Single Cruisers Segment

[pittsburghmarc]

Dustin I really enjoyed your segment that went up this week.

You did a great job talking around Statler and Waldorf in the studio there! LOL

If I remember correctly, Julie was given a little ribbing during her early segments as well.

I like the fresh new perspective you've brought to the podcast.

[mmackeymouse]

Poor Dustin.

I did a 7 night on the Magic a couple of years ago with my parents and (adult) sister, and found there were a fairly good number of other young adults on boards. They were all mostly in the same situation as myself, cruising with siblings or parents. While I was with my parents, for all intents and purposes, a lot of the time, I was like a "single" cruiser, in that I basically did my own thing. And honestly, even then with a lot of younger single people on board, even ones that I saw multiple times every day, other than staff members and the occasional polite hello, I did not meet one single new person.

However: I will say I disagree with some of the comments on the Podcast. It was indicated that while DCL is a great cruise line, it is not the line to go on if you are a single adult. (As opposed to single child, I guess, lol) I disagree with this, because as with everything Disney and everything in life really, it just depends on the individual person. Some people do want to socialize. Some people prefer to be left alone.

Myself, for example, I don't care to drink. And, I would be perfectly content with shows, sun, eating, shopping, and exploring the ship. (Tell me if this is TMI and I should be embarrassed. I made it my mission to use all or as many of the bathrooms on the Magic as possible, took pictures, and ranked them ) In fact, if I went on a cruise alone, and did not speak to one person the whole time other than staff members, I wouldn't mind a single bit.

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I think sometime DCL just doesn't get waht to do with single travelers. For example on my first cruise on the Wonder the first night I got sat at a table with a family that decided to change their rotation the next night and I ended up being moved to another table with a mother and daughter and another couple of women. Everything was ok from there.

On my second cruise I was at a table with 2 other families and neither of us knew each other before the cruise but had a great time at dinner every night. Also there were a few times when we saw each other around the ship too, I even sat with one of them during a screening of pirates of the Caribbean at Worlds end.

On my third cruise I oinked my dinning with some poel I knew from my other cruise, there were some problems with other dinners in my group but it wasn't akwaed like when you are put at a table with peole you don't know/

My most awkward time on DCL was during the Panama Canal cruise when I went into Parrot Cay with some of my table mates and without asking me or them if I was with them they sent me to the singles table as apparently there was a singles lunch scheduled for then. Most of the people at the table seemed to be single moms. But what really made it awkward was that a member of the activities staff joined us for lunch and proceeded to help us plan our evening.

[safetymom]

Last year I cruised as a single and had a great time. One night I was the only one at the table and enjoyed it.

[mjtm610]

Dustin, you did a great job! I really enjoy your perspective. You bring something fresh and new to the podcast. As well as a great voice! I like that all people on the podcast are very different, come from different places, and bring their own points of view. Keep up the great work.

[ImprovGal]

As a single (and frequently solo) DCL cruiser, I just had to listen to this segment.

I've shared many of the same observations as Dustin.
Yes, DCL certainly attracts mostly families, with a large representation of romantic couples as well. Yes, many of the 20something single adults I've met were travelling as part of a family group. Yes, DCL has a reputation for being cost-prohibitive for younger singles. (I've found several off-season itineraries, however, when that hasn't necessarily held true.)

I've had a mixed bag of dinner seating experiences. One of the things I like about cruising is the dining with strangers thing. I've met many interesting people. Sometimes I travel with a friend of mine. When we didn't link dining with other friends, we've been seated at tables with couples or families with older children. On the Hawaii cruise, the passenger load was so light that we were given a table to ourselves.
When I've sailed solo, I've been seated at "odds and ends" tables and I enjoy that. I sailed on the Fantasy and I was solo in my cabin but linked with a couple of my friends who were sharing a cabin. I specifically put in the dining request for us to be seated with other adults. However, we were assigned to an 8-top to be shared with a family of 4 adults/1 infant. I would have requested a change, but the family got to it first as they were upset to find out they were seated with others.

Despite that, I think I've had more positive experiences on the ship meeting people on the ship than Dustin has. Part of it may be one's personality type. I'll admit that I'm incredibly shy when it comes to dating, so I don't really have expectations for finding a guy to be my romantic partner within the confines of the length of the cruise itself. But without carrying those expectations around, I'm pretty outgoing and I chat with any adults (guests or crew) on the ship. That weird phenomenon Dustin encountered in which once you meet someone at dinner or on an excursion or whatever and then you seem to just keep running into them on the ship? It gets even worse if you keep cruising with DCL. I sailed the 9/2 Magic NYC-Canada and ran into at least 20 or so guests I knew from previous cruises.

I know Dustin mentioned he didn't care for a lot of the scheduled evening activities for the adults. I usually enjoy the evening stuff -- I try to hit all of the cabarets (unless it's a performer I really don't care for), attend any of the game show things (yes, even the single's nemesis "Match Your Mate" -- if nothing else, it's common ground for a conversation starter), stick around for dancing (particularly the themed parties), and listen to the band they have in Wavebands or Rockin Bar D (one of my disappointments with the Dream/Fantasy is the lack of a band in Evolution or The Tube). That said, I sailed the Fantasy on 9/8 and it does appear to be lighter in its scheduling of daytime adult activities for those 7 day cruises than I've experienced on the Magic and Wonder. While there were singles lunches on the sea days, there were no afternoon "singles mingle" gatherings (usually take place in Cove). I usually prefer the Classic ships and their longer cruises because of all of the activities onboard. But I like to keep busy and I'm a bit of a joiner.

Originally Posted by EastYorkDisneyFan

My most awkward time on DCL was during the Panama Canal cruise when I went into Parrot Cay with some of my table mates and without asking me or them if I was with them they sent me to the singles table as apparently there was a singles lunch scheduled for then. Most of the people at the table seemed to be single moms. But what really made it awkward was that a member of the activities staff joined us for lunch and proceeded to help us plan our evening.

EYDF: I found your comments here quite interesting because the experience I've usually encountered at Parrot Cay (either personally or observing it happen to others) is telling the host at the podium that you're looking for the singles table and then being seated at a table by yourself instead of the cruise staff hosted table. (One of the things I like about the singles table is that it's hosted by cruise staff as they are good at keeping the conversation flowing and making introductions with the staggered arrivals. I'm curious why it made you feel more awkward.)

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Originally Posted by ImprovGal

EYDF: I found your comments here quite interesting because the experience I've usually encountered at Parrot Cay (either personally or observing it happen to others) is telling the host at the podium that you're looking for the singles table and then being seated at a table by yourself instead of the cruise staff hosted table. (One of the things I like about the singles table is that it's hosted by cruise staff as they are good at keeping the conversation flowing and making introductions with the staggered arrivals. I'm curious why it made you feel more awkward.)

Part of it was that I came in with a group of people that I was talking too, and they didn't ask if I was with them or I wanted to sit alone. As for the stuff with the CM it wasn't my thing, and like I said most of the people at that table seemed to be single mom's and there was maybe one other guy than me. Also I'm not always comfortable having a conversation over lunch with poel I don't know very well.

[CynthiaC925]

Dustin you did a great job - Congrats on your first segment!