www.singlescruise.com
 

You should checkout www.singlescruise.com to see if any of their departures are the cruise you are interesed in. They have a robust onboard activity agenda (singles mingles) but if you dont want to participate its fine. They can tell you the mix of passengers--age & gender if you are interested in the group activities, dining, shore excursions, etc.

If you just want to cruise alone, still call Singles Cruise because they know the cruise lines and ships that accommodate single guests the best.

Really wish I was at a place in life where I could travel alone and not be asked by almost all of my family and friends "why?!" :D

The NCL studio concept sounds awesome. ^

Agreed. I would love to do a cruise alone but I'm sure the wife would be upset.

Don't be so sure......when they don't ask "why", it means they're not surprised that you're alone and expect you're always be alone for the rest of your life :(

I think the studio cabins are a horrible and kind of insulting idea (as in "hey, we're going to try to sell you the worst real estate on the ship and make the ship even more crowded, but we think you'll buy it by giving it a fancy name and marketing it as a "special" option.")

I want to cruise solo on a ship that values me as they do every other passenger, not on a ship that tries to sell me a smaller, less attractive space on a more crowded ship by telling me it's been created specially for people like me.....as if "people like me" (those traveling solo) aren't worth an outside or balcony cabin of a reasonable size. When they offer studio cabins with a balcony, then I'll rethink them.

They're selling space, square feet of space. Am I wrong in thinking it costs less to spend a week in a studio than as a single in an inside cabin? Remember they can sell the inside to 2 people at once. The studio fits exactly one (unless you meet someone ;) ).

Costs less to the cruise line? Yes

Costs less to the passenger? Sometimes. It depends on the voyage (itinerary, time of year)......Sometimes (not commonly) it's actually cheaper to sail solo in a regular cabin than it is in a studio.


Cruise lines are selling more than space - they're also selling food, drink, activities, and recreational facilities. I'm not opposed to the idea of solo cabins, I just think the ridiculously small size (100 sq ft) and the interior-only options are almost insulting.

If the single rooms cost, say, 55-60% of what a regular cabin cost, I'd be perfectly happy to pay that amount. I do think essentially 100% single supplement (i.e., same cost as two people) is stupid, and likely costs the cruise lines some lost bookings.

I agree. However, they can charge what the market will bear, and apparently their plan still works for them (mass market lines, at least) - their ships always sail full. Of course, they sometimes offer huge sales to fill the slower-selling voyages.

The cruise lines have run the numbers and I guess the numbers suggest that most of the time it is better to have 2 in every cabin in order to sell drinks, tours, stuff in on board shops etc. Hat's off to Norweigan for the studio concept. No matter what size the cabin is, everything else onboard is the same.
BTW, 100% single supplement is not the same price as 2 people since you don't pay the port charges for the 2nd person.

To be honest, I've never seen the prices on the studios. Not that I'd be cruising solo myself, but the NCL grid pops up with the range of cabins and prices when I go through the search process. But every cruise I've looked at, the studios are already sold out - even a year in advance. So someone thinks they're a better option than a single supplement in a double cabin.

I work intensely with people all year long. I LOVE to vacation alone to allow me to do exactly what I want when I want to do it. I cruise once or twice a year alone. I like NCL because there is no set sitting/table so you can eat alone or if you meet people can share a meal together. They do not have set tables/times. I have never taken their Studio cabin, but have often found decent rates for a single. I have gotten some good rates on RCCL. But my preference is NCL for the dining experience for a single.

I've been traveling single for the last five years or so, and I do it a lot.

wrp96 summarized it well - complete freedom to do whatever whenever, but also times when you wished you had a companion.

The worst part is the 100% single supplement, although the VTG site has a good list of low single supplement cruises - there are more than you might think - seems like Carnival and Princess are the mid-price cruise lines that appear most.

Once you get up to a certain level on Royal (340 points?), they reduce the single supplement to 150% on all of their cruises - that has made my selection process a lot easier. However, always ask the cruise line if they have a "single rate" - I have had good luck many times, usually on longer (especially transatlantic) cruises - supplements have run 20%-30%, although once there was none. :D

Most cruise lines run "single" events (lunch, happy hour, or late evening), although I suggest going to the 1st/2nd day events - people tend to diminish after that.

If you're single, so probably will be your tablemates, and many of those do not show up (as noted in a post above), instead opting for the buffet. If you end up with an empty table, talk to the dining room manager and ask to join another table - have met many people that way.

Still, there are a lot of "frequent cruisers" that repeat often - probably 7 or 8 people that I knew from previous cruises on my last transatlantic trip on the Allure.

BTW, once nice perk about Royal - if you do book as a single, you get double points, which gets you higher status quicker. I believe Celebrity may have adopted that policy as well recently, but that's why I switched to Royal some time back.