Celandine

Loved this review and it made me book the Oasis! Of course not until Feb 2026 (my vacation time is quite minimal at the moment) but I’m excited none the less! Wishing you a good night and easy drive out of Miami in the am! 

YT subscriber number 5! 

I had that issue back in 2014! There was a cruise on MSC I really wanted to take but ai couldn’t book it and I reached out to a TA I used at the time and she could not either. A few years later I had no problem booking a solo cabin and even got upgraded to a balcony (I booked and inside)! It might be some specific sailings, but I will definitely try a ghost second pax if I encounter this again! 

Good day everyone! 
 

I just booked my second upcoming Solo cruise- and frankly I just needed a place to talk about my cruises and my thoughts, plans and what not. No one else in my life knows yet except my mum (and I think she’s getting sick of me talking about it). 
 

it’s also Waaaaay to early to start and thread review as I am over 1 year away from 1 cruise and almost 2 from the other! 
 

so I figured I’d make a thread topic here to talk about history, planning and documenting my excitement! Of course anyone else is welcome to use this space for the same reason! I will be just as excited for all of you. 

So what do I have booked? 
 

May 27 2025 to Alaska on the Grand Princess 

and as of 5 minutes ago 

February 1 2026 Oasis of the Seas Western Caribbean (but I’m really just here for the ship)
 

bit of history:

These will not be my first solo  cruise- way back in 2011 (Jan 23) I did a solo 17 day cruise around the South China Sea Shanghai to Singapore on the Ocean Princess. 
 

I have cruised on several lines Carnival, RCL, Princess, MSC, Celebrity and Pulmantur- 17 cruises all together, and so far Princess has come out as my favourite. 
 

I have not been on a cruise since summer 2019- I am in serious withdrawal! 
 

Why these cruises?

Alaska is my favourite destination, this will be my third time there, second with Princess but first on the Grand! I am coming back to cruising with a solo bang and have a balcony and the plus package ( mostly for fun and I do need internet as I’m back in University part time working to switch careers and will have coursework to do). It is hard for me to imagine Alaska without a balcony, but it might happen in the future! 
 

Oasis of the Seas has been on my to cruise list since it first came out. I booked my desired cabin, interior with Central Park view. I have a lot to catch up on with RCL but I love cruise researching, reading reviews and so far the RCL app! 

 

I look forward to sharing more as I make some plans and do some more research and hope to hear from some of you! Favourite solo trips, tips, any experiences with these ships or lines or anything you want to share!  
 

2 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

Thanks for your kind words! Must be a slow week on Netflx if that's what you're binging 🤣. 

 

Definitely recommend an Oasis class ship it's such a unique experience and not nearly as crowded as you would think based on the number of passengers.

 

well I actually found you from your Carnival Cunard review as I booked my mum on the QE to Alaska this August, I loved sharing your review with her! And I get a little obsessive with cruise reviews when I finally have something in my own calendar lined up, and the amount of menu and food pics you post are better than many shows! Plus my fav channel to watch is the food network lol

So excited to catch you live! I have been binging your past reviews the past few weeks! Love your pics and commentary! It’s helping me cope with my super long wait until my cruise! Plus the Oasis is on my bucket list for cruise ships! 

Excited to follow along with you! Loving the review already! 
 

Thank you all! Even more excited now! 

Good day! 
 

I am finally booked for my next Princess cruise in May 2025 to Alaska. 
 

I am booked in C242 a forward balcony and just wondered anyone’s experience with forward balconies in Alaska. I usually book more midship, but this one fit into my requirements mor for this trip. 
 

thank you and I cannot wait until next year and sharing my experiences! 

All caught up! Absolutely loving your pictures! This is one of my bucket list cruises! Thank you for sharing 🙂 

All updated! Not sure how I missed that section! 

Thank you kindly for your help! 

Hello everyone. 
 

I booked a Cunard cruise for my mum last night, and today she informed me that I forgot to put one number in our address (street is fine it’s the suite number in our condo). I could not see anything on Cunard’s website or manage my booking to correct this, do I need to call them or is there a way I just could not find? 

it is my first time booking a Cunard cruise (and will be her first time sailing with Cunard though we are both experienced cruisers)

thank you in advance. 

The vast majority of the bookings through this company are online/order tackers. There are some agents with this company but most are done through the website. When there is a problem, this is not the type of company I would want to deal with. I don't even book hotel or air from this company.

 

From what people have posted, they are being charged full price for the cruise. I would get a better deal dealing with my agent who gives me 10% off plus Sip and Sail when that starts. The 10% will more than make up for free gratuities. Plus I get service from an agent who will go to bat for me if there are problems.

I'm sorry you had (or know someone who had) a poor experience but what you are posting is not entirely true. Part of the company has many full agents with brick and mortar locations (specifically the part that deals with cruising) and even if you book online a real live person gets back to you.... I know this because I use them, and years ago I was part of their team...

That being said, not all agents are created equally - at any agency, and I do completely understand if you have a travel agent you like working with I understand wanting to work with them even exclusively. I feel just as passionate about the people |I use to help me book my travel plans (both cruises and land vacations - same person)

Thank you so much for the replies so quickly!

I've been doing research and my friend and I are definitely going to take this cruise... I have a family member that lives in Panama so we'll be spending a few days after the cruise either with them or at least being shown around by them.

I'm really excited for this cruise and looking forward to the experience! I'll definitely pop back in here after I book and if any more questions come up!

I have already contacted VTG and am just waiting to hear back from them.

Thanks again!

Good day,

I am looking into booking a cruise for this July on the Monarch sailing from Colon, Panama.

My friend and I are both Canadians and have some cruise experience, by this time my friend will have been on 3 cruises (2 with MSC one with Princess) and I'll have done 14 (various lines).

I know nothing about this line, and the website translated into English has a lot of areas with errors (especially ship technical data). Just looking for some information and input on what to expect.

Side note, we haven't booked yet but are most likely booking next weekend and pretty set on this trip, any ideas for transfers from Panama city or sites to see (we will stay in Panama city for a few days after the trip) are appreciated!

Thank you :)

The final morning...

we got up and were out of our room by 7:30 am as written on the paper.

We went for breakfast, still an upset stomach I had some bread and fruit with water. When he was done eating we went to the Guest Services desk to settle the account (we put a cash deposit down and needed change). There was no lineup and that was a painless process.

Then we went to the Tiger Bar to wait to disembark. We were in the group getting off at 9:15 am, and watched others disembark first. Everything seemed to be on time and right around 9:15 our group was called. We got off the ship and to the luggage storage area and found our luggage with no issues and walked outside to get a taxi to the airport.

I had booked afternoon flights (3:15 pm Hamburg to Munich and then 9:35 pm Munich to Cairo) just in case there were issues, and we were fine. We spent time in the airport, watched some tv shows, I felt a bit better and ate some breakfast. The flight was short and when we got to Munich we went right to check in to get rid of our luggage.

When we went to our gate we had to go through Passport control and our guy was very confused at the lack of an arrival stamp from Hamburg - we got a stamp when we boarded the ship but there was no passport control after Southampton. So he couldn't figure out how we got back into Germany. Luckily I showed him the cruise information (printout) and it had our names on it and the dates of the cruise. He stamped our passports and let us through, but I'm sure he called some supervisor after to ask. I assured him we didn't skip a passport line, there just wasn't one.

After a lot more waiting and we boarded our final plane and this flight had a lot of turbulence, a bit stressful at times. I arrived in Cairo at 1:40 am, and back in my apartment at 3:30 am, for a quick nap before leaving for work at 7:30 am.

Overall a great cruise - not so great weather, enjoyable food and entertainment and I will definitely be back on MSC.

Happy sailing!

Last full day....

We slept in a bit today, nothing major planned at all. We got up and went for breakfast/lunch. I did a little bit of last minute shopping and we started to figure out plans for tomorrow.

Today the universe hated me. The purses were on sale, and there was one I liked. I looked at it and got the price, walked away for a few minutes decided I could spend the money but when I came back it was gone, on the floor and when we asked about it - it was damaged so they couldn't sell it to us. They showed me some other purses but this one was the perfect one.... so I walked away.

When I purchased a new luggage tag (mine ripped off in either Munich or Hamburg airport) it wouldn't scan, after a few minutes the guy went and scanned a similar item so I could purchase that. I also tried to get my 'free' bottled water at dinner in the buffet, but tonight they declined and said it was for the dining room only (we never got a table assignment, and never sorted this out). I mentioned I had received it all week (and just an hour earlier my friend got his) but too bad. I wasn't mad at the server, but I was frustrated at this point.

There was some workout time, and while my friend when to the gym (before dinner) I packed my suitcase. I also started to feel worse again. Tonight's show was "Sophisticats" which I was really excited for (I love cats) and the dress was informal.

I ended up having to leave the show a bit early because I was sick again, but I didn't miss much just goodbyes from the cast and crew. The show was once again weird, but still enjoyable.

After the show we went back to the room, my friend packed and we basically got ready to sleep. A long day ahead of us.

Amsterdam day....

We woke up and luckily our tour wasn't too early, meeting at 9:30 am for our trip to the Keukenhof gardens - I mentioned earlier that I am going back to Amsterdam (and leave this Friday) and this was the reason we wanted to go at this time of year, the fact that the cruise stopped here for a day was just a pleasant coincidence.

We got our tickets, then outside to the bus and drove the almost 50 minutes to the gardens - the parking lot looked packed, but the actual gardens didn't feel too crowded. We discovered that the Romantic Roses event had just started this day and roses happen to be one of our favourite flowers, so we enjoyed that area a lot, and wandered around a few more areas. It was almost time to leave and we had seen about 1/2 of the garden, we decided to return on our upcoming trip (so hopefully will make it back this weekend). These gardens are beautiful and only open about 2 months a year and I highly encourage you all to visit.

The different variety of tulips were amazing, and some of them were over 2 feet high! It was incredible, on a more personal note I was still not feeling 100% but was definitely better than the previous day. After our time ended we decided instead of going back to the ship we would go downtown to explore a little bit. Just before it started to pour rain we hopped into a cafe to relax...

after the rain we headed back to the ship - the ship was spending the night in amsterdam, but since we were coming back in 2 weeks we decided to spend a quiet night on the ship. We had an early dinner and decided to hit the first show at 7 pm - tonight's show was The Young Master - inspired by Harry Potter, we decided if we liked it we'd see both shows.... well, the show was weird. I won't say it was bad, but it was definitely weird.... Tonight was also the White Party, though we did not partake (I don't actually own any white clothing).

After enjoying the night out a bit, we watched a movie in our room and slept early. The next day leaving Amsterdam and sailing back to Hamburg.

Oh Le Havre, this was a day where things turned from good to not so good on a personal level - I got sick, likely sea-sick at this point (consider this the warning for future information in this post)

I woke up around 9 and did not feel well. We had nothing planned, we my friend worked out and we discussed ideas. It was once again wet, cold and dreary, so we opted to just stay on the ship. Niether of us were feeling 100% and decided we should rest.

We did have a nap later (well it started as a meditation) and after the nap I felt even worse. We at some point went for dinner but between dinner and the show I was sick, pretty much as soon as the ship started moving it did not agree with me and I was sick. I thought it passed and went to the show, I even had a 'snack' after the show (thinking I was better) and then in the cabin it got worse... the ship was moving so much my stomach was so upset, nothing was staying down and it was a really rough night... I was up every few hours as we sailed onwards to Belgium....

After the show we did stop at the Tiger Bar as I was seeking a Ginger Ale, and the bar tender put on the most amazing spectacle while serving it to me (much to the delight of myself and other guests). He threw the ice in the air and caught it, he did something with the can so it stuck to his hand and was like a vacuum effect, even in my upset stomach state this had me smiling and laughing. To cap it off, he said he took care of the cost for me.... definitely a high light for me, and much needed on this day.

Note the dress code tonight was Casual, and the show was Pura Pasion, featuring Spanish dancers. Not my favourite show, but I was not feeling well that could have made me dislike it a bit more.

The next morning - Belgium,

My friend was up early and asked if I wanted anything for breakfast I said maybe some bread, he came back later with a roll and some cantelope for me. He is so thoughtful. I did manage to eat that and settle a bit, so we got ready and discussed plans for the day. We had once again not made and plans in town, and with my rough night and more wet rainy weather we again chose to rest as we had a big day planned for Amsterdam.

My friend worked out and I relaxed, he ended up pulling a muscle in his workout so later in the day he rested and napped and I took my book to go read somewhere else on the ship (just needed to get out of the cabin). During my time reading I was in the Tiger Bar and I also watched some Dance lessons, a trivia session and a stretching session. I did not participate in any activities, but they looked really well run and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. This definitely seemed better than my first MSC cruise a few years ago where the activities seemed less organised.

When I came back he was up and feeling a little better, tonight was elegant night again and we decided to dress up and enjoy ourselves.

We had made plans to go for dinner and see the 19:45 comedian show (John Evans) and then the 9:15 pm show Elisir (another show I loved, not quite as much as C'est Magnifique but still close)

Let's talk about the comedian first though.... I love live comedy, and was excited to see the show. I did not care for the comedian though. His jokes were old and this made his entire set completely predictable. The other problem with old (over used) jokes was that some of them were a bit sexist/inappropriate. I wasn't offended, and I do know that humour is subjective, I just didn't enjoy it at all (niether did my friend).

The show Elisir though was another very enjoyable show. I do like dancing and acrobatics (Cirque du Soleil is one of my favourite experiences). After the show we did our nightly wander, I think my friend might have checked out the 12:30 am snack offerings, then we went to bed.

The next day was Amsterdam and we had big plans.... I will post more tomorrow (maybe try to finish the report tomorrow even)

Thank you all for reading so far :)

My apologies for not posting yesterday, I had no internet and could not fix that problem until after work today.

So on this beautiful cruise morning we were pulling into Southampton - and of course it was raining and I remembered packing my suitcase and looking at my one jacket thinking "do I need it? what will I do if it rains?" so of course I left it at home (I really think living in Egypt for 7 years has made me forget what rain is really like). I did decide that I would enjoy myself no matter what, and my friend and I got up went for breakfast then met our tour group at 9:45 am we were headed to Stonehenge and Salisbury.

(mildly interesting side note, the night before my friend and I had no idea what we were doing other than Stonehenge. We had pre-booked this excursion weeks ago and simply selected the one that read Stonehenge. So that morning on the bus we were trying to piece together what exactly Salisbury was...)

We boarded a coach, met our guide and driver. Our tour guide was rather odd (very nice mind you, but odd - she made a lot of jokes about marriage and men and women, like men hate when women shop and men aren't romantic.... it was just odd). We traveled to Stonehenge and the guide actually lent me her umbrella, and we explored the site. I had always wanted to go and it was as impressive as I imagined, though I would have enjoyed better weather. I did give up on the audio guide, and after some time in the cold wind and rain we headed to the visitor center to warm up and rest. Definitely enjoyed the free WiFi. After a rest and wander around the gift shop and museum it was about time to board the bus again and head to Salisbury.

We learned about the city and then as we got closer things got a little weirder. The guide was trying to instruct the driver to drive us through the city so she could show us around and set up the buildings before getting off to explore. This turned into the two of them almost arguing about it and the only way I could describe it was parents fighting in the front seat while the 'kids' were in the back listening. Well after all of this we did make it through the town, and drove past the ZiZi's restaurant that has been closed since some time in March (It's the one connected to the poisoning case of the ex-spy... my friend and I definitely found that interesting).

We got off the bus at one of the gates near the cathedral and then my friend and I kind of split off from the group to explore the cathedral on our own. It was lovely and we enjoyed seeing the Magna Carta as well. When we finished we headed back to the bus meeting point and got on and we both pretty much fell asleep until getting back to the ship.

Once on board we finally had some food (it was an 8 hour or so tour, and we didn't opt to have lunch during it). Then it was time for a work out before the show tonight which was Romeo and Giulietta (a story inspired by Romeo and Juliet with a slight twist) It was another enjoyable show. After the show we went up to the buffet for some water/tea and to chat, then off to get ready for bed.

Tonight's dress code was casual, and tomorrow is Le Havre. France. We had nothing immediately planned so hoped for a relaxing day.

I'm really enjoying your report!

It sounds like you had a very quick embarkation and pretty painless muster drill. Did it seem that only a small group embarked at Hamburg?

I think we must have been among the first to board and we must have been scattered around the ship because when we got off the ship in Hamburg there were a lot more people (and luggage) and we were one of the later groups getting off (9:15 am)

I know I read stories of others waiting for hours, but we must have arrived before the crowds.

Day 2 - a relaxing day at sea

So around 6 am I wake up to see my friend already awake, and he's headed to the gym, I wish him well turn over and go back to sleep. When I wake up myself around 9 am, I see that at some point he came back and brought some pastries from breakfast :) he's very thoughtful. (side note the chocolate twists at breakfast are our absolute favourites, and we may have brought a ziploc bag to keep some and there may or may not still be some in my fridge... no comment ;););) ) He came back from both breakfast and working out, and I was ready, he got ready we both left the room at 10:30 am where I went and had breakfast and he joined. Oh, and our power was magically restored in the room, so no need to tell anyone and we had no further issues.

We then went with our appointed time to the UK Passport check (I read another review where someone said just skip it and do it the day of because who wants to waste their time on the cruise?) we arrived, walked right up to the front and was talking with the agent within 2 minutes. Now this part of the trip got a little weird, I travel a lot and in my experience custom agents just want the answers to their questions quickly and usually don't need to hear from everyone at the counter. This agent though seemed very annoyed that I was answering all of the questions, here's the thing my friend and I work at the same school, live in the same apartment building and both were on the same school trip to London in February (she saw that stamp in my passport and questioned it). So after I answered she looked at me and my friend said "you do a lot of talking (then looked at my friend) do you not talk? Do you speak English?" so he of course answered, and then I just let him respond to the rest of her questions - one of my weirdest customs experiences I have to say right up there with a guy in Rome who didn't even look at my passport, just stamped it while staring at me, and the USA once when we got pulled into secondary and the guy said he could make us sing our anthem to prove we are Canadian (if he wanted too).... but I digress...

About 8 minutes after arriving we had new passport stamps and the rest of the day to ourselves. We walked outside on deck and there we started to see my favourite cruise thing in the world - dolphins! we saw so many of them, every minute or so a new one would replace the one we sailed past. They just make me so happy.

At some point we stopped at Guest Services to put money on the account (I always settle my bill in cash) and overheard the most interesting exchange - a gentleman was at the agent next to us asking to have his daily service charge reinstated as the night before he had canceled it in anger - I of course wondered what had happened to make him so angry to cancel it and it reminded me of the saying that I try to follow - before acting, sleep on it - things often look better the next day and if they don't, then act. These were thoughts though, and I did not ask, just moved on with the day.

It was time to shop, I needed a new carry on bag to replace mine that was now already in the garbage somewhere in the inner workings of the ship (taken away by the room steward the previous night after unpacking). I found a neat MSC one that is canvas in a navy blue and cost 18.90 Euros perfect for my budget as I don't really NEED a new bag (I have my main one I used on trips, I just didn't bring it on this trip) I just needed something for this trip. After this exhausting day, we went for a nap. (vacation naps are the best, am I right?)

We got up at 6:30 to get ready for the first formal night, and after getting all dolled up we went for dinner and were definitely the most dressed up in the buffet LOL I had a rather unpleasent experience with a bartender this night when I asked for a coke he told me it wasn't included (no drink package) and I said "I know, I intend to pay for it" found this rather odd, luckily it was the exception rather than the rule for the staff on this ship.

We then attended the show C'est Magnifique! and this I think was my favourite of all of the shows we saw. Vegas style variety and just very entertaining. It was very enjoyable other than the screaming child seated behind us - After the show we went for a walk, and then earlier to bed as tomorrow holds our first port day - Southampton and another check off my bucket list... tune in tomorrow for the next installment...

Embarkation and really the first day...

As I said we checked out right at 11 am, walked outside to catch a taxi (a stand was right outside the hotel) and in about 20 minutes (not really sure I wasn't really looking at the time) we arrived at the Altona terminal and saw the ship.

So it is now 11:30 am, our suggested boarding time was 16:45, but I discussed with my friend our options which were basically wait with luggage somewhere and we both decided to just go to the terminal and wait there. Boy were we wrong!

Our taxi pulled up right to some waiting MSC employees who happily stapled our luggage tags on and whisked our bags away while sending us up a short walk to the actual embarkation room, we walked right in (following what looked like a large line of people) we twisted through the ques and arrived at the end, each counter agent was full and remaining in front of us was 2 groups/families, in about 2 minutes we were checking in with an agent. Then was security, my carry on duffel bag was in the process of breaking and I needed a minute to regroup, then the zipper fell off completely, so it turned into about 5 minutes, we then walked through the security scanners and onto the ship about 5 steps onto the ship and the strap to my duffel bag gave out and it landed on the floor - luckily my best friend carried it for me after that. It was 12 pm and we were sitting in the Tiger Bar thinking - now what?

We had received some papers, our rooms would be ready at 2 pm, the welcome aboard buffet started at 11:30 am, but we had eaten a large breakfast anticipating a wait of some kind... so we sat in the bar and watched some shows on his laptop. At 1 we wandered up to the buffet to check out our first of many meals - we both found items that we enjoyed and at 2 headed to our room - 9119 a balcony (note we booked an interior Bella experience, but were thrilled to see the balcony room upgrade :) ) Also our luggage was already there so we unpacked - This was a first for me, being completely unpacked before the Emergency Drill which was scheduled to take place at 5:15 pm. We wandered around to explore the ship and then arrived promptly at 5:15 with our life jackets and with about 20-30 people with us we did the drill. It lasted about 30 minutes, then we had dinner in the buffet again (I will say we saw a common theme in the food but it was a theme we enjoyed - calamari and especially the non-breaded kind! It or cuttlefish was available at both lunch and dinner pretty much daily), I have read so many reviews and whenever I read that the buffet only had fried foods or burgers and hot dogs I have to wonder if they just showed up at the 'grill' section and never went beyond that? I made sure the circle the entire buffet before eating as there were always different selections on each side! I also ate almost no fried food on this cruise at all!!

We then continued to explore Deck 14, take some pictures, share them on my Facebook which incites both envy and happiness from my friends, and made plans to see the show at 9 pm. The show was Italiamore and we both enjoyed it (again we saw the shows every night) I think my friend went to work out in the gym between dinner and the show, but that's where we ended up. The theme tonight was the 60's, 70's and 80's and they had a Flower Glory Party scheduled.

A side note, a lot of our time in between activities was spent hanging out and talking, we were never bored on this trip but our involvement in cruise activities is minimal at best.

We stayed up until 12:30 to see what snacks were served then (we both love food, and are currently on a strict work out schedule which we maintained on this trip, but everyday was almost a cheat day lol)

We retired to the room around 1 am ready for bed only to find no power working in most of the cabin - the bathroom light worked, and we were tired so we went to bed and decided to talk to someone in the morning....

Up next Day 2 at sea

Very excited to read your review! We're sailing on the Magnifica in June. Hadn't planned any time for Hamburg, but now might have to reconsider! You embarked at the Altona cruise terminal, correct?

 

Looking forward to reading more! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

If you can spend some time in Hamburg I highly suggest it.

Yes the Altona terminal was where we embarked.