In this video you will find out how to travel significantly cheaper as a solo
Cruiser. Hi, I'm Gary Bembridge of Tips For Travelers and also the author of a
couple of cruise books including "The Cruise Traveler's Handbook" and "Essential
Cruise Tips". The challenge with cruising as a solo
traveller is you'll find a surcharge on many many cruise lines, and
itineraries. of anything between 50% and a hundred percent of the room rates. So
it can be very very expensive to cruise. So I have five tips to show you how you
can cruise in a much more cost-effective way.
Search out cruise lines and ships that have solo cabins. The good news is that
pretty much all the major cruise lines, as they bring in new ships, are bringing
in ships with a percentage of solo cabins. They understand this is a growing
trend and very important. A few of the cruise lines that I would recommend you
specifically take a look out for is Cunard, now all three of their ships (the Queen
Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Victoria) all now have solo cabins.
There's not a lot of them, but they do have them available. Also cruise lines
like P&O Cruises. The two of the really big boys that you should take a look at
is Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line. Norwegian Cruise Line has what I
think is one of the most innovative things when it comes to solo cruising.
They've created this area on some of their larger ships which are only solo
cabins. So you have you a dedicated area accessed with your cruise card for a
bit of extra security. There is a small lounge / communal area and then
they have the solo cabins. When you're looking for a cruise certainly ask your
cruise agent for ships and cruise lines that have specific solo cabins. That's
your best way of finding a great fare. The second thing to consider is look at
European river cruising. Many of the cruise lines that go up and down the
rivers within Europe offer either great deals or have solo cabins. It's very
very easy to find solo traveller deals on river cruise lines. You'll find lots of
solo travelers normally, and they really do cater for solo travellers.
European river cruising is a great option for solo cruisers. The third
tip is some cruise lines actually offer programs where they will partner up
solo travelers. You'll find that happens quite a lot on some of the more
exotic location cruises like the Arctic and Antarctica. They will often offer up schemes
where they will partner sets of travelers together. But even
mainstream cruise lines like Princess and Holland America also often offer
opportunities. So again you can approach the cruise line and your cruise agent
and find out if they do run those programs on your particular itinerary.
Of course the downside is you may be cruising with people that you may or may
not get on with - but certainly on some of those itineraries which are
very port intensive you may find you don't mind that because actually saving
between 50% and 100% surcharge is worth taking the risk of the partnership
program. My fourth tip is to sign up for solo traveller sites and blogs
newsletters. There are a couple of really great blogs that specifically target
solo travelers, and they're always on the lookout for deals and in their
various newsletters they will always publish when they come across
special deals or special offers targeting solo travelers. A couple of
those sites to consider are sites like Solotravelerblog.com which is one of
the largest online resources for solo travel advice and deals.
There's also singlestravelintl.com and solosholidays.co.uk. The other
thing I would also do when you're signing up for newsletters is if there
are any particular cruise lines that really appeal to you, whether it's
Holland America, Royal Caribbean or whatever, is also sign up for their
newsletters. Because it's those newsletters where they will also publish
promotions when it comes to solo travelers. I'm frequently getting
newsletters where they will have a specific time of the year or a program
targeted at solo travelers. So my fifth tip is actually another one related to
using the Internet. What you can do on sites like Google for example is if you
search "solo cruise deals" or "solo traveler cruises", it will give you
various resources and tips etc. Then set up an alert as it's very easy to do. If
you type in that particular search term you can then set up an alert and as various
articles or promotions come up and are picked up by search engines like Google
they will send you alert about those deals. So there you are, those are five
tips on how as a solo traveller you can find a much
more cost-effective way of cruising. It can be very expensive
going on a cruise as a solo traveller with 50% to 100%
surcharge makes it very very costly - but there are different resources you can
use. Increasingly the great news is cruising is really really focusing on
solo travellers. If you liked the video and you found the tips helpful it would be great
if you "liked" the video and of course what would also be even better is if you
have any other ideas or suggestions or tips please leave those in the comments.
But very very importantly, I'd also love it if you subscribe to the Tips For
Travellers Channel and get more travel inspiration advice and tips.