kelliebiz

I’m scratching my head why you ordered this, received what you ordered, then seem to complain about your choice not being fine dining? So many other sides you could have requested!

🤷‍♀️ It’s a big city, so compare prices to the cities mentioned above by Julia. Then consider the exchange rate, as referenced above by Julia.

And enjoy all that travel, Nancy! It all sounds fantastic

hahahaha 😄 I’m going on another solo cruise next month, aboard Nieuw Amsterdam to Alaska. So now that I know what to expect, I’m not concerned about anything. I would like to have regulars to have dinner with, and I’ll probably partner up with some people for trivia. Beyond that, we’ll see what happens as it happens organically. I do enjoy being independent and I do enjoy my own company. I’ve been to all the ports before so I know what to expect there too. I really enjoyed this first solo trip, so now I’ll be curious to see how it feels and how my expectations differ on the second one.

So I had wanted to write this thread to shed some light on the solo experience. There’s plenty of people writing travelogues, writing about sights to see in ports so that wasn’t necessarily my focus. This was my first time sailing solo, and I’ve read on this board plenty of questions from others, wondering how one can do that, how one can enjoy that. So I thought I’d tell about how it was for me. This was a 16 night cruise and some people asked me, How can you choose such a long cruise for your first time solo? I will say that if it had been a shorter cruise like a seven night cruise, it would’ve been much easier to keep to myself without extending social effort. But for me for 16 nights, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that without wanting social interactions. So before I ever left, I told myself to get out there, to introduce myself to people, to start conversations with people, and so I did just that. This is not always my natural behavior, but I made myself do it because that would be necessary if I didn’t want to spend a 16 night trip alone. I know there’s people that are perfectly happy to spend time only with themselves but I knew I would feel lonely if I was without social interactions for 16 nights. My first time aboard to do this was on the first team trivia night. I walked into the venue a few minutes before it was to start and it was pretty full. There weren’t many available seats, much less seats to sit by myself lol. So I saw one empty chair next to a group of three women and I just walked up to them and said hi can I sit here? And can I join your team? They were very nice. They immediately said hello, welcome, and yes of course you can join our team! And we had lovely conversations and thereafter I probably hung out with these same ladies at least every other day, whether it was to have dinner or to play trivia or to listen to live music. And I found that this was the reception I got with virtually everyone I walked up to and initiated a conversation with. So if you’re afraid of being rejected, don’t be. Cruisers are mostly friendly and they are mostly open to meeting new people. I’m sure this is not true of all people, but I didn’t meet any people like that in 16 nights aboard! I formed nice friendships with several people this way. One solo lady sat next to me on an excursion bus and we had a very fun day chitchatting about everything we saw. And again, thereafter we had dinners, played trivia, listened to music, played bingo, attended informational talks, and did other shore excursions together. I sat next to a woman in the main theater and through conversation found out she was also there solo. That turned out the same way with coffees and talks and more onboard activities. There was another couple from the Facebook group that I spent a good amount of time chatting with. That was another good friendship where we would meet for different activities at least every other day. So I probably had eight different people that I could have good conversations and experiences with, that started with casual random meetings. Besides these substantial friendships there were another eight people that I would bump into repeatedly and we always paused long enough to have short conversations with. We never met up anywhere or dined together or did activities together, but we always had good short conversations. So it was interesting to me to see how these different types of relationships were out there if I wanted them. Just by talking to strangers there were people in my journey that I interacted with just for one conversation, and other people I would only chat with daily, and other people I would actively plan to do things with daily. For me, it was very nice to form this network of people, even if the network only lasted for 16 nights. And in fact I do plan to keep in touch with some of them. All that is to say that you can spend as much time with others and as much time with yourself as you want to. It might take effort to behave in ways that you don’t normally behave and of course it’s up to you to decide how you want to spend your time if you’re contemplating a solo cruise. If you’re contemplating a solo cruise, I say go for it. There’s as much or as little social activity as you want on board. There’s many people on these boards with dozens of solo excursions under their belts and this may all sound like common knowledge to them, but for me on my first solo journey I was very curious to see how it would all turn out. I plan to do it again with no hesitation. And here’s just a few photos to share of our first two stops, the los Cabos area and Puerto Vallarta. I was in San José del Cabo during the solar eclipse on April 8! I brought my eclipse glasses and got to see the eclipse at 95%. San Jose del Cabo is about a 30 minute ride away from Cabo San Lucas. This is when it was lower sunlight right before we got to the 95% so you can tell how much darker than normal it was at 10:45am. Totality happened at about 11:10am. Of course I had to take a shot of the famous arch as we sailed out of the harbor. iPhone pics are all I have 😄 The arch is at the left end of the third “rock” on the left. This was in a little public square in Puerto Vallarta, just a block from the malecón. Those banners were so vibrant I just crossed my fingers and hoped the photo would look as fun as it did in person. My excursion in Puerto Vallarta included a “cooking” class but all we did was make guacamole. First time I have used the stone mortar and pestle though, which I believe they called a molcajete. But my spelling might be wrong.

Yes, I’ve been here 28 years now, though originally from LA. I’m in the tri valley area, maybe 10 miles east of Oakland. I’ll be doing the reverse of your itinerary in August. Going from Boston to Quebec City on Zuiderdam, though my partner is joining me for that one. I’m doing one more solo before then, southeast Alaska next month on Nieuw Amsterdam. That one is just 7 days on ship followed by I believe 2 Denali days. I enjoy the ship experience but I think I’m more looking forward to Denali. We went there once before and it’s incredible. I wish I had more than 2 days there but it was a great offer and I just couldn’t pass it up. That just means I’ll have to go back another time I guess 😄

Hi SPDaisy Yes there was shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the shower, and at the sink there was hand soap and lotion. I thought they were just fine, no complaints from me. I prefer to save the trouble of bringing all that from home and was very happy using what was provided. Are you doing Boston to Montreal?

I’m off the ship now and sitting on my own couch in my own home. I’ll write a bit later about my experience for sure, but wanted to share a couple pics. Here is cabin 2579 on ms. Volendam and it was very nice for the duration. Plenty of space, especially solo having FOUR closets to myself. The cabins on these older ships tend to be slightly larger than the cabins they build on new ships. This is an ocean view cabin on deck 2 Full size window on starboard side looking back towards the door the safe in the closet is operated by swiping a credit card to lock and unlock. No charge, but instructions say it must be a credit card and that your keycard may not work. The door has the only full length mirror in the cabin here’s the desk and the one and only electric outlet in the cabin! No USB ports anywhere in the room either. Glad I brought my 6 port charging device. glass doors on shower, Elemis bath product dispensers in the shower more Elemis products at the sink three tiny glass shelves above the sink, one long shelf under the sink

Enjoy your trip, Merry Widows! I just got off your ship on Sunday and loved my first trip on her. ms Volendam is the perfect size and the crew was very nice. Have a great time!

@oakridger No luck with any of my better photos. What I’m seeing is that photos I took on my camera that I have downloaded to my apple devices are posting as black screens. Photos I took with my phone are posting just fine. I’ll have to see if I can figure that out. All my good bird photos are from the camera! Here is a Nazca booby I got with the phone. It was flying right along super close to the ship, like 5 yards away. I’d never seen one before, so I had to use some bird photo ID apps, then got confirmation from some online birders. A lifer!

Here is today’s offering of on board activities. Later I’m doing the Mixology class at 3pm with a woman I’ve met. I attended the talk with the captain this morning that included questions from the audience. One person asked, “Have you ever responded to a mayday at Sea?” His answer was yes, and he recalled a time that ended on a funny note. They came to the aid of a stranded pleasure boat and called the Coast Guard to provide further help to the sailors. The captain said he also contacted his hotel Director and requested that they send sandwiches and water to the folks who were stranded on the Boat. After some time had passed and the food and water had not been delivered yet he again called the hotel Director and asked what was taking so long. The hotel Director said the sandwiches weren’t finished yet; turns out they were preparing five star sandwiches with chilled salmon, top-of-the-line deli meats, fancy cheeses, etc., while the captain had only envisioned a quick drop of simple bread and water. Pretty funny. But the captain said the stranded sailors were delighted!

Test to see if the picture loads. Here’s the little boat we rode to do the crocodile safari. Uploading from phone; last night tried uploading from iPad.

No worries, there’s another week (or so) to go. Congrats on the trivia win!

@Steelers0854 I’ll imagine you are no longer on your journey and no longer following CC topics. This exact thing is happening to me now while using the ship’s Wi-Fi. Did you ever find a solution? My photos are from my camera that I uploaded to my iPad. Thanks for any info, if you’re still following.

I’ll try again with the photos, I see just a black screen instead of any pics. And yes I did introduce myself to Rich one night. We didn’t really talk but we did meet. It’s always nice to put an actual person with an online presence 👍🏼

It’s very sad to read of this.

I’m getting really comfortable with these room service breakfasts! I only wish I didn’t have to choose a time in advance the day before because then I feel committed to be up and ready for them. Would love to wake up naturally and snap my fingers to get the meal to appear instantly 😄 but it doesn’t work that way. Today we stopped in Puntarenas, Costa Rica and I had a tour booked called Crocodile River Safari. We loaded up in a coach about 11am and took about an hour’s drive to get to the Tarcoles River. The crocodile tour company provided a cold drink which was very welcome in the 90° heat and about 60% humidity. We boarded the smallish boat with about 45 people and off we went. Sure enough, crocodiles and caimans were easily spotted within just a few minutes. After spending 30 minutes with the crocs, caimans, and basilisk lizards our boat moved on and the guide pointed out lots and lots of birds, many of which I had never seen. This is always greatly exciting to a birder to see a new bird, and I got a little adrenaline jolt whenever we spotted a new one. I’ll attach a few photos. A fruit snack after the boat tour was given then we headed back to the ship. We had a stop at a souvenir shop along the way and I did pick up a t shirt, some candied nuts, and a chocolate bar for gifts. We’ll see if I can actually get the chocolate home without it melting. Once back at the ship I cooled off in my room for a while then went to the lido for a quick bite. I came across two gentlemen I’ve bumped into a few times and enjoyed some quick conversation about our individual adventures for the day as we ate our lunch and then we all went our own ways. After that I met up with some friends for music trivia and cocktails, followed by a 45 minute show by piano bar entertainer. That was a pretty busy day! This is actually a pretty good example of how I’m spending my days. Up through dinner time I might be doing a variety of things, but most evenings I find myself doing the music trivia and piano entertainer show with the same folks. Tomorrow I’m meeting a friend for breakfast in the main dining room instead of room service.

Dear Bruno I i’m so sorry to hear about your dad‘s passing. I said my condolences to you and all of your family and everyone who loves him. Best wishes to you all.

This would have really annoyed me and I probably couldn’t have helped myself from telling them they’ve invaded my space! In that situation, I wouldn’t have minded if they’d taken my extra chair to their table, but if they actually included my table in their loud conversation I’d definitely be annoyed. I’d want to move too. At this point in my life being polite is no longer my main priority. Of course I always DO try to be polite, but if I have to choose between my own comfort and being polite, politeness loses. Like when I bailed on that big table of seven a few days back 😄

Hi SPDaisy It’s been going very well and I have nothing I’d really want to gripe about. The journey is about half over and I’ve seen places I’ve never been before, plus I’m a big time birder and I’ve spotted 24 new bird species so that is fabulous. I’ve booked a ship’s shore excursion at each port, and so far they’ve been a mixed bag. One was an actual birding excursion and that was the absolute best so far. One was a coach ride to a neighboring town, and it felt like it matched up to as advertised. The next two felt like we spent more time at the shopping stops than we did at the activity portions of the excursions, which wouldn’t be my preference. Typically I’ll order a simple room service breakfast and coffee then lounge in my room till mid morning. I always check the daily activities to see what I’m interested in and on sea days there’s always something to do. Today I plan to attend a chat with the Cruise Director at the big theater and after that an informational talk about the next port coming up. A fun thing is that I can expect to see the same folks at certain activities each day, like I know who plays the trivia sessions and I can plan to team up with them. Same with the Piano Entertainer performances. Those two spots have kinda become where I hang out in the afternoons and evenings. Also there’s another woman who likes the cocktail happy hour so I know I can meet her there for a chit chat. There’s two couples and three solos that I know I will bump into here and there around the ship and we always stop to share stories about what we’ve all been up to. Someone mentioned me being an extrovert and I really don’t consider myself to be one at all. I just made a decision to talk to people and I’ve been able to make good connections that way. I’m on the Roll Call here on CC for my trip but that’s not very active. I’m in a FB group for my trip and that was very fun before the trip. Lots of chat there and so by the time we boarded I knew several people’s names and was happy to meet them in person on the ship. I think half of the people I hang out with aboard are from the FB group and half are just random people I’ve struck up conversations with and the connections have stuck. Well that’s enough for now, I’ll have more to share as time passes. Thanks for reading along, and I’m certainly willing to answer any questions anyone has. See ya later….

Very true. When I made my comment I was considering verandah suites as a different class than mere verandah cabins.

Yes, my previous dinners have been at smaller tables with folks I have met along the way. This time I thought I’d show up and see what happens. I don’t like big tables even when out with friends! It’s like you said, you can’t hear. Tonight I’ll be meeting some ladies I have already dined with at a table for four, perfect size.

You can definitely have two appetizers. And you can ask for smaller portions on the mains if you think you’re too full, say, for a full serving of prime rib. You can also ask for a part of another main. My table companion ordered a chicken dish and also asked for just the steak from another dish to be added to her plate.

Today was an interesting attempt at dinner in the main dining room. I’ve only eaten there twice so far and both times I sat with some ladies I had chatted with previously. Wonderful dinners at a table for four with new friends. Today I went in alone and asked to be seated at a table to share and was ready to have a meal with someone new. At the same time a man came in asking for the same, a table to share, so I asked him, would you like to share a table? He said sure and his wife was coming along right behind. Great! I was ready to have a meal with them and chat. the problem came when we were seated at a table for eight. I shrugged it off and the couple and I chatted, where are you from, all of that chit chat. Then they brought another couple. Then another. Now we’re a table for seven! It was not what I was anticipating and not what I typically enjoy but oh well, it’s only one meal. But then no waiter came. And we chatted and waited. Someone poured us water and brought bread but no waiter came. So after 10 minutes I’m thinking, this is going to be a loooooooong dinner. Another 5 minutes go by and I’ve decided to bail, but I’m waiting for the chitchat to pause to I can apologize and leave. Right as I was going to stand up the waiter finally shows up but I have already decided this was going to be too drawn out (especially with SEVEN people) for me to enjoy. So as the waiter started to speak I did stand up and apologize and went to the Lido buffet. And it had nothing to do with my fellow passengers at the table, it was just that I didn’t want to sit there for 2 hours waiting for everyone to finish each course. oh well, lesson learned, next time I ask for a share table I’ll insist on a smaller table. I’m sure there are many who think, The more the merrier, but not me for a three course meal. But all’s good, I’m on vacation, and this has been the only thing I’d call a hiccup so far. Everything else has been wonderful with people interactions.

Very interesting! I assume this cash is for those who have already used the casino? I don’t think I have ever gambled on a HAL ship. Enjoy your new found play money!