How I Cruise Solo Better (& Cheaper!) Than Anybody Else

Name: How I Cruise Solo Better (& Cheaper!) Than Anybody Else | Open Video
Uploaded: 2025-01-28T05:21:48+00:00
Duration: 16 min 42 s

0:00
part way through a recent summer
0:02
Mediterranean Cruise I was looking down
0:04
the pool deck it was packed with happy
0:06
Cruisers having a great time but it
0:07
struck me I was on the wrong Cruise Line
0:10
as a solo Cruiser I should have avoided
0:13
this particular one Not only was it
0:15
costing me the same as the couple
0:18
in the cabin next to me but I was also
0:19
feeling rather kind of left out despite
0:21
the throngs of happy people that were
0:24
all around me on the cruise welcome
0:25
aboard I'm Gary bembridge 18 of our last
0:28
20 Cruisers have been solo and after
0:31
that experience I took a step backwards
0:33
and I want to share with you what I
0:35
realized makes for a much better solo
0:39
Cruise experience first off I realized I
0:42
must Focus my plans back on lines that
0:44
are more interested in us as they also
0:47
tend to offer more solar cabins lower
0:49
supplement deals and a better solo
0:52
onboard experience now one fellow of the
0:54
channel Peter actually put this rather
0:56
nicely by suggesting there are three
0:59
types of cruise lines first those who
1:02
actively appreciate encourage and
1:04
embrace us as solo Cruisers lions like
1:08
Norwegian Cruise Line Saga Ambassador
1:10
and Fred Olsen these lines have many set
1:14
of cabins they have frequent Deals they
1:15
have activities and importantly the crew
1:17
and the programs are used to dealing
1:20
with and addressing kind of the needs of
1:22
us as solo Cruisers the second group
1:24
which are in reality most of the cruise
1:27
lines are those that see us as a kind of
1:29
interesting sideline but whose main
1:32
priority remains coupled families
1:34
multi-generational Travelers you know
1:36
we're a bit of an afterthought now
1:38
includes lines that I have been on like
1:40
celebrity Holland America Cunard Pinot
1:44
cruises virgin voyages silver sea
1:46
Windstar Oceania and pananton here you
1:48
might be surprised about some of those
1:50
and I'll come to a little bit later why
1:52
then the third group where I or other
1:55
solos have felt most out of place are
1:58
lions which I think actually show very
2:01
little interest in us now interestingly
2:03
the leader in each of the four main
2:06
Cruise categories actually fall into
2:08
this group so Carnival Cruise Line in
2:10
the mass Resort category
2:12
princess in the premium category Viking
2:15
in the small ship luxury and Seabourn in
2:18
the Ultra Luxury these lines have no
2:20
solar cabins they have no to very rare
2:23
solar promotions they have limited solo
2:25
focus on board certainly in my
2:27
experience now many people have also
2:28
told me they believe Royal Caribbean
2:30
should fall into this group too but
2:32
there is another factor that I found
2:34
does impact my solo experience even more
2:37
by taking that into account there's
2:40
another thing that I really need to
2:41
focus on after going solo on classic
2:43
ocean Expedition River and Barge
2:46
Cruisers I feel most comfortable I
2:48
realized when going smaller this is
2:52
where I find solo cruising works best
2:55
for example I went on a barge Cruise in
2:58
France on crossy Europe Deborah there
3:00
were just 15 people there mostly French
3:02
they all knew that I was solo from the
3:04
minute I got on and they included me in
3:06
absolutely everything the same I found
3:09
also on River Cruises you know you've
3:11
got between 150 people and it's the same
3:13
I've found the same to also be true on
3:17
smaller ocean ships like Azamara Quest I
3:20
was on Oceania Insignia and Windstar
3:22
star Breeze there are not many people on
3:24
the ship they get to know and include me
3:27
really easily and it's all without much
3:29
effort just because you know each other
3:30
and you see everybody all around I feel
3:33
more and more uncomfortable the bigger
3:36
and the bigger the ship gets so for
3:37
example on a recent Sky princess with
3:39
over 3 600 passengers mostly couples and
3:42
families it was much harder and I felt
3:45
much more left out to sort of be
3:46
included and involved now importantly
3:48
really importantly on smaller ships all
3:51
the crew quickly get to know me they get
3:54
to know that I'm traveling solo and
3:56
they're not doing that awful thing where
3:58
crew keeps saying in a kind of surprise
4:01
judgmental tone are you by yourself is
4:03
no one joining you I get a lot of that
4:05
on bigger ships because of course the
4:06
crew don't know that you're by yourself
4:08
they don't recognize and know you
4:10
because you're just one of many
4:11
thousands
4:12
but with all of that in mind how though
4:15
do I find I can Cruise cheaper even when
4:18
doing all of that cruise lines almost
4:20
always make us solos pay the same price
4:24
as two people because of course they
4:27
want a certain Revenue per cabin now
4:30
while I must have been on many of my
4:31
cruises I still am paying the same as if
4:33
my partner Mark was coming with me there
4:35
are five key things I have found that
4:38
help me get around or reduce that
4:40
supplement I always Focus first on
4:43
trying to get a seller cabin as this is
4:46
often the best way of getting a lower
4:49
price however I do find I need to plan
4:52
really far in advance because there are
4:54
still very few of them in fact they're
4:56
so limited that I was able to list all
4:58
the lines and all the ships of them on
5:01
my website tips for travelers.com
5:03
in doing that list I spotted three
5:05
really interesting things which will
5:07
help as you look for ships one it's
5:10
mostly newer ships or recently renovated
5:12
ones as Cruise Line slowly become more
5:14
aware that solo Travelers like you and I
5:18
is a big trend for example celebrity
5:20
used to only have four solar cabins on
5:23
only one of their older Solstice class
5:25
ships the silhouette but when The Edge
5:27
class came in they've now got between 16
5:29
and 24 the same there's two on the newer
5:31
Holland America ships even Oceania a big
5:33
favorite of mine they're installing
5:35
solar cabins right across their Fleet
5:37
the second thing I noticed is that UK
5:39
based Cruise Lines offer more solar
5:42
cabins than any other Cruise Line groups
5:44
lines like Ambassador they have 89 solar
5:47
cabins on their ships Fred Olsen has
5:49
between 37 and 64. they've added solar
5:52
cabins onto the ships they bought from
5:54
Holland America twenty percent of saga
5:57
cruises cabins are Solo the third thing
6:00
I noticed is that the most comprehensive
6:02
solar Caverns are is still a Norwegian
6:05
Cruise Line they have this what they
6:07
call solo Studios you have a key card
6:09
access area a solo traveler's Lounge
6:12
some ships have almost a hundred of
6:14
these they're pretty small though
6:16
they're all inside cabins they're not
6:18
actually my idea of fun
6:20
importantly though when I'm looking at
6:22
solar cabins in addition to booking way
6:24
in advance I always compare fares with
6:28
what that line and ship is offering on
6:29
an ocean view and an inside cabin
6:31
because they're often still cheaper even
6:34
if you're paying a surcharge then the
6:36
solo cabin you know solar cabins are in
6:37
high demand prices shoot up and people
6:39
focus on them and they don't look at
6:41
comparing with what other cabins are
6:42
going for now the next thing that I rely
6:44
on a lot probably more than the first
6:47
one is I like a balcony cabin so I
6:49
constantly look out for low or no Solo
6:53
Traveler deals
6:55
I sign up for email marketing
6:57
newsletters for all the cruise lines I'm
7:00
interested in because that's normally
7:01
where I found they announce their solo
7:04
deals and offers I also asked my travel
7:06
agent Sarah Bolton of travel counselors
7:08
to constantly be on the lookout
7:10
searching out for solar deals and alert
7:13
me when they come along so having travel
7:14
agents another good way of doing it now
7:16
I've had really good success with this
7:18
especially on luxury and small ship
7:21
lines both of my Expedition cruises on
7:24
Silversea had really low solar deals as
7:26
well as my panont Antarctica my Asmara
7:29
Mediterranean Cruise my region 70s
7:30
Caribbean cruise and an upcoming
7:33
Windstar Norway Iceland cruise I find
7:35
most of these deals happen in what I
7:37
call the shoulder period so early and
7:40
late in the Mediterranean and Caribbean
7:41
season so you're talking like March
7:43
April time September October time but
7:46
also the transatlantic repositioning of
7:48
ships around these times is a great time
7:50
for solo deals too another really good
7:52
way I find you know solo deals is going
7:55
to whose aggregation side so
7:57
vacations2go.com they have a solo deal
7:59
search Tab and it shows either really
8:02
low price cruises even if you're paying
8:04
a supplement but importantly cruises
8:06
going at that particular time which have
8:08
no supplements at all so that's a good
8:10
one now if you're UK based or you want
8:12
more UK Cruisers I find the site passion
8:15
for cruises.co.uk does pretty much the
8:18
same thing I also by the way look at
8:20
solo Cruise group trips though I haven't
8:23
actually been on one yet so come back to
8:26
vacationsstogo.com they run 8 to 10
8:29
hosted solo Cruisers every single year
8:31
I've signed up for their newsletter I've
8:33
joined their Facebook group for these
8:34
now these group Cruisers have a free
8:37
roommate match program if you request a
8:40
roommate and they can't find you an
8:42
appropriate match of the same sex and
8:43
roughly the same age they will pay the
8:46
supplement for your stateroom so you pay
8:49
just for one person I also keep an eye
8:52
on solo travel sites now the most
8:55
interesting one that I've come across is
8:57
called singles travel intel.com it's a
9:01
members club for over 50s and as a
9:03
member of the club if you become a
9:04
member of the club you don't have to
9:05
remember the club but if you become a
9:06
member they give priority on booking any
9:09
low or no seller offers as they come in
9:12
you get first dibs on those they also by
9:14
the way run group cruises for solos
9:16
which include things like a single meet
9:18
and greet pre-cruise stay very specific
9:21
events on board so that's a great
9:22
opportunity for solo Travelers of course
9:24
the final way of cracking and breaking
9:26
that awful surcharge is sharing a cabin
9:29
with a stranger it's you know not on one
9:32
of those hosted Cruisers it's not for me
9:34
but I did find several sites where you
9:37
can do this and these include my
9:40
cabinmade.com
9:41
crewmate finder and on silversurfer.com
9:45
they're they're very active with a
9:48
surprisingly large amount of people
9:49
looking to share in the description of
9:51
the video you'll find those links this
9:54
leads me to an issue many solar Cruisers
9:56
are really concerned about how do I
9:58
cruise without being left out or lonely
10:01
and how do I make the most of the cruise
10:04
I have six key things that I do and that
10:08
I have to suggest first of all
10:11
go on a theme or a group Cruise Follow
10:14
Your Passion there are theme cruises
10:16
which focus on everything from Like A
10:18
Game of Thrones Star Trek motorbiking
10:19
knitting and so so much more everybody
10:23
in the ship is drawn by one key focus
10:26
and it's a really great chance for our
10:28
solar travelers to mix and mingle you
10:30
know really really easily I'm for
10:32
example also planning to run tips for
10:34
travelers group Cruisers so you can sign
10:36
up for the newsletter if that appeals to
10:38
you second make friends and plans before
10:42
you go the best way I find is using the
10:45
Cruise Critic roll call for my cruise I
10:48
find the roll call for my cruise and I
10:50
seek out other solar Travelers or
10:52
like-minded Travelers and I find that
10:54
plans emerge for shed excursions get
10:57
together drinks and so on also by the
10:59
way look on Facebook as increasingly I'm
11:02
finding that someone on the cruise has
11:03
set up a group to discuss that
11:06
particular cruise that I'm on I met
11:08
recently one of the really loyal
11:10
followers of the channel and I met a new
11:12
friend of hers Yolanda recently they
11:13
were actually both on the Rotterdam at
11:15
the time they'd met via online roll
11:18
calls and they were part of a group of
11:20
Travelers they were doing Zoom calls to
11:22
plan events before the trip of course
11:25
another key thing to do is go to the
11:27
solo meetup on board but I find they can
11:30
be really hit or miss so I tend to look
11:32
for other meetups on board that may be a
11:35
good match for me so for example on a
11:37
recent Queen Mary 2 transatlantic they
11:40
had meetups every day or every few days
11:43
for LGBT Travelers friends of Bill W
11:45
Crafters Knitters veterans women's
11:48
Institute Masonic Brethren service clubs
11:51
rotary and on and on and on and the
11:53
lines will usually let us you know set
11:55
up any informal Meetup and advertise it
11:57
in the daily program to speak to the
11:59
cruise director I also suggest going on
12:03
Cruise Line Excursions partly because
12:06
that adds some safety of numbers and a
12:08
guide of course when exploring ports but
12:10
I find if I focus on a theme like for
12:13
example in the Caribbean I always tend
12:15
to book Beach and snorkeling tours I
12:17
find the same people are also doing the
12:20
same excursions time after time so it's
12:22
really easy to get to know and start to
12:24
mix with them in other regions where
12:26
I've wanted to do sort of more varied
12:28
excursions I book those that are
12:30
activities like on my recent Norwegian
12:33
fjords cruise I booked things like
12:35
cooking wild water rafting hiking or
12:39
something I knew would be grouped with
12:40
others like on rrb boat trips because
12:42
this only takes eight or ten of you one
12:44
thing that I find an absolute must do as
12:47
a Solo Traveler is the on-board
12:49
activities they are a great way of
12:52
connecting I tend to focus on classes so
12:55
if there's classes for cooking Bridge
12:57
painting crafts dancing folding towels
12:59
whatever I go because everyone's
13:01
interacting often you're put into groups
13:03
to work on little projects or stuff the
13:05
other thing that I find really great are
13:09
those activities where you collect
13:11
points now all the cruises I've been on
13:13
recently I could collect points for
13:15
going to certain activities like
13:17
shuffleboard mini golf and so on first
13:20
of all it's great because I collect the
13:21
points and I can redeem them for Cruise
13:23
Line merchandise at the end but
13:26
importantly I find the same people go to
13:28
those activities so I get to make
13:30
friends I get to feel part of a group
13:31
and I've often then joined them for
13:34
drinks or dinners or even on excursions
13:36
or touring the port doing them also
13:39
means that the cruise director and the
13:41
entertainment team they get to know that
13:43
I'm cruising solo and they often connect
13:45
me with people they look out for me and
13:47
it's just a really great bonus
13:49
people love to talk to strangers on
13:52
cruises I'm not particularly chatty or
13:54
sociable or extroverted on land but on a
13:56
cruise I always talk to people
13:57
especially when I'm solo if I'm sitting
13:59
I don't know in the theater for example
14:01
I turn to the person next to me and
14:03
somebody say something like are you
14:05
having a good time or something like
14:07
that it's always worked out and again
14:09
it's just so much more
14:11
great because you start to just get
14:13
friendly faces that you start seeing
14:14
around the ship one of this brings me to
14:17
dining which I know many uh people get
14:20
stressed about when seller cruising now
14:21
I've traveled for years for business
14:23
before I did this and I was used to
14:25
dining by myself and in fact I like to
14:27
die in soda in fact I find getting to
14:30
dine at a table by myself is harder on a
14:32
cruise than dining with others on many
14:35
lines it's much harder to get a table
14:36
for yourself anyway when it comes to
14:38
dining we're in cruising solo I think
14:41
there's two key approaches and I use
14:44
both of these first of all
14:46
with the main dining room if I want
14:49
certainty and I want familiarity on a
14:52
cruise I go for a fixed dining time and
14:55
I ask for a table of six or more people
14:57
that means I can get to know people well
14:59
there's enough people at the table so if
15:01
I click the sum more than others I can
15:02
rotate around who I sit with each night
15:05
importantly then I have the same serving
15:07
staff who know I'm so low they build a
15:09
rapport and they make you feel welcome
15:11
they're really good at doing that as
15:13
they get to know you I always go for
15:15
that bigger table because I found the
15:17
most difficult times traveling solos who
15:19
have been put on a table perhaps with
15:21
one other couple at once or two couples
15:24
and me and you basically kind of feel
15:26
the odd one out cruise lines of course
15:27
often put set of Travelers together or
15:29
importantly tell us they think may be a
15:31
good match based on age for example
15:33
however if I think on a cruise I
15:36
actually want to meet as many people as
15:37
possible and see where it all goes I
15:39
then go for any time dining it's way
15:43
more hit and miss in my experience but I
15:45
figure I'm seeing people for one email
15:46
and so I can move on if some don't work
15:49
out it also allows much more flexibility
15:51
because I can then arrange it down with
15:53
people I've met on excursions or on
15:55
those activities so that's a big plus
15:57
now with specialty dining though I
16:00
always book to sit by myself and find I
16:03
often have to go early get an early
16:05
booking to do that I don't like sharing
16:06
it especially dining because many people
16:08
go to them for a treat or a special
16:10
occasion and I kind of feel more
16:12
uncomfortable because you just feel
16:13
intruding a bit more another thing that
16:15
I like on smaller and Ultra Luxury lines
16:18
is they also welcome always encourage
16:20
you to ask a member of the entertainment
16:22
team no the singers or the dancers to
16:24
dine with me and they all love to do
16:26
that so as a Solo Traveler I recommend
16:28
trying and seeing if that works for you
16:30
if you found all of this interesting why
16:32
not find out more about the lines to
16:34
avoid cruising right now by watching
16:36
this video where I start with my biggest
16:38
regret of line and why see you over
16:41
there

How I Cruise Solo Better (& Cheaper!) Than Anybody Else

Gary Bembridge Tips For Travellers

Saga Cruises. What Do Better And Worse Than Other Cruise Lines?

Avalon Waterways River Cruise Ship Tour. How Compare To Other River Cruise Ships?

9 Best Tips on How To CRUISE FOR LESS MONEY

Best Cruise Ship Cabins For 11 Different Traveller Types

What Does HOLLAND AMERICA Do Different To Other Cruise Lines ?

8 Best Places In The World To Cruise To ?

8 Ways To Cruise Solo Better and Cheaper

6 Biggest Cruise Trends, And How They May Change Your Cruising!

Seabourn Cruises : 4 Things You Need To Know

Hapag-Lloyd MS Europa 2. The 9 Things You Need To Know Before Cruising On It

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines: 5 Things You Need To Know Before Cruising With Them

European Versus Mekong River Cruises. Just How Different Are They?

6 Best ALTERNATIVES TO A CRUISE Vacation

Voyages To Antiquity Cruises. 7 Things You Need To Know Before Cruising

The Unwritten Rules of Visiting Belgium

Up next in 10

How I Cruise Solo Better (& Cheaper!) Than Anybody Else

Gary Bembridge Tips For Travellers