HelCat

No. That’s not true. I stayed in a studio on the prima last year. The studios are located on decks 12 and 13 and you can access the rooms from either floor. The deck plans are correct.

Look on google maps (satellite view) and zoom in on Royal Navy Dockyard. You will see two cruise ships docked there. NCL uses Kings Wharf. You basically get a view from either side.

I don’t remember what room I stayed in but it was on the same floor as the lounge, and halfway down the hall on the port side. It was very quiet. I loved it.

Make sure you have 1 guest selected. It is automatically set for 2 guests. But I tried to do a mock booking of a studio room and it tells me “your selection is no longer valid” or something along those lines. So i think there is something wrong with the system right now.

A friend of mine stayed in a studio on the Prima. They gave him a refrigerator/cooler specifically designed for medications. But I don’t know if he requested this before he got on the ship or while on board.

@schmoopie17 The only NCL ship for the month of December listed on the Amber Cove schedule is the NCL Sky on the 13th. They only have the October schedule listed for Taino Bay. www.puertoplatadr.com

Is it on the Breakaway? I’ve been looking at that cruise as well. I know the Breakaway and the Getaway (same class, so basically identical) have a bar in the lounge but there is only a bartender there for 2 hours a day. Do a search on YouTube. There are plenty of videos showing you the solo cabins and lounge. I took a solo cruise on the Prima (loved the espresso machine in the lounge). There were a few teenagers in there hanging out with a relative staying in a solo lounge. But they were just in there quietly watching TV together so I didn’t mind them being there. I didn’t really spend much time in there, just to get my cappuccino and cookies (way too many cookies).

I have only done one solo cruise and it was on the NCL Prima. I loved it. The room was small but it was enough space for me. I didn’t spend much time in there. I didn’t hang out in the solo lounge much but having the espresso machine and snacks in there was great. I went to most of the solo meetups and had a good time. Some of us ended up going to dinner together almost every night. It was a good experience. I plan on doing another solo trip on NCL Getaway next year.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such an informative response!!!

@Panhandle Couple How did you like Discovery Princess? Would you recommend it? And thanks for the info and the port schedule!

I am in a somewhat similar situation. I want to do Alaska next June and I have narrowed it down to NCL Encore and Discovery Princess. I they have the same itineraries. My husband and I are in our late 40’s. But we are traveling with two people in their 20’s. I think they would enjoy NCL more since there are more things to do on board. Princess tends to have an older crowd so they will probably be bored. However, the ward cove situation with NCL really annoys me. It’s about 15-20 minutes by shuttle each way so less time in Ketchikan and that doesn’t include how long you will have to wait to get on the shuttle. Princess is right there in town which will be much easier for your father. Also, in Juneau, NCL docks at the last pier which I think is a 15 minute walk. Im not sure if there is a shuttle. Princess again is right in town. I don’t know about the dock situation in Skagway. So I think in my case the ship experience would be better on NCL but the port experience would be better on Princess. If I were going with my parents who are in their 70’s (my dad has bad knees so he can’t walk too far), I would pick Princess since the ports are more convenient. As for me, maybe I’ll let the younger ones decide.

I recently went to Bermuda from NY on the Norwegian Prima. Embarkation and disembarkation took forever. It took almost an hour to get off the ship. I got off around 9:00 so I don’t know if it’s better to get off earlier or later than that. The app worked fine for me but it’s a different ship so not sure about the Encore. We went to Cagney’s at 6:00 without a reservation (group of 4) and we were seated right away. We never made any dinner reservations and the longest we waited was about 20 minutes for one of the main dining rooms (group of 10 for that night).

You can do a google search for “norwegian jade freestyle dailies” and see if it has any solo activities listed.

Thank you for posting this!