watson61

Thanks so much for your review. And I really appreciate your paragraph about solos. I can't wait to do a Virgin cruise and I'll most likely be traveling solo. It sounds like it will be pretty easy to meet other solos on these ships.

This just happened to me for my Sept. 3 sailing. I emailed Jennifer Morales. I've cruised many times but have never had this happen before.

Thanks so much for posting this!  I'm going on this cruise Sept. 3. It will be my first time on Celebrity and my first cruise since Jan. 2020.  I'm nervous about the covid test next week; of course I just missed the Sept. 5 cutoff.

You are not pathetic at all. I've done many solo cruises and it always amazes me how on a ship with thousands of passengers, you can feel as if you're the only one traveling solo. The last cruise I did pre-pandemic was on Norwegian's Pride of America to Hawaii in January 2020. I'm glad I went; Hawaii was lovely and it turned out to be my only vacation in 2020 (who knew?). But I definitely felt like the only solo person there. I did attend the "solo meeting" early in the week and no one else showed up.  I had a great conversation with the event host which was fine.

The worst was when I was cruising with a group (Road Scholar) and I had my own cabin, as I always do, even when I cruise with family. The steward said "you don't have any friends?"  Of all the nerve! And that wasn't even a true solo cruise, unlike most of my cruises. 

I just wanted to say this thread is extremely helpful to people like me who are taking their first cruise post-Covid. My last cruise was in January 2020 and this will be my first Celebrity cruise. The biggest stressor is the Covid test and I had no idea virtual companies like OnPoint existed!
 

Thanks everyone!

January 2020 - Hawaii on NCL’s Pride of America. So glad I went!
September 2019 - last RC cruise - Symphony 

9 hours ago, vegas7df said:

I canceled my cruise planner items and received a refund in about 7 days. 

Same here.  My cruise refund took 90 days but I got the cruise planner refunds right away. 

18 hours ago, dodgestang said:

Your last name starts with an "A" and they start at the beginning list every day 😉

My last name begins with “Z” - no wonder my refund took 90 days, lol!  I’m just relieved I finally got it. 

Mine took 90 days exactly. I was beginning to think I’d never see that money again.

Mine took 90 days. I requested a refund on March 24 for my canceled April 12 cruise, received $250 (my deposit) on May 6 and just got the balance today.  I booked this one through an online travel agent which I don’t usually do, but I’m glad I did it this time.  They called RC twice to move this along. I tried calling once but the hold time was ridiculous so I hung up. 

My refund has been coming very slowly: I requested it on March 24, received two credits on May 6 of $126.72 (taxes/fees) and $117.38. Then yesterday I got $5.90(!!).  So that adds up to $250, the deposit I paid last October. Hope I don’t have to wait too long for the rest. 

I sent this to my TA this morning:

"On March 24, I requested a refund of my April 12 Empress of the Seas cruise, using Royal Caribbean's online form.  On May 6, I received partial refunds:  $126.72 (apparently the taxes/fees) and $117.38 (no idea what this was for - I had already cancelled my Cruise Planner items and received those refunds).  I've been waiting for the balance of around $500 and check my credit card daily.  Can you help?  I tried calling RC but gave up after being on hold for a very long time.  I appreciate any assistance you can provide.  Thank you."

I received this reply:

"Yes the wait times for the cruise line are appox 3 hours.

We did receive a email from them over the weekend that refunds were processed incorrectly and they are in the process of correcting that. You should be receiving a refund approx May 31st for the balance. I would expect that it will be later than that but the cruise line did catch that mistake."

So I guess the wait continues!  I am glad my TA replied so quickly.  It's the first time I used this agency and at least they're more responsive than RC has been.

Got the apology email but no refund or further updates. I’ll give them until Friday, then I’ll call. So frustrating. 

I got the email also. I was relieved to finally get an acknowledgement that I had requested a refund. I applied on March 24 for my April 12 cruise. I was about to call RC. Hopefully I won’t have to. 

8 minutes ago, soloadventurer said:

What was the strike ? Due to travel to this port in April via the Empress 

Same here. Would love details about this.

On 2/6/2020 at 11:57 AM, samiam0403 said:

 

Ah yes, the 'you're so brave!' comment - my personal favorite. I like to reply with, 'well, I managed to survive 9 months in Iraq, I'm pretty sure I can handle this.' 😂 It's mind-boggling to me that people think there's something 'brave' about a week solo on a cruise ship - it's my idea of heaven and I do it as much as possible! 

Yep - never felt particularly brave for going on a cruise accompanied by my kindle and doing whatever I wanted, whenever.

You, on the other hand, are definitely brave.  Thank you for your service.

Thanks for posting this.  I've done a couple cruises with family, a few with a group but most solo.  Thanks to RC's double points, I made Diamond pretty quickly.

I like going solo because as others said, you can do what you want when you want.  And having that whole (tiny) cabin to myself, lol.  One comment you might get is "You're so brave."  I've gotten that several times, always from a woman (and let's face it, some women can barely go to the bathroom by themselves - forget about going on a cruise solo).

For dinner, I usually do either Windjammer or a specialty restaurant.  I find the specialties much less awkward than the MDR alone.  I have had traditional dining in the MDR but that's really hit or miss as far as tablemates.  I'm going solo on Empress (first time) in April and I signed up for traditional dining so we shall see.  One downside to that ship is Chops is the only specialty restaurant.

I love going to the Schooner and just sitting at the bar chatting to the bartender and other barflies.  Or not - I always have reading material with me so I never feel awkward sitting at a bar alone either on a ship or on land.

I think you'll have a great time.  Royal usually has a solo lunch early in the cruise and I encourage you to go.  I've always had a nice time at those.

I like Princess - I've gone on the Caribbean, Grand, Ruby and Regal (my favorite).  I went on the Caribbean with a singles group but had my own cabin.  That particular cabin was awful - an oceanview with bunk beds that didn't fold up so I kept bumping my head.  Also, like most oceanviews, it was on a lower deck and some godawful noise woke me up most mornings (either the anchor or the pilot boat - I forget what the steward told me).

My other Princess cruises were great as a solo.  I loved the afternoon tea every day where I met some really nice people.  I also met a lot of people by sharing a table in the MDR at breakfast.  The Regal was very port intensive (Canada/NE) so I met people on the excursions.  Also on the Regal I had two dinners solo at specialty restaurants (Crown Grill and Sabatini's) and those were great experiences.  I brought my Kindle to Sabatini's but never looked at it since the couple next to me was so chatty.

21 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

When we sail on embarkation day we avoid the Windjammer like the plague!!!  
 

If we are on an Oasis class ship we head for the Solarium Bistro, Park Cafe or Cafe Promenade.

 

 

I was on Symphony last September.  We did Windjammer that first day (not my idea) and it was a total zoo. It got to a point pretty quickly where they wouldn't admit anyone until people left.  I had read about that on CC but had never experienced it before.

That was the cruise I discovered the RB sandwiches at Park Cafe and fell in love.  I'd go there.

On 11/1/2019 at 12:40 PM, baldilocks said:

 

I agree with that. We travel by our own vehicle to the port when ever possible.

I'm one of those who gets a cold on almost every cruise.  This thread made me realize that I did not get sick on the two cruises where instead of flying, I took a train (from DC to Baltimore).  

I just got back from an NCL cruise to Hawaii (the POA one that goes to each island).  This time I thought I was safe by taking Emergen-C before and during the cruise but I still got sick.  Luckily it was at the end of the cruise but still - the flight home (Honolulu to DC) is bad enough when you're healthy - with a cold, it was torture.

On 11/25/2019 at 8:14 AM, bouhunter said:

No matter what we do in regards to wifi access, etc, we ALWAYS have our phones in airplane mode on ships.

Yep, I learned this lesson the hard way, as others do. I was on a Pacific coast cruise and got in the habit of taking my phone off airplane mode when we were in U.S. ports (Seattle, Astoria, Oregon) but one night I forgot to put it back into airplane mode before we left the port.  I was awoken in the middle of the night by a beep telling me I had a text and, realizing immediately what happened, I jumped out of bed and saw the text from AT&T warning me I was in international waters and being charged accordingly.  I ended up being charged $80 which stung but after reading about others' experiences, feel I got off lightly.  I knew someone who went on an Alaska cruise and got charged $300 in roaming charges.

I don't decorate my door but I love seeing others' decorated doors.  Plus a lot of times it helps me find my cabin faster.

It never occurred to me that people would steal those Royal magnets.  I wonder how many of them Royal ends up replacing each cruise.

I'm sailing on Empress next April and am really looking forward to it.  I've been on Allure and Symphony, which I loved, but I also really loved Grandeur, Enchantment and Brilliance so I expect to love Empress as well.  

22 hours ago, Bestbubba said:

We tried this last year boarding the Navigator out of Miami. The driver had no idea which terminal , the rain was pouring down, the port was chock a block full of cars/taxis /shuttles in all directions, it wasn't a great start! Next time I'm finding out before we leave the hotel 😊

Yep, same thing happened to me in Miami last month on Symphony.  Uber driver was clueless.  And Symphony is pretty hard to miss.

A couple of years ago I did a Canada/NE cruise on the Regal Princess.  Due to windy weather we skipped Bar Harbor (one of my favorite ports) and it snowed (!!) like crazy in Halifax.  I lived in Boston for 12 years so am well aware how unpredictable the weather is in that part of the country, virtually any time of year.