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Solo Cruiser looking for advice :)


Phoenix152
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I have been reading comments on this forum for weeks and you guys have been terribly helpful- I thought you might be able to help me with my issue!

 

I have sold my house and moving soon but I can spare a month or a month an a half for a once in a lifetime trip!

 

I am looking for long cruises that I will not be able to take again in the next 30 years or so. I am 30 and between jobs and can afford to-so why not?! :) (Have already been to one cruise and loved it)

 

I would rather leave from anywhere in the US (west coast preferable), I would rather leave next month (April) or May or June (worst case scenario).

 

I want a long trip (over 17 days or even around 30 days) but what I am mostly concerned about is finding a ship that has a lot of activities on board and hopefully a nice group that will be around my age? I heard some of these cruises are really only for 80+ people and I am 30 :)

 

I am interested in going to Hawaii, Tahiti, Alaska, Australia, maybe Europe, Asia... I am not terribly interested in the Caribbean or Panama Canal or Mexican Riviera..

 

My worry with Europe is that I will be rushed on ports and won't be able to see as much as I'd like...

 

I am open for any suggestions, ideas, thoughts or general comments-anything you can share from your experience would be helpful :)

 

I am also a solo travelers and would love to pay less than 200% for my trip...

 

Thank you everyone!! :)

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I would rather leave from anywhere in the US (west coast preferable), I would rather leave next month (April) or May or June (worst case scenario).

 

I want a long trip (over 17 days or even around 30 days) but what I am mostly concerned about is finding a ship that has a lot of activities on board and hopefully a nice group that will be around my age? I heard some of these cruises are really only for 80+ people and I am 30 :)

 

I am interested in going to Hawaii, Tahiti, Alaska, Australia, maybe Europe, Asia...

 

Look at my signature ;) April is the right time for booking a Transpacific and it's the long trip with destinations you want.

 

(But you probably should go with another cruise line. Even if I'm <30, I expect less people in this age. But long exotic cruises always have less younger people than short Caribbean cruises.)

Edited by swoonx
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Which cruise lines do you recommend? I saw HAL is doing a 29 day cruise and seems really i tune with what I want but I am worried about the demographics as far as age... and also that there will no activities past 8:30pm lol

 

Which one are you going with? Celebrity?

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Which cruise lines do you recommend?

Well, all my cruises so far were with Royal Caribbean. I loved those cruises, but this time we wanted something more elegant with less fun activities, so we choose Celebrity, yes.

 

I saw HAL is doing a 29 day cruise and seems really i tune with what I want but I am worried about the demographics as far as age... and also that there will no activities past 8:30pm lol

Yeah, but as mentioned before all long cruises have the problem that you will find less young people and even less young solo cruisers. Then it's better to book shorter, less exotic cruises and combine them to one long cruise.

 

In your case I would choose Royal Caribbean over Celebrity or HAL. (But it's hard to grab a free cabin on the Transpacific cruises, you have to wait until someone cancels. )

 

Which cruise line was your last cruise?

Edited by swoonx
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I agree that there aren't a lot of younger cruisers who have the time to take a month long cruise, so youi're unlikely to find many (if any) cruisers your age on a voyage like what you're describing. So prioritize and ask yourself what's more important to you, the voyage or the age of your fellow passengers? If you want a younger crowd, look to link several shorter cruises together, but if you want a unique and longer voyage, be willing to accept that the other passengers will be older.

 

You should be able to find a transpacific or south pacific cruise out of California. A quick internet search shows Princess has a month long cruise in and out of LA to Tahiti ;)

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I have been reading comments on this forum for weeks and you guys have been terribly helpful- I thought you might be able to help me with my issue!

 

I have sold my house and moving soon but I can spare a month or a month an a half for a once in a lifetime trip!

 

I am looking for long cruises that I will not be able to take again in the next 30 years or so. I am 30 and between jobs and can afford to-so why not?! :) (Have already been to one cruise and loved it)

 

I would rather leave from anywhere in the US (west coast preferable), I would rather leave next month (April) or May or June (worst case scenario).

 

I want a long trip (over 17 days or even around 30 days) but what I am mostly concerned about is finding a ship that has a lot of activities on board and hopefully a nice group that will be around my age? I heard some of these cruises are really only for 80+ people and I am 30 :)

 

I am interested in going to Hawaii, Tahiti, Alaska, Australia, maybe Europe, Asia... I am not terribly interested in the Caribbean or Panama Canal or Mexican Riviera..

 

My worry with Europe is that I will be rushed on ports and won't be able to see as much as I'd like...

 

I am open for any suggestions, ideas, thoughts or general comments-anything you can share from your experience would be helpful :)

 

I am also a solo travelers and would love to pay less than 200% for my trip...

 

Thank you everyone!! :)

 

This is going to sound weird but I am very interested in a cruise like this too. My birthday is the 23rd of April and I would love to do a long cruise (solo) around the world or wherever. I have a huge travel bug and love cruises. I am female and will be turning 30 on the date indicated. Let me know what you find and maybe we can partner up or something. Sorry if this comes off as creepy, lol.. It's just that I would love to do something like this.

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Hi,:) I agree with the other folks who have posted about the longer

cruises and the demographic on most of them.

I mean if you have the time and money to cruise for a month? More

power to you:D but I doubt there are going to be very many passengers

in your age group that can take that amount of time off in one swoop.

 

I just turned 56 and still work full time....wish I could take off that

amount of time all at once but it is not possible. I get 4 weeks

vacation and usually cruise 2 or 3 times a year......I have to split

it up......easier on the budget and for work as well.

 

Hope you realize a month cruise (espcially for a solo) is quite a bit

of money....but again, if you have it? Go for it.

 

Good luck to you.....hope you find all that you are searching for.:)

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Again, agree with everybody else about age demographics, but there will usually be some 30-40 year age range. Carnival Miracle has a 16 night Hawaii, Long Beach-Vancouver. Don't count out Carnival on a longer cruise. It will be an older crowd. Also, check Princess. They have a few longer, that might fit your needs. I saw a couple starting on westcoast going to Asia.

 

Just use a travel search engine, and plug in the details.

 

Debbie

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April is a good month for longer repo cruises with ships returning from South Africa, South America etc to European detain actions and others.

 

I think you need to decide where in the world you want to go...where have you always wanted to go?

 

An alternative to one long cruise which inevitably have an older crowd (not that many working people can take 3 weeks or more off work), consider a series of back to backs. This is popular with Australian and NZ passengers who don't want to fly to Europe for a week. You could do B2Bs on different ships out of Italy for example. Start off in Venice and take a trip around the Eastern Med taking in Turkey, Greece and perhaps further South to Egypt or Israel. Get back and do a different 7 night route or catch a train over to Genoa or Rome and do a western route going to France! Spain, Portugal. In April they still have some 11 nights heading further out, down into the canaries! Madeira etc.

 

What about B2Bs in Australasia and then going up to do a Far East route after that?

 

Yes you'd have further to fly rather than sailing from the US, but you're young, have the time and the money, go for it be adventurous, see the world!

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OMG!! I wish I was able to do this.

 

Here's my suggestion -

 

RADIANCE OF THE SEAS!! - HAWAII AND ALASKA

Board her in May 6, 2014 in Hawaii. Take the 9 day Hawaii cruise, hit 4 Hawaiian ports and then up to Vancouver, British Columbia. Stay on her and cruise from BC and take the 7 night Northbound Alaska & Hubbard Glacier. If you want a 3rd trip stay on her again and take the 7 night Southbound Alaska trip.

 

OR

 

ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS!! - EUROPE AND MEDITERRANIAN

Board April 20, 2014 in Miami. 14 night cruise to Southampton, England. Arrive May 4. Tour England or take the 4 nighter on AOS. May 8 board AOS and cruise 15 nights Central Mediterranian. May 23 arrive back to Southampton and fly home.

 

Have a great time whichever itinerary you select. Don't worry about the older crowd. You are going to have a BLAST! Find some "cool" older people to hang out with during your cruise. My dad is 71 but can easily be a cool wise 40 year old any day of the week. You'll be surprised. 50 is the new 30. LOL!!!!:D

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I would do a South Pacific/Asia trip out of LA on Princess, but that's just me. You could pick a few itineraries you like, then check the roll calls for those itineraries to see who else is going from CC to give you an idea of some of the demographics. I wouldn't recommend HAL since they do seem to have a much older crowd, and as others have said, the longer cruises do tend to have an older crowd as well.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

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I have the money but not the time to do a trip like that, so I'm also a little jealous. I'm also 30 fwiw. And if I had the time, I'd probably combine a longer European cruise with some land vacation time. That way you could do a couple places in-depth and not feel like you were just rushing through Europe on some sort of whirlwind trip. I took a Mediterranean cruise solo last year and found that there was a good mix of passengers really all things considered. Whatever you decide to do, enjoy!

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Ladies, please do not even think about HAL at your young age. I am in my 70s, went on a 14Ner. Not one passenger spoke to me or my friend. It was a floating nursing home with food to match. Only cruise out of 45 plus I was happy to get off.Asked my friend why they would not converse with me; he replied you have nothing in common. Enough said.

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One line that is billed as everyones cruise line with good longer itins is previously mentioned Princess. I am also interested in those 28-30N South Pacific rt from California. Rep say 2015 schedule out soon. Only one I saw is OCT 18, 14 Crown out of SanFrancisco .But they have several 15Ners too. Another combo I like is a Transatlantic B2B with a 12N European cruise.

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One line that is billed as everyones cruise line with good longer itins is previously mentioned Princess. I am also interested in those 28-30N South Pacific rt from California. Rep say 2015 schedule out soon. Only one I saw is OCT 18, 14 Crown out of SanFrancisco .But they have several 15Ners too. Another combo I like is a Transatlantic B2B with a 12N European cruise.

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I'm a younger cruiser and even on the ships that seem to have an older crowd, there are always a few on board. But what is most fun is to get to know the entertainers on board. They'll be busy a lot, but they are fun and stay up late. I also suggest attending the LGBT/Friends of Dorothy meetups. You don't have to be gay/queer to do so. They tend to be a very fun and lively group and open minded to get to know solo travelers.

 

Have a great time. Look for the fun and you'll find it.

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thank you guys so much! Zephyrgirl I think we're insync! lol I just booked a European cruise with NCL and then I will do Barcelona and Ireland on land :) :) so excited!

 

Hope you have a great trip. Your plans give you the best of both worlds.

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thank you guys so much! Zephyrgirl I think we're insync! lol I just booked a European cruise with NCL and then I will do Barcelona and Ireland on land :) :) so excited!

 

I went to Ireland last year. Did the 9 day escorted tour "irish explorer' through Cosmos. It was pretty fast moving but saw a good chunk of the country. Loved it. Can't wait to go back. Nicest people you will ever meet. And boy oh boy, it is beautiful GREEEEEEN!

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Might I ask you how much it cost you? And how rushed was it? I'm kind of nervous to sign up for those because I like taking my time and enjoying the surrounding.... I was thinking to stay in dublin a few days and then go somewhere west for a week and see the ring of Kerry and the cliffs and a bunch of other places. And maybe try and hop to Scotland too? :)

 

 

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Might I ask you how much it cost you? And how rushed was it? I'm kind of nervous to sign up for those because I like taking my time and enjoying the surrounding.... I was thinking to stay in dublin a few days and then go somewhere west for a week and see the ring of Kerry and the cliffs and a bunch of other places. And maybe try and hop to Scotland too? :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

The tour itself was cheap but it was the last week of the off season 3/27-4/5. I think the tour itself was $825 but you can expect to pay a bit more because the season is still to coming, plus airfare. I booked through Affordable Tours and all the prices they show are discounted even more.

If you really like to take your time, this may not be for you. I normally feel the same, but if tried to figure what was more important as I only had limited time. Its way to hard to be your own tour guide...car rentals, wrong side of the road, wrong side of the seat is more than I wanted to deal with. Then tour guide told us that gas was posted in liter prices but it calculated to approx $9 a gallon. The tour guides also add so much local lowdown that you wouldn't know if you were on you own for, for example, we were driving down a main country road and she pointed down an intersection and said "Angela Lansbury lives down there". I wouldn't have known that if I was driving by on my own. You know? Just stuff like that. Plus you meet a whole group of friends. I havent' kept in touch with any of them but it was still nice to meet these people. Plus a few meals and excursions are included...and a few others are optional. I think dinner at Bunratty castle was optional and fun with a big group...but cliffs of Moher and Giants Causeway were included and I never would have made the effort on my own...and if i were you, I wouldn't miss either.

And when all is said and done, I saw a lot of Ireland and know where to focus my next visit. I loved the whole country but fell in love with the Dingle Penninsula, Ring of Kerry is nice and definately more famous, but i think Dingle is has it all over the Ring of Kerry and i would suggest you don't miss that. but do both for sure.

 

My only real complaint about this particular tour was the time we were in Galway. We were there on Easter Sunday morning only until i think noonish. That's a real happening college town and the young people really love it. Its famous for its nightlife. So I wish I saw this town in the later part of the day or even an overnight. We were leaving just as the shops were starting to open up. And where you are so young, If this happens to you on a tour, I think this is one of the places you would want to consider heading back to and extend your visit on your own. All the under 30s I know absolutely love Galway...plus the horse races in that area are supposed to be awesome.

Did I give you enough to chew on? I'd be happy to give you my email or cell and we can chat more...I could go on all day about Ireland. Good luck and keep me posted?

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Fabulous ideas OP - Barcelona is a fabulous city to enjoy at whatever age. Ireland too. Might be worth checking a tour in Ireland from US, UK or Ireland. Dublin and the West Coast is perfect, Ring of Kerry is awesome, as is Dingle. You will have a ball.

 

Enjoy

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