Do ships without studio cabins still have solo gatherings?

[reeinaz]

I'll be sailing solo on the Jewel in March. All of my previous cruises on NCL have been on ships with studio cabins, so they had the daily solo gatherings. Will these be held on the Jewel?

[happytotravel]

Hi,

Yes, they do.   You'll find the information, time and place, in your daily activity information on your app on where to meet up.

Enjoy your cruise!

happytotravel

[zqvol]

My experience, pre Covid, is that there are solo meetings nightly

[dbrown84]

yes.  Even now on the ships with studio cabins they are starting to have the meetups somewhere else besides the lounge.  We met in Bliss on my October cruise on the getaway.  they no longer want to prop open the studio area door for those solos not staying in a studio cabin

[wcook]

On the Epic, there is N informal hang out session from 5-7 each night when the studio bar is open. It’s completely separate from the single’s meet up scheduled for the whole ship. 

[zqvol]

I have two trips on Getaway in the Studio cabins and never have the solo/single meet-ups been in the lounge, always in Bliss. 

[reeinaz]

5 hours ago, happytotravel said:

Hi,

Yes, they do.   You'll find the information, time and place, in your daily activity information on your app on where to meet up.

Enjoy your cruise!

happytotravel

Thanks. I’ll wait to make specialty dining reservations in that case. I don’t mind eating alone but I do enjoy sharing meals with others. 

[tstahl]

I was on the Gem last october.  There was a nightly solo gathering at Maltings (whiskey bar).  

[bonnyweed]

This was really well done.  We had a dedicated staff member who came to the solo meet up each evening and we would decide where we wanted to eat dinner as a group.   The staff member acted like a concierge,  she went with us to the dining venue and claimed a table for us.

after dinner she would hustle us to the show and made sure we had great seating.

if you didn’t want to do any of that, it was fine.

As a solo, dinner is the one time of day on a cruise that can feel awkward. This completely eliminated that problem because you have a ready-made dining group. It is always fun to hear what adventures people had had during the day.  

[Mademypoint]

When I was on Escape the first night was in the lounge. I didn't go to any after the first night as 5 is too early for me. I prefer eating 7:30 or later so I'm able to stay up late.

 

On the Joy I traveled solo and had the worst service imaginable in the specialty restaurants. They just don't care about one person and only come to see you when they are going to their other tables.

[bonnyweed]

I think the solo group may meet at 5  on the first day of the cruise just to get a feeling for the size of the group and how many want to dine together during the cruise.  I didn’t go to that 1st meeting because I assumed it was a singles meet-up type of thing. Silly of me.  But the dedicated solo concierge goes to that event too to know how many want to to dine together and how many will be going to the show that evening, when there is one.

They meet that first time in the late afternoon at a public lounge, to meet other solo cruisers who, for various reasons, are not staying in a studio cabin.  Not all solos choose the studio cabins.  Some people don’t want to be in an inside cabin and have booked other cabin categories, but they still don’t want to eat alone at night.

I was in the solo occupancy studios for the first time and didn’t have the inside scoop.  Thankfully, when the solo bar opened at 5, the bartender told me I should check it out at least once.  I did and I continued to do it every night.

As to the specialty restaurants, there is no reason to feel awkward there.  People in our group were often absent from the main dining room because they were at a specialty restaurant with other members of the group so that they could take full advantage of the specialty dining vouchers.

I seem to recall that we would meet at 6 or 6:30 for drinks and then head off to dinner around 7.

You should give it a try.  I think it would have given you a more enjoyable specialty dining experience.

[UnbridledEnthusiasm]

5 hours ago, Mademypoint said:

When I was on Escape the first night was in the lounge. I didn't go to any after the first night as 5 is too early for me. I prefer eating 7:30 or later so I'm able to stay up late.

 

On the Joy I traveled solo and had the worst service imaginable in the specialty restaurants. They just don't care about one person and only come to see you when they are going to their other tables.

 

I usually travel alone and that sadly has always been my experienced everywhere but even worse on cruises. I deliberately would go towards the end of the night when it's not busy but still be forgotten. 

[UnbridledEnthusiasm]

Yes. I've been on 2 NCL cruises and neither ship had the studio cabins. The first was unhosted. I really didn't care for that to be honest. The second was actually on the Jewel and was hosted. We had a great hostess too. I agree with what people said about it being nice to have people to eat dinner with. 

[FLAHAM]

I have sailed solo on 10 NCL cruises, usually in a mini suite (or club balcony suite) and have never received inattentive service in any dining venue.  I enjoy reading on my Kindle during meals.

[Cruise5life]

8 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

I have sailed solo on 10 NCL cruises, usually in a mini suite (or club balcony suite) and have never received inattentive service in any dining venue.  I enjoy reading on my Kindle during meals.

I was gonna say the same thing you beat me to it.   
I travel solo 95% of the time.     Never an issue at all.    
im very outgoing though they know when I enter a room. Lolol.  
I like to talk to people that’s how you make aquanauts while traveling solo.   
I usually always meet up with people I’ve meet along the trip. Do excursions with.  Dinners.   

 

and I’ve never done a solo meet up.       
Sometimes I’ll troll the meet and there’s no one there.  So I go about my day.    
 

I leave in 4 days for 29 days. 3 cruise lines.    I’ll have to give them a shot this time.     

[wcook]

I used my speciality dining voucher for teppanyaki last cruise and had a great time, with some really fun people. A good choice for solos, IMO. 

[Mademypoint]

20 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

I have sailed solo on 10 NCL cruises, usually in a mini suite (or club balcony suite) and have never received inattentive service in any dining venue.  I enjoy reading on my Kindle during meals.

 

Your choice of cabin should have no bearing on the service you receive at a restaurant. I can assure you at Cagney's, that after the server dropped off my food and said "let me know if you need anything else" I would have if she'd bothered to come back. I had to flag down the dining room manager three times (1 to get salt and twice to refill my water glass) and I watched as she paid all kinds of attention to a table of six, making sure they were looked after. When she finally came over because I was entitled to order dessert, she didn't even ask me how the food was. I looked at her and said "you asked me to let you know if I needed anything, how could I have told you I needed salt or a refill of my water glass if you couldn't be bothered to come over here?". She couldn't even be bothered to apologize but that's okay, I knew she wasn't going to because the tip from a table of one isn't worth her time.  The previous night the manager didn't even charge me for my meal because the waiter was so completely rude (anyone ever have a server literally stand over you trying to look down your shirt while taking your order)?

 

My standards are rather simple,  greet me in a reasonable amount of time, take my order and bring me what I ordered. Maybe check in with me to see how the food is and/or do I want anything else before doing a fly by with "I'll just leave this here but take your time" and leaving the check. These places were not busy either (neither was the ship). If a server has time to check on a table of six they have time to check in on me.

 

Years ago I was on an RCI cruise and I watched as this server wouldn't stop and ask me if I wanted a drink, instead preferring to stop at a larger table so I brought it to the managers attention. During their staff meeting he asked them point blank if anyone remembers doing that and one guy raised his hand and said yes he did. They all admit the tips are better with larger groups so that's where their priority is.

 

[rspencley]

On 12/28/2022 at 4:49 PM, zqvol said:

I have two trips on Getaway in the Studio cabins and never have the solo/single meet-ups been in the lounge, always in Bliss. 

I am booked on the Getaway for the cruise from May 11-20, 2023 and am flying solo. I have booked a balcony cabin because I am too claustrophobic for a 99 sq. ft. inside studio, even though I have to pay double for the privilege. I would still like to meet other solo travelers, though. Are these single meet ups at Bliss (or literally anywhere else) for ALL solo travelers, including those NOT booked in a studio cabin? If not, can you recommend other methods of meeting other solos?

[dbrown84]

yes, the meetup is not for those traveling in the studio cabins.  It's for all solo travelers and happens every night right before dinner.  You'll see the meeting time and location in the freestyle daily

[UnbridledEnthusiasm]

29 minutes ago, rspencley said:

I am booked on the Getaway for the cruise from May 11-20, 2023 and am flying solo. I have booked a balcony cabin because I am too claustrophobic for a 99 sq. ft. inside studio, even though I have to pay double for the privilege. I would still like to meet other solo travelers, though. Are these single meet ups at Bliss (or literally anywhere else) for ALL solo travelers, including those NOT booked in a studio cabin? If not, can you recommend other methods of meeting other solos?

I saw a daily someone posted on the Bliss. It listed solo cruisers meeting in the studio lounge. It wasn't specific to people only staying in the studios. I believe they will open the lunge up when it's during the meet up time. 

[rspencley]

23 hours ago, UnbridledEnthusiasm said:

I saw a daily someone posted on the Bliss. It listed solo cruisers meeting in the studio lounge. It wasn't specific to people only staying in the studios. I believe they will open the lunge up when it's during the meet up time. 

Thank you so much for your response. I guess I'll do a recon mission when I'm onboard.

23 hours ago, UnbridledEnthusiasm said:

I saw a daily someone posted on the Bliss. It listed solo cruisers meeting in the studio lounge. It wasn't specific to people only staying in the studios. I believe they will open the lunge up when it's during the meet up time. 

 

[reeinaz]

On 1/8/2023 at 1:03 PM, rspencley said:

I am booked on the Getaway for the cruise from May 11-20, 2023 and am flying solo. I have booked a balcony cabin because I am too claustrophobic for a 99 sq. ft. inside studio, even though I have to pay double for the privilege. I would still like to meet other solo travelers, though. Are these single meet ups at Bliss (or literally anywhere else) for ALL solo travelers, including those NOT booked in a studio cabin? If not, can you recommend other methods of meeting other solos?

The solo meeting is held daily and is listed in the daily with the time and location. It's usually around 5PM. They are for anyone traveling solo, not just people staying in the studio cabins. The reason I asked this specific question was that I wasn't sure if a ship that didn't specifically cater to solo cruisers via the studio cabins would have a solo gathering.