Brockwest

I've won frequently on cruise slots (never the gigantic payouts, usually the $400 range), by following advice I read on this forum.

Many cruise lines set their slots to pay out a lot on the first night out, and somewhat on the last night, then make the machines cold as ice the middle of the cruise.

I tested the theory and it has worked many times for me, but usually only on the first night, not the last.

Trying to avoid the slots in the middle of the cruise when you are at your most bored and the lights are flashing is very hard, but if you avoid them during the middle of the cruise, you tend to come out a winner.

Awkwardly, the cruise only pays in cash, which makes you look suspicious at customs. I've spent a lot of time in customs after the cruise explaining why I have so much cash on my person.

One cruise frustrated me. I took a new date and her spoiled daughter on the cruise. I successfully won the mini-jackpot (about $500) the first night, then advised her NOT to play again for mid-cruise. Her daughter absolutely lost her mind over the jackpot, and went to the money stash repeatedly during mid-cruise and lost it all.

Mid-cruise slots is very frustrating...to go 10 and 20 spins without even a two coin return defeats the fun.

Vegas's secret is they set their slots to pay off somewhat less than half the time, so you get a lot of Pavlovian feed-back, even though you are gradually losing. You walk away happy and spend more.

I don't get this AT ALL. Just because no women showed up at the singles party, you decided that there weren't ANY single women on the ship?

Single/solo people don't show up at singles parties for all sorts of reasons. Maybe they didn't see the announcement in the newsletter. Maybe they think that anyone who goes to them are losers. Maybe they got delayed. (Once, I intended to go to a singles get-together after seeing a show. I forgot that there would be a huge crowd of people trying to cram into the elevators after the show. By the time I got to the get-together, it was five minutes after the starting time. Not too bad, I thought, only to be told by a hostess that it had been canceled because no one showed up. They couldn't wait five minutes?)

I have gone to plenty of singles get-togethers on ships and then met other single/solo passengers later on who hadn't gone.

***Well, darn, why didn't someone Tell me this bit of info....oh, that's right, I didn't look here first.

I had no idea that singles don't go to the single's party. I assumed if they weren't there, they didn't exist. I will say, I never saw anyone who "appeared" single...I only saw couples the entire time, and nobody gathered at the bars.

I have a very good time at single's parties, and mingle easily. I am absolutely a failure when it comes to walking up to someone at a bar and trying to introduce myself in a non-single's party situation.

Well, maybe there is hope for humanity yet. Maybe there was a lonely single female on the cruise wondering where the heck I was. :p

Brockwest, your post was great.

To "box" you will see an icon called "Quote" in the person's original post. Click on it and a message box will come up. You will see the person's post there, and you can type anything you want after the last text from that person which ends with

It is basically HTML coding which starts with the "quote" term and ends with the "/quote" term.

You should not delete the [ ] around each of these terms, because that tells the system that it is a specific action term. Hope that helps.

THANKS!

"I loved your post. Great Great ideas, Thanks."

Well thank you too. If I knew how to "box" your response I would, but not knowing how, I just copy and pasted it.

I love cruising. I ADORE cruising. I can't wait until I cruise again.

I've made cruising mistakes. Basically, I'm an experiential-learner...I screw up, then learn not to do it again.

I've had some of the best times of my life, some of the worst times of my life on cruises. I've been cruising 50 years now.

My first major mistake was my first generic-line cruise. As a child I had cruised on the SS United States, truly an experience equivalent to cruising the Titanic...minus the sinking, so I expected the same as I boarded the Big Red Boat. My mistake was thinking that all-inclusive meant all-inclusive. I compounded that mistake by getting upset about it.

We arrived and they thrust drinks of the day into our hands, which we happily accepted, only to get the demand for payment which we weren't expecting, a high price, then an automatic high gratuity, when we thought no tips until the final day. I got upset that other than air, basically everything else cost...drinks, sodas, water, excursions, swim snorkles after you had PAID the snorkel excursion fee etc.

After the trip, I thought long and hard about it, then realized....just add several hundred dollars to your concept of the price of the trip and go with the flow. You have to have that iced beer after a day at the beach, you have to go on the excursions, you have to have the photos....just enjoy it.

On the same trip I made the mistake of letting a generic travel agent book it for me. I asked for the best category, so he gave me Category A. I found, when I arrived, that for $50 more, there was a category AA....penthouse, private butler, the works. I found one needs to study on their own. His category A was on the promenade deck with a tiny porthole facing a life boat. I got to spend a week with simply every promenader poking their head into the porthole to see what was inside.

I can't count this as a mistake, as I didn't know about it then, but not checking CruiseCritic.com was a huge mistake. It's my first advice to anyone.

My next error (you can read about it in detail by clicking on my name for previous posts) was taking my terminally-ill cancer-ridden wife on a final cruise. I thought it would be sweet, and she could be in bed, so why not? I just had no idea how difficult it would be with a wheelchair, gangways, doorway sills, boat motion, pain, nausea and the like.

My next error (again you can read it in my posts) was taking a Honeymoon cruise alone after my fiancée dumped me the day before. Bad idea. On this particular cruise, I was the only single on-board the entire ship, so they assigned the gentlemen escorts to me....a guy. Sniffles.

My next error (I'm a slow learner), I let someone talk me into taking them on a cruise when we really weren't an item, then let her add her daughter, then a second daughter, then suddenly I was up to cabins, then as we arrived on-board she informed me she had a new boyfriend, so she'd see me at the end of the week, and by the way, her kids wanted to go on all different excursions than mine.

My next error was taking an Au Pair on a cruise, and not having her have a single moment of child care responsibility. I ended up babysitting the entire week-long cruise, allowing her a wonderful paid vacation....on arriving home, her first question was "When is my vacation week?"

My next error was harumphing and refusing to pay the added cost to eat in the specialty dining rooms. Once I found out that $30/d for six days=only $360 for the cruise difference to have a quiet table, five-star service and food and bar....wow.

My next error was not checking if there were any LARGE groups/conventions/spring breakers on a particular cruise date. It can be sort of difficult when you are stuck with a huge incompatible group for a week, and many of the activities on-board are "reserved" for that group only.

My next error was avoiding the incredibly-expensive excursions. They are a major part of the fun and memories, so just include the cost as part of the cost of cruising.

My next error was cruising with my daughter when she was too young to enjoy it. On the other hand, it was one of my best experiences when she was old enough to enjoy it.

My next error sort of goes back to research/reading CruiseCritic.com religiously. I assumed if I went on a wonderful cruise on one ship on a particular line, all ships from that line would be wonderful. I was sorely mistaken. There is a vast difference in cruising on the newest ship of the line and the oldest, decaying ship of the line.

My next error was sort of funny. We cruised to the glacier in Alaska. I had no IDEA that because of the tight quarters and number of ships, that we had only one hour by the glacier. I was surprised how empty the dining room was for lunch that day. Thankfully, we made the final ten minutes by the glacier, and that by accident.

My next HUGE mistake was trying to be a "modern dad," and signing that my 18-year-old daughter could have beer and wine, reasoning she was going to drink in college anyway, why not let her start under my supervision? I barely saw her that week, but apparently the crew did....a lot.

Thanks to CruiseCritic.com, I've been spared many many mistakes, and gotten spectacular advice. Some of the best advice I learned only here?:

1) Do the hotel-the-day before routine. You arrive fresh, happy, without ulcerating all day if your plane will be delayed.

2) Tip daily.

3) Try the specialty restaurants.

4) Do whatever you can to pre-board.

5) Take the cruise-provided shuttle from the airport.

6) :p Realize the casinos are set to pay the first day and the last day, but not in-between. This was a gigantic bonanza for me to learn.

7) Pack a power-strip/electric converter. If they take it from you until the last day, oh well, but if they don't, you can charge everything quickly.

8) Do the knuckle-routine to help prevent Norovirus....use your knuckle to hit elevator buttons and open doors instead of your hands. Along the same lines, bring wipes and wipe the inside of your personal bathroom door. The two most contaminated areas on ships are the elevator buttons (so many hands) and the inside of bathroom doors (never cleaned and the place touched by infected people.)

9) Don't even bother to try to fight for a pool lounge chair..the fight's not worth it. If you do try to reserve one, put a fake diaper bag with a fake diaper full of pudding on the chair.....people tend to leave that alone. :rolleyes:

10) Pre-buy a Minimum of a week before the cruise, the amenity packs the cruises sell....baskets of flowers/fruit/candy/Momento glasses/chocolates/towels to have in your cabin on arrival. It really starts your trip with a smile.

11) When bringing a first-time-cruiser with you, make SURE you have your timing down with your cabin steward, so when you enter you can watch them see their first towel animal...wearing their sunglasses. SUCH FUN!

Oops, you are correct. It was Seven Seas Navigator who assigned gentlemen hosts, not RC.

Oh ,absolutely, everyone, the timing was off, which was the whole point of the comedic tragedy. I have subsequently gone on other cruises with new loved ones and had a blast, including one of the best cruises of my life.

I wasn't stand-offish on this particular cruise...I was wounded...and everyone, simply everyone on this off-season cruise were 50-60ish couples who kept to themselves and didn't mingle with each other, much less me.

Had I gone on a Crystal Cruise, or a Carnival cruise at the other end, I certainly could have found people to chat with.

Oops, you are correct. It was Seven Seas Navigator who assigned gentlemen hosts, not RC.

I've cruised all my life, but suddenly had my fiancee split the day before the cruise. It was to be a honeymoon cruise, so I booked the Captain's Penthouse on the RC Navigator, a gigantic cabin the size of a house, with a dining room for 12, separate living room, foyer, several bathrooms, bedroom, and gigantic porch that went all the way down the port, fore, and starboard sides. I could easily have fit 100 people into this place. It is frequently shown on "exotic cabins" on TV shows. It had a private valet, and all premium liquor was included, as well as complimentary in-room meals for a dozen. The cost was $17,000 for the week.

To make sure there were no glitches, I paid full price for two front row First Class seats on Delta to Puerto Rico, the Port of Embarkation.

I figured with the marriage called off, I would just waste the trip, but about 2AM as I stared at the ceiling, I remembered on a prior trip on the Crystal they had many widowed/divorced 50-60-year old elegant women, for which the ship provided gentlemen escorts for dining and dancing.

I thought, what the heck, I'm packed, tuxedo-will-travel, already paid, non-refundable, and I'm suddenly alone, I'll go, and maybe find my next true love.

I got up, and drove to the Airport. The fun stopped there.

I dreaded the long flight alone, with the empty seat next to me in First Class, but also appreciated the time I'd have to think of how my life had suddenly changed.

Though I had paid thousands for a non-refundable, companion seat, Delta Airline rules were that if someone did not actually show for the seat, they could sit the seat, even though I had paid for it.

The flight was over-booked, so they upgraded an absolutely Diva male who had not flown first before. He monopolized the flight attendants the entire flight, chatting, demanding the free drinks, basically binging his flight attendant bell ever few minutes. I was in misery.

I got to the ship finally and was overwhelmed by the gigantic suite. I felt like Citizen Kane alone in his mansion.

I gathered up my courage, groomed, and went to the Singles meet-greet event. To my utter dismay, unlike on Crystal that had maybe 20 refined, elegant widows/divorcees aboard, I was ...the...only....single....on...board.

So at the party, there was me, and a half-dozen gentlemen escorts hired by the ship to escort single ladies. I thought...uh-uh.

For dinner, I requested a table for two, as I absolutely did not want to be stuck with a happy family reunion of 8, as I was still grieving the loss of my fiancée. To my horror, they sat a gentleman escort with me. To my great horror/tragic amusement, he then launched into his training and patented escort patter.

"So, what is the last book you read?" "Tell me about where you're from?" And on, and on, generic, pre-written questions, that would be fine if I were a single female looking for companionship, but I just wanted to be alone with my thoughts, but did not want to appear rude.

I took my next meal in my cabin. This particular cruise, because of the season and timing, all were married couples in their late 50's or 60's, and very much not into the party scene.

I knew it would be too lonely to do shore excursions, watching everyone else holding hands, so stayed aboard.

I ended up, just watching the calendar, praying for the week to end. It bothered me a bit I could not go to the main dining room without being pounced on, so chose a gambit where I arrived 30 minutes after the meal start, thinking then I could be alone. It didn't work. In a few minutes a flustered gentleman host came running in, obviously having been called from his cabin....and immediately the exact same questions began.

Now I understand, there will be grumps out there who will declare how they LOVE people and strangers etc, but I was grieving the loss of my fiancée, was stuck on a ship without singles, and having a 30-something gentleman host mindlessly going though his patter. Had it been a 60-year-old retired military man, professor, etc, then yes, it may have been interesting, but it was more like the tour guide you get on a bus in Europe mindlessly going through the patter.

I ended up not leaving the cabin.

It's sad, as (isn't it always the way), on my many previous cruises I had always seen tons of singles' activity, from the single's ballroom dancing (my style of fun), to the drunken poolside hairiest leg contests..not my style....but might have been interesting to experience.)

I understand, I could have gone to the front desk and explained I wanted to be left alone, but the gentleman hosts were only doing their job and were a nice as could be, and I didn't want to hurt their feelings or get them in trouble.

Interesting, as now, years later, I find myself again suddenly solo. I look wistfully at the cruises and wish I could pre-order one of the magnificent cruises I've gone on before with tons of wonderful companions and new friends...but also remember the bad cruises. I'd said 90% of my cruises have been wonderful....but I fear encountering the 10%. I can do anything, endure anything with a wonderful companion by my side, but facing it alone is daunting.

I remember many many many years ago, going to Antoine's in New Orleans with a group having a spectacular meal, looking over, seeing a sole male dining a gourmet meal and thinking....oh my, how lonely. Now, years later, I guess people stare at me eating alone.

Congratulations for trying your first solo.

The most important information to give you advise is missing...your financial comfort level.

Without a doubt, without a hesitation, I recommend Crystal for a sole female, 53, widowed. The place is a place, the service impeccable. They specialize in the widowed/divorced sole female and cater to their needs.

It is very high class, tuxedo-level.

There is tuxedo/ballroom gown singles dancing each evening. The ship literally hires educated refined men to be gentleman hosts for the single women. The hosts are there to dance with you and to accompany you for dinner at no cost.

Most women give them some sort of a gift at the end of the cruise.

There were maybe 20 single woman on my cruise that were in your described category. The meals are sumptuous, and they will sit you alone, with an escort, or with a group as you request.

There is a lot to do, or not do, gorgeous specialty shopping areas, and high tea each afternoon. Very posh.

I would NOT do Royal C. It was my only solo/single cruise. To my despair, I found I was the only single aboard, and to my embarrassment, they assigned the gentlemen escorts to me, a male. I ended up hiding in my room.

Please read my review on the Valor. (just put in my name and you will find it.)

I found the Valor to be one of the most spectacular cruisies I have ever taken.

There is a specialty dining room, Scarlett's that is an absolute steal of a bargain.....private table, private service, private bar and 5-star cuisine. The food and china was so beautiful, we took pictures of it. It would be perfect as a place you wish to dine alone and not have to stare/hear tons of families. It is not a place to meet others.

Your listed ports of call will be superb.

You said "solo" which I take to mean fine going alone, not looking for companionship, as opposed to "single."

I would not think of Valor as a place for a single to find singles. One the other hand, I did not hang out at the pool bar with those that may have been.

The finest (but expensive ships) I have found for those seeking companionship are Crystal. They literally hire educated, refined men as dancing/dining escorts for the single ladies. (No hanky-panky expected/required.)

The worst ship I found for singles was RC Navigator...I was absolutely the only single on board....and to my great embarrassment, they had the gentleman escorts escort me, even though I'm male.

For finding companionship, it depends on what you like. If you like the hairy-leg contest, drink-all-you-can pool bars, then the boards can direct you to those ships.

One of the finest times I had solo was cross-Atlantic...nestled under a blanket on a deckchair with hot tea, reading a book.

The Valor has a magnificent entrance lobby, with plush leather sofa's for nice drinks.