Alone on a cruise: 10/9 Silversea Spirit Rome to Barcelona

[your1mom]

Anyone else out there in CruiseCritic Land going on this cruise? It's my first; I'm going alone; & I hope to meet some nice, friendly people.

[ging466]

Anyone else out there in CruiseCritic Land going on this cruise? It's my first; I'm going alone; & I hope to meet some nice, friendly people.

Hi there

I travel on my own also and I met wonderful people on my first SS cruise. Sometimes u will find that there is no response to your roll call, that's because most SS patrons have never heard of Cruise Critic. But fear not, u will have a superb time.

Enjoy!:)

Cheers
Jennifer

[morneau]

We just returned from the Spirit Rome to Barcelona and you will love it! On the daily activity sheet there seemed to be a singles "get together" before dinner each evening and lots of opportunities to interact - we found our fellow passengers to be warm and friendly. In addition, Fernando, the cruise director, seems to somehow know everyone's name by the second day (even if you've never met him - the crew studies your picture that is taken when you board to try to memorize your name!). Fernando is quite friendly and accessible as well. I'm not sure if you are going to the same ports we did, but we enjoyed them all. My one piece of advice if you are visiting Corsica is to take one of the planned excursions - we did not and there was literally nothing else to do in the port otherwise. We loved the ports of Elba, Livorno (Tuscany, Florence or Pisa excursions), Monte Carlo, St. Tropez and Barcelona. I think you'll love your trip - it was a first time for us as well and the ship is beautiful, the service fantastic. Feel free to ask any questions, and enjoy your trip:)

[your1mom]

We just returned from the Spirit Rome to Barcelona and you will love it! On the daily activity sheet there seemed to be a singles "get together" before dinner each evening and lots of opportunities to interact - we found our fellow passengers to be warm and friendly. In addition, Fernando, the cruise director, seems to somehow know everyone's name by the second day (even if you've never met him - the crew studies your picture that is taken when you board to try to memorize your name!). Fernando is quite friendly and accessible as well. I'm not sure if you are going to the same ports we did, but we enjoyed them all. My one piece of advice if you are visiting Corsica is to take one of the planned excursions - we did not and there was literally nothing else to do in the port otherwise. We loved the ports of Elba, Livorno (Tuscany, Florence or Pisa excursions), Monte Carlo, St. Tropez and Barcelona. I think you'll love your trip - it was a first time for us as well and the ship is beautiful, the service fantastic. Feel free to ask any questions, and enjoy your trip:)

thanks for the suggestion re: corsica. my problem with the excursions is that i have to use a scooter except for very short distances & i understand that most/all the towns have cobblestone streets. is that true about the areas right around the ports you visited?

the 10/9 cruise starts in civitavecchia (rome), then stops in livorno, portofino, monte carlo, corsica, & marseille, ending in barcelona.

[morneau]

In thinking back, the only place where we really noticed the cobblestone streets was in Rome. For excursions from Livorno, the boat is able to dock (as opposed to anchoring a distance away and then taking a boat "tender" to the pier). Once we disembarked in Livorno, the buses for excursions were lined up and waiting for us...literally a few steps from the ship. In Monte Carlo, the streets are paved (as I remember) but be aware that the center of town can be somewhat steep and hilly. We took the tender to shore, then another boat taxi to get closer to town. Even then there was quite a bit of uphill walking. For Monte Carlo I would recommend a planned excursion - I did see some people with limited mobility (a walker, a wheelchair) on some of our excursions. Barcelona also had paved roads at the pier, and again the excursion buses were waiting just a few steps from the ship. Once in town, there were some cobblestone streets around the Picasso museum and other smaller streets off the main roads. While we didn't do a planned excursion there, I regret that we did not. You definitely should check in with the concierge while onboard and find out exactly what the situation is for each port - you will not be the only one with concerns. Although we signed up for excursions prior to our trip, we found that once onboard most excursions were still available for booking other than a few "special interest" ones (cooking class in St Tropez) which were already full. Hope that helps...