Mediterranean cruises....solo meets?

[UnbridledEnthusiasm]

I'm in my 30s and hoping to do a Mediterranean cruise this summer. I know the longer the cruise, the more elderly the people are. I've always met people to hang out with close to my age on NCL by going to most of the meet ups. I went on a Princess cruise and did 3 of their meet ups but they were all my parents' age. With the exception of these, they were old Alaskan cruises. 

 

Are Mediterranean cruises something that solo people in my range typically skip? I've narrowed it down to a few sailings. 

 

NCL Breakaway-11 night; only 1 sea day. 

 

NCL Gem- 8 nights; 0 sea days. 

 

RC Rhapsody- 7 nights, 1 sea day. 

 

RC Enchantment- 7 nights, 1 sea day. 

 

On top of it, it seems like the only active (or somewhat active) meet up will be the embarkment day being that there are so many port days until it's already after 6 PM. Are these cruises not good for meeting people if you are solo for that reason?

 

I'm kind of sensing that Med cruises are really just about transportation, breakfast, and coming in at night to watch a show and eat dinner. I mean I know you can stay on ship when at port but I wouldn't do that because I've never been to these places. This is why I'm spending money on an outside cabin or balcony. Will be dark by the time I'm back in the room. 

Edited May 1, 2023 by UnbridledEnthusiasm

[Lois R]

Hi, I have never sailed with NCL and only a couple of times on Royal but I can tell you as a solo guest, I love cruising on my own and have done the Med multiple times over the years......I LOVE seeing places in Europe and no, for me, anyway, the cruise is much more than "just transportation"......I love seeing the architecture and learning about the history of places and events and yes, I love cruising🙂

As for meeting other solo guests? That is not a priority for me.......I have been cruising solo for 20 years but marital status of others just doesn't come into play (for me). I enjoy meeting all types of folks, married, single, divorced, etc........friendly folks......I don't care if they are single or not.  I just came back from a 11 night cruise around Turkey and Greece with only 1 sea day......I went on tour almost every day and had a fantastic time🙂

Hope you have a great cruise too.......whichever itinerary you choose🙂

[UnbridledEnthusiasm]

It's transportation to see architecture and learning about the history of places and events.

[Sprigs616]

Perhaps do some lurking on the Cruise Critic roll calls for each of your preferred itineraries to see if there are any solos that are active on the thread.  Roll Calls are a great place to learn about any private tours that have space available, too. 

 

 

[eileeshb]

I did the med on Epic just after the resumption from covid so there weren't any hosted solos gatherings. The ship was very lightly populated for that one only 1200 to 1500 guests aboard depending on which staff member you asked.

If you do excursions you'll meet people on those, I met another 2 solos on 2 of my excursions simply because we'd to share a row on the buses.

Join the roll call for the cruise you pick and you'll get to know some people before you even board the ship.

I would say that Breakaway has the studio cabins so there will definitely be other solos aboard and if you're in a studio you'll run into others in the Studio lounge at random times. 

The ports of call are long days on the Mediterranean itineraries, I did a lot of walking on my excursions so I spent a fair bit of time in the thermal suite recovering from that. I didn't miss the solo meetups but then I was on that trip after a summer of 6-day weeks in a very busy retail store so I wasn't feeling particularly sociable. 

[UnbridledEnthusiasm]

3 hours ago, eileeshb said:

I did the med on Epic just after the resumption from covid so there weren't any hosted solos gatherings. The ship was very lightly populated for that one only 1200 to 1500 guests aboard depending on which staff member you asked.

If you do excursions you'll meet people on those, I met another 2 solos on 2 of my excursions simply because we'd to share a row on the buses.

Join the roll call for the cruise you pick and you'll get to know some people before you even board the ship.

I would say that Breakaway has the studio cabins so there will definitely be other solos aboard and if you're in a studio you'll run into others in the Studio lounge at random times. 

The ports of call are long days on the Mediterranean itineraries, I did a lot of walking on my excursions so I spent a fair bit of time in the thermal suite recovering from that. I didn't miss the solo meetups but then I was on that trip after a summer of 6-day weeks in a very busy retail store so I wasn't feeling particularly sociable. 

 

 

The studios are actually more expensive than the interior on the sailings I'm interested in. I don't really do most excursions tbh and prefer just kind of doing my own thing and figuring it out when I get there. I kind of figured what you said that people won't be the most social after a  long day out on a port. I'm realizing that the Med cruises don't really seem to be the best for the solo meets because of all the port days and long time at ports. 

[eileeshb]

18 hours ago, UnbridledEnthusiasm said:

 

 

The studios are actually more expensive than the interior on the sailings I'm interested in. I don't really do most excursions tbh and prefer just kind of doing my own thing and figuring it out when I get there. I kind of figured what you said that people won't be the most social after a  long day out on a port. I'm realizing that the Med cruises don't really seem to be the best for the solo meets because of all the port days and long time at ports. 

Unfortunately NCL seem to be incapable of adapting their daily schedules to a specific itinerary. Every cruise I've done the solo meet-up has been sometime between 5 and 6pm regardless of port schedules. For my med cruise I went with a regular inside cabin as I was booking last minute and it was dirt cheap so I never went near the studio lounge. I was on Epic a few months later in a Studio and the meetups were back to normal by then but that was Southern Caribbean itinerary so it was relatively short times at port. 

[UnbridledEnthusiasm]

1 hour ago, eileeshb said:

Unfortunately NCL seem to be incapable of adapting their daily schedules to a specific itinerary. Every cruise I've done the solo meet-up has been sometime between 5 and 6pm regardless of port schedules. For my med cruise I went with a regular inside cabin as I was booking last minute and it was dirt cheap so I never went near the studio lounge. I was on Epic a few months later in a Studio and the meetups were back to normal by then but that was Southern Caribbean itinerary so it was relatively short times at port. 

Ah okay. Yes that's what I have always seen too regardless of it being a sea or port day...between 5-6. I believe on some of their cruises I did see meet ups early in the AM as well but I was eating breakfast or still sleeping at those times. I think possibly NCL figured that the AM would attract older people and the afternoon one would attract younger people. 

 

I think if I book I just need to go with the mindset that I'm using the ship as a place to sleep, get me to places, have a half board meal plan, and see the occasional show at night rather than a good way to meet new people to get to know. 

 

The studio cabins are now the same price as the oceanview cabins which amazes me lol. 

[RedgeToo]

I'm a bit older than you, well more than a bit. In fact, I'm the generation you're trying to avoid 

 

Last September, I cruised the Med with Princess out of Barcelona.

 

Princess was pretty good with meet-ups for both straight and LBGQT+MGBGT people.

 

At the meet-ups, I met some lovely people aged from 22 to 70m with the 70-year-old lady able to dance the night away long after the youngsters had gone to bed.

 

I'm naturally gregarious so I don't have a problem laughing and joking with strangers of any age. and kept in touch with a 22-year-old man from America for a short while and a 28-year-old woman from Ireland who I still talk to.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[eileeshb]

On 5/2/2023 at 4:58 PM, UnbridledEnthusiasm said:

The studio cabins are now the same price as the oceanview cabins which amazes me lol.

That's fairly normal as NCL sees the studio lounge as a bonus feature and think of the Studio complex as a Haven for solos without all the extra bells & whistles. The meetups coordinator will usually organise a table at a specific restaurant each night after day 1 and book for a group to attend the theatre shows, we were brought in through a backstage corridor for early access to the theater on Epic. After that any extra activities depend on the itinerary and the coordinator assigned. 

[UnbridledEnthusiasm]

1 hour ago, eileeshb said:

That's fairly normal as NCL sees the studio lounge as a bonus feature and think of the Studio complex as a Haven for solos without all the extra bells & whistles. The meetups coordinator will usually organise a table at a specific restaurant each night after day 1 and book for a group to attend the theatre shows, we were brought in through a backstage corridor for early access to the theater on Epic. After that any extra activities depend on the itinerary and the coordinator assigned. 

You don't have to be staying in a studio cabin in order to attend the solo cruiser events. You just cant access the studio lounge