These are the best options and tips for solo cruises, covering single supplements, solo-friendly cabins and how to meet other travelers onboard. Cruising alone is more popular — and more accommodating — than most people expect. Here is what solo cruisers should know before booking.
By Vacation Intel
Is Cruising Solo Worth It
Cruising solo removes a lot of the friction of solo travel: your room, meals, and transportation between destinations are all handled, and the ship’s public spaces make it easy to be social on your own terms — as much or as little as you want.
Solo Cabins and Single Supplements
Most cruise cabins are priced for double occupancy, and booking one alone traditionally means paying a “single supplement” of 100-200% of the per-person fare. A growing number of newer ships now offer dedicated solo studio cabins priced for one person, often with access to a private solo travelers’ lounge.
Best Cruise Lines for Solo Travelers
Lines with dedicated solo cabins and lower or waived single supplements are generally the most solo-friendly, along with lines that run frequent solo traveler meetups, shore excursion groups, and dining-share programs for anyone sailing alone.
Tips for Meeting People Onboard
- Look for a “solo travelers meetup” on the daily schedule, usually held the first sea day
- Book shared shore excursions instead of private tours to meet other passengers
- Ask for shared seating at dinner rather than a table for one
- Join trivia, cooking classes, or fitness classes, which tend to be social by nature
More Tips for Choosing the Best Solo Cruises
When comparing solo cruises, look closely at the single supplement before comparing base fares, since a line advertising a lower per-person rate can still end up more expensive once the solo surcharge is added on top for a standard double-occupancy cabin.
A small but growing number of ships now build dedicated single-occupancy cabins with no supplement at all, which are usually smaller than standard cabins but eliminate the extra fee entirely, and these tend to sell out well in advance on the lines that offer them.
Look for ships with a dedicated solo travelers’ lounge or scheduled meetup events, since these small touches make it noticeably easier to meet other people early in the cruise rather than eating every meal alone. Our Best Resorts for Solo Travelers guide covers similar solo-friendly logistics for resort-based trips if you are weighing a cruise against a land vacation. For general safety guidance while traveling alone, the U.S. State Department is a useful outside resource.
Shorter three or four night solo cruises are a low-commitment way to test whether cruising alone suits you before booking a longer, more expensive itinerary, and they tend to attract a younger, more social crowd than longer transatlantic or repositioning sailings.
Book a cabin near the ship’s social hub, such as the pool deck or main lounge, rather than a quiet corner far from the action, since proximity to where other passengers gather makes it easier to strike up conversations without extra effort.
Travel insurance is worth budgeting for on any solo cruise, since there is no travel partner to help manage an unexpected medical issue or trip interruption while you are at sea or in an unfamiliar port.
Share your cruise itinerary and cabin number with a friend or family member back home, and check in at each port, even on a cruise line you consider very safe, so someone knows your plans if anything unexpected comes up.
Join a shared shore excursion rather than exploring every port entirely on your own, since group tours are one of the easiest ways for solo cruisers to meet like-minded travelers while still getting the guided context a big port deserves.
Vacation Intel Tip
If the single supplement makes a solo cruise feel too expensive, look at repositioning cruises and shoulder-season sailings — both often come with reduced or waived solo supplements since cruise lines are more motivated to fill cabins.