Solo Cruiser's Roll Call

[farmersfight]

2 hours ago, nesila said:

Are there any other cruise lines that offer what NCL does for solos? I know some like RCL have single cabins (which sometimes doubles book) both interior and balcony... but do any have solo lounges and the dedicated activities director?

 

Yeah, RCL has some (but not as many as NCL) solo cabins. RCL is unique in that they have some solo cabins with balconies on their Quantum-class ships (which I want to try). Also, RCL has both solo interiors and OVs on their other ships (Oasis-class I believe has either solo interiors or OVs or both).

 

Wrt solo lounges and dedicated activities directors, I am not aware of any other cruise line that has these besides NCL. Guess that's why NCL is so "solo-friendly".

 

Also, and some other posters on this thread probably can provide more information but I have seen some posts about other cruise lines having solo cabins like MSC.

 

P.S. Oh, I just thought of something else. I started a thread here on the solo cruising forum that's titled: "Solo friendly cruise line companies?". If you check that out, I believe you will see some other posters post about cruise lines that are solo friendly.

Edited September 14, 2020 by farmersfight

[Midwestern Cruiser]

On 9/11/2020 at 9:29 AM, skipperanne said:

my solo experience on Carnival was not so great.   I'm thinking I will give them another chance,  but MSC,  and NCL do a much better job of including solo cruisers.

 

 

skipperanne - would you mind sharing more of what you liked about going solo on MSC?  That's the next line I'd like to try (solo) and would love to hear your thoughts.

[Midwestern Cruiser]

Have read a lot of interesting and helpful info over the last 5+ pages here ... now I'm wondering, who has a solo cruise booked?  When and to where on which ship?

I'm on RCL Vision of the Seas Feb 5-15 (southern Caribbean)

and

NCL Sun April 27-May 6 (Alaska)

Would be fun to meet up with any of you on one or both of them!

[Lois R]

1 hour ago, MidwesternCruiser2 said:

Have read a lot of interesting and helpful info over the last 5+ pages here ... now I'm wondering, who has a solo cruise booked?  When and to where on which ship?

I'm on RCL Vision of the Seas Feb 5-15 (southern Caribbean)

and

NCL Sun April 27-May 6 (Alaska)

Would be fun to meet up with any of you on one or both of them!

I have a cruise booked for Oct 2021.....Europe (if we are sailing from there by then)......I have a deposit down on it

anyway.  It is Portugal to Portugal for 12 nights on Silversea's WHISPER.   I would love to sail earlier but not sure

 if cruising will be feasible. You are planning to sail in February? Wishing you all the best.

[Midwestern Cruiser]

20 minutes ago, Lois R said:

I have a cruise booked for Oct 2021.....Europe (if we are sailing from there by then)......I have a deposit down on it

anyway.  It is Portugal to Portugal for 12 nights on Silversea's WHISPER.   I would love to sail earlier but not sure

 if cruising will be feasible. You are planning to sail in February? Wishing you all the best.

 

I've never done any TA or European cruises...not much into the flights required.
Haven't done Silversea's yet either, but hope to some day.
And, surely (she said with fingers crossed) 13 months from now, we'll have this mess figured out so your cruise will happen as planned.  Being optimistic, I certainly hope so!
I booked Alaska in June and the Caribbean in August.  At the time, 10 and 6 months out seemed like a long enough delay to allow cruising to start up again...now I'm not so sure.  But, staying on that optimistic bandwagon, I even booked flights for my February cruise (albeit with points haha).

Just couldn't walk away from 20 days of sailing for less than $1500, including taxes, tips and perks!!  But I'm also totally prepared to re-book  :-}

[GTVCRUISER]

I cruise

2 hours ago, MidwesternCruiser2 said:

Have read a lot of interesting and helpful info over the last 5+ pages here ... now I'm wondering, who has a solo cruise booked?  When and to where on which ship?

I'm on RCL Vision of the Seas Feb 5-15 (southern Caribbean)

and

NCL Sun April 27-May 6 (Alaska)

Would be fun to meet up with any of you on one or both of them!

I cruised on the Vision of the Seas years ago to Mexico and Cruised on the NCL Sun in 2015 

[samsnj]

3 hours ago, MidwesternCruiser2 said:

 

skipperanne - would you mind sharing more of what you liked about going solo on MSC?  That's the next line I'd like to try (solo) and would love to hear your thoughts.

I have don carnival solo on 4 day cruise. Wouldn’t do any longer on that one.

NCL was a good experience. Done that several times on the newer bigger ships.

[farmersfight]

2 hours ago, samsnj said:

I have don carnival solo on 4 day cruise. Wouldn’t do any longer on that one.

 

May I ask why? Just curious. I've read here on cc that Carnival is not very "solo friendly".  If true, that's too bad because Carnival was my cruise line of choice when I wasn't a solo. I liked Carnival's "Fun Ship" concept.

[farmersfight]

3 hours ago, GTVCRUISER said:

I cruised on the Vision of the Seas years ago to Mexico and Cruised on the NCL Sun in 2015 

 

GTVCRUISER, how did the solo cruising experience on RCL compare to NCL? Looks like both ships are older and of similar size. I'm sure both cruise line's solo programs/cabins have advanced over the years, especially NCL's. Thanks in advance.

[samsnj]

5 minutes ago, farmersfight said:

 

May I ask why? Just curious. I've read here on cc that Carnival is not very "solo friendly".  If true, that's too bad because Carnival was my cruise line of choice when I wasn't a solo. I liked Carnival's "Fun Ship" concept.

I had also cruised carnival a lot 30 years ago. I do like it as a fun ship, however found cruising solo NCL is much better and I also enjoy their entertainment and food is much better on NCL!

[farmersfight]

4 hours ago, Lois R said:

I have a cruise booked for Oct 2021

 

Imo, I think you're going to be safe for Oct 2021. I'm hoping for a vaccine available to everybody by April 2021 and cruising returning to normal by May 2021.

[farmersfight]

2 minutes ago, samsnj said:

I had also cruised carnival a lot 30 years ago. I do like it as a fun ship, however found cruising solo NCL is much better and I also enjoy their entertainment and food is much better on NCL!

 

Good to hear because when cruising returns to "normal" (for me, a vaccine), I intend to be looking to try NCL as a solo. I'd also like to try one of RCL's Quantum-class ships in a studio balcony cabin. I wish NCL also had these.

[farmersfight]

5 hours ago, MidwesternCruiser2 said:

who has a solo cruise booked?  When and to where on which ship?

I'm on RCL Vision of the Seas Feb 5-15 (southern Caribbean)

and

NCL Sun April 27-May 6 (Alaska)

 

4 hours ago, MidwesternCruiser2 said:

I booked Alaska in June and the Caribbean in August.  At the time, 10 and 6 months out seemed like a long enough delay to allow cruising to start up again...now I'm not so sure. 

 

Imho, I don't think your Feb RCL Vision OTS cruise will sail (too soon). Your April/May NCL Sun has a better chance, especially if a vaccine is available to everybody by April 2021.

 

I won't cruise until there is a vaccine. Wearing masks and social distancing with a possibility of being quarantined is not my idea of a fun/relaxing cruise.

[wetcoast]

I booked my first Virgin Voyages solo this week. I'm going on Valiant Lady for the 14 night eastbound transatlantic  May 1st '22. Its a really good deal as the price per day is about half of what I've seen for sailings in the Caribbean. Will be interesting to see what Virgin does for us solo's, I am happy they are including quite a large number of solo cabins on their ships.

[HowardK]

I've done 6 solo trips on NCL - I enjoyed 5 of them. I loved the people and playing at the various music venues.

For my 50th I am planning on returning to either Alaska or Canada/New England in August or October of 2022.

 

Has anyone gone on Holland America Koonsingdam solo? I liked all the music venues it had and how the theatre looked.

[farmersfight]

2 hours ago, wetcoast said:

I booked my first Virgin Voyages solo this week. I'm going on Valiant Lady for the 14 night eastbound transatlantic  May 1st '22. Its a really good deal as the price per day is about half of what I've seen for sailings in the Caribbean. Will be interesting to see what Virgin does for us solo's, I am happy they are including quite a large number of solo cabins on their ships.

 

Yes, good to see that Virgin Voyages is keeping us solo cruisers in mind. I agree, quite a few solo cabins on Valiant Lady (I'm sure Scarlett Lady as well). More solo insiders than solo seaviews. Interesting to note that the solo seaviews are larger  - 130 sq.ft than the solo insiders - 105 sq.ft. Even VV's smaller solo insiders are larger than NCL studio cabins - 99 sq. ft.

Yeah, usually transatlantics (repositionings) are less expensive than regular sailings (like sailings in the Caribbean, as you pointed out). Glad you got a good deal.

14 night cruise is a great length for a cruise (I've set my minimum of at least 12 nights). Plus, with VV there will be no kids! Btw, did you book a solo seaview or solo insider?

Bon Voyage in 2022.

 

Solo Seaview:

Solo Insider:

 

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by farmersfight

[farmersfight]

24 minutes ago, HowardK said:

I've done 6 solo trips on NCL - I enjoyed 5 of them.

 

Which NCL ships did you enjoy your solo cruises on and which one didn't you enjoy (and why)?

[HowardK]

9 minutes ago, farmersfight said:

 

Which NCL ships did you enjoy your solo cruises on and which one didn't you enjoy (and why)?

I loved the Epic , Breakaway and Escape- but I didn't like the Jewel at all- it had no solo programming and the entertainment and things weren't as good. 

Escape was most recent for me in 2018. I don't think one can go wrong with the Breakaway either

[nesila]

2 hours ago, wetcoast said:

I booked my first Virgin Voyages solo this week. I'm going on Valiant Lady for the 14 night eastbound transatlantic  May 1st '22. Its a really good deal as the price per day is about half of what I've seen for sailings in the Caribbean. Will be interesting to see what Virgin does for us solo's, I am happy they are including quite a large number of solo cabins on their ships.

I would book with Virgin if they would elaborate on the solos... I also like their solo oceanview cabin and would book one.... but without the information on the solo activities I'll stick to NCL for now

[hallux]

1 hour ago, nesila said:

I would book with Virgin if they would elaborate on the solos

Too bad the first sailings weren't allowed to happen or we'd have a report on this by now.

[wetcoast]

I booked the solo insider, I will look into upgrading when it gets closer to sailing. 

 

 

5 hours ago, farmersfight said:

Yes, good to see that Virgin Voyages is keeping us solo cruisers in mind. I agree, quite a few solo cabins on Valiant Lady (I'm sure Scarlett Lady as well). More solo insiders than solo seaviews. Interesting to note that the solo seaviews are larger  - 130 sq.ft than the solo insiders - 105 sq.ft. Even VV's smaller solo insiders are larger than NCL studio cabins - 99 sq. ft.

Yeah, usually transatlantics (repositionings) are less expensive than regular sailings (like sailings in the Caribbean, as you pointed out). Glad you got a good deal.

14 night cruise is a great length for a cruise (I've set my minimum of at least 12 nights). Plus, with VV there will be no kids! Btw, did you book a solo seaview or solo insider?

Bon Voyage in 2022.

 

Solo Seaview:

 

 

[Midwestern Cruiser]

12 hours ago, GTVCRUISER said:

 

I cruised on the Vision of the Seas years ago to Mexico and Cruised on the NCL Sun in 2015

 

Any bookings coming up?

[Midwestern Cruiser]

9 hours ago, samsnj said:

I had also cruised carnival a lot 30 years ago. I do like it as a fun ship, however found cruising solo NCL is much better and I also enjoy their entertainment and food is much better on NCL!

 

I've done two solos on NCL.  Enjoyed the host and it did make it easier to meet other single/solo cruisers BUT it sure seemed like the goal for many was to hook up and I felt so bad for one man who did and then realized that's all it was.
Do agree NCL dining room food is better, but think Carnival is best with no surcharge choices.  And I also had no problem finding fun people to hang out with.  Was disappointed by NCL entertainment and preferred Royal Caribbean over NCL and Carnival.

[Midwestern Cruiser]

9 hours ago, farmersfight said:

 

 

Imho, I don't think your Feb RCL Vision OTS cruise will sail (too soon). Your April/May NCL Sun has a better chance, especially if a vaccine is available to everybody by April 2021.

 

I won't cruise until there is a vaccine. Wearing masks and social distancing with a possibility of being quarantined is not my idea of a fun/relaxing cruise.

 

Only time will tell and I'm willing to risk booking since there really is no risk in making a change if the date arrives and it doesn't feel like a good idea.
A vaccine won't cure anything, just reduce symptoms, and masks or distancing aren't that much trouble for time on the water (IMO).

[Midwestern Cruiser]

6 hours ago, HowardK said:

I didn't like the Jewel at all- it had no solo programming and the entertainment and things weren't as good.

 

Sailed Jewel solo to Alaska in 2017 and found it to be at least as good as Getaway (Breakaway's sister) in 2018 RE solo planning.  Maybe it was more the host when you sailed?  Didn't notice that much difference in entertainment though.