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red911s
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4 hours ago, Lois R said:

Hi, thanks for the congrats🙂

 

As for the cruise? It was 2 cruises actually with 3 days of land in between.  I was supposed to sail on a 16 day TA

crossing with Silversea.  Starting in Ft. Lauderdale and ending in Barcelona. Then I was going to fly from Barcelona

to Lisbon for a 3 night pre-cruise land trip followed up with River 7 night river cruise on the Douro River, ending in

Porto and then flying to Madrid for an additional 3 nights and then flying home. So I would have been away for 30

days....so it would have been a month, rather than 5 weeks.  I was supposed to fly to South Florida on April 5,

sail on April 6th......and should have been back back home on May 5th.

 

This sounds like a great adventure! I know you must be extremely disappointed that these cruises had to be cancelled due to Covid.

 

I wasn't familiar with Silversea so I did some reading about the company on wikipedia. I learned that Silversea is now a subsidiary of RCI. Speaking of a cruise adventure, how about this one:
 

Silver Whisper is scheduled to take a 140-day world cruise in 2020. The ship departed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on 6 January 2020. After visiting 62 ports in 32 countries, Silver Whisper is scheduled stop in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 25 May.

 

This cruise would definitely meet my self established minimum of 12 days for any cruise I take! I'm sure this cruise was affected by this Covid pandemic.

 

Hopefully, we'll be back to solo cruising again sometime in 2021 (with a vaccine) and the sooner in the year the better.

 

Take care.

Edited by farmersfight
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On 8/30/2020 at 11:14 AM, red911s said:


Easy 😀 My point was not to offend. I'm pretty much aware that there are millions of people out-there just aiming at the same kind of trip as you. My question is, why to do it on a cruise and not by picking independent planes travels between several destinations? This is really a question I'm curious about, and that will help me to clarify regarding the type of people I can find on a solo's cruise.

You could ask that same question of anyone, yourself included. Why are you asking about a cruise when you could take a plane/train/car/bus from city to city instead?

 

Here's a real example from my travels. In 1998, I traveled from my home on the U.S. East Coast to British Columbia and Alaska. I visited five cities/towns; this involved booking one round-trip flight, two one-way flights, two ferries, one train ride, and six hotels. In each location I had to research what to visit and where to dine - how to get there, how safe is it to walk there in the evening as a lone woman, is it in my travel budget, etc.

 

Last year, I took a cruise to Alaska. If I didn't live in Seattle this would have required a round-trip flight and one hotel night - but that would have been the most complex planning required. I boarded the cruise ship, unpacked, and did not have to pack again until the end of the cruise. I did not have to worry about booking transportation to the four cities/towns visited; I woke up in the morning and look, we're in another port! I didn't have to search for restaurants or worry about being out and about while alone. No matter how large the ship is, you're not going to get all that lost trying to find your way around. When visiting ports, you have the option of doing your own thing or signing up for ship excursions where you don't have to do anything but have fun. There are plenty of activities onboard, which I am free to enjoy or avoid depending on my mood. Dining solo? Not a problem, plenty of options. Being social? I can be as social or reclusive as I like, which means I am mostly reclusive but am open to chatting at times.

 

My job requires a lot of researching, analyzing, writing, collaborating, and wrestling with bureaucratic processes and bureaucratic mindsets. On a cruise, the most difficult decision I need to make is "red wine or white wine?" and the only person I need to consult with is the server asking that question. It's not even a difficult question. I don't like red wine.

 

I still enjoy traveling when I must research and plan and make reservations. Sometimes, however, I just want to relax and silently watch the ocean roll by.

 

Many people would dislike cruising solo. I did not know if I would enjoy it, but tried it and was delighted with how well a cruise worked with my style. People with personalities very much the opposite of mine also enjoy it. Everyone on this board has a different story and different reasons why they cruise alone!

 

By the way, I am married (nearly 20 years) but my husband does not enjoy traveling so I have continued to travel alone.

 

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12 hours ago, coastcat said:

On a cruise, the most difficult decision I need to make is "red wine or white wine?" and the only person I need to consult with is the server asking that question. It's not even a difficult question. I don't like red wine.

 

How to have fun without money

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21 hours ago, coastcat said:

You could ask that same question of anyone, yourself included. Why are you asking about a cruise when you could take a plane/train/car/bus from city to city instead?

 

Here's a real example from my travels. In 1998, I traveled from my home on the U.S. East Coast to British Columbia and Alaska. I visited five cities/towns; this involved booking one round-trip flight, two one-way flights, two ferries, one train ride, and six hotels. In each location I had to research what to visit and where to dine - how to get there, how safe is it to walk there in the evening as a lone woman, is it in my travel budget, etc.

 

Last year, I took a cruise to Alaska. If I didn't live in Seattle this would have required a round-trip flight and one hotel night - but that would have been the most complex planning required. I boarded the cruise ship, unpacked, and did not have to pack again until the end of the cruise. I did not have to worry about booking transportation to the four cities/towns visited; I woke up in the morning and look, we're in another port! I didn't have to search for restaurants or worry about being out and about while alone. No matter how large the ship is, you're not going to get all that lost trying to find your way around. When visiting ports, you have the option of doing your own thing or signing up for ship excursions where you don't have to do anything but have fun. There are plenty of activities onboard, which I am free to enjoy or avoid depending on my mood. Dining solo? Not a problem, plenty of options. Being social? I can be as social or reclusive as I like, which means I am mostly reclusive but am open to chatting at times.

 

My job requires a lot of researching, analyzing, writing, collaborating, and wrestling with bureaucratic processes and bureaucratic mindsets. On a cruise, the most difficult decision I need to make is "red wine or white wine?" and the only person I need to consult with is the server asking that question. It's not even a difficult question. I don't like red wine.

 

I still enjoy traveling when I must research and plan and make reservations. Sometimes, however, I just want to relax and silently watch the ocean roll by.

 

Many people would dislike cruising solo. I did not know if I would enjoy it, but tried it and was delighted with how well a cruise worked with my style. People with personalities very much the opposite of mine also enjoy it. Everyone on this board has a different story and different reasons why they cruise alone!

 

By the way, I am married (nearly 20 years) but my husband does not enjoy traveling so I have continued to travel alone.

 


Thanks for your feedback. Haven't thought on it from this perspective!

 

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