Draketti

Thanks for the tips!  I'm thinking of booking.  Love the Moderno breakfast tip!  I am not a buffet person so will stay away from there.

When are you planning?  I am debating the same for the last week in September the prices are so cheap you can't miss!

15 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

I think in picking a Mediterranean Cruise, you can make a couple decisions up front to help narrow it down at the start.  Are you limited to a one-week cruise or can you consider a 2-week cruise?  You'll need to consider cost and time away from work (possibly).  You'll need to add at least 1 to 3 days to the duration to allow for travel to and from the USA.

 

Secondly, prioritize your interests.  Do a little research and decide if you'd rather visit Italian ports or Greek (perhaps islands!) ports.  You can do both, but that would best be done on a 2-week cruise.  For one week cruises, it's common to do the Eastern Med or the Western Med, just like one does the Eastern Caribbean or the Western Caribbean.  There are some that mix the 2, but probably a little less common.  Cruises go to places other than Greece or Italy, but these 2 countries often form the baseline ports that are extended with other locations.

 

Barcelona and Rome (which uses the port of Civitavecchia) are probably the two most common places to start (and end) a cruise from.  Do either of these sound like places you might want to spend 1-3 days before or after a cruise?  Many people do that.  There are cruises that do begin/end in other ports, so give some thought to where you might want to visit in more detail than the 8-10 hours you will have in daily port stops.  Think of Venice, Athens, etc.

 

 

I'm actually able to do 2 weeks.  I guess I will need to check with my travel mate on her interests.  I'm pretty simple.    Thanks for your input and tips!  

15 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

Sorry but there are no shortcuts.  You'll just have do like the rest of us and RESEARCH.  Luckily, it's fun !

 

There are books specific to Mediterranean cruises , ie Ann Vipond's  "Mediterranean by Cruiseship' , and Steves " Mediterranean cruise ports'.   Both books discuss all the ports available on E Med cruises and W Med cruises.  Learning about the ports will help you decide on an itinerary.  When you decide whether you want east or west, look carefully at the itineraries offered by all the cruiselines.   As you study itineraries, pay close attention to port times; make sure you have enough time in port for your planned activities. 

Another thing to consider .... do you want a RT cruise ? depending on where you live it may be more expensive to fly into one port and out of another.

Good luck and have fun with your research and planning !

 

Thanks for the pointers on the books!  I know there aren't shortcuts but even the pointers/tips I have so far will help me get an idea of how to plan more successfully.

16 hours ago, Tapi said:

I was in your shoes last year. After a year and 4 months of planning, we took our first Mediterranean cruise last November and it was absolutely wonderful. More than I could’ve ever hoped for.

 

For me, I started by narrowing things down by date, length of cruise, and most importantly, departure port. We wanted to sail over Thanksgiving week which limited our options since there are less sailings as well as less flights from the US to Europe during that time of year than during the summer. But on the upside, cruise prices were substantially cheaper, and we wouldn’t be dealing with the oppressive summer heat or the larger crowds.  

 

We finally narrowed things down to the MSC Meraviglia departing from Civitavecchia (Rome). We could fly nonstop from our home city to Rome which made that part of the journey very easy and stress free. We spent two nights in Rome and selected a hotel near the Vatican. Having a pre cruise stay was great, first to acclimate to the time change, and also to explore this breathtaking city. We did most of our sightseeing on our own.

 

Our itinerary took us to Palermo (Sicily, IT), Valletta (Malta), Barcelona (Spain), Marseille (France) and Genoa (Italy). To be perfectly honest with you, the only ports of call I was truly interested in were Valletta and Barcelona, but it was the itinerary that met our time constraints. Turned out that all the ports were easy to navigate on our own and each one had something great to offer.

 

Booking a year and 4 months in advance meant that I had A LOT of time to research each port, activities, and how to get places. We visited wonderful places like the Vatican, La Sagrada Familia, the Three Cities, and many more. Every port was great in their own way, even the ones that I didn’t know much about before I started doing my research.

 

We didn’t book a single excursion and did it all on our own, both in Rome and at all the ports of call. I booked admission to everything in advance and directly with each attraction. No middle men. It all worked out beautifully. I would even get on Google maps, pull up the street views, and “virtually walk” where I wanted to go. By the time we sailed, it truly felt as if I had already been there and I walked confidently everywhere we went. It was a great tool to get my bearings before our cruise.

 

In a nutshell, it was an absolutely wonderful experience. Truly worth all the preparations. Read reviews, get on travel sites, and have as much planned in advance as you can. It will make a big difference for your first visit. Hope you have a wonderful time! 

Thanks for the info!  Lots of great ideas to get me started!

So far I have only ventured on Caribbean cruises, but a friend and I were talking and we are ready to go book a Mediterranean Cruise.  She told me to scope them out and I was looking and have no idea what ports would be ideal for 1st time cruisers.  

So all you veteran cruisers, any advice you can give that you wish you knew before you went on your 1st Mediterranean cruise, please share!  

Thanks in advance!

NCL does the Solo Meet ups even if there are no studio cabins.  Just be sure to check your Freestyle Daily for the 1st day.  They usually meet 6ish at a bar.

4 minutes ago, Lovetotravel7559 said:

Yes it appears that there are complimentary breakfasts at both Margaritaville and O Sheehans.  We haven’t tried either yet.  

Thanks!  Good to know!

I was on the Getaway in September and at breakfast at Margaritaville every morning.  Do they have breakfast (buffet) there on the Breakaway as well?

19 hours ago, hcprb said:

If they had over 100 people at the mixers, it would be really hard to meet people.  Even 50 people at a meal would be hard. 

 

Hello Draketti - After reading your post, I was surprised to see you live in Edgewood.  I grew up there and now live in Villa Hills/Ft. Mitchell area.  Can't believe we are so close to each other!  

Well most of the dining rooms didn't seat tables of more than 10-12 so it wasn't so bad.  Usually at the 1st few meetings, they would go around the room and have us introduce ourselves as an ice-breaker.  Then if we saw each other throughout the day, we at least knew each other.  I was at Amber Cover and had another solo approach me and the group I was with and we ended up hanging out together most of the cruise because we had a lot in common.  Yes there was a bar-tender for about 2 hours.  Our bartender was always late and had a crowd waiting for him :)

19 hours ago, hcprb said:

If they had over 100 people at the mixers, it would be really hard to meet people.  Even 50 people at a meal would be hard. 

 

Hello Draketti - After reading your post, I was surprised to see you live in Edgewood.  I grew up there and now live in Villa Hills/Ft. Mitchell area.  Can't believe we are so close to each other!  

Small world indeed.  I wonder if we know of each other in real life.  I grew up in Erlanger.

I was in a studio cabin on the Getaway in September, 2018.  We had a very large solo presence and it was very easy to meet people.  However, I'm an extrovert so I get how it might be intimidating for someone who is not.  I highly recommend going to the solo meet-ups even if you are not in a studio cabin because it was a great way to meet others.  We often self-organized to hang out during the day and in the evenings as well as joined up for excursions.  

I look forward to sailing on the Breakaway next month (9/27/2019) and attending the solo gatherings again!

I stayed in a Studio room on the Getaway in 9/2018 and the solo meet-ups were awesome.  We had a huge group of solo's and many of us did not want to eat early so we would go to the meet-up and coordinate what time and place would would meet later to eat together.  So there were typically 2 different seatings of solo diners per evening.  This does not count the solos that were interested in specialty dining.  We often met up later for entertainment and often for excursions as well.  I highly recommend NCL because they do a great job for solos/singles.  Keep in mind that not all solos are single however.  Some are married and just cruise alone.

I love this thread!  I googled AMF and I am totally going to get one (at least 1) on my Breakaway cruise next month!  

This is awesome and I am even more excited now for my 1st solo cruise over Labor Day week this year. I find it amazing that your DH urges you to do this and that shows how much he loves and appreciates you. Happy Soloing!

Hi all! I'm a female, 53, and I LOVE cruising/traveling solo! Let me give you some background:

 

I'm married (16 yrs) to a man I love dearly; however, not only does he not like cruising, he also has MS and is now in a wheelchair fulltime. While he's pretty self sufficient, if anyone is familiar with MS, you'll know that it changes like a feather on the wind and, in fact, he spent the vast majority of 2016 in the hospital. Anyway, being his only caretaker, when he's doing good, he presses me to either take a cruise or visit an all-inclusive resort somewhere tropical. I took my first solo trip in 2012, to which I was scared silly! I found myself saying, "What if such-and-such happens?" over and over again. But I went anyway and found that I handled everything just fine and was actually able to relax and enjoy myself at times. Since then I've cruised several times and visited two resorts, all solo.

 

There are a couple of things to keep in mind...the first is that DH and I keep our finances separate, so if I want to go on a vacation, I've taken it upon myself to foot the bill on my own; not only does this keep me cognizant and responsible for my spending, but it also alleviates any guilt that might pop up about spending so much money for just me and not for us jointly. Secondly, not only am I pretty shy at first, I am also an introvert.

 

Nevertheless, I get out there and last year on my Carnival cruise, I actually joined a Michael Jackson Zombie dance class...I kid you not! Nope, I knew no one else there, and while I was nervous of dancing silly like that in front of others, especially at my age, all-in-all, I had a fun time, laughing with the rest of the dancers and just being silly. I do notice that the older I'm getting and the more I'm traveling solo, I am finding it a little easier to get myself out there to, well, if not exactly "socialize," (I still am an introvert, and prolly will always be, especially at this late date), I'm more willing to get involved in social activities. BUT, the awesome thing about traveling alone is that it's MY choice where/when I want to participate, and I don't have "well-meaning" family or friends trying to push me into something I really don't want to do.

 

To ME, traveling solo means:

• Embracing my independence, especially as a woman, and acknowledging that it's okay to ask for help if or when I need it.
  
• Doing what I want to do, without having to check with someone else first.
  
• Staying up as late, or going to bed as early as I want.
  
• Sleeping in as late or getting up as early as I want.
  
• Going on any excursions I want (or not!), again, without having to check with someone else first.
  
• Eating what, when, or where I want to eat.
  
• Attending any event I want, or not.
  
• Purchasing what I want, when or if I want (see above paragraph about finances).
  
• Taking care of just myself and not needing to be a "caretaker" or "wife" or " fill in whatever applies to you ."
  
• And I could go on and on...
  

You'll probably notice that I bolded the word "I" above, but it's because I think it's important to stress how wonderful that really is! Too many times in our lives we focus on taking care of others instead of ourselves, be it being a spouse/partner, mother/father, daughter/son, or the breadwinner(s) of the family. We neglect ourselves and traveling solo is the PERFECT time to just...BE. Just be YOU. Just take care of YOU. Just love YOU. And who doesn't need this?

 

Sure, there are times that have been (and will probably continue to be) somewhat uncomfortable for me; keeping in mind my shyness and being introverted. I almost always eat in the ship's dining room, instead of the buffet. I enjoy being waited on, as well as the special dishes we can get. The tables I've been assigned to have usually contained other solos, or perhaps two girlfriends traveling together, which usually allows for easy-flowing conversations. However, on my first solo cruise, and even now if eating in the dining room in the mornings where everyone is seated together, with no assigned tables, the questions can sometimes become slightly intrusive to me. Also, I have noticed that traveling solo on various excursions people do notice me being by myself; it's easy to see the questioning looks. Sometimes that bothers me, other times I just ignore them and focus my attention on where I am or what I'm doing.

 

So, this is my take on traveling by myself. Hope you enjoyed! Now get out there and just GO!

 

Maggie

Great Review! Thanks for your time! Both of my kids are grown but don't yet have families of their own so still vacation with me. I'm sure it's because they know it's a free vacation! They only have to bring spending $. But of course we don't usually cruise for our family vacations. I've just started cruising myself!

I'm on the Getaway in September so looking forward to more responses!

Studios are great! I'm booked on one on the Bliss, Getaway and the Epic. It's amazing to travel alone and it's even more amazing NCL tries to help solos out. If you go on one of the biggest social media websites, you can search for some groups dedicated to us. We share deals and tips!

What getaway cruise are you booked on?

Just booked my 1st Solo and NCL cruise on the Getaway for 9/2/2018! Super excited. Anyone else on this cruise?

I've booked a Studio on the Getaway 9/2/2018! This is my 1st solo cruise and I'm super excited!

Oops! Wrong Thread!

NCL doesn't charge for any dance lessons. It's a fun experience. If you don't want to dance, you can sit and watch.

WOW! I definitely adding this to my list of activities. I've always wanted to learn to do some of these and it doesn't come natural to me.

I'm assuming there was a cost for the group lesson correct?

Spice H2O Aft of the ship (Getaway anyway) Deck 16

Adults only from 7 A.M. to 6 P.M.

Has lots of loungers, 2 hot tubs, a waterfall and a bar

FREE

Hope this is still true! I'm on the Getaway in September 2018!

I got off my 2nd cruise in January and am ready to cruise solo myself. I like many am in my 50's and during this cruise did some things solo since I was with my BFF that is mobility challenged due to a stroke. So a few times she chose to stay in the room and I ventured out. I agree with person that said people don't know you are alone unless you tell them you are solo. They just assume you are away from your group for the time being.

I can't wait to schedule my next cruise. It will probably be solo because most of my friends aren't able to take many vacations due to finances.

I'm thinking of booking something for late in September for my birthday but does anyone shy away from the fall due to the hurricane season?