is locked - you need a keycard to enter from the ship hallway. The lounge itself is not locked and does not require a keycard to open the lounge door. In addition, the lounge has stairways leading to studios on the other decks of the studio complex (one or two, depending on the ship). There are sometimes emergency doors by the stairways for fire/flooding but those doors are kept open except in an emergency (or perhaps an emergency drill).

[eileeshb]

The studio lounge varies between ships, on getaway and breakaway it’s split over 2 decks and feels quite small as a result. Escape doesn’t have a bar at all so it’s just a waiter that takes orders about the time of the daily meet-up, there is the coffee machine and a selection of tea bags in addition to some ice water and snacks. The wine dispenser is not included in the drinks package. Apparently the studio lounge on Prima has some other alcohol on tap that is included in the drink package and is self service. 
As others have mentioned the lounge is usually pretty quiet except for the daily meet-ups. On one of my cruises a couple of NCL guys were working from the ship and were usually on their laptops in the studio lounge.