PlayCousin

Fun topic indeed. I was on the Carnival Breeze. I was in a far forward cabin with only one cabin next to me. I met the two young men who were sharing that cabin on day 1. Well these two guys turned out to be a lot more popular than I gave them credit for. First night one of them managed to pick up a girl and bring her back to the room. The problem was the second guy returned to the room and couldn't get in. His reaction was to beat loudly on the door and scream "No h@#s. We said no h@#s." It's late night/early morning and he's banging and screaming. I admit I was nosey enough to look out the peephole to watch the unfortunate girl take her walk of shame. This didn't just happen one night but several nights. I don't know if only one guy got lucky or if they both did. It was constant, every night. One day I was returning to my cabin and there were broken room service dishes sitting outside their door. I wondered what they had to do to break those dishes. I imagine if you dropped them on carpet they wouldn't break. I figured they put effort into breaking them. By day 3 I was no longer even acknowledging them when I passed them. No hello, no head nod, no eye contact, nothing. I was ashamed for them.

Glad you all enjoyed your cruise. I have to admit that I laughed out loud at the reservation snafu. Hilarious.

I have several sets of the ebags brand packing cubes. I've found that the large size is essentially useless for my needs (although it does fit perfectly into my 22" carryon). I think the medium size is most practical and I really like the slim bags. Not only do I use the cubes for clothing but I also use them for small, portable electronics (think ipod, ereader, assorted chargers).

11% alcohol content. What's not to like?

Love it. Generally I'm team "wine is fine but liquor's quicker" so that alcohol content is important.

Generally I agree with all the posters who say if you don't like it or can't appreciate simply don't drink it. 99 problems but sparkling wine shouldn't be one of them.

An older lady was standing at the railing of the cruise ship holding her hat on tight so that it would not blow off in the wind. A gentleman approached her and said: "Pardon me, madam. I do not intend to be forward, but did you know that your dress is blowing up in this high wind?"

 

"Yes, I know," said the lady, "I need both hands to hold onto this hat."

 

"But, madam, you must know that your privates are exposed!" said the gentleman in earnest.

 

The woman looked down, then back up at the man and replied, "Sir, anything you see down there is 82 years old. I just bought this hat yesterday!"

_______________________________________________________

 

A magician was working on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. The audience would be different each week so the magician allowed himself to do the same tricks over and over again. There was only one problem: the captain's parrot saw the shows each week and began to understand how the magician did every trick.

Once he understood the parrott started shouting in the middle of the show: "Look, it's not the same hat". "Look, he is hiding the flowers under the table". "Hey, why are all these cards the Ace of Spades?"

The magician was furious but couldn't do anything; it was, after all, the captain's parrot.

One day the ship had an accident and sank. The magician found himself on a piece of wood in the middle of the ocean with the parrot, of course! They stared at each other with hate, but did not utter a word. This went on for a day and another and another.

After a week the parrot said: "OK, I give up. Where's the boat?"

Okay. I admit. I laughed out loud at the parrot joke.

Knock on wood but so far I have had nothing but excellent customer service experiences both on the phone and while on board.

I had frittata in one of the main dining rooms on Getaway and it was a struggle to eat just enough as to not have the server question whether or not I liked it.

You don't have where you're from in your profile, so is it just too similar to home? New England and Canada are quite exotic for me since I'm from Arizona, but if it's not for you, that's fine. They'll be another good deal along in a bit.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

No. I am thrilled about the ports but the thought of 5 port days exhausts me. I'm on team sea days. Plus I'm not terribly excited about sailing out of NYC (again). This cruise is a good deal but I have to believe that another good deal will appear.

BBT - I was on your 2014 Epic sailing.

OP - I've sailed solo every cruise except for one. Guess which cruise I enjoyed the least? lol. I sailed solo on Breakaway to Bermuda in 2013. It is still my favorite cruise ever.

You all are making me cringe. I put this on home primarily because of the great price but I'm still not excited about it which leads me to believe that I may let it go. I hope I don't regret it.

I put the 9-17-17 Crown Princess on hold (72 hours). Fair price, interesting itinerary but I'm not 100% sold yet. I've never sailed Princess and need to do a little bit of research. Still, with the price, the OBC and $100 off by using Amex offer it is a great deal.

Loving this review. Any chance there is a blog out there somewhere detailing the road trip portion? I'd love to read that too.

Interesting thread indeed.

I never want to be locked up abroad but I'd really hate to be locked up abroad for something like this.

Dear cruise critic moderators:

I am now curious. Have there been any love connections made that were facilitated by these boards? Maybe they met in their roll call or clicked and exchanged emails here. Perhaps this deserves a new thread but I'm not savvy enough to create a new thread. Still, I'm sure that I can't be the only one who would love to hear about such happenings.

Amazingly I have ignored this thread since forever when it's actually a pretty good idea. Of course people love to differentiate between solo and single but single (and the struggle that goes with it) is real. Best wishes to all the SINGLE solo cruisers out there. Keep cruising. Apparently there are some love stories made at sea. Good luck!

I second the notion of not desiring to be where you aren't wanted. The world is big, the cruise ship is big. If you can't find people that want your company then be your own company. Don't judge couples for only wanting to dine with other couples. Right, wrong, different or indifferent - it remains their prerogative.

If it's that important to you, why not take charge and start a table for 10 solos. of course, that might prompt some couples to complain about discrimination.

I'm only one person, and a relatively petite one at that, so I never feel claustrophobic in a studio cabin. I probably would feel claustrophobic or at least crowded if I had to share a room, even a balcony, with someone else. I don't necessarily think that an inside is a better option than a studio (unless it's a better price - $$$ rules).

I've never actually attended the organized studio lounge gatherings but frequently just drop in at various times during the day, usually when I'm coming or going to my cabin.

I travel solo and have never had reservation issues on either the larger ships (Breakaway, Getaway, Epic) or smaller ship (Gem). They can almost always make room for one whereas making room for six is a tad bit trickier.

The issue might not necessarily be meeting people or other solos so much as meeting people that you actually click with. Sometimes on cruises I meet people I click with and sometimes I don't. Good luck to you. I hope you meet some cruise friends. I have met several over the years that I've kept in touch with.

Actually, I believe if you hover over the marker that indicates available obc it will give you the amount. Something like $25 for studios, $50 for insides, $75 ocean views, $100 balconies, $140 spa balconies, etc. Don't quote me on the amounts. Just stating that you can view them without going all the way through to a mock booking.

I was on this cruise. Recall seeing you guys around. Thanks for the review.

The first time I stayed in an Epic studio I was concerned because I had a connecting cabin. Turns out that if it weren't for the room service dishes in the hallway I would have never known that anyone was in that room. I never heard them or saw them the entire week. I've subsequently managed to book non-connecting but, as always, I guess it's simply the luck of the draw who your neighbors are. I recently returned from Getaway where one studio guest complained that she could hear really loud plumbing noises in her room. I don't know her room number.

Another vote for the studios. I've stayed in them on both Epic and Getaway (managed to snag a balcony upgrade on Breakaway). Both times were enjoyable. The space/storage in the room was more than enough for me but I'm on team pack carry-on only and I don't bring tons of stuff. I've found that the studio lounge can be hit or miss if you don't attend organized events. My most recent cruise a group of us tended to stop by the lounge just before retiring for the evening. We'd end up rehashing the day and shooting the breeze until the wee hours. It became our cruise tradition.

the cruisenext is refundable if you need to cancel and rebook a cruise. I also took advantage of the $50 deposit since i have a few cruises i kinda want to do and want to take advantage of the low price now and free at sea promo

I know but I prefer to get instant gratification out of my cruise next deposits, not delayed gratification. I booked for fall 2018 with the $50 deposit. Conceivably I should probably take several cruises between now and then. I totally think booking with the low deposit was the best way to go.

I will always consider myself a budget traveler. I splurge on what's important to me and I have discovered that a particular room type is not important to me. I heard all the talk of once you have a balcony you never go back. When I had my first balcony I was less than impressed, hardly used it. Second balcony I didn't even bother to step out onto it. Now I don't bother with booking balconies. I book the lowest priced room and if I manage to snag an upgrade, that's great. I'm happy in studios, insides, ocean views. I don't consider a balcony to be worth the premium. Especially as a solo traveler. I think if I were traveling in pairs I would demand a balcony because it gives another layer of privacy when you have people living on top of one another.