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Questions for solo cruisers

vswan

By vswan,
in Holland America Line

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

Posted
Posted
On 3/26/2023 at 10:15 AM, cruising sister said:

When sailing solo do you stick to ship excursions or venture off on private tours?  I have a mix on my May cruise and hope it is ok. 

 

I do both but favour private excursions.

 

I’ve been organizing private tours for years and am very careful in my research to make sure the guides are good, reliable to get you back to the ship in time, cancellation policies,  etc.  If you have a good roll call (which you do) you get to “know” your fellow travellers a bit.  As an organizer I have an extra advantage of emails from the participants and usually can get to “know” them a bit better before the cruise.  I confess, I enjoy planning and the better experience you have seeing more in a smaller group.

 

With HIA I book the HAL tours that are either a fair distance or difficult (or not worth the effort to plan myself) and sound very interesting.  

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cruising sister "Live from...." Rare

cruising sister

Posted
Posted

Thanks for all the responses. I am  still working on what to do. I have two excursions with people from the roll call and 3 from HAL. I will decide the rest later. I plan on taxis to get from airport to hotel in Barcelona and from ship to hotel in Amsterdam. Still figuring out the rest. 

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Cruising Is Bliss

Cruising Is Bliss

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 3/26/2023 at 12:48 PM, RuthC said:

I primarily do ship excursions, as that way I feel there's the safety in numbers, and hopefully someone will notice if my seat is empty before we leave a site. 

However, I have gone on private excursions when I knew the people I was with. I have traveled with friends, and we have gone on tours knowing each others mobility limitations, or other individual characteristics, and accept them. We had some great times! 

But go off with a group of people I don't know? Ah, no thanks. 

 

This. Yes. I wrote a long post and realized it was pretty much a duplicate of yours so i deleted the rest of it.🙂

 

Edited by Cruising Is Bliss
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highscar

highscar

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, Pickalily, Wilts said:

Made what I thought was a polite request earlier today (again) for this to be made a 'sticky', but it was removed.  Don't know why.  I thought the number of clicks up to now was indicative of interest, but.............. apparently not.

Sorry to hear that.  It’s very helpful for us. 

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Destiny0315

Destiny0315

Posted
Posted (edited)
17 minutes ago, Pickalily, Wilts said:

Made what I thought was a polite request earlier today (again) for this to be made a 'sticky', but it was removed.  Don't know why.  I thought the number of clicks up to now was indicative of interest, but.............. apparently not.

My guess would be that because HAL or Holland America are not specifically in the the title line it is not being considered. I doubt that at this point the OP can change the title to reflect that, so it would probably have to be a new posting with that added, but then the valuable info that has been added to this thread would get lost out there. Remember also that there is a general board on CC for solo cruisers already but I think that one more exclusively for Holland America Line within this board is probably long overdue.

Edited by Destiny0315
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Destiny0315

Destiny0315

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, highscar said:

It’s very helpful for us.

Right and having 8K+ views of this thread don't lie!! In fact doing a quick scan of the first seven or so pages on here reflects that the only posts with more views lately are ones with live HAL cruise updates or a couple about specific things such as Club Orange or the Navigator app.

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Pickalily, Wilts

Pickalily, Wilts

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, Destiny0315 said:

Right and having 8K+ views of this thread don't lie!! In fact doing a quick scan of the first seven or so pages on here reflects that the only posts with more views lately are ones with live HAL cruise updates or a couple about specific things such as Club Orange or the Navigator app.

.... and it was the number of views which I tried to highlight as proof that there are many potential solo cruisers out there who could benefit from the experiences of others.

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Destiny0315

Destiny0315

Posted
Posted
24 minutes ago, Pickalily, Wilts said:

... and it was the number of views which I tried to highlight as proof that there are many potential solo cruisers out there who could benefit from the experiences of others.

Well the last pinned(sticky)post added was the one asking for questions that could be asked of the CCL CEO(and other cruise CEO's)at the 2023 Seatrade Global Event held this past Wednesday. Thirty seven replies and 3.6K views later, the CC reps were only allowed to ask one question of each CEO because of time constraints at the event. So much for that...

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Destiny0315 said:

My guess would be that because HAL or Holland America are not specifically in the the title line it is not being considered. I doubt that at this point the OP can change the title to reflect that, so it would probably have to be a new posting with that added, but then the valuable info that has been added to this thread would get lost out there. Remember also that there is a general board on CC for solo cruisers already but I think that one more exclusively for Holland America Line within this board is probably long overdue.

 

The OP can change the title - all they have to do is hit report in their first post (the three little dots in the upper right hand corner) and make the request of the mods.  They should be more than willing to do it - especially with the number of views.

 

I’ve botched a couple of dates on my Future Cruise Listings and didn’t realize until after edit time.  I just clicked and explained and the mods kindly amended.

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vswan

vswan

Posted
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Posted

OP here. I sent a message to change the title to Questions for solo cruisers on HAL.

 

Also added a note that this is a wonderful thread that seems to be helping many. Thank you all for sharing.

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AliceS

AliceS

Posted
Posted

This is a great source for solo cruisers.   One thing that I might mention in reference to the solo cabins on Edge Class on Celebrity, I booked one and found it to have no storage and a life boat right in front on the Infinite Balcony……more like a window that opens?   Was not a fan.

 

if I’m with friends, or hook up with a group private tour on CC….I prefer private tours.   If that doesn’t work…..ship’s tours will do.   

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Cruisercl

Cruisercl

Posted
Posted
On 4/1/2023 at 10:15 PM, oakridger said:

 

See also the generic solo forum here on CC.  Click below.

 

Solo Cruises: Ask a Question - Cruise Critic Message Board Forums

 

 

 

IMO, the above forum is very generic and only discusses solo cruising in general, which is great for cruisers starting to cruise solo. Lots of good information. If there is any cruiseline specific info it is lost in the generic posts.

Solo information, varies greatly from cruiseline to cruiseline.

It would be nice to have solo cruising on a specific cruiseline forum recognized as a group, not unlike other specific groups listed. solo cruising is more popular than ever. 😊

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singleflyer

singleflyer

Posted
Posted

I am sailing solo on the Nieuw Statendam in July.  I prefer to sit by myself for meals; is it possible to get a table for one in the Main Dining Room?  Or will I be placed at a larger table with other guests?  

 

Thanks (and sorry if this was already answered, I looked through and didn't find it). 

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