Australia/New Zealand 2025 Solo

[Sheila127]

Hi, thinking of booking a cruise for 2025 and just wondered how well Princess cater for solo travellers? Are there any meet ups arranged? Would be glad to hear from anyone who has some experience of this! Thank you  in advance!

[wallyj]

2 hours ago, Sheila127 said:

Hi, thinking of booking a cruise for 2025 and just wondered how well Princess cater for solo travellers? Are there any meet ups arranged? Would be glad to hear from anyone who has some experience of this! Thank you  in advance!

On most of my Princess sailings, a singles/solo meet up (no host) is usually listed in the daily ‘events’ which you should receive nightly for the following days schedule. Many current ‘live from’ threads you will see they have posted the ‘event’ listing to give you an ideal. If not listed  on your sailing, contact the Cruise Director with a note at Guest Services to add an event.

 

Princess has no control on which passengers decide to ‘attend’. I saw a solo you tuber who had a video saying he was the only one to show up on one of his sailings. YMMV.

 

Check out and participant in cruise critic roll calls and that other social site.

[Sheila127]

Just now, wallyj said:

On most of my Princess sailings, a singles/solo meet up (no host) is usually listed in the daily ‘events’ which you should receive nightly for the following days schedule. Many current ‘live from’ threads you will see they have posted the ‘event’ listing to give you an ideal. If not listed  on your sailing, contact the Cruise Director with a note at Guest Services to add an event.

 

Princess has no control on which passengers decide to ‘attend’. I saw a solo you tuber who had a video saying he was the only one to show up on one of his sailings. YMMV.

 

Check out and participant in cruise critic roll calls and that other social site.

Yes I appreciate this! I myself don't always attend as I like to do my own thing but it's nice to know the option is there! Thank you for your feedback, much appreciated!

[DCThunder]

1 hour ago, Sheila127 said:

Yes I appreciate this! I myself don't always attend as I like to do my own thing but it's nice to know the option is there! Thank you for your feedback, much appreciated!

I don't know if you're new to solo cruising or just to solo cruising on Princess, but as another solo cruiser (Princess and HAL), my observation is that attendance at the solo/singles meet up is highest the first or second day and declines significantly after that.  People tend to gravitate to those who they find compatible and form smaller groups after the initial "cattle call" meet-up. They are also sometimes scheduled at inconvenient times, which may also limit their appeal.

 

How active a pre-cruise Roll Call and if there's a Meet &Greet set up by the RC group also tends to allow singles to find people to hang out with, if they so choose.  Sharing excursions set up through the RC also accomplishes this.

 

[Thrak]

You might want to try to organize something like this on your roll call:

  

On 6/22/2023 at 10:43 PM, trbarton said:

I’ve been on 2 cruises where a member arranged a group table for anyone traveling solo for dinner in the MDR each night. I now have a group of friends that I keep in touch with. I believe the table holds 10 people. I would make a reservation for the 5 pm seating to allow time to see the 1st show in the theater. 
 

If you’re interested please email me at trbarton743 at aol com & put Solar Eclipse Group dinning in the subject line. I’ll need your name & booking number so that they can link us all together. 
 

Here’s a photo of one group. 

 

Tom😀

 

Edited July 18, 2023 by Thrak

[PescadoAmarillo]

30 minutes ago, Thrak said:

You might want to try to organize something like this on your roll call:

  

 

Those groups turn out to be a lot of fun (I’ve been told), very fluid and friendly. On some cruises, the manager of the dining room used for breakfast and lunch can be asked to have an 8 person table available as a singles table, and people can come and go as they wish and if they wish. Attendance at the singles table at dinner tends to be more stable. 
 

@Sheila127, the really nice part about Australia and New Zealand ports is that the ship typically doesn’t dock in a freight area.  You can walk right off the ship and find lots of excursion offerings in the pier area. And the ports, in general, are very safe, so you could be comfortable just a seeing around on your own, too.   

[Sheila127]

 I have some experience of solo groups but just not with Princess and just wondered whether there were any arrangements for solos! I personally have mixed feelings about them as I enjoy my own company and choose to travel solo as I enjoy the freedom it gives me! It is always nice though to have that option of being able to join others of an evening! Thank you very much for the information and advice,  much appreciated!

 

[KKB]

Meh, not so much. Have sailed 2 Caribbean sailings solo in the last year.

Went to one "meet up"--I was the sole attendee!

Luckily I am a social person & chat people up at bars or trivia/gameshows.

Plus met some nice people at dinner.

Such a long cruise, if you put yourself out there early, you will make friends!