Newbie and solo traveller

[bevfd]

Hello all,

 

Very pleased to find this forum. I've just booked the Baltic Adventure on the Eurodam and it will be both my first cruise and my first solo holiday (I am 37).

 

Feeling both excited and daunted at the prospect and the whole language and convention of cruising is utterly baffling! I'm really hoping to meet some friendly people and would appreciate some advice concerning dinner. Should I book a table - presumably that means the same dinner companions for the trip?

 

I also realised that I made a mistake when booking my cabin and I have an obstructed view. Will they let me change this to an unobstructed view?

 

Any other tips for the solo 30ish traveller gratefully received,

 

Thanks,

 

Bev

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Two views on dining. Some people prefer to dine with the same people each evening so that they get to know them. Others prefer the Open Seating where each night they usually end up at a different table -- and they can go to dinner whatever time suits them. Some people have found that they got tired of being asked the same questions each evening when they went to a different table.

As for wanting to change to a different cabin -- you will need to have your TA find out how much more it is going to cost and decide if you can afford it.

You can check out Solo cruising here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=373

You can also join your Roll Call to see what others are doing - just scroll down until you find the date of your cruise here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=446

[solocanadian]

Hello all,

 

Very pleased to find this forum. I've just booked the Baltic Adventure on the Eurodam and it will be both my first cruise and my first solo holiday (I am 37).

 

Feeling both excited and daunted at the prospect and the whole language and convention of cruising is utterly baffling! I'm really hoping to meet some friendly people and would appreciate some advice concerning dinner. Should I book a table - presumably that means the same dinner companions for the trip?

 

I also realised that I made a mistake when booking my cabin and I have an obstructed view. Will they let me change this to an unobstructed view?

 

Any other tips for the solo 30ish traveller gratefully received,

 

Thanks,

 

Bev

 

I would book a large table at the main seating which is usually around 8:00 PM. This should give you a good mix of people. If you don't care for your table mates you can talk to the Dining Room Manager and ask to be moved. I have had to do this. Ask your travel agent about changing cabin reservation. It is probably doable at this time. Depending on the ship, the obstructed view may not be that bad. What ship are you on? I have been sailing solo since 1998 when my husband passed away. Do NOT expect to meet any single men. The only single men are gay and not interested in us but fun to party with.

[Watson's aunt]

hi

 

do you have a travel agent? sometimes you may get a upsell or up grade. I also travel solo. Are you on a Holland America ship? First thing you should do is join the roll call of your cruise. you will meet other people on your cruise and get to know them before you go. I would ask for a table for 6 fix seating. That means you sit at same table at same time. If you don't like your table mates ask to be changed.

 

bring a clock its the one thing you will miss. Also find a good bar if you do at same time (happy hour) you will meet people. If you don't drink a soda will work. Stay away from your cabin. Only use cabin for sleeping. You need to be seen.

 

joining the Roll call you will meat people and you can see what tours they are going on and thus they will know you and you can join the for drinks after your tour.

 

You will have a wonderful cruise and in many ways enjoy being a solo as you will not have to please anyone and if on sea day sleep late or have breakfast in bed.

 

Mary

[bevfd]

Thanks for your replies. I don't have a TA, I booked direct so fingers crossed they will let me change!

 

I am in no way hoping to meet any single men, just hoping to meet some pleasant people and have a relaxing time (but I appreciate the heads-up).

 

I have requested a 'main dining' table of 8 so fingers crossed for some good conversation.

[Watson's aunt]

Hi

 

you may find a lot of people will be older than you But they have a vast knowledge of what to do and not do. Most are friendly and are very happy to help you in any advice and questions you have. don't be afraid to ask.

they will look out for you or respect your privicy. Also read other cruises on the Eurodam before your cruise. Ask about your cabin, watch and see if they like the cabin or loved it,or if they were upgraded or upsell. what tours they took and any problems on that tour. some tours might just be shopping and you miss out or spend only a small time at a site you might have wanted to spend more time. Also on your rollcall someone might start a private tour. which will save you money they will ask for people to join and all you have to do is join. you have to be careful they may want to do too much. The ship will not wait for you if you are on a private tour. The will wait for tours arraged on the ship.

 

Keep asking questions this is what this site is for

 

Mary

 

Mary

[bevfd]

Also, the ship is MS Eurodam...

[Spinner2]

Welcome! I think you'll really enjoy the Baltic cruise on the Eurodam. We certainly did!

 

About your cabin. If you have a specific cabin number you can check to see exactly where it is by looking at the deck plan on the Holland America website. But "obstructed" sometimes isn't very obstructed at all! It may just mean that your view at the top of your window is of the bottom of a lifeboat. It's not bad at all. I think you can tell, or your travel agent can help you, see what that obstruction is from the deck plans.

 

My first advice for your cruise is to do a lot of planning before you go. There are so many exciting ports on this trip and you may want to explore sometimes on your own, but in other places you'll decide that you'd be more comfortable joining an excursion that you arrange yourself or you may select one of the ship's shore excursions. You'll find that people on the Roll Call for this cruise will be discussing this very actively! KK provided the link in the post right below your original post. If you'll look in my signature below you will see the link to our blog and the Eurodam Baltic cruise has many links that may help you to plan. We used a mixture of all 3 kinds of sight-seeing so you'll find examples that might help you.

 

If you wait to plan when you get to the ship you'll end up with only shore excursions and while that's not necessarily bad, it might not be exactly what you want and you will spend more. And for a solo traveler, planning ahead can mean more flexibility, yet safety. For example, you might find that a Hop On, Hop Off bus in some cities would give you the transportation you need, at a reasonable price, to see places you wanted to see, so you'd want to know in advance where those are available and how you would access them from the ship. When you go off on your own the time you must be back before the ship sails becomes very important so you'd want to take that into account. And in Russia, where you can't wander off on your own but must have some specific plans in place, see what your Roll Call members have discovered before you start to plan.

 

Come back with any questions you have! There's a lot of help here.

 

Again, welcome!

 

Edited to add: I see from your entry while I was writing this that you didn't use a travel agent. If you booked directly (online probably? by phone?) I think you can still ask HAL to assign a personal cruise consultant to you and then that person will help you with things like the cabin assignment. Someone here with more knowledge will correct me if I'm wrong about this.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Spinner2

[bevfd]

Thanks all very much for the advice.

 

I am a reasonably experienced traveller and generally would prefer to organise something myself when it comes to the stops. I think St Petersburg particularly will be a lot of ground to cover in 2 short days.

 

The cabin I have booked is 4073 and I can see that it has a lifeboat alongside although I have precisely no idea what that means in practice!

 

I will wander across to the roll call forum for a look now.

[Esri]

*snip* Do NOT expect to meet any single men. The only single men are gay and not interested in us but fun to party with.

 

Well, darn! ;)

[jaspersmycat]

I did my first solo cruise this past October and the most valuable thing I learned was to put my self out there by talking to everyone I met. I met people in the waiting lounge before boarding, at the CC meet and greet, at bars, at dinner (fixed dining 8-person table), in the casino, and at trivia. I started each conversation with "Hi my name is Elsie. This is my first solo cruise." People were great!

 

I even made reservations to eat alone at the Le Cirque dinner, Canaletto, and Tamarind. One of my dining room companions asked to join me as he did not want to eat alone and so we did 2 of the three "solo dinners" together.

[Esri]

I did my first solo cruise this past October and the most valuable thing I learned was to put my self out there by talking to everyone I met. I met people in the waiting lounge before boarding, at the CC meet and greet, at bars, at dinner (fixed dining 8-person table), in the casino, and at trivia. I started each conversation with "Hi my name is Elsie. This is my first solo cruise." People were great!

 

I even made reservations to eat alone at the Le Cirque dinner, Canaletto, and Tamarind. One of my dining room companions asked to join me as he did not want to eat alone and so we did 2 of the three "solo dinners" together.

 

I am heading off on my first solo cruise and I second this advice. I suffer from terminal shyness and I made myself volunteer to coordinate the lists for the meet & greets for the world cruise and to do the photo booklet. I put myself out there and asked in the roll call if anyone wanted to share a table and we have a group of 4 solo women lined up for our table of 6. I organized tours and signed up for tours organized by others. I met a fellow blogger for lunch last week and we'll be dining together in the Pinnacle Grill for a few of their special nights. Bottom line is I have a bunch of people who tell me they can't wait to meet me! Putting yourself out there is hard, especially if you are shy, but if I can do it, anyone can. :)

[rwams]

I would book a large table at the main seating which is usually around 8:00 PM. This should give you a good mix of people. If you don't care for your table mates you can talk to the Dining Room Manager and ask to be moved. I have had to do this. Ask your travel agent about changing cabin reservation. It is probably doable at this time. Depending on the ship, the obstructed view may not be that bad. What ship are you on? I have been sailing solo since 1998 when my husband passed away. Do NOT expect to meet any single men. The only single men are gay and not interested in us but fun to party with.

 

I have been traveling solo on 4 cruises going again in May, I enjoy meeting different people with whom I have become friends with. I am single and not gay there really is a few of us out there that cruise solo.

Rick

[bevfd]

Thanks for the encouragement folks, much appreciated.

 

Is this a mainly N America/ Canada board?

[travelnap]

Thanks all very much for the advice.

 

I am a reasonably experienced traveller and generally would prefer to organise something myself when it comes to the stops. I think St Petersburg particularly will be a lot of ground to cover in 2 short days.

 

The cabin I have booked is 4073 and I can see that it has a lifeboat alongside although I have precisely no idea what that means in practice!

 

I will wander across to the roll call forum for a look now.

 

Bevfd, I have done three HAL trips solo, and have enjoyed them all. I also have considerable travel experience but have found that the ship's excursions work fairly well for solos. They are very safe, as others from the ship are always with you, and in some ports such as St Petersburg, they do have access to some places a regular guide might have more trouble getting you into, without getting special visas or permits that are sometimes required.

 

I am male, but spend more time in the library than partying, so that is where the non gay males can be found on HAL. We carry a book instead of a bottle. I am joking of course, I have seen both gay and straight male solos on every cruise line I have sailed on. You will also see solo females that are gay or straight as well. Solo's sometimes get stereotyped, but if you have a good sense of humor, it can be entertaining rather than insulting. Hope you have a great trip.

[Krazy Kruizers]

You don't have to take tours with others on your Roll Call.

But you may get helpful tips on the ports and private excursions that they are doing.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Concerning St Petersburg -- there is no telling right now where the Eurodam will docked.

You may also be interested in these threads on St Petersburg (love that City -- first time we were there it was Leningrad):

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1775365&highlight=visa

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1256265

[Bescotti]

I'm a solo Aussie traveller who uses this forum for the wealth of information available here. On my roll call this year for a Med cruise though, I found more Brits and Aussies than North Americans.

 

I have also found that on port intensive cruises I prefer open seating so I can dine in my own time. The last time I chose fixed seating a couple of nights I was the only one at the table as the others were late back from excursions. With open seating I often met up with new friends for dinner. Whichever seating you choose, definitely join your roll call.

 

I now prefer to cruise solo as I meet more people!

[nsw104]

I've cruised solo a couple of times and prefer anytime dining.Ask to be seated at a large table & you'll meet more & different people than sitting at an assigned table where you'll dine with the same group of people all the nights.At anytime dining, if you meet others who company you enjoy, you can dine with them on other nights w/ anytime dining. I also recommend you join your roll-call to meet others for dining & excursions. For St. Petersburg, I highly recommend SPB-tours. 16 psgr. vans, great guides & great value for the price. I'm sure others on you roll-call will try to organize small group tours using SPB or one of the other fine private tour guides you'll find under the (port of call) boards. Enjoy

[Scrapnana]

I am heading off on my first solo cruise and I second this advice. I suffer from terminal shyness and I made myself volunteer to coordinate the lists for the meet & greets for the world cruise and to do the photo booklet. I put myself out there and asked in the roll call if anyone wanted to share a table and we have a group of 4 solo women lined up for our table of 6. I organized tours and signed up for tours organized by others. I met a fellow blogger for lunch last week and we'll be dining together in the Pinnacle Grill for a few of their special nights. Bottom line is I have a bunch of people who tell me they can't wait to meet me! Putting yourself out there is hard, especially if you are shy, but if I can do it, anyone can. :)

 

Much like Esri, I am going on my first solo cruise and it, too, is a world voyage. I am also very shy but find it is fairly easy to meet and talk with people on a cruise. As Esri says, join your roll call! Although I am traveling as a solo, I do not feel like I am traveling alone because of all the great people I have met on my roll call. I chose a large table because I felt there was a better chance of having at least a few people that will be a good "match". As mentioned before, be sure to talk to the Maitre d' if you have problems with your table the first or second night.

 

The Baltic is a great cruise. Not sure which cities you are visiting but at least a few are good DIY ports. Have a good guide book and walk around slowly and enjoy. For St. Petersburg you need to be on an excursion (ship or independent) so that you do not have to go through the trouble and expense of getting your own visa.

 

I am so looking forward to traveling solo that I have booked another cruise as such for 2015. I am tired of waiting for friends to want and/or have the money to cruise - I am going while I still can!

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Edited December 30, 2013 by Scrapnana

[bevfd]

Thanks all. Successfully changed my cabin this morning to a picture window (from a fully obstructed) for £16 which I'm really pleased with although my room will be next to the Show Lounge but all the reviews I have read of it say that in fact it is a really quiet cabin but that people avoid it because of its location.

 

I've booked the Hermitage at Night Tour to avoid the crowds and will take a look at the rest. Thanks for the tip about the Visa.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That is wonderful that you got your cabin changed.

Glad we were able to help you with some problems.

[solocanadian]

I have been traveling solo on 4 cruises going again in May, I enjoy meeting different people with whom I have become friends with. I am single and not gay there really is a few of us out there that cruise solo.

Rick

Wow, single & not gay.;) See ya in May on the beautiful "O".:)

[kirin]

There is a wealth of good information here. I also prefer Anytime Dining on a port-intensive cruise. You not only have flexibility as to dining time, but can also request a table for one if you are tired from a long day in port and don't feel up to much conversation.

 

When eating in the Lido, if you need to go back to pick up something at the buffet before you are finished, pull your chair out a bit and tip it forward so it rests against the table edge. This will indicate to the waiters that you are coming back to your place and they will not clear the space, having mistakenly assumed you have left.

 

Just me, but I prefer the twin bed configuration over the "double bed." The little bit of "walkway space" between the beds gives me the illusion of having more space in the cabin. Others may have a different opinion.

 

One of HAL's greatest treasures is the crew. They are very attentive to, sometimes almost protective of, solo lady cruisers.

 

Best wishes for a wonderful cruise,

 

Kate

[andeesue]

Good for you to venture out and cruise. You can spend as much time with people as you like, or go to your cabin for some quiet time. I find that the anytime dining worked better for me. I like the flexibility of eating when I wanted, not having to be at the dining room at a specific time. And, as others have stated, people often book specialty dining or make other arrangements. I find that I prefer tables of no more than 6, as it gets to be too many people to converse with. Take advantage of your Roll Call, a good place to connect ahead and then meet on board. I loved my Baltic cruise and am sure you will, tool