Rare kazu Posted March 30, 2023 #151 Share Posted March 30, 2023 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. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruising sister Posted March 30, 2023 #152 Share Posted March 30, 2023 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising Is Bliss Posted March 31, 2023 #153 Share Posted March 31, 2023 (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 March 31, 2023 by Cruising Is Bliss 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickalily, Wilts Posted March 31, 2023 #154 Share Posted March 31, 2023 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highscar Posted March 31, 2023 #155 Share Posted March 31, 2023 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. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destiny0315 Posted March 31, 2023 #156 Share Posted March 31, 2023 (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 March 31, 2023 by Destiny0315 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highscar Posted March 31, 2023 #157 Share Posted March 31, 2023 AGREE. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destiny0315 Posted March 31, 2023 #158 Share Posted March 31, 2023 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. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highscar Posted March 31, 2023 #159 Share Posted March 31, 2023 Agree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickalily, Wilts Posted March 31, 2023 #160 Share Posted March 31, 2023 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. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destiny0315 Posted March 31, 2023 #161 Share Posted March 31, 2023 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... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted March 31, 2023 #162 Share Posted March 31, 2023 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. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vswan Posted March 31, 2023 Author #163 Share Posted March 31, 2023 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. 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceS Posted April 2, 2023 #164 Share Posted April 2, 2023 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. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakridger Posted April 2, 2023 #165 Share Posted April 2, 2023 1 hour ago, AliceS said: This is a great source for solo cruisers. See also the generic solo forum here on CC. Click below. Solo Cruises: Ask a Question - Cruise Critic Message Board Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destiny0315 Posted April 4, 2023 #166 Share Posted April 4, 2023 A new informative article from the BBC about solo travel and women: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230402-five-countries-that-are-safer-for-women 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruisercl Posted April 4, 2023 #167 Share Posted April 4, 2023 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. 😊 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveLowRiders Posted April 4, 2023 #168 Share Posted April 4, 2023 14 hours ago, Destiny0315 said: A new informative article from the BBC about solo travel and women: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230402-five-countries-that-are-safer-for-women Interesting article. Thanks for posting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slidergirl Posted April 4, 2023 #169 Share Posted April 4, 2023 12 minutes ago, LoveLowRiders said: Interesting article. Thanks for posting! The only one that was surprising was Rwanda. I've wanted to go to Slovenia for awhile now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickalily, Wilts Posted April 9, 2023 #170 Share Posted April 9, 2023 I might be 'cancelled' for this, but I think it's worth trying to help those who just need a little encouragement to carry on with their lives when their personal circumstances change. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highscar Posted April 9, 2023 #171 Share Posted April 9, 2023 Agree 100% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destiny0315 Posted April 9, 2023 #172 Share Posted April 9, 2023 Read today's article and watch the video about the Traveling Grannies who are both widows and have travelled around the world together. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11953553/Texas-grandmas-internet-stars-traveling-world-80-days.html 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destiny0315 Posted April 14, 2023 #173 Share Posted April 14, 2023 An updated article on the search for the best solo/singles cruises including on Holland America: https://www.thetravel.com/best-singles-cruises/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruising sister Posted April 14, 2023 #174 Share Posted April 14, 2023 Thanks for the information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singleflyer Posted April 17, 2023 #175 Share Posted April 17, 2023 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). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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