What is "solo Balcony"

[dbrown84]

1 minute ago, CCJack said:

all of those solo balconies are now showing unavailable.   It must me a screw up, or maybe they are converting them to solo, but they pushed them out before all the ducks were in a row....they are offline now.

 

Yeah, weirdness going on.  I'm now curious to see how this will work when they get all the kinks worked out 

[dbrown84]

Ok, I made a joke about solo insides, but they do now have solo insides you can book.  Also about $200 cheaper than the regular insides 

[yakcruiser]

Wouldn't surprise me if they now do away with reduced solo supplement cruises and it actually costs more to cruise solo.

[dbrown84]

I'm hoping CAS will actually book you into one of the solo insides.  It would be nice to go the solo lounge in the AM and get coffee

[hallux]

2 minutes ago, FredZiffle said:

double the FAS specialty meals

Unless you're sailing with people besides your wife (meaning booking all of you in one room would add guests 3 and 4), booking you and your wife in your own cabins adds nothing for the FAS meals.

[FredZiffle]

21 minutes ago, hallux said:

Unless you're sailing with people besides your wife (meaning booking all of you in one room would add guests 3 and 4), booking you and your wife in your own cabins adds nothing for the FAS meals.

You're correct.  I should have said double the Latitudes meals.  We'll each get two vouchers for 2 people due to our status, so four meals for the two of us.  If we were in the same cabin, we'd only get one set of vouchers, so only two meals. 

[hallux]

I had a feeling that's what you meant @FredZiffle but I didn't want others to be confused...

[TYTY]

I did a "mock" booking and noticed if you want the solo balcony you aren't offered the airfare.  I'm currently booked as a solo in a balcony and I got half off of the "buy one get one free".

[All-ready2cruise]

18 minutes ago, TYTY said:

I did a "mock" booking and noticed if you want the solo balcony you aren't offered the airfare.  I'm currently booked as a solo in a balcony and I got half off of the "buy one get one free".

That wasn't my experience when I booked the solo balcony on BA yesterday.  I declined the airfare b/c I arrive a day early but was certainly offered. Was the booking within a few months maybe? 

[cruiser2015]

28 minutes ago, TYTY said:

I did a "mock" booking and noticed if you want the solo balcony you aren't offered the airfare.  I'm currently booked as a solo in a balcony and I got half off of the "buy one get one free".

Why would they offer you a BOGO airfare if travelling alone?

[Asawi]

5 minutes ago, cruiser2015 said:

Why would they offer you a BOGO airfare if travelling alone?

We usually don't have the BOGO here in Europe (we have other discount promos), but as I understan it it means each person gets half price. So a solo traveller can still take advantage.

[TYTY]

13 minutes ago, cruiser2015 said:

Why would they offer you a BOGO airfare if travelling alone?

 You actually get 1/2 off instead of BOGO.

[TYTY]

21 minutes ago, All-ready2cruise said:

That wasn't my experience when I booked the solo balcony on BA yesterday.  I declined the airfare b/c I arrive a day early but was certainly offered. Was the booking within a few months maybe? 

It was for 5/2024 on the BA.

[cruiser2015]

8 minutes ago, Asawi said:

We usually don't have the BOGO here in Europe (we have other discount promos), but as I understan it it means each person gets half price. So a solo traveller can still take advantage.

 

2 minutes ago, TYTY said:

 You actually get 1/2 off instead of BOGO.

Now I understand.

[All-ready2cruise]

3 minutes ago, TYTY said:

It was for 5/2024 on the BA.

So it's still a mystery then, you should have been offered the discount air. 

[MeHeartCruising]

It looks like the NCL website is getting caught up to the deck plan changes.  I was poking around on the Breakaway May 2024 sailings and I see Solo Balcony and Solo Inside cabins available, but only when I specify 1 person on the booking.  They have also updated the deck plans to show these as a new cabin category.  A Solo Inside shows as about $150 less expensive than a regular inside for one person.  A solo balcony is about $250 less than a regular balcony for one person.  There are also solo oceanview cabins.  

[hallux]

NCL's press release on this - https://www.ncl.com/newsroom/norwegian-cruise-line-announces-fleetwide-expansion-of-its-solo-stateroom-category

[shof515]

for my cruise next year on the breakaway, a studio cabin is only 50 dollars more then a solo inside on deck 5

[prov2727]

Happy about this as I got completely spoiled when I booked a balcony in Jan 2022 to avoid masking on the lido (which by the time I cruise they had clarified to except while on the lido but the damage was done, LOL).I will happily take a $200-$300 price break!

[happytotravel]

Hi All,

Forgive me if someone has already stated this this morning but Cruise Radio website states that ships with the solo lounge already available will the only ones offering that perk.

 

Don't know what perk NCL will offer for the other ships.

Enjoy planning your next cruise.

happytotravel

[dbrown84]

9 minutes ago, happytotravel said:

Hi All,

Forgive me if someone has already stated this this morning but Cruise Radio website states that ships with the solo lounge already available will the only ones offering that perk.

 

Don't know what perk NCL will offer for the other ships.

Enjoy planning your next cruise.

happytotravel

The NCL press release this will be on all 19 ships, up from the current 9 

[yakcruiser]

I'm impressed! NCL management looked at the data and seen there are more solo travelers every year and is going to try and corner the market. I wonder if the other cruise lines will respond in kind.

[www3traveler]

As of two different postings this morning: As of January 2024 Studios will be available in Oceanview and Balconies and the Studio Lounge would ONLY be on the ships that already have them.  A total of 1,000 cabins are supposed to be available fleetwide.  1,000 cabin studio cabins means there would not be very many per ship.

[dbrown84]

2 hours ago, happytotravel said:

Hi All,

Forgive me if someone has already stated this this morning but Cruise Radio website states that ships with the solo lounge already available will the only ones offering that perk.

 

Don't know what perk NCL will offer for the other ships.

Enjoy planning your next cruise.

happytotravel

I just re-read your post, and it looks like I mis-read it the first time.  I thought you were saying that only the ships with the solo lounge would offer solo balconies and insides.  I see now that you were saying only the ships currently with a solo lounge would be offering lounge access, which you are absolutely correct about.  Sorry about that

[hallux]

1 hour ago, www3traveler said:

1,000 cabin studio cabins means there would not be very many per ship.

I counted 30 BT (Solo Balcony) cabins on the Breakaway.  That's ~2.5x as many Studio Balcony cabins as on Royal's Quantum class ships, which have 12 if I recall.  NCL's are also in better locations than the deck 6 where Royal's are.  Add in the Solo inside, Solo OV and Studio cabins and there are a LOT of options for solo cruisers.

 

Now, if they could only get the pricing sorted out.  Looking at my upcoming 15 day PC cruise on the Bliss - a Solo Balcony is around $5300, a regular balcony as a solo is only $2800...