Planning a Solo Cruise
As everyone knows, I live from vacation to vacation. I decided it was time for a cruise... with a twist. A cruise ALONE. At first, everyone thought I was crazy for wanting to go solo. Heck, even I questioned my sanity for wanting to go on an extended vacation alone. Then I realized, I can wake up when I want, order room service if I want, grab a latte, lay out in the sun, hit the gym, grab a martini at noon, have a seated lunch, or just sleep in. No rules, no one but ME! I can socialize with new people or people I've met. Eat when I wanna. Bask in the sun when I wanna. Now, I think I'm the smartest person alive! Be envious.
How I pick a cruise...
It's pretty simple... I have two restrictions:
1) The right ports and itinerary
2) The right price
What I chose...
After going on 4 Carnival cruises, I decided to step it up a notch. I did a broad search on a travel site and found 2 cruises that intrigued me. One was a 8 night Carnival cruise and the other was a 9 night Celebrity cruise. The tag line for Celebrity is Modern Luxury - this had my name all over it. Plus, it was traveling to St. Barts, so I was sold. It was about $1,000 more than the Carnival cruise, but I tell myself "You get what you pay for!"
Selecting my cabin...
The price greatly affected my choice. I had a budget and to stay on budget, I could not pick a balcony room. The only thing that made selecting an ocean view room bearable is that I was lucky enough to get one of only 4 oversized ocean view rooms at the very forward part of the ship. There are also some really cool forward facing ocean view rooms, but those were all taken and are shaped a little differently. I am very anxious to see the size of my room because it's supposed to be the size of a balcony room with the square footage of the balcony included on the inside of the cabin.
My intinerary:
12/12/14 - Fly to Ft Lauderdale on my 30th birthday
12/13/14 - Depart Ft Lauderdale
12/14/15 - At Sea
12/15/14 - Labadee, Haiti
12/16/14 - San Juan, Puerto Rico
12/17/14 - St. Croix
12/18/14 - St. Barts
12/19/14 - St. Marteen
12/20/14 - At Sea
12/21/14 - At Sea
12/22/14 - Back in Ft. Lauderdale
Another bonus:
At the time I booked my cruise, Celebrity was running a special called ' 123 & Go' promo in which you can select one of 3 promotions. The one I chose was the classic beverage plan for FREE. It was almost an $800 savings. I would actually have to pay double since I am one person based on a double occupancy. As you read below, it was a no-brainer for me to upgrade for $103 to the premium plan.
Classic Beverage plan:
Upgrade your cruise experience and pay one price to enjoy all of the benefits of our Classic Non-Alcoholic package as well as all beer up to $6 per serving, spirits, cocktails, and frozen drinks up to $8 per serving, and wine by the glass up to $9 per serving. Plus, with purchase of this Classic Package, you can enjoy a 15% discount on all wines by the bottle purchased on board, even our prized Reserve Wine list and Rare Wine list.
*Starting from: 49.00 USD Per NIGHT
Premium Beverage Plan:
For the ultimate in value and convenience, our premium package provides all the benefits of our Premium Non-Alcoholic Package. In addition, you can enjoy our entire selection of Beers as well as Spirits, Cocktails and Wines by the Glass up to $13 per serving. Plus, with purchase of this Premium Package, you can enjoy a 20% discount on all wines by the bottle purchased on board, even our prized Reserve Wine list and Rare Wine list.
*Starting from: 59.00 USD Per NIGHT
I will write another blog on how I'm starting to organize and plan to pack for my 10 day getaway. I've never gotten into cruise planning, but now that I've discovered Cruise Critic, I'm ready to go tomorrow! This website has been awesome as a solo cruise because it's a message board or meeting place to pre-meet people on your cruise. It's not a chat room where creepy couples stalk you and follow you to your room. It's just a friendly greeting and then you can put a face to a name. Cruise Critic teams with Celebrity Cruiseline and they host a meet & greet to meet those you've been talking to for months in preparation of your cruise. Another reason cruising alone isn't what it used to be!
Stay tune for my spreadsheet on how I plan to pack and organize for my upcoming cruise.
How I pick a cruise...
It's pretty simple... I have two restrictions:
1) The right ports and itinerary
2) The right price
What I chose...
After going on 4 Carnival cruises, I decided to step it up a notch. I did a broad search on a travel site and found 2 cruises that intrigued me. One was a 8 night Carnival cruise and the other was a 9 night Celebrity cruise. The tag line for Celebrity is Modern Luxury - this had my name all over it. Plus, it was traveling to St. Barts, so I was sold. It was about $1,000 more than the Carnival cruise, but I tell myself "You get what you pay for!"
Selecting my cabin...
The price greatly affected my choice. I had a budget and to stay on budget, I could not pick a balcony room. The only thing that made selecting an ocean view room bearable is that I was lucky enough to get one of only 4 oversized ocean view rooms at the very forward part of the ship. There are also some really cool forward facing ocean view rooms, but those were all taken and are shaped a little differently. I am very anxious to see the size of my room because it's supposed to be the size of a balcony room with the square footage of the balcony included on the inside of the cabin.
My intinerary:
12/12/14 - Fly to Ft Lauderdale on my 30th birthday
12/13/14 - Depart Ft Lauderdale
12/14/15 - At Sea
12/15/14 - Labadee, Haiti
12/16/14 - San Juan, Puerto Rico
12/17/14 - St. Croix
12/18/14 - St. Barts
12/19/14 - St. Marteen
12/20/14 - At Sea
12/21/14 - At Sea
12/22/14 - Back in Ft. Lauderdale
Another bonus:
At the time I booked my cruise, Celebrity was running a special called ' 123 & Go' promo in which you can select one of 3 promotions. The one I chose was the classic beverage plan for FREE. It was almost an $800 savings. I would actually have to pay double since I am one person based on a double occupancy. As you read below, it was a no-brainer for me to upgrade for $103 to the premium plan.
Classic Beverage plan:
Upgrade your cruise experience and pay one price to enjoy all of the benefits of our Classic Non-Alcoholic package as well as all beer up to $6 per serving, spirits, cocktails, and frozen drinks up to $8 per serving, and wine by the glass up to $9 per serving. Plus, with purchase of this Classic Package, you can enjoy a 15% discount on all wines by the bottle purchased on board, even our prized Reserve Wine list and Rare Wine list.
*Starting from: 49.00 USD Per NIGHT
Premium Beverage Plan:
For the ultimate in value and convenience, our premium package provides all the benefits of our Premium Non-Alcoholic Package. In addition, you can enjoy our entire selection of Beers as well as Spirits, Cocktails and Wines by the Glass up to $13 per serving. Plus, with purchase of this Premium Package, you can enjoy a 20% discount on all wines by the bottle purchased on board, even our prized Reserve Wine list and Rare Wine list.
*Starting from: 59.00 USD Per NIGHT
I will write another blog on how I'm starting to organize and plan to pack for my 10 day getaway. I've never gotten into cruise planning, but now that I've discovered Cruise Critic, I'm ready to go tomorrow! This website has been awesome as a solo cruise because it's a message board or meeting place to pre-meet people on your cruise. It's not a chat room where creepy couples stalk you and follow you to your room. It's just a friendly greeting and then you can put a face to a name. Cruise Critic teams with Celebrity Cruiseline and they host a meet & greet to meet those you've been talking to for months in preparation of your cruise. Another reason cruising alone isn't what it used to be!
Stay tune for my spreadsheet on how I plan to pack and organize for my upcoming cruise.
Sounds SO fun!
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