Studio cabins which first launched on the Norwegian Epic and are now also on the Breakaway and Getaway are NCL's innovative solution to single travelers. Because cruise fares are based on a two-person occupancy, solo travelers are required to pay a "single supplement fee" when sailing in a room which would normally be occupied by two or more people. So a solo traveler could potentially be paying up to double the per person price in single supplements. With the Epic's studio cabins, there is no single supplement fee. The price of the cabin is a *little* more than the per person fee for a regular inside stateroom.

The studio cabins on the Epic are located on decks 11 and 12.  The hallways to the studio cabins require key card entry.  However, I found that the doors don't fall shut behind you, so the doors were often left ajar.

Inside staterooms are typically the smallest and least expensive staterooms available on a cruise ship.  They are located in the interior of the ship with no outside window, and are a great bargain if you don't mind not being able to see outside while in your room (and not knowing whether it's  morning or night without looking at a clock when you wake up).




The boys had an inside stateroom for our Mediterranean cruise on the Norwegian Epic, so I can’t review it on a completely first-hand basis on staying in it for a week, but I did spend some time there. The circulation is honestly much better in the inside cabin because the beds are against each wall, so there is much more usable floor space (it wouldn't have felt as large if they had the beds pushed together). Their split bathroom was the same as ours. As far as storage, they had much more closet space, and they each had nightstands with drawers. The downside to their room was that it was really dark – as soon as you entered the room, you had to put the key in the door or else you’d be stumbling around in the dark (whereas the balcony staterooms have light coming in from the outside, at least during the day). The television is smaller in the inside stateroom, but it wasn’t a huge difference.

Cabin layouts in cruise ships don't vary much from ship to ship or cruise line to cruise line.  This is likely because every cruise line is trying to maximize the number of staterooms on the ship, therefore increasing the occupancy, and there are only so many ways to configure a stateroom.  However, the Norwegian Epic challenged the basic rectangular cabin with its "wave" layout.



I sailed in a wave balcony stateroom with my sister in May on our Mediterranean cruise.  I had read on Cruise Critic that the aft balconies had bad engine vibrations, and while I did notice it when we were entering and leaving port, it didn’t bother me at all. I loved the view from the aft – it was great to be able to look to either side of the ship. The only downside was that we did have some smokers neighboring us, so it was annoying to be on the balcony and smell smoke. I realize that there are very limited smoking areas on the ship and that smokers get the balcony stateroom for the luxury of being able to smoke on it. I just wish it didn’t smell so bad to non-smokers. I think this is a problem that is going to eliminate itself over the next few decades.