LAngle

Praying that all come through this experience okay! I'm taking my friend on his first cruise soon, and we are following this and discussing what can happen.

Thanks. I downloaded it and will wait to see what happens when I board Sunday. :-)

I'm wondering about the possibility of texting onboard through the Royal App, too. Anyone know?

I think I have been on 3 cruises where the Super Bowl was the same night as formal night. Formal night was not rescheduled. Indy was one of them.

This has been an informative thread!

 

I am cruising alone on Freedom soon with 2 couples I've cruised with before and now I know some of the things to watch out for. It could get interesting if your experiences are any indication. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the photos! It's nice to see the changes.

If a Pinnacle asked to see my card, I'd say"OMG! You are Pinnacle AND you work for Royal Caribbean?!" :D

 

Seriously, I'm a pretty new D+ and the Pinnacles I've met have been lovely. I HAVE heard some stories otherwise, but I'm sure they are few and far between. I hope so anyway.

 

I just love cruising and meeting wonderful people!

I've read these latest posts with interest. I'm recently widowed and intend to sail solo when my friends can't join me. I would have not been interested at all in spending time with a married man, then 42 CruiseCrazy changed my mind ... then LuvBNatC changed it back! LOL.

 

I guess if I felt an interest in that married man, I'd back off. If I didn't, then I'd feel safe spending some time with him - after being very clear about it being platonic. I think I'd have to have a "no touching rule", so slow dancing would be out. And always be in public places, no strolls outside at night, no walking me to my cabin, that kind of thing.

 

Any other situations that I'd need to be aware of?

 

I don't want to be taken advantage of, but I don't want to exclude any possible friendships, either. This is a tough call!

[quote name='gayle v']why i would prefer traditional main dining room experience:

Top reason: Meeting new table mates each cruise and getting to know them through the rest of the week. We have often made friends of our table mates, made plans to get together to go to the show, or have drinks later. Sometime we arranged excursions together. One couple we even ended up cruising together again.

No making reservations.

No need to be shown to my table each night. Our table is ready and waiting for us every night.

Same waiters each night, who have my water with lemon and hubby's wine ready as soon as we show.

I like the different food themes, but also having "always available items" for when the food is too strange.

Having the timing of our dining match up to the timing of the traditional main show. No worry about getting done on time.

Love the elegant atmosphere the mdr has always had.[/quote]

like!!!!!

I asked for a feather pillow and it was a bit flatter and softer, so that could work for you.

Bosjoe - I thought so :) Good to see you.

 

And I thought the gnocchi was on the lunch menu that Bob posted? That looked super good. Oh well, I'm sure whatever it is, it will be tasty.

 

I was there in Feb of 2013, perhaps it has changed by now. I know I loved it!

I believe lunch is a slightly different menu than dinner. We did dinner family style and then another day did lunch, where we ordered for each of us off the menu. Lunch didn't offer the potato gnocchi with blue cheese sauce (my fav).

Are you by chance going on the Breakaway from NYC on Dec. 14th? I will be on that cruise and would like to meet solo cruisers in my age bracket like you. Just to hang out and new friendships.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

No, I was going after Christmas all alone, but some wonderful friends are cruising on Freedom 12/7 and I switched to be sailing with them. This was made possible by my generous boss, who granted me extra paid time off. So while I'll be alone in my cabin, I will have friends to eat and spend time with this time.

How do I post my profile and previous cruises? I must be dense, 'cause I can't seem to figure it out. I am scheduled on a TA from Venice on the Regal Princess on Oct 17, 2014 and it will be my first solo cruise, as my wife passed recently. Help would be appreciated!

 

You have my sympathies fro your loss.

 

Go to the yellow bar under the Cruise Critic logo and click on User CP, then select Edid Signiture. Put the info in your signiture box and save it. Have fun!

This is a great thread: I'm cruising with an old friend in a few weeks.

 

I guess the first thing is to be courteous and not hog all the storage space. Discuss who gets what drawers/shelves BEFORE unpacking. Some people are even fussy about which bed the sleep in. Don't just grab what you want - communication will be key.

I'm the OP of this thread and I'd like tho thank everyone for their kind words and support. As a result, I went ahead and booked my flight and hotel for one night pre-cruise, so I'm locked in. I'm determined to take that cruise solo. I believe it will be good for me to know I CAN vacation alone and enjoy it.

 

I have a old cruise friend who lost her husband last October. She graciously agreed to share a balcony cabin with me for a week on Freedom this August. I'm feeling a need to go on vacation sooner than December, and this could be a good way to ease into vacationing without my dear hubby, but not totally alone.

 

My condolences to everyone who has lost a spouse and is learning to deal with life and vacations alone. This is such good support for all of us. Thanks you all.

Good advice, Evelyn. Thank you. And my condolences to you.

I'm 63 and newly widowed. We loved to cruise and I don't want to give it up. I'm booked on a cruise over NY this December and I think I'll go alone. Probably not the best time of the year to go alone, but if I make it through that one, I'll be fine, I guess.

 

I guess I may eventually look at hosted single cruises, but I'm good for now, friends and relatives are going on the other cruises I have booked.

Thanks for the advice and sympathies, you are are very kind here.

 

I went ahead and made my hotel reservation and bought my flights for the 8-night on Explorer so I couldn't easily change my mind. The ship's reservation is still for two, so I have the option if I want someone to go alone. But I think I may just keep this one a solo cruise just so I know I can do it.

 

I'll stick to ship's excursions most likely. The Roll Call isn't very active as yet, but perhaps it'll pick up.

 

I'm trying to co-ordinate a summer cruise with a friend, but we haven't found the right (affordable) cruise just yet. Maybe a cruise with a friend, THEN a cruise alone is smart way to ease back into cruising.

I will be solo on the Explorer on New Years. I'm pretty sure I'll be sad as my hubby and sailed on Grandeur last NY. He has since passed away, but I already had this one booked.

 

I'm going to think of it as a tribute to us together on that last NY cruise. We did have a great time.

 

I'm really hoping I like solo cruising!

Yeah, I thought the cab thing wouldn't be smart when I'm alone. :-(

I AM interested in a water proof thingy to keep money and ID in. I hadn't even thought about that.

 

So I went to Amazon and bought:

DRY PAK DP-44 Alligator Waterproof Wallet

 

It'll be perfect. My camera is waterproof, so I can just take it in with me and not worry. Thanks for mentioning this. Anything else I haven't thought of???

 

I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

I can empathize; I was widowed last year after 57 years of marriage. My late husband and I also loved to cruise, and I decided to try a solo seven day cruise. It had some difficult moments, but on the whole, I found it enjoyable. Everyone was very friendly.

 

Since then, I have done another seven day cruise, and two four day back to back getaways. When my husband and I traveled together, we loved the longer cruises, but now, cruising alone, I prefer the seven or eight day ones.

 

I wish you good luck and hope you will be pleasantly surprised by the experience.

 

 

Thanks to all for your kind words and encouragement.

 

NUGal, I'm especially encouraged by your experience, it sounds much like us, we preferred 11 - 14 days, but I'm pretty sure I''ll keep cruises to shorter ones unless with a group of friends. Sad times are common these days, I never know what will set the tears going, so I'd expect that on ship, too. I know I can do this - I can't imagine not cruising anymore.

 

One thing I'm not sure about is going to beaches on my own. That has always been our favorite thing, but unless I find someone on the Roll Call who is going, I don't think I'm brave (or crazy?) enough to go on my own. Is it safe to get a cab on my own on the normal stops?

Thank you for the condolences and the advice.

 

I think you may be right about it taking more than 5 days to work through everything. I'm keeping the 8-nt. And I will quit worrying about it! THANKS!

My hubby and I have been on 22 cruises, most on RCCL, and loved cruising very much, fitting in 2 a year in last few years.

 

My husband has recently passed away and I have an 8-nt. cruise that we had booked a while back on the Explorer Dec. 27th. After reading many posts here, I really want to try sailing solo. I know it'll be sad but it will also bring back a lot of great memories.

 

My question: should I keep the 8-nt cruise or switch to a 5-night? Those of you with experience with this situation, please let me know if shorter might be better for a first solo cruise.

 

I know I want to continue cruising, I'm just not sure about this first cruise alone. Thanks for any input and advice you might have.

Saw security take a big double bottle of wine in Baltimore in December. Made no sense to me. MAYBE someone was trying to take 2 big bottles.