I haven't been on a holiday outside of the UK since Covid hit and yet I used to love travelling! I've even worked abroad multiple times but I found that when Covid hit, so did my inner introvert. Whilst I'm a very social person, I equally am one to enjoy my own space. Whilst I was made to work in an office throughout Covid, despite the office being closed to everybody else (another story for another day), like many others, I found comfort in the peace and quiet amongst nature, and thoroughly enjoying the less crowded, not so bustling streets and venues anymore. 4 years later, combined with several others factors (also more stories for future days), it turns out I've still been struggling with dealing with this reintergration. However...one evening came by, one evening like many of my other evenings where I get sudden urges to do random things or get random ideas that I HAVE to fulfill, I decided it was time for a holiday abroad. And so here begins the story of how I booked my 1st ever Solo Cruise and came to find myself on a really big boat in the Baltics.
So why did I choose a cruise?
Well, despite having never been on one before and having absolutely no idea if I even had any sea legs, I chose a cruise mainly for the fact that as I hadn't travelled abroad for over 4 years, the idea of being able to visit multiple countries within 1 single trip was a real selling point. Being in 1 country 1 day, going to sleep to then magically wake up in another country the next day, that's pretty cool and all with absolutely no effort on my part - winning!
Now I did a LOT of cruise research. Not crazily in-depth but I think it's important to know what your main goals are in order to narrow down the options because believe you me, there are a LOT of cruises out there. You only need to download the Cruise Mapper app to realise just how many are out there at any one given time. So my main goal was ultimately to visit as many countries I'd never been to before in 1 go. This did mean that I really did push the boat out (pun absolutely intended) on the length of my trip, as the one I chose was a 15-day cruise. This meant however, I was able to visit 5 countries in 1 go, 4 of which I'd never been to before. I was also working on the basis that if it turned out I didn't have sea legs, I'd likely never do one again so at least the one cruise I will have been on was a damn good one!
Was there a reason I chose a P&O cruise?
My main mission was the number of countries visited in the 1 trip. I was more than happy to go with whomever provided this mission however, P&O just so happened to be the company that stood out to me with the ports and countries on offer. I'll go into more detail with a full review on the cruise and cruiseliner soon but for now I'd like to simply focus on the reasonings of why I chose what I did in the hope that you firstly find it interesting...but that it may also help you decipher what's important to you when choosing this sort of holiday.
I chose the 15-day Northern Europe and Scandanavian Cruise departing from Southampton. This meant visiting Germany, Finland, Estonia, Sweden and Denmark, the latter 4 I had never been to! This was what I was looking for. Equally being that I wanted to avoid the airports on this particular trip, departing from a UK port was a real bonus. There's several variations of cruise, whether it starts with fly or non-fly but equally there are several ports around the UK that operate cruises of equally varying types, distances, time-lengths etc. Being that Southampton is one of the largest ports in the UK, it obviously has a lot more options than somewhere like Bristol and therefore something else to consider when looking for the right cruise for you. Smaller ports are more limited with ship sizes and/or things like tide times and are therefore a bit more restricted in what they can offer. But don't discount them, there are some cracking looking cruises out there from these ports and normally with decent prices too, particularly if the port is closer to you and can save you further on travel costs.
Many cruiselines provide offers with bookings but the one that I thoroughly appreciated as a newbie cruiser was the Free Parking. As I'd never been to a cruise port I had absolutely no idea what to expect when it came to physically arriving or the security check-in procedures etc. Therefore, to be able to have a facility included within the price of your cruise which eliminates 1 major stressor at the start of the holiday is a real advantage. And let me tell you, it was one well-oiled, slick process that they are clearly very well rehearsed in so do not fear, it is a clear easy process as soon as you arrive.
Cost
Yes...cruises aren't cheap and/or don't appear to be cheap at face value. I absolutely agree.
This cruise upfront cost me just under £1,950. I could have cried at the time however, I implore you to look at the costs of what you're achieving on your trip. If I were to break down the cost of travelling to 5 different countries and staying at least 1 night in each, you're looking at a pretty expensive trip. For example, a flight to/from Copenhagen is on average £150 from a local airport. If you assume each country is at the same cost, that's £750 for the main form of travel but mind, not the only travel that would be required. Now add in at least 1 night stay in each. Using booking.com to do a rough price check on a hotel stay in Copenhagen, you're looking at about £200 for 1 night alone. Yes, of course you can get this cheaper however, if you want to compare the facilities like for like with what you receive on board in your cabin vs as the options on land, then this is about the average cost. If you then assume each country is about the same, that's a further £1,000.
We are already at £1,750 and we haven't even included food, drinks, toiletries, entertainment etc.
Therefore, whilst cruises seem very costly, break it down and ensure you think you're receiving the correct sort of value for what you're paying. I don't doubt that there are some which feel a heck of a lot pricier and therefore might not always be value for money but it simply depends on where you hold your value. As a basis though, break down the expected journey and research how much it would cost you to do those trips individually. For me, I felt like this was a good price for what I received.
Stay Tuned for Part 2
There's still SO many more things to tell you about but for now, I hope you've enjoyed this initial Part 1 of how a non-cruiser with no idea of what she was really doing, became a 1st time solo-cruiser and came out the other end thinking about what other ones she might like to go on...
Kaykins Creation x
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