Solo cruising: aspie perspective

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thx for answers
this sounds like fun.. not so long in ports good good... moar seatime for me!

I went on a Carnival ship. The onboard atmosphere is very solo-friendly, especially on their smaller ships. There are endless activities going on, passengers are usually quite willing to let you join them at a table, and like I said before, it's perfectly acceptable to wander around by yourself on the ship or in port cities (I don't recommend this for most ports outside US and Canada; do a Carnival-hosted excursion instead). Words "lonely" and "bored" weren't even in my vocabulary. There was always activity, at all hours of the day. Even late at night, there'd be at least a few people standing on the deck, looking at the ocean. With that said, there were quiet areas to retreat to, if my AS issues were more severe than they actually are. There's the library, the top deck, and even the empty bars and showrooms.

Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian are all pretty much the same, although Norwergian puts a solo cruiser at a disadvantage by not having assigning dinner seats. As a result, the solo cruiser either has to look for a table to join at each day, sit alone at a big table, or forgo the fine dining room entirely and eat in the buffet, which has lesser-quality food.

Last edited by Aspie1 on 13 May 2012, 5:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Although I've never cruised alone per se, I did go twice with a friend of mine, and we both agreed to spend a considerable amount of time doing our own respective things. And I definitely agree that it's a situation where you can let your social anxiety go for a week. People were very friendly and interested in talking to me, so I got to have company when I wanted it, and was also able to do things alone without being judged or otherwise feeling uncomfortable.

I honestly had a better time those two times than I did went I went on a cruise with my now-ex-girlfriend, though that may have been partly because I didn't like the ship itself or the excursion destinations as much as on my first cruise. (For the second cruise, I didn't like the boat, but I spent a day at an all-inclusive Bahamas resort which was very worthwhile, plus it was a short cruise anyway.) It was still a worthwhile experience, and I might have a better time if I go in the future with someone who truly turns out to be the right one. But for now, if I go on a cruise again, I'd rather go either by myself or with a friend that's cool with spending some time apart from me.

That's very curious. Makes me wonder if what he describes as "bouts of uncomfortable forced socializing" is actually what we aspies are raving about as a rare chance to be able to socialize more easily. I think I have often benefited from what others have described as "forced socializing", and I'm sure people are very friendly partially because the environment calls for it. And for that matter, that's probably why they suddenly got unfriendly at debarkation, though I personally don't remember having that experience, plus it's hard not to be cranky when you have to wake up early and hustle out of the ship. In any case, while you probably can't expect to make lasting friendships from this experience, it's definitely a good chance for aspies to be able to loosen up and do what they feel like for a week.

How about the price? I have always liked traveling alone but invariably see a surcharge called the "Single Supplement" (most bargains are "Double Occupancy" only). I for one would probably stress out more about sharing a room with a stranger than the extra cost. But it still doesn't seem fair.

Yeah it's usually a bare minimum of 1.5x the fee for a single person travelling with someone in the same cabin.
If you book last minute, though, they sometimes make exceptions on the price

The price was the only downer. Carnival charges double for single travelers; you pretty much pay for a non-existing person traveling with you. But it was so worth it, I didn't even care. I got to go on my first real vacation since 2006, and the single supplement more than paid for itself in all the fun I had. I'll definitely be doing another cruise this year, and most likely, with Carnival like last time. Their single supplement sucks, but I'll just have to bite the bullet and pay, because the atmosphere onboard their ships is very solo-friendly. This was nowhere near as true on a resort.

Now, cruising may not be for everyone. It's a highly social experience, and at the minimum, you'll have to say hi back to the people who say hi to you, be it passengers or crew. Also, a cruise ship is a closed ecosystem, so to speak, so people will recognize you throughout your cruise, especially if you did something rememberable (like sing karaoke or dance on stage). This is where my face and name blindness got me; but I got around my by acting as if I remembered the person who greeted me, made small talk, then politely excused myself and went on my way.