rj59

I bid on a Koningsdam Mexico cruise, since every other one hasn’t dropped below $1200 or so for a solo inside. Around $700 was a good price for me pre-shutdown. I wouldn’t bid on Pacific Coastal ones, because they had steep last-minute drops on those. For Alaska, demand out of Seattle was insane last year, and N-S routes low, so I’m aiming for Zaandam r/t from Vancouver. I’m sure by then people wil post about success or failure, so people can see if if there is reasonable hope, enough to justify the hassles and prepayment. It’s also a shot across the bow of Princess, who said they will no longer discount cruises close to sailing, which of course undermines the entire profit motive of bodies-in-beds, to make up for discounted fares through onboard spending and packages.

I do this with Southwest, but book with miles, and get them back if I cancel the flight and can rebook for free with a price drop. I live between Seattle and Vancouver, so any Alaska cruise would be an option, especially since their single supplement makes going solo too expensive for me now. I presume a solo is going to have to pay double.

I have over 100 days on HAL, and 6 Celebrity cruises the past year, and got off Reflection yesterday. To me the obvious, glaring, depressing difference is that Celebrity had 3 production shows on a 6-nt cruise, with aerialists, acrobats, inflatable animals, lots of going into the audience. Edge-class ships have two production casts and 3 different venues and an amazing MainStage. . Dancers/singers also do atrium parties and shows. HAL decided singers/dancers cost money and so chose corporate sponsorship in music venues instead of shows. They’ve gotten rid of contracted interpretive dancers and another corporate sponsorship of a classical quintet, so now at nights you get some lame singers, a corporate history lecture, or a nature movie (corporate sponsorship, of course). It’s dreadful and sad for those of us who loved HAL production shows and who see production shows on every other large cruise line, including Broadway shows. On my Celebrity cruise I could have shows on stage and in the atrium most nights, but even on 4 nights on Eurodam I was completely bored, and walked out of the awful singing quartet. To me, no drinks, food, or level of service can make up for not having something basic to any cruise, especially not with the high prices of HAL now.

You can also get sushi to go and eat in your cabin—it makes a nice late-night snack. On a cruise last year I had all-included and lots of OBC, so I ate there twice a day, trying all the sushi and ramen. I found it more relaxed than the MDR, and as a single solo cruiser, it was nice to have pleasant female servers.

It’s the result of full ships and needing to justify the high RCL stock price. I get irritated, but then I had my first non-sailing cabin mate, my niece, and it was easy. I booked for two, told them at check-in she couldn’t make it, and I had her taxes/port fees refunded to me. I’ve been sailing solo for over a decade, so I accept the price discrimination against solos, and respond by finding the best deals and spending as little as possible on board. I just know for Celebrity I now have to search for 2, then check the solo price, and then check the TA site I use to get better fares. Today I’m on Reflection and in January on Ascent, with a normal 200% supplement, and there have actually been solo discounts, such as for Beyond next July/August and for Eclipse transatlantic cruises in 2005. Cruiseplum solo deals and hot deals have been valuable search tools. There are also studio cabins on Silhouette, which I booked for a b-2b in 2025.

The sales are meaningless marketing, like any other sale advertising deals or percentage off. The reality is their business is booming, so they have no reason to have sales on fares, except for less-popular routes and ships, like poor Radiance doing the North-South Alaska route. As a solo, my RC sales happen when I find a studio cabin deal, so I booked one of the broom closet studios on Jewel in 2025 for a decent price. The same is true of Princess and HAL, since their ships are full so they offer deals at the margins, like free gratuities and benefits if you pay more. The only actual fare discounts I've seen have been on Virgin, with some around $100/nt for an inside, even over December school holidays (18+ only). I booked a back-to-back in December 24 for a reasonable $250/nt for a solo cabin, and they have a generous loyalty-matching program that gets me more drinks, coffee card, laundry, premium wifi, and the usual included tips and such (plus free Coke machines).

It's the virtue of the Schengen zone and not having a version of the Jones Act, so on non-UK cruises they're just visiting parts of a single customs/immigration entity. It's one reason why I like to fly Icelandair, since I can clear European customs in a few minutes there and arrive anywhere but the UK without another passport check or wait in a long line, when I'm exhausted. Unfortunately, I read on the airport website in Iceland that starting next year they're being forced to be more stringent with passport checks, so to expect longer lines, and then the imposition of the entry form and fee will cause even more lines when people show up without it or aren't in their system.

It was available for my cruise out of Barcelona in October, and for every pretend booking I made before then. I just booked a couple of back-to-back ones for the Cyber Monday deals, and it wasn't offered--maybe because it's already considered a deal? It also didn't show my assigned cabin, except as a little print on one page, and on the final booking page it didn't list cabin or even ship, from what I can tell. What was more concerning was the itinerary didn't have the same embarkation date as my booking, and the search shows two ships for each date. To top it all off, I haven't received a confirmation for either, although they're listed in my account, and I seem to be on Valiant Lady. I can take comfort in my confusion in seeing a $600 bar tab, which doesn't seem right for a 3 and then a 4 night under the promo, plus the $100 and other benefits for my loyalty match with Princess. So I will resiliently try to stay semi-sober in the Med in October, and valiantly in the Caribbean in December.

I understand the urge to be first on the ship, especially on lines like HAL and Princess that give MDR lunches starting at noon, so you can avoid the buffet and the impulse to overeat because it's free food. That said, it's really depressing to sit in some holding pen inside a terminal, waiting for boarding to start, especially in a place like Vancouver, where you force you to sit packed in tight rows with no open spaces, so stress outweighs any benefits. I've been guilty of barging past slower people and getting testy with photographers trying to stop me. So now I try to show up around noon, when the early crowd have mostly boarded, and so I can just go on once I get through the usually quick Celebrity check-in. The "I want to get on right away to start my vacation earlier" approach doesn't make much sense, since it implies being in lovely port cities with beaches and culture and more young people isn't worth experiencing, especially if you're going to be on the same ship for a week or so and can't wait to rush off it at the first port to shop in some scummy Caribbean tourist shopping mall or join the mobs in souvenir shops at Alaskan ports.

Simply look at inside cabins for Beyond or Apex. I'd recommend paying more for a deluxe inside, not only because they're larger, but because you avoid the cabins attached to balconies, which was a bad experience on Apex. The problem is that there's a hallway door leading to the inside cabin and balcony, so whenever people in the other room go out of their cabin or inside from the hallway, the slamming door will wake you or disturb you. You also hear them chatting outside their door, thinking they have privacy and you're not hearing everything. It also makes it more difficult for a cabin steward to see you going in and out of your cabin, and I found those inside seemed to get the lowest priority for getting made up quickly on embarkation and other days. Other than that, the rooms are gorgeous and spacious, as on older Solstice class cabins I've been on. Harr Travel does the best cabin tours on YouTube, going through even inside cabins, and he does long ship tours of 45 minutes or so, and you just have to tune out his travel agent sales pitch.

50% off doesn't mean anything if you don't know what price it's based on, as with cars or anyone else trying to create the illusion of getting a deal. It's like seeing 2-for-1 advertised in a grocery store, but then they push the price of each so it ends up costing you more than 1 somewhere else. Never trust a cruise or auto advertising, because nothing matters except what you end up paying for it and are comfortable with (although cruises are different in that they expect to make their profits off you once on board). The reason they have to resort to such gimmicks is that they claimed they won't drop cruise prices going forward, so if they actually create lower cruise prices or give a last-minute deal to fill a ship, then it will violate their stated goal. That may be possible at times and on routes with high demand, but it doesn't make a lot of sense if low-demand or oversupply routes like Pacific coastal ones and N/S Alaska routes, particularly early Spring/late Fall are sailing half-empty. It's even more foolish as a cruise business because a drop-and-go rate that would get solos, price-conscious, and impulsive cruisers would allow them to make up for the low fare by onboard spending and future cruise deposits/loyalty, where as an empty cabin doesn't help them at all. I monitor Princess prices constantly for routes I'm interested in, and there's absolutely nothing of value for me now, with no solo discounts or prices that I would consider reasonable. Even on low-demand cruises like Pacific coastal ones I found that I can get steep HAL discounts close to cruising time, whereas Princess used to do the same but evidently no longer will do so. So they're at least losing business from me, because I've booked several other cruises from lines that offer legitimate deals, both last-minute and as far out as 2025 (like a couple of Celebrity transatlantic cruises for $40/nt). Black Friday gimmicks don't affect me, no matter what they call their sales, because their cruises now are too expensive for what I get out of them.

Princess is broadening their demographic, and I was surprised to watch several videos claiming it's popular with families. Their new Sun is furthering that, with rides for the first time. They also have deck parties and line dancing (Love Boat party) that a line like HAL wouldn't do. For solos, Princess is also the easiest line to get the highest status on, since they allow it based on number of cruises and give double credit for solos. Even 5 cruises gets you Platinum, which gives half-off wifi and an upgrade to 100% FCC vacation insurance for any cancellation reason. Elite is only 15 cruises, and gets you a minibar setup and free laundry. They also offer a dozen or so 2-4 night cruises relocating for the Alaska season, and I live in Washington state, so I was able to get to Elite status with under 40 nights of cruising, whereas on HAL I have over 100 nights and I'm still at 3-star. My Princess Elite also transfers to Virgin and MSC. Up until now, Princess has been really proactive with reduced solo prices, and I went to 14 nights earlier this month to the Med for $590, almost the same as the double price. Unfortunately, I don't see any big solo discounts going forward, but at least their website makes it easy to search for solo bargains.

That's multiple questions. If your criteria for being looked after is having a solo cabin with daylight, then there are larger ships on HAL and Royal that have balconies and oceanview single cabins, but that's not a really reliable way to find bargains, because it's overall price that matters. If you mean which is most affordable, then right now there's not much of anything that has a lot of solo deals, because demand is high, so they have no reason to, and solo cabins get taken quickly. If you want to cruise affordably and have a good time, you have to keep up on deals and do frequent searches and look on solo deals on here. I do Expedia searches almost every day for one person, and Cruiseplum has sections for Hot Deals, Last-minute deals, and Solo Deals, and you can set up saved searches by all sorts of criteria. How you are treated as a solo depends largely on you, the crew of a specific ship, and a specific sailing, so any generalization you hear on here is just prejudice or usually the result of a good or bad experience. Personally, I find that the more effort I put in as a solo to appreciating crew, the more they appreciate me. So I know the basic greetings and thanks in most crew languages, and if I meet someone I like, I make sure to look up some phrases in their language. If it's a full, large ship and crew are overworked, I'm not going to expect a lot of personal service, just as nobody would want a barista at Starbucks with a line out the door to sit and chat with someone for 5 minutes. Crews are also changing, with fewer Russians and Ukrainians and Eastern Europeans, and more from Africa, particularly Zimbabwe. I dislike crew on Royal and Celebrity begging for a good review, but I understand they must get pressured to do it, which I accept if it results in better service. For bargains, I just got off 14 nights on Island Princess for $580 solo in Europe, I'm going on Azamara for 7 nights in Spain and Virgin in the Med next year for $100/nt solo, and I just booked a Royal out of LA solo for $100/nt. Earlier I went on HAL coastal cruises for $50/nt and am going Royal in Alaska for $500 for 7 nights, none of them in solo cabins. All are inside, but when I want air and sunlight, I go out on promenade decks, which are free and give better views.

Bring a big bag and put it on the table. Anything small, and rude people will push it out of the way or pretend they didn't see it--I saw this happen on embarkation on Cunard, with a really angry person. Or drape a coat, or print out a sign saying "OCCUPIED". It's not only rude passengers, but also crew who take away my plate and drinks when I'm just going for something else, even if I'm not finished. It's not just being solo, and it's not always deliberate, because I've found myself wondering if a table is still occupied, if there's an empty plate and half-finished drink but no sign of a person. It's the same as with a deck chair with a towel on it--nobody knows if somebody is coming back or not, unless there's something clearly visible left.

This has been happening with Celebrity lately, so as a solo, I look at the double rate and then just mentally double it. I booked with my niece for a cruise a few weeks ago, and she just no-showed at embarkation and I got my taxes for her a few months ago. You can just use a relative whose birthdate and passport info you know. Sometimes Celebrity has less than 200%, like on a few Beyond sailings next summer, and on a couple of transatlantic cruises on Eclipse I booked in 2025, for $650-750. Otherwise, for searching Princess, Carnival, and NCL, you can search by single passenger. For HAL, they usually charge double the single price, but some of their new ships have solo Oceanview, and a lot of the Royal ships have solo cabins as well, so I use travel websites to search for them by number of passengers. Cruiseplum also has a section for solo deals and hot deals--I scored Azamara and Virgin in Europe for $100/day or so, deals that quickly vanished.

You'll save money and hassle if you just take an Uber or Lyft from LAX to the pier. I've just missed a full bus and had to wait half an hour or so for the next one, and they stop at every terminal, so if you're at a far terminal it will take quite a while sometimes. You also have to get everyone on and off the bus, rather than hopping in a car and getting there quicker and cheaper. It's especially true of the return trip, where they'll wait to fill a bus, with luggage, which really complicates things, and they have to stop and unload at every terminal, which can take forever. If you're not used to Uber or Lyft, practice using the apps for a few trips in your city, because it will make your life much more pleasant, especially for nights out or hospital trips and for travel. Then when you get to LAX or on the return trip, just open the apps when you get off the ship and choose the cheapest option to LAX, and the driver will meet you outside the cruise terminal or the Rideshare pickup area at LAX.

If it's not in your Cruise Personalizer on the Princess website, it's too early. Princess chat rarely works, so you'd be better off calling, and on future cruises using a Travel Agent, who will handle all the calls and details for you. The problem with Alaska is that there was record cruise visits last year, probably more this year, and there's sky-high cost of living in Alaska, so handling all the excursions for more and more huge ships depends on staffing and paying Americans enough to encourage them to come to Alaska during cruise season. A lot of the seasonal employees might not even be up there at the beginning of May. Ports like Juneau also have kiosks when you get off the ship offering excursions like whale watching and a bus to Mendenhall. In the meantime, look at excursions for each port on their booking page, and then google to see if a local company has a cheaper option, or a site like shoreexcursionsgroup, which will show excursions for your specific cruise--they sometimes have excursions that are the same as the ship but cheaper, or more interesting ones that aren't offered or that sell out.

I go solo most of the time. Princess is good for it, with options for being social or not, to your comfort level. Friendly crew helps, and the app lets you choose a private or shared table. Participating on things like Zumba or other group activities helps not feeling isolated, and I find that going on excursions is a good way to meet people while doing something fun.

Discovery has free laundry, a nice benefit. I try to be polite and not do laundry too early or too late, and be there when the time expires so I'm not keeping someone else waiting. After restart, my first two cruises on Majestic had bins of tokens in the laundry room, so laundry was free then too, as well as my morning Americanos in the cafe. That was a nice time, with 30% occupancy, despite the masks and tests and quarantine floors.

The couple minutes of waiting at the port outweighs the minor chance you'll forget the medallion at home, or it will get lost in the mail or misdelivered. If I remember right, they also attach your lanyard at the port, which I always have trouble with when it was shipped to home. So now I'm happy to pick up at the terminal, although it was fun watching the shipping progress from Singapore. Another way to avoid a hassle with a lanyard is to hang it on the door latch when you enter the room, since it will magnetically attach to the door and keep you from forgetting it when leaving the room.

I think you'd better off in the buffet, sampling what they have there. I was on Royal in September, and they really upped the Indian game, having dishes themed by Indian region, so I saw and tasted a lot of things I'd never had before on a ship or restaurant. You can try a little of everything and decide if you like something. Usually I either try a few things at the buffet when it opens and eat after 8, or eat in the MDR and do buffet sampling later. The same goes for other lines--NCL and Celebrity have good Indian buffet food, whereas Carnival actually includes Indian vegetarian every night as an MDR option, which I enjoy.

I'm leaving on Island Princess on Thursday--insides still on sale for $500 or so. NCL are the kings of last-minute fare drops--you can hop on several Transatlantic cruises for under $500. It would make an interesting bet to see if Princess actually sticks to its no more cruise discounts after booking promise and how they'll justify it. Otherwise they'll be sailing with a lot of empty cabins, while other lines on similar unpopular routes or times will do deep discounting.

I don't mind it being sold, but hopefully not scrapped. Some of my first cruises were on the gaudy Carnival Imagination and Inspiration out of Long Beach, and it was really disheartening to watch them being beached and dismantled in Turkey. I saw the same video, and she mentioned a new Princess app on Dec 1--I guess I'll see when I'm on Island Princess then. She also said, more interesting, that as a travel agent she's been getting calls from confused customers who see price drops for 2024-25 cruises, who rightfully wonder what about the Princess promise not to drop fares.

Another thing I really love about Celebrity ships, both in hot and cold weather, is the covered, temperature-controlled solarium, with its own cafe (I don't know about Beyond, but Apex had a secret free espresso machine in the solarium spa cafe). I hate doing Princess coastal cruises and Alaska ones with no covered pool area (except on a few older ships and Majestic), which makes it pretty miserable on the pool deck, for passengers and crew. Even in the Caribbean I valued the solarium on Apex, because it got too hot for me to bake in the sun, and the solarium was kept cool, and had a small pool that wasn't as busy as the main one.

I keep some of theirs and HALs in my trunk to use as grocery bags. Celebrity has been giving out nice ones lately, with a thick fabric and a zippered pouch attached to the inside, actually suitable for a beach tote bag. They probably wanted to cut down on waste. Instead, maybe they could do something cool and memorable for upper-level loyalty guests, like the Delft ship tiles that HAL gives out.