Ramblings from a NOT-So-Solo traveller

Before I hand the microphone over (yes, this post hasn’t been written by me!), let me talk to you a little about who you’re hearing from today. I met Brenda on my first cruise of the year in 2023, the year that I had chosen to spend living primarily on cruise ships. Brenda had chosen to cruise onboard MSC World Europa from Dubai to Europe with her daughter Shaelyn and, over the course of our 3 weeks onboard, we became really good friends. I won’t spoil anything now by telling you how we met (Brenda’s going to cover that), but for now I just want to take a second to thank Brenda (so much!) for offering to contribute to the site - it’s rare for people to keep in touch and have such frequent contact so long after cruising on the same ship (especially when they live on the other side of the world to each other), but I’m so glad that we have! Brenda, over to you!

Let’s face it, there’s nothing quite like the excitement and anticipation of arriving at your port for embarkation day is there? The thrill of knowing you are on holiday, will see new places, only have to unpack once(best thing ever), someone cooks and cleans for you, organises shows and activities and you know that you can do as much or as little as YOU want. Wow- I love cruise holidays!

Hi, I’m Brenda, Mum of 3, artist and lover of travel.

In March 2023 my 18 year old daughter, Shaelyn, and I headed from our home near Melbourne, Australia, and flew to Dubai for what was the beginning leg of our Grand Adventure.

We stepped onto MSC’s World Europa and gawped at the sheer size of this amazing cruise ship. This was my fourth ocean cruise and I was awestruck at the enormity of this vessel (I've also done 2 river cruises).

Prior to getting on World Europa I had joined a Facebook group a few weeks earlier. There is very often a Facebook group for the company you will be traveling with, for the ship you will be on, and then closer to the sailing date, a specific group for your particular embarkation date. I have found these groups to be helpful for me, answering questions and also meeting people in the Facebook group and then in person on the ship. It has been a fun way to get to know people from around the world.

In fact, Shaelyn and I wanted to jump in a taxi and visit Miracle Gardens when we were in Dubai, and found it was quite an expensive taxi trip- so I asked in the Facebook group for our specific sailing date if anyone wanted to share a taxi there and back and low and behold, we found a lovely couple to share the taxi fee.

In this Facebook group, they were speaking about a solo travellers meet-up group. Now I hadn’t come across that before, and as I wasn’t strictly traveling solo had never even thought about it. But when you are 57 and your daughter is 18 sometimes you want to do different things and want to meet different people. So, I asked if they thought it would be ok if I went to this group and a resounding yes gave me the courage to actually attend.

Funnily enough, in my experience, and as an introvert, a ship full of thousands of people can be quite a daunting and lonely place. So, for me to attend a solo meet-up and get to talk to other people, more than the polite, how’s it going, type stuff, was fantastic. Not every ship gives you this opportunity and it really made a huge difference to my enjoyment of this cruise.

I met a rather cheeky young Scot in the solo travellers' group, who laughingly challenged my right to be there as a not-so-solo traveller! The audacity!

That day my daughter had gone off to meet with someone closer to her age she had met and if I didn’t have the solo meet-up to go to I probably would have just stayed in my cabin. I would really encourage anyone who might be traveling solo or maybe even not-so-solo, to definitely see if the cruise you are on has a solo meet up group (not to be confused with a singles meet-up). You may be as fortunate as I am and make lifelong friends.

So, you’ve probably worked it out by now, but Fraser and I were on the same cruise, but we really had very different holidays with very different experiences. That’s the beauty of cruising!

My daughter and I booked cabin 11094- an infinity window. As we would be onboard for nearly 3 weeks we thought it would be nice to have a window, and an infinity window is one step above a porthole and a step below a balcony. Although I wouldn’t say that! This was the best cabin we ever stayed in, the infinity window was spectacular. Basically, almost the entire outside wall of your cabin is window, which opens from the top to half way down. Note- during windy or inclement weather (or during the threat of piracy) the window is controlled by the ship and it overrides the manual controls, and it stays closed.

One thing that I really enjoy is experiencing as much of local culture, life and history as I can each place I am fortunate enough to visit. I love pouring over a cruise itinerary and the shore excursions the ship offers. I like going on tours with local guides because I feel they can offer me local knowledge and take me to places I didn’t know existed, explain culture and history, the architecture and infrastructure I wouldn’t otherwise get to experience.

Sometimes this means I choose to take the excursions that the ship offers and sometimes I will book them myself with a local tour guide before I leave home and occasionally, I’ll get off the ship and find a tour leaving from the port and go on that. The downside here, in my experience, is if you don’t book prior to arriving at a port you are often charged a bit more. Plus, if you’ve booked an excursion from home, you have more time to work out if that particular excursion itinerary includes everything you want to do, and if the price is what you are willing to pay. The excursions the ship offers can be more expensive and can also be more crowded. So always check how many people can go on the excursion you are considering. Sometimes they offer small group tours for a little bit more, which may be worth considering.

Prior to my very first cruise 8 years ago, there were a lot of people trying to frighten newbies by saying not to do excursions with anyone other than the cruise line because the ship won’t wait for you if you are late. While this is absolutely true, you can do your due diligence and check reviews and you’ll find a reliable local who takes cruise passengers out all the time and has never missed an all-aboard time. Remember their business relies on customer reviews and they wouldn’t risk their livelihood. You can always book a tour that gets back to port, say, 2 hours earlier than all aboard, and that will account for any delays.

I have found every local tour guide absolutely fantastic, informative, reliable, cost effective and so proud of their town/country/culture. So would thoroughly recommend checking them out through a website such as TripAdvisor or Get Your Guide. Remember to look up reviews- and take them with a grain of salt- cos let’s face it if it rained it's hardly the guide’s fault!

Shaelyn and I chose to do the ship organised tours while in the Middle East as we were unsure what to expect and it was also Ramadan. We had very mixed experiences, and it just goes to show that the guide you end up with can truly make or break that experience!

Something that I didn’t know was “a thing” was sail away. Had no idea that people would go out onto the decks and watch the ship pull out from the port. I owe Fraser a huge thanks for showing us that beauty and truly, the Naples sail away will go down in history as truly awesome.

Thank you to my friend Fraser for asking me to put pen to paper and I hope you have enjoyed my little ramblings of some of my experiences.

Remember, we all love to do different things and it's great that we can go on a cruise and go to all the same places but have completely different experiences.

Happy Travels,

Brenda