1st Solo - Question?

My wife passed away a few months ago; I’m starting to plan my first solo cruise. I’m 67 and a fairly active person. I’m looking at an 11 day cruise on the Norwegian Gem leaving New York on 1/23 for the Eastern Caribbean. Very good fares with little, if any single supplement. I’m a fairly experienced cruiser and comfortable planning my own trips.

Inside Guarantee vs. Obstructed Oceanview Guarantee, upgrade about $400 or a bit less. My only inside was my first cruise about 25 years ago. Since then, it’s been OV and balcony. Thoughts?

If I book an Inside Guarantee, does NCL do upsells, like I’ve gotten before on HAL?

I’ve heard from CC that NCL does pretty good with solo cruisers. What’s been your experience?

The Gem sails from New York at 6:00pm. Do you think it’s safe for me to fly into NYC on a morning flight that day?

I’d appreciate any thoughts you all have to offer. Thanks.

Neal from Cincinnati.

If you are sailing on January 23rd, you never know what the weather will be that time of year, in regards to your question about flying in that day. It was also depend on where you are flying in from, because winter delays do happen that time of year. I think most posters would tell you to be safe and fly in the day before, but that is up to you to decide. If you can get an early direct flight and the weather is good, you could make it for a 6 PM departure, but it's about an hour from any airport to the port so any delays might make you miss the sailing.

In regards to the upgrades, with NCL it will depend on how full they are, if they have lots of room, they will offer you upgrades, if the ship is full, well then you may not see any upgrade offers. Hope you have a great trip and enjoy the voyage.

Hi Travelnap,

Thanks for the info on traveling to New York. I'll probably take the safe route and fly in at least the day before. I could take in a show or visit a museum pre-cruise. Normally, it's an easy flight from Cincinnati.

Neal

Hello, I've done 4 NCL cruises solo- I loved 3 of them but hated the other one. The ones I loved were on the Epic and Breakaway. I had a studio on the Epic and upgraded to a balcony on the Breakaway- to be honest was fine in the studio. The studio lounge is great and I was able to meet many other solos.

However, I don't think the Gem (which is like the NCL Jewel I was on) offers the same experience for solos. I would recommend considering the Breakaway instead from NYC.

I wouldn't fly the same day- especially in the winter with potential delays. If you do decide on the Gem- the Inside Guarantee could always get bumped to an Outside so it might not pay to spend the extra tier.

The solo services for which NCL is known are generally on the newer ships (Epic and beyond). The older ships, like the Gem, may or may not have a dedicated solo host. So if having a solo lounge to meet people, and the assistance of a host in arranging dinners, etc., is important to you, then I probably wouldn't go on the Gem (go on the newer ships instead.)

I don't care about hosted solo services, so the Gem would be fine with me. Just sayin' :-)

I would probably go crazy in an inside cabin for 11 days. And, yes, NCL has been known to offer upsells, but you never know if you'll get the call. My practice was to watch the prices carefully as I often found the best deals about 2 weeks prior to sailing (after that point prices might actually go UP on the remaining cabins.) So if I found something good, I would jump on it and arrange my own upsell.

Naturally, YMMV. Good luck! :-)

Until my last cruise (Nov 17) I have always had either a balcony, or in the old days,a porthole, and had never travelled as a solo.

I was on the Epic in a solo cabin. Before the trip, I was a bit worried about being solo in an inside cabin, but, after 7 days on the ship, I will book either a solo or an inside cabin in the future. I would sit outside on deck. Never really used the balcony when I had one.

Traveling as a solo on The Epic, in a studio cabin, was great. The solos had a crew member that would meet us around 5 and make reservations for having dinner and going to shows as a group. This was my first solo cruise, but I think that NCL has a director for singles on all cruises?

You might consider booking a NCL studio cabin for you first solo trip.

I love cruising on the NCL Breakaway....great program for solo cruisers....just a subway ride from home..:cool:

That said....if I had to fly (from anywhere), to do a winter Caribbean cruise...I would fly to Florida, and not have to endure cold days at sea to and from, not to mention winter weather conditions at NY area airports....:confused:

The older, pre-Studio NCL ships always have a Solo Meetup listed in the dailies, but it's anybody's guess how well attended they will be. Sometimes no one shows up. Also, NCL does this bidding thing now instead of a straight-up upsell, which can work out well for you if the ship is largely undersold, but that's always a gamble... now I feel like I ought to intone, "May the odds be ever in your favor" :-D

I’m recently widowed and am looking to cruise again we did 3-4 per yr as I’m in Fl it’s easy I usually go celebrity

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Neal, I was on the Dec 2nd 2017 Gem as a solo. There was a solos dinner scheduled each night. There were up to 60 people attending (and not all the solos signed up). Important to note is to attend the first night as the time was different from what is printed in the program after the first day. Our host said he usually gets about 10 people. I had a port hole cabin and it was on deck 4. If you take an inside, there's a chance you get on an upper level. Bon Voyage!

My wife passed away a few months ago; I’m starting to plan my first solo cruise. I’m 67 and a fairly active person. I’m looking at an 11 day cruise on the Norwegian Gem leaving New York on 1/23 for the Eastern Caribbean. Very good fares with little, if any single supplement. I’m a fairly experienced cruiser and comfortable planning my own trips.

 

Inside Guarantee vs. Obstructed Oceanview Guarantee, upgrade about $400 or a bit less. My only inside was my first cruise about 25 years ago. Since then, it’s been OV and balcony. Thoughts?

 

If I book an Inside Guarantee, does NCL do upsells, like I’ve gotten before on HAL?

 

I’ve heard from CC that NCL does pretty good with solo cruisers. What’s been your experience?

 

The Gem sails from New York at 6:00pm. Do you think it’s safe for me to fly into NYC on a morning flight that day?

 

I’d appreciate any thoughts you all have to offer. Thanks.

 

Neal from Cincinnati.

Neal, good for you for making the effort to get out there and do something you enjoy. It can be tough after such a big loss.

Roz

Neal, I was on the Dec 2nd 2017 Gem as a solo. There was a solos dinner scheduled each night. There were up to 60 people attending (and not all the solos signed up). Important to note is to attend the first night as the time was different from what is printed in the program after the first day. Our host said he usually gets about 10 people. I had a port hole cabin and it was on deck 4. If you take an inside, there's a chance you get on an upper level. Bon Voyage!

Thanks for the notes about solos on the Gem. I’m booked in an Oceanview sailing on 1/23. I’ll make sure to find out about the solo dinner first night. Was that info in the first day events news?

Roz, thanks for the support. I plan on traveling as much as possible. Gotta keep living. [emoji41]

Neal

Neal in Cincinnati.

My wife passed away a few months ago; I’m starting to plan my first solo cruise. I’m 67 and a fairly active person. I’m looking at an 11 day cruise on the Norwegian Gem leaving New York on 1/23 for the Eastern Caribbean. Very good fares with little, if any single supplement. I’m a fairly experienced cruiser and comfortable planning my own trips.

 

Inside Guarantee vs. Obstructed Oceanview Guarantee, upgrade about $400 or a bit less. My only inside was my first cruise about 25 years ago. Since then, it’s been OV and balcony. Thoughts?

 

If I book an Inside Guarantee, does NCL do upsells, like I’ve gotten before on HAL?

 

I’ve heard from CC that NCL does pretty good with solo cruisers. What’s been your experience?

 

The Gem sails from New York at 6:00pm. Do you think it’s safe for me to fly into NYC on a morning flight that day?

 

I’d appreciate any thoughts you all have to offer. Thanks.

 

Neal from Cincinnati.

Hi Neal! I had to reply because I'm a fellow Cincinnatian that has started doing solo cruising myself (technically my first solo is in April). I've sailed on NCL once, and I will say that there seemed to be good organization/events for the solos onboard. I am probably not very helpful in terms of upgrading rooms, but I'll ask, how important is the window? If you really want the option to have a window, it might be worth it for you to upgrade.

With winter weather, you may want to play it safe and fly in the day before. You know how Cincy weather can be. :') Great to see another local on the board. Hope you have a great trip!!

Hi JDaniels from Cincinnati. I ended up with an Oceanview guarantee, which has already turned into a decent stateroom.

It would be fun to run into someone from Cincinnati on a cruise. You are the first I’ve seen here on the CC boards.

Neal

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Neal,

I'm sure you'll have a great time with that room. I do agree, us Cincy folks are hard to find on here. We'll have to convince others in the area to up their game. :)

This year I did 5 solo cruises: Gem, Sun, Pearl, Star and Jade. On each, there was a dedicated solo host and the evening meetup time is listed daily in the Freestyle paper. There were all well attended. Some nights we had a long large table in the dining room, other nights we had smaller tables depending on where people were eating that night. On my Sun South American cruise, a lot of us solos did taxi tours together at many of the ports. Got some good rates. On the other cruises, I walked around with one or two solos in certain ports we had previously visited.

The great thing about solo cruising is that you can either join in or opt out of being with others, depending on your mood. Do however attend the first meet and greet for solo guests. It gives you an idea of the kind of people you could be dining with.

I've only ever cruised solo on EPIC, but I've heard great things from the older as well as newer ships about the experience.

The time and place for the solo dinner the first night should be in the daily program which you'll find in your room.

On the Dec 2nd Gem folks on the Roll Call discussion organized 5 activities to mix and mingle with fellow passengers the first couple of days.

Thanks for the notes about solos on the Gem. I’m booked in an Oceanview sailing on 1/23. I’ll make sure to find out about the solo dinner first night. Was that info in the first day events news?

 

Roz, thanks for the support. I plan on traveling as much as possible. Gotta keep living. [emoji41]

 

Neal

 

 

Neal in Cincinnati.