{"id":478187,"date":"2026-06-15T10:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T10:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/478187\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T10:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T10:06:08","slug":"solo-travel-on-discovery-princess-tips-for-making-friends-at-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/478187\/","title":{"rendered":"Solo travel on Discovery Princess: Tips for making friends at sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

And if your aim is to meet a significant other, a long cruise like this is a great way to do it. Love, after all, needs time. And of course, the iconic TV show The Love Boat was filmed on an early Princess ship in 1976. <\/p>\n

\"DiscoveryDiscovery Princess departs Auckland, bound for Los Angeles. Photo \/ Princess Cruises<\/p>\n

How to make connections at sea<\/p>\n

Making connections does require stepping out of your comfort zone, especially if, like me, you\u2019re more introvert than extrovert.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never been one for small talk, but I got quite good at it over dinner with those at the next table.<\/p>\n

Who knew solo dining on a cruise ship would be a great way to connect?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve cruised regularly for a decade, mostly with family or in a group and rarely interacted with my fellow cruisers. But I realised that would have to change on this cruise.<\/p>\n

When I spied a solo travellers meet-up in the daily schedule, I cast nerves aside and attended. The group numbered around 35 \u2013 most retired or widowed \u2013 who now found solace and meaning in travel and found this long repositioning cruise a perfect way to cross the Pacific.<\/p>\n

\" The Sanctuary, a sun-drenched retreat for solo travellers to unwind. Photo \/ Princess Cruises<\/p>\n

All had been on multiple cruises, many on Princess.<\/p>\n

One woman told me that after a long stint of travelling post-retirement, mostly through Southeast Asia, she got home and found herself bored and restless and immediately put her Gold Coast apartment on the market.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s now travelling full time and often uses repositioning cruises like this as an affordable and fun way to get to Canada, where she has friends.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, many in the group went off to dinner together.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I had a booking at \u2013 the rather good \u2013 seafood restaurant The Catch by Rudi, where I discovered that solo dining can also be rather awkward, after a couple next to me celebrated a significant wedding anniversary over a tense meal that went largely untouched, much of it conducted in grim silence. I skipped dessert that night.<\/p>\n

\" The Catch by Rudi serves up seafood worth dining alone for. Photo \/ Princess Cruises<\/p>\n

By the third week, I was on nodding terms with many on the ship and I\u2019d invariably run into someone I\u2019d chatted with and they\u2019d recommend dishes in restaurants or convey important ship info like there\u2019s no more oatmeal cookies in the buffet \u2013 \u201cyou\u2019ll have to go down to the cafe, I\u2019m going there now\u201d.<\/p>\n

It was strange \u2013 we weren\u2019t friends, and we\u2019d probably never see each other again after the cruise, but it was a community of sorts.<\/p>\n

And no, I did not have to eat every meal alone. I met a lovely Oregon couple who shared my love of music and food \u2013 they regaled me with stories of seeing Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead and Bonnie Raitt in the late 60s.<\/p>\n

\" Spellbound bar, where strangers become shipmates over a drink. Photo \/ Princess Cruises<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, the ugliest part of travelling solo is the cost \u2013 most solo travellers must pay double their solo fare to secure a cabin. While some lines do now cater to solo travellers with purpose-built cabins or discounted fares, it\u2019s still relatively rare and they sell out quickly.<\/p>\n

But this cruise will be memorable not only for the ports we called at \u2013 the gorgeous French Polynesian islands of Tahiti and Moorea and Honolulu, Hawaii \u2013 but because of the fascinating people I met; an elderly lady on a mobility scooter who was an expert on the Broadway musicals, the leader of a Canadian separatist party who wanted to talk politics over breakfast (I politely changed the subject), an American script doctor whose job is polishing Hollywood screenplays \u2013 and no, she wouldn\u2019t tell me what she was working on.<\/p>\n

\"Sun,Sun, sea and Hawaii \u2014 a highlight stop on the trans-Pacific crossing. Photo \/ Princess Cruises<\/p>\n

While I enjoyed my solo three weeks on the ocean, I found myself on lengthy FaceTime calls back home and missed one of the true thrills of travelling \u2013 sharing the experience in real time with people you love.<\/p>\n

But for solo adventurers, there\u2019s no better way to see the world. It\u2019s safe, you have a ready-made community on board, and you just might find the love of a lifetime out there on the ocean.<\/p>\n

Top tips for cruising alone<\/p>\n

Attend the solo meet-up on board and take part in activities.Long repositioning cruises are ideal for singles \u2013 more time to allow friendships to bloom.Solo dining is a great way to meet people. Tables are close together and cruisers are a garrulous lot.Get good at small talk, it\u2019ll pay off later in the cruise.<\/p>\n

Details<\/p>\n

The next Princess repositioning cruise offering the same itinerary is scheduled for April 2027.<\/p>\n

The writer was hosted by Princess Cruises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And if your aim is to meet a significant other, a long cruise like this is a great…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1975,489,138,1259,2037,211927,4731,2026,11424,36823,2082,1445,15209,27705,8596,240714,1446,111,139,69,90,28821,37410,3008,17093,59353,22139,240713,131,3765,274],"class_list":["post-478187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-at","tag-books","tag-business","tag-community","tag-cruise","tag-cruiser","tag-days","tag-discovery","tag-finds","tag-fleming","tag-for","tag-friends","tag-greg","tag-instead","tag-keen","tag-likeminded","tag-making","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-princess","tag-rather","tag-sea","tag-ship","tag-solo","tag-spends","tag-succumbing","tag-than","tag-tips","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}