best deals for solo cabins

[Roz]

Thanks for that link, Lorna, I'll have to check it out. Definitely consider the dining room. To me you miss a lot of the ambience of a cruise when you do room service dinner.

 

Roz

[BurBunny]

For this week, there was no Tuesday Happy Hour for Royal Caribbean, but they are doing a weekend Memorial Day Happy Hour instead - Friday to Monday - I expect the offers to be posted today or tomorrow.

[ladylawyer]

Thanks, Amber!

 

The specials are there, now. Nothing that made me want to rush to the phone, though. All East Coast and a couple of Meds. Hellooooooo, RCI! Some of us on the West Coast would like some Happy Hour Specials, too! ;)

[ladylawyer]

Thanks for that link, Lorna, I'll have to check it out. Definitely consider the dining room. To me you miss a lot of the ambience of a cruise when you do room service dinner.

 

Roz

 

Thanks Roz! Do you usually sit at a large table or smaller? Any recommended opening lines? DH and I ended up with a family of 6, at a table for 8, on one cruise. This family all but ignored us. We did the usual introductions, on the first night, and then they talked amongst themselves. I don't think they were being intentionally rude. It's just that they were together, as a family, and wanted to hear about each others' experiences for the day. DH and I felt like we were at a table by ourselves. :( I'm a little worried about that happening on my solo cruise. At least, on that cruise, I had DH to talk to. I really appreciate your recommendations, as you all seem to be pretty experienced at this. With DH's schedule, I suspect that this will not be my last solo cruise. ~ Lorna

[wrp96]

I usually try and get a larger table. That way if one or 2 of your tablemates don't show up you aren't left by yourself at dinner.

 

If you ever have the same situation again, talk to the maitre'd and ask to switch.

[Roz]

Lorna, I agree with wrp. I request a larger table, so there's bound to be someone(s) I hit it off with. I've never had a "bad" table. Conversation seems to take care of itself. Some good icebreakers are: Where are you from? What did you do before you retired? What other cruise lines have you sailed?

 

As the cruise progresses, you end up talking about what you did in port that day or what you thought about last night's after dinner show.

 

Roz

[ladylawyer]

Thanks Wrona and Roz! OK, you've talked me into it. I did ask for a large table, kinda with that thought in mind.

 

As for the other cruise, w/ the family, at the time I didn't know that you could ask for a different table. One of the things I love the most about Cruise Critic is the wealth of information!

 

By the way, Wrona, when is your Bar Exam? I assume it's in July (I think they're pretty standardized across the country and I took mine in July)? We're all pulling for you! :D ~ Lorna

[DEL67]

We got a good price for my sister on the Brilliance Transatlantic last fall - only about 125% of the double price. It was only available on one website which I believe had taken a block of cabins since only certain categories were less expensive than other sites. Therefore I would check several to see if one has a better price than another.

 

However my pet peeve is that often when there are extemely good prices, they will not even offer that price to a single even if the single is willing to pay 200%. We have found this especially true on Princess and Celebrity. For example last summer, pPincess was offering a last minute special of a 10 day British Isle cruise for $999. We could not get a triple, I subsiding the extra $999 for our adult daughter figuring that the total would still only average $1,333/person. However, we were told that the single did not qualify for the discount and her fare would be $3,000. We did not go.

[wrp96]

Thanks Wrona and Roz! OK, you've talked me into it. I did ask for a large table, kinda with that thought in mind.

 

As for the other cruise, w/ the family, at the time I didn't know that you could ask for a different table. One of the things I love the most about Cruise Critic is the wealth of information!

 

By the way, Wrona, when is your Bar Exam? I assume it's in July (I think they're pretty standardized across the country and I took mine in July)? We're all pulling for you! :D ~ Lorna

 

It's the last week in July - most states' are (except Louisiana). I did find out I only have to take the multi-state portion over again so that's a little less of a worry. I'm currently waiting to hear from a Federal Judge to see if I got a clerkship.

[ladylawyer]

It's the last week in July - most states' are (except Louisiana). I did find out I only have to take the multi-state portion over again so that's a little less of a worry. I'm currently waiting to hear from a Federal Judge to see if I got a clerkship.

 

Good luck on that. Do you have PMBR (a MBE prep course) available? I found it to be very helpful! They use prior MBE questions and I recognized some of my prep questions, when I took the exam. Just a thought.

 

DEL67, that seems so unfair that you were willing to pay the full asking price, and they wouldn't accept that. I guess they felt that, since they were already discounting the cabin, they didn't want to lose more money by not having an additional person to buy drinks, shore excursions and gift shop items. Although I didn't have to pay the full 200%, for my solo cruise on the Monarch, I did notice that there were some classes of cabins that "disappeared from availability" when I changed my booking from 2 persons to 1. :rolleyes:

 

On the Happy Hour list, I noticed that most of the cruises listed solos at 200%, although some were at 150%. I wonder what their criteria is.

[wrp96]

Good luck on that. Do you have PMBR (a MBE prep course) available? I found it to be very helpful! They use prior MBE questions and I recognized some of my prep questions, when I took the exam. Just a thought.

 

I've got the PMBR books and have been going through the questions ever since I found out I didn't pass.

[chicagolass]

Hi Kryos, Can you answer a few questions for us please. My husband wants to do

the same Panama Canal trip as you, though in December. However, the itinerary shows only a 2 hours stopover in Panama (7-9am). Then 7-3p.m. in Colon, Panama. When does the ship go through the lock? There's no mention of it in the Ports of Call descriptions. But common sense tells us that it must

since it's the reason to go to the Panama Canal. He thought it would take

4-6 hours to go through. We see that you've already been to Panama.

 

Also, he also wants to go solo. Expedia is quoting a price of $1700 with

charges included for an inside cabin (cheapest) We think that sounds

reasonable. Is it? It's a 50% solo.

Who knows maybe he'll end up going last minute in October on your cruise.

Thanks for any info you can give us.

p.s. are you worried about the hurricane season in Oct.?

[wrp96]

Haven't been on your exact trip, but does it say Panama Canal (Gatun Lake) if so you will probably start going through the Canal about 5:30 or 6. Then after you've dropped off passengers in the lake for their tours, you will go back out the Gatun Locks in order to dock at Colon (Colon is outside the canal). When we went through it took about 1-1/2 hours to actually go through the Gatun Locks. The full transit cruises are the ones that take several hours to go through the Canal. Now, some other cruises (Carnival) don't even go into the canal at all, they just dock at Colon and then offer excursions to the Canal.

 

$1700 is a great price for a single cabin on a Canal cruise.