Have a NCL Studio - Should I Upgrade?

I'm booked for a studio on May 11th on the Breakaway! Prices have dropped significantly since I booked (:mad:). I'm definitely going to call and see what they can do for me, but I'm curious...if they offer me an upgrade should I take it? I don't see the point of taking anything less than a balcony and I have some friends on the same cruise who will have a balcony I can borrow if I'm so inclined. Is not having 24/7 access to the studio a big deal? The aforementioned friends are traveling with a 7 month old, so I'm definitely hoping to meet some people to enjoy a little nightlife and possibly an activity type excursion with. I've termed this semi-solo and it's my first time traveling that way, but not my first cruise. This is of course all hypothetical, but just wondering what those of you who have experienced it would do.

I would probably take the upgrade especially,if its free or at a low cost. You can figure out the cost of moving by doing a mock booking,so before you call you would know your options.

they are having problems filling breakaway and getaway.....lots of upgrades for people that booked when prices were higher.

Even if you aren't in a studio,you can still go down every evening to the lounge and meet other solo pax.

I'm booked for a studio on May 11th on the Breakaway! Prices have dropped significantly since I booked (:mad:). I'm definitely going to call and see what they can do for me, but I'm curious...if they offer me an upgrade should I take it? I don't see the point of taking anything less than a balcony and I have some friends on the same cruise who will have a balcony I can borrow if I'm so inclined. Is not having 24/7 access to the studio a big deal? The aforementioned friends are traveling with a 7 month old, so I'm definitely hoping to meet some people to enjoy a little nightlife and possibly an activity type excursion with. I've termed this semi-solo and it's my first time traveling that way, but not my first cruise. This is of course all hypothetical, but just wondering what those of you who have experienced it would do.

Hello, first of all your questions are excellent and raise interesting points.

This often seems to be the case with prices. They of course fall. I just looked and the Balcony is $1538 for 1 so your upgrade would be the difference between that and what you paid for the studio. However, the $1538 could fall more of course between now and sailing.

Last year I had a studio booked on the Breakaway (also Bermuda) and upgraded a week before to a balcony for $100. Although I was not able to get into the studio lounge 24/7 I was still able to get in for solo gathering which is where I made many of my friends on the ship.

I had a Studio on the Epic as a bench mark 2 years earlier.

I did not find that having a balcony increased my enjoyment of the cruise vs staying in a studio.

I would say the best feature of it was having more space to unpack. I like to be sociable on the cruise so limited my time on the balcony. If I wanted to be outside I spent most of my time on Spice H20.

We had a few solos on our cruise that knew about upgrades and turned them down, they liked access to the lounge 24/7.

If I would have to make a judgement from your post, it would be that you enjoy meeting others on the cruise as I do, and that you would prefer being out on the ship with others.

I am going on the Breakaway in October and booked a studio again. It was around $545 + taxes and insurance. Somehow I got a discount and think that an upgrade would be significantly higher this time around.

My recommendation would be to take the upgrade if it were around $100. For $500 I would not do it. In between is a judgement call.

Also, when the ship is in port for 3 days, I don't really see the excitement of a balcony. I prefer it when the ship is moving.

Thanks for the feedback. I had the $100 mark in my head for the most I would be willing to pay for an upgrade. I'm at the $200 mark now so I'll keep watching the prices and see. I do enjoy my room service breakfast on the balcony in my pjs. It just seems like with upgrading you get what you paid for a little more as opposed to getting a little bit back in OBC.

Even if the upgrade is $250 for me come the fall, I might pass as I could use the money for either excursions or a plane ticket to Las Vegas where I had a comp room. However, I really think come time it would be $400-500 to upgrade so I am not counting on it.

I did a rough analysis of how much time I spent in rooms on both ships:

Typically 30-45 minutes every day before the studio gatherings.

I slept around 6 1/2-7 hours.

So perhaps 50 of the hours roughly spent in the room, perhaps only 10% of those times awake.

I would say the cruise was 162 hours in total.

Yes, the balcony was nice a few minutes a day but I did not want to feel isolated.

Now, I am noticing on my sailing there are many more children (Oct 19-26th) perhaps due to kids sail free.

One person on our roll call has already moved the date even though the roll call is only a small sample size.

In this instance, perhaps I am better with the studio. You could have more families in surrounding balconies if that was an issue.

I'm calling this morning! I'll let you know how it goes!

So I was able to upgrade to a spa mini suite with balcony for $20. Pretty big upgrade. The other option was a mid-ship mini suite and I'm getting a way better value with the spa. It's not something I'd probably normally spend the extra money on at an initial booking and it irritates me a bit to have paid so much more than I needed to. But hello thermal spa access and balcony and oversized waterfall shower with body jets. Since this trip is all about relaxation, I think it's just the upgrade I needed!

Wow...that's a really good upgrade for $20.

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I know. I must have inadvertently booked when rates were at an all time high. I expected the price to drop some, but not that much!

Congrats! Breakaway is having some incredible rates.

I'm planning to sail on her in September, but will wait until mid August to book.

Oh my goodness......That's an amazing deal you received! I am also booked in a studio on the Getaway in October...I'm hoping that I will be able to do something like this! If you don't mind me asking, how much was the studio when you first booked?

Did you book through a TA? I am hoping if I'm given the chance to do this it won't be a problem considering I booked with a TA.

That's an awesome deal! Spa access is VERY nice. Personally, I get tired of being around people from time to time and really love being able to be alone with my own private ocean.

I paid more than $1000 and less than $1500. The rates on spa balconies dropped under $1000, as did various mini suite categories. It's all about how popular that sailing is. I booked when I did because I have to plan ahead with work and school, but in hindsight I wish I had waited. Oh well! I'm so going to enjoy my sweet sweet cabin. I just checked prices every couple of months as the sailing got closer. They didn't initially offer me the spa mini suite, but as I had checked prices before calling I knew it was only $20 more so I asked and received. It should work exactly the same through your TA except you call them and they call Norwegian. So I guess be patient, don't have expectations, watch the prices online, and make your call. Norwegian was very pleasant to deal with the associate that helped me was super excited for me, although it did take a bit of time. Good luck!