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So like the title says I am heading for my first solo cruise. First time solo, first time on Voyager, first time in an interior room!, first cruise in wave season. Last cruise as Emerald, seriously being just 2 points from Diamond just doesn't sit well with me! So I am writing this partially to keep track of what I am doing as that is normally a duty assumed by the Darling Wife (DW), partially because I am excited and just want to share the fun! Next Friday is online check in so tonight I went and found my passport. I know how and when I am getting from point A to B and back again and even a little bit of what I am going to do. I'll start packing after new years and I'll start panicking Feb 1st! Sunday afternoon Feb 4th: Drive from Arlington to Galveston, set up at the state park and find a good dinner. This is subject to change as, if the Battleship Texas is still doing dry dock tours and I can get a spot I might have to drive down at o'dark 30. Have to wait and see on that one. I will kick back and do my onboarding safety video and such durring dinner. Monday Feb 5th: Wake up, stretch, drink a canned doubleshot or two and gawk at the probable fog bank. Pretty common in Galveston in February so i am just planning on it. After I break down and go find breakfast I'll read the weather updates from the local news and from Royal telling me about the fog. After that drop off the truck at Discount Cruise parking and take the tram to the Terminal. This won't be my first time at the new terminal, but the DW and I like Jr Suites so I will see the concourse I haven't been through yet. I hear it's pretty nice. Then it's on to Voyager for Lunch, a Virgin Mango Daiquiri, visit my muster station and eventually find my room. (I am one of Bill's Friends so my party planning may bit a bit off from others) Tuesday Feb 6th: I am a Bum. Sleeping in for sure. I honestly have no idea what I am going to do. Maybe read, maybe sketch, definitely watch flying fish off the promenade rail. I love watching the flying fish. However it is my first time solo so I have no other schedule. I might go hang in the card room and see if I can find a game of cribbage. Might watch a show. Might nap on deck all day! For sure going to snack a lot. Wednesday Feb 7th: Still sleeping in, Still being a bum. I plan to be up on deck around 4-ish. As we pull in to Cozumel for the night Icon should be casting off her lines. It will be cool to see the ship on one of her first runs. Once we are moored and the gangway is down I plan to find my way downtown to Cozumel Coffee Company and enjoy a few cups of dark stuff. Thursday Feb 8th: Not sleeping in, going ParaSailing. This will be a first for me as well. then relax, do some shopping.. yup back to being a bum! As I will be up early I might see if I can find a good local breakfast before my adventure and definately have to find a good lunch. Maybe stay up late on the top deck and read there till my battery runs out or I fall asleep. Friday Feb 9th: back to Bumsville! besides taking some time to pack in the evening plans are pretty much the same as Tuesday. Saturday Feb 10th: Sigh... disembark and drive back to the real world! Have to get back in time to do laundry and get ready for Scout Sunday. A cub scout leaders work doesn't take weekends off! I do have to swing back through the Strand and pick up a small cargo from Katie's before heading north though. So there it is my plan in a nutshell. everything is booked reserved and ready to go from the Park to picking up my truck in parking lot when I get back. I'll find out where they seat me in the dining room and let ya'll know what I think of solo cruising along the way! If you have any ship board suggestions of things to do, let me know.
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Hi, all! Been lurking but not posting. Now that the dust is settling from a very busy November and December, I'm starting to realize I'm going on TWO magnificent cruises on BIG ships very soon. I'm sailing Oasis of the Seas out of Miami next Sunday, and when that's over, I'll be disembarking, scooting over to Fort Lauderdale, and boarding the Celebrity Ascent that same day. Although I've been on the Allure many times and I've been on Symphony, I've never been on Oasis. Super excited. Traveling solo and I have a balcony room overlooking central Park. That will be a first for me as well! Another first will be sailing with Celebrity! Very interested in trying out the X brand! I have a solo cabin on the Ascent with an "infinite veranda" so I'm very interested in what that looks like. It was quite the bargain and I booked this cruise almost a year ago. Am I allowed to cover my Celebrity cruise here? If so, I will, if not, I will take you all along with me on Oasis and then we'll wrap it up. Here's our itinerararies: OASIS: Sunday, Jan. 14 1. Miami departure 2. Nassau 3. Coco Cay 4. Sea Day 5. Labadee 6. Falmouth, Jamaica 7. Sea Day ASCENT: Jan. 21 1. Ft. Lauderdale departure 2. Nassau 3. Sea Day 4. Cozumel 5. Sea Day 6. George Town, Grand Cayman 7. Sea Day Really looking forward to the fun. If anyone wants any specific info on either ship, I will recon. Another first: I bought "The Key" for Oasis, so I will check out embarkation day perks and that Choppes Grill lunch on boarding day. Quick share: Last May, I picked up norovirus on the Disney Dream. HOLY SMOKES. Never ever never again, please please please. In September, I got Covid (third time), on Princess in Alaska. Should I just give up on cruising? Have I no immune system? And let me tell you, no one on those ships washed their hands more than I did. So. We will see. Also: This is interesting: I discovered that Oasis is a group cruise for 800 people that play "Dice Tower." They have the Windjammer reserved for after dinners and you need a badge to join them. Really hoping you guys will follow along because I am genuinely excited to be back on the oasis class ships, without a doubt my favorite class of ships out there. Symphony last spring was magnificent, I went with my son to the Mediterranean. Looking forward to the whole week! Lots of photos to come!
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I leave tomorrow morning on a B2B Celebrity Caribbean Cruise. The booking is in a Solo Balcony cabin with premium everything and shore excursions in every port. It was an unbelievable deal that had premium everything and $1,500 OBC. I am a 63-year-old single man that has about 30 cruises under my belt. I cruised the first 10 with my first wife. I cruised the next 12 with my son as a Single Parent. The next 6 were as a Solo Cruiser and the last 6 have been a mixture of Solo and with my 26-year-old son. I have always loved cruising and loved planning them and going on them. I am past my planned retirement date and have a new plan on retiring November 2024. My work keeps making me offers where it is hard to retire. After I retire, I am planning on doing a lot of travel and cruising. For now, I work 60 hours a week and Coach Water Polo in my free time. Now you are wondering about my title... For the last few months, I knew it was coming and I leave tomorrow, and I really don't care. I am not excited and do not know what to expect. It is not that I do not want to go but I am not looking forward to the cruise like I have on all my others in the past. I go to the airport in 9 hours and have not packed yet. I did print my documents and cleaned out my backpack but have not packed anything back in it. I am setting her thinking I need to pack and get ready to leave but it is hard to get moving. I am writing this blog in hopes it will: Help me get excited. or Give me something to do. or Both If you would like to follow and see how it goes, I will keep you posted. Traveling Mike Celebrity Beyond November 22, 2023 - 9 Night Aruba, Curacao & Cayman Cruise December 1, 2023 - 10 Night Ultimate Southern Caribbean
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Just putting feelers out. Is there a forum for solo crusiers to plan activities as a group ashore or similar on board?
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I have started one of my bucket list type of vacations. This morning I left Fresno California in a one way rental car. I drove 4 hours to the Los Angeles Airport. Now I am doing my 6 hour wait for my flight. I will be flying to Prague in the Czech Republic. From there I will be taking a train to Copenhagen Denmark. After a couple of days there I will be getting on the Voyager of the Seas for a Trans-Atlantic Artic Cruise. If this sounds interesting stay tuned for the details and pictures. Mike
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Note: Page one is Symphony of the Seas. I start Celebrity Reflection tomorrow on page 2 Just took my Covid test and it came back negative. Now is the hard part, packing for 14 days at sea on two different ships. If you would like to follow me that would be great; I am no writer and my thought often get scattered but we will have fun. In the past I have done this for my friends and coworkers but I have started using Royal Caribbean Blog and thought this was a great medium to post my thoughts and experiences. I will be like a bad penny and my posts will keep showing up here. Introduction: Name: Michael, Mike, Traveling Mike, Dad, Coach.. Age: 61 … Still trying to figure out if I am old enough for the adults table at Thanksgiving Home Town: Fresno California … I have to say I also have been from Kingsburg CA and Paris Texas Traveling With: Solo.. I have been a single father for 24 years traveling with my son and now he stays at home and works so my traveling partner is myself now. Occupation: I spent 16 years driving truck, went back to school and now I drive a Computer (computer programmer) Spare Time: I coach water polo. I coach elementary kids and high school varsity Cruising Experience: as close as I can figure I have been on 20 cruises (5 with 1st wife, 12 with my son & 3 solo) (5 Disney, 6 Carnival, 1 RCL, 4 NCL, 3 Princes, 1 Celebrity) 2 days before my cruise: I am setting at work and do not want to work. I have lots of thing to do but nothing I want to do. I work for a School District and they have free testing every day. Because I coach water polo and am around lots of kids I test every Thursday. This worked great because today I just walked across the street and took the test. Fifteen minutes later, I got the results, printed them and saved them on my one drive (some place in the computer world that keeps my files so I can get them later). I have printed and saved everything on the cloud so as long as I have phone service or internet I can retrieve them. I have been told to print everything because they will ask multiple times at the port. .... I have to stop for now because someone is wanting me to do my job
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Im a cruise newbee and trying to book two adults and an infant. I noticed that booking double occupancy suite is more expensive than booking a solo suite and solo inside room. Even if we dont end up utilizing the inside room it seems to be a better option. Can this be done? Any downside to booking two seperate rooms vs one on a double occupancy?
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Hello all. We have some Western Caribbean cruises coming up. Ports of call are Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel. For those of you who have done excursions solo (that is, no one else in your cruising party joined you), what were your favorites, and what would you not do again?
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This board is always so helpful and I was wondering about the studios on some RCC ships. I am mostly a solo traveler so I am use to paying the supplement. I am looking to possibly book on Odyssey of the seas Nov 28 2021. I saw a balcony room that was $800 less than OV. It says studio balcony and features a full bed instead of the royal king. Mariner also tried to give me a studio interior when I booked my Jan 2021 sailing, no dice. Has anyone sailed in one of these? Are they still charged the double occupancy price? Will you still get double C&A points? Are there any benefits besides the price points? Thanks in Advance
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Hello all! Hoping you enjoy this "live-blog" style recap of my first cruise. A little about myself and the trip: I was completely new to cruising before this trip. I knew it was something I wanted to do, and I knew that I would have time off in-between Christmas and the first Friday of the new year, so I decided it try it out. I tried to get a friend to come along, but ended up deciding to do a solo trip instead. I've done solo traveling in the past, so I was not worried about this aspect. Around the end of July, I worked with a family friend who is also a travel agent to find different cruises that fit my time and budget (including any flights that might be needed). I had looked at itineraries from other cruise lines as well, but this one stood out to me the most. Once I put down my deposit, I started some research and found Royal Caribbean Blog, which proved to be invaluable! Part of my goal with this trip was to see exactly how much I could do included with the cruise. I didn't book any excursions before my trip, or on-board. I didn't purchase any drink packages, preferring to pay by the drink as I realized I would most definitely not be able to keep pace to make the deluxe drink package worthwhile. I did receive $50 on-board credit through my travel agent when she booked for me. I used part of this for a lunch reservation at Chops Grill on embarkation day, which I booked online ahead of the cruise. I did not purchase any Voom packages ahead of time, or on-board. I thought it would be a nice way to start the year, with some technology disconnect. Itinerary 12/30/19 - Miami 12/31/19 - Key West 01/01/20 - Sea Day 01/02/20 - Perfect Day at Coco Cay 01/03/20 - Miami I am still fiddling around with some of the photos I took on this trip, so please feel free to ask any questions in between posts!
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Hello everyone, I was on Mariner last week. It was a good cruise. I created a journal to share my experience. It was my first time on Royal, first time solo, 2nd cruise overall. Here is how Embarkation day went for me. https://www.traveldiariesapp.com/en/PublicDiary/2cb02767-7602-43ed-bf1f-cdbc9639f709/Chapter/1cbc9a77-5835-4447-a36d-c7b05d506f58 https://www.traveldiariesapp.com/en/PublicDiary/2cb02767-7602-43ed-bf1f-cdbc9639f709/Chapter/7a1e7edd-27d3-4e94-8913-8178ef228fdb Enjoy. William
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Hello all, I’ve searched and cannot find an answer, so my apologies if it’s in the forums and I’ve missed it. Does anyone know if an easy way to search all cruises for studio cabins? If I just wanted to book a cruise and did not care where to, or when, but wanted to find just studio interior or studio balcony. Is there an easy one stop search for this option that I’m missing on royals website or another source I should be looking at to find this? I really dread the laboring task of searching all sailings and all ships, those cabins book quickly. Thanks, jim
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Feb 7, Explorer of the Seas. Hi all, I have a solo traveller that is looking to share an Interior Room expense but won't be staying in the room. If anybody have a group of 2 or 3, that would be ideal. Another solo cruiser will work too. For your trouble, you will get a bigger room as she won't be staying in the room. Thanx.
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Hi all... Now booked on the Mariner of the seas departing and returning to Singapore 8th Feb 2018 for 7 nights. Firstly this is all new to me, if I am already repeating a well trodden path on this forum elsewhere then I apologise, I have had a quick whizz through and found 1 post which provided some pointers but wanted to start my own post for getting some feedback. As a mid 50's male I am familiar with solo travel (and solo travel in groups of solo's) as I have been doing that for the last 5 years (mostly roughing it in Africa or camping/trekking in the US), I don't mind my own company in places where people are limited in number, however, this cruise will be slightly different because although on my own, I will be completely surrounded by "couples and families". This I think may then just highlight the fact I am solo and maybe feel a little lost in a sea of people. I consider myself to be a normal sociable person and able to adapt to my immediate environment and always happy to meet new people of all ages etc but I hate to feel that I am possibly going to be imposing or interrupting someones else's holiday on this cruise. So a few questions spring to mind:- 1) Is it worth making the staff know that I am on my own and would they generally be willing to assist in identifying other solo's to perhaps create an aggregated group for dining and doing land excursions, on board activities etc? 2) If nothing like question 1 is available, what is the protocol at dinner to arranging a place at a table? do the waiters/maitre d' drag you along to a table and then request the other guests if "they mind if a stray sits with them" - that could be a bit embarrassing if they do! or do they have selected areas to place solos among other guests? 3) On shore excursions, how can I avoid becoming a "tail end charlie" as everyone else goes off and "does their thing"? Most experiences are better if shared, on other group holidays I have been on, the sharing and associated chatter etc has always been a great part of it during and afterwards, but I am a little concerned that this may not be quite the same. Thanks in anticipation Martin
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