The Good, The Bad, and The Unexpected of My First Solo Cruise

I went into it with high hopes. I swear I did. But I always knew deep down that cruising was just not for me. I’m a wandering type of traveler. I never really follow a schedule; I mostly go with the flow. I visit a few must-do places at every location, and then after that, I’m a free bird with no clear sense of direction. The idea of being stuck on a ship and only having a few hours at ports to do some overpriced excursions, just no.

But, I did anyway to see if I was wrong about cruising.

And I was absolutely right.

I was bored out of my freaking mind! And I consider myself a boring person, like my idea of having fun is spending time in bookstores. Or watching old reruns of 90s sitcoms that I’ve watched countless times. Even talking to my neighborhood cats. Yes, I’m a crazy cat lady.

But whew, it was seven days of absolute boredom.

However, I try to find the good in everything. I’m a glass-half-full, then half-empty type of person. So here goes nothing..

The Good

First of all, one super good thing is that Alaska marked my 50th state! Yes, little ol’ me has traveled to every state in the United States. I still can’t believe I’ve accomplished my goal, and I can’t help but smile every time I think about it .

One of the top benefits of cruising is the value! It’s funny how I saved Alaska as my final state to visit. One of the reasons is that it is so expensive to travel to! Alaska is the coldest state, and visiting in the summer is ideal to do a broader range of activities. That means there is a surge in tourism from May to September, and prices triple. I spent a few days in Anchorage before departing for my cruise. It was extremely challenging to find a hotel room for under $300 a night. And not even anything fancy, I’m speaking of basic hotels. Don’t even get me started on rental car prices!

Fortunately, cruising is a more affordable option for seeing more of Alaska. My cruise cost $1,200, and I spent close to that amount just staying on land for two days! For my cruise, I went with Princess. I did a seven-day inside passage cruise on the Discovery and we stopped in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay National Park, and embarked in Victoria, British Columbia.

It would have been impossible to visit all those places by car and plane for that amount of money. I met a man during breakfast, and he booked the cruise for $489 through some random travel email. What a deal!

I also like the convenience of not having to plan out an itinerary. Everything has been scheduled for you; you just need to show up. It’s a very low-stress way of traveling.

The Bad

On this cruise, my initial plan was to detox from my phone. I was going to take a break and not use the internet until I was at a port with cellular reception. I barely made it two days in before I broke down and purchased internet for $29 per day.

On the cruise, they distribute a pamphlet listing activities for the next day. At night, I would make out a tiny schedule of things I was vaguely interested in. I would typically find two, sixty-minute events. That means I would be left with twenty-two hours of nothing to do. I would go to the gym and burn calories, only to take in way more because I was eating due to boredom. I took all the videos and pictures I could. And I couldn’t sleep because it was the midnight sun (when the sun is visible all day).

I still refused to give up, though! I didn’t purchase internet for the entire cruise; I bought it every other day. My goal was to get out of my room and give the cruise a chance, forcing myself to do things. I didn’t want to be holed up in my room on YouTube. Did I mention that the TV in my room also didn’t work?

So, yeah, I would attend comedy shows, game shows, trivia shows – you name it, I did it. The entire time, I was bored and counting down the hours to when it was time to purchase internet again.

And then I got sick with a cold.

After that, I just stayed in my room and gave up. I got my money’s worth, I was good.

& The Unexpected of cruising Solo

One of the reasons I feel like I caught a cold was because I was freaking cold! Alaska summer is different. The sun was out, but it was still cold. Upon leaving, I had packed some sweaters and a beanie, but it was clear that a coat was needed. I quickly purchased one in Anchorage before the ship sailed, and I’m so glad that I did. Whew.

I also did not expect the demographic of the people on board to be all older. I assumed it might be a mix of ages, since it’s Summer and Alaska is a popular destination for younger, adventurous types of people. There were probably twenty kids on board, ten people around my age, and then the rest were 55 and up. I’m sure that’s why most of the activities on board were skewed towards the older generation.

Being that it was my first cruise, I didn’t expect room types/floors to matter as much. I booked a basic interior room. Upon initially purchasing my cruise package, I didn’t expect to spend much time in my room, so I opted for the cheapest option. Additionally, I enjoy exploring various types of rooms for research purposes.

My room was tiny but comfortable, since it was just me, but I couldn’t imagine sharing it with someone else. In the morning, I would see the staff cleaning out other rooms, and the rooms with balconies looked way more spacious than mine. I would definitely opt for one of those. I also was able to peek inside the rooms on the lower floors, and they looked way nicer and more modern.

Lastly, the food was surprisingly good. I expected standard, bland buffet-type food. But, it was a nice variety and the meats were seasoned very well.

Overall Thoughts

Although I was bored on my first cruise as a solo traveler, I am willing to give it another try. I want to try out another cruise line and definitely get a better, upgraded room. As I was writing this, I wondered if my time would have been better spent if I had gone with someone? Im unsure it would have been, especially if we roomed together.

I also still feel strongly about how overpriced excursions are. I typically don’t do them while traveling because everything is so rushed, and it’s not a good value. On my cruise, I went on three, and I could have done them for way cheaper if I had just gotten a cab at the dock.

My apologies if this post comes across negatively. It’s not the vibe I’m going for on my website, but I had to be honest. Going on a cruise under 40 and single is just not it.

My trip overall was a success, though. After disembarking in Vancouver, Canada, I was able to explore the area and then fly over to Banff National Park (read more about it here). I also plan to provide more details about my experience in Anchorage and the ports I visited while on the cruise soon.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave the below 🙂