Solo Cruising:A Vacation That is All About You
Bimini Beach Club - Virgin Voyages
Do you ever travel solo? This is a trend that is currently on the rise and with good reason. You can be completely selfish - with your time, your excursions, your dining choices - with everything! Imagine giving yourself permission to sleep in, take a long nap, spend an entire day with your head buried in a book or to wander a museum for hours on end. Don’t feel like spending an hour or more at the dinner table? Just grab a quick snack or order room service. It’s all about you.
Cruising is very popular among solo travelers as it’s an easy and relaxing way to travel the world. You don’t have to worry about transportation between cities, and you don’t have to plan any excursions by yourself. You can be as sociable as you choose on some days, or you can decide to spend the day alone. One advantage to solo cruising is that you won’t find yourself feeling alone if you do want to socialize. You can request to be seated at dinner with other solo cruisers and may find social activities geared toward solo cruisers.
Before booking a solo cruise, there’s a term that you need to understand: single supplement. Cruise lines base their pricing on the assumption that there will be two people per cabin. If there is only one person in the cabin, the cruise line will only bring in half of the revenue. This is where the single supplement comes into play.
If a cruise line wants full fare for two people, the single supplement is 200%, meaning a solo traveler will pay for both spaces in the cabin. When considering solo cruising, you’ll want to look for a single supplement of 125-150%. Sometimes you can even find 100%, which essentially means that the single supplement is waived.
River cruise lines tend to waive the single supplement in a designated number of staterooms, and some even have select voyages with the single supplement waived on the entire ship. With the small size of river cruise ships (usually a maximum of 160), solo travelers find plenty of opportunities to meet and socialize with other travelers, joining them for dinner or on shore excursions. You will also find that you have common interests with other river cruisers. Many river cruise lines also have a limited number of single cabins, which are the perfect size for a solo traveler.
Whether you are craving the lively energy of a larger ocean ship or the intimate, social atmosphere of a scenic river cruise, the key to a successful solo vacation is finding the exact itinerary that fits your personality and your budget. You deserve a trip that maximizes your personal freedom without forcing you to pay double for it.
Give me a call or send an email when you’re ready to book a solo cruise. I can help you find the perfect ship and itinerary or get you onboard one of our group cruises.