The 9 best cruise lines for solo cruisers
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If you are a solo traveller, cruising is definitely for you. It’s a great chance to meet like-minded people and is a practical way to travel if you are by yourself. It’s one of the few holidays that bundles almost everything in an upfront price, especially if you are travelling with a luxury line or on a river cruise – meals, accommodation, shore excursions as well as entertainment.
It takes the hassle away from figuring out where to eat, finding transport and booking a hotel, especially if you are travelling in an unfamiliar city.
The ship is a contained community, and there are plenty of places where you can share spaces and socialise. There are plenty of lounges, restaurants, bars, activities and excursions.
Most cruise lines now accommodate solo cruisers, not just social activities but also accommodation options. Solos can meet other people at exercise or dance classes, wine-tasting, cooking demonstrations, trivia and much more.
To solve the dilemma of dining alone, restaurants range from a casual buffet to a main room, where the maître’d can assign you to a table of other solo travellers. Room service is another option. For socialising, ships have bars where people chat to strangers much more than they do on land, while bigger ships also have casinos, nightclubs and organised sports and games. For solitude, the library, spa or observation deck are lovely, quiet spaces.
More cruise lines are catering for the growing trend of solo cruisers. An increasing number of lines, like Holland America, are adding specific solo accommodation options during the US$500 million refurbishment of its fleet. The line will be adding the industry’s first solo cabins with balconies, and the cabins are now on sale.
Norwegian Cruise Line first pioneered solo cabins in the 2010s; Royal Caribbean introduced virtual balconies, and if you’re a member of its loyalty program, you will pay a reduced solo supplement and Cunard and Crystal have dedicated gentlemen dance hosts.
We’ve compiled together the best ocean cruise lines for solos.
1. Celebrity Cruises
Celebrity has similar solo-activities to other lines, beginning with a day one meet up.
However, Celebrity’s distinct edge for solo travellers is in their cabins. Edge–class ships, such as Celebrity Edge which sails in Australia have solo cabins, complete with Celebrity’s infinite verandas. This offers the chance to get a top-rate cabin without breaking the bank as a solo traveller.
Celebrity ships have a good mix of plenty of places to relax by yourself and enjoy the cruise, as well as all sorts of classes and social events to join when you feel like meeting new people.
2. Cunard
The traditional British cruise line is one of the best picks for solo cruisers. The standout feature across its fleet of ships, the Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Anne have dedicated solo staterooms that are sold with no single supplement attached. These staterooms are called the Britannia Inside and Britannia Oceanview. It’s rarer in the ocean upper premium and luxury segment to have dedicated solo accommodation.
The quieter nature of Cunard compared to some other premium and contemporary lines means that this is a company which focuses on activities like afternoon tea, gala evenings, enrichment lectures and hosted talks. For instance, Cunard often hosts a literary series on its ships so guests can listen to authors and even politicians. It’s a great environment for solos to meet like-minded new friends.
On top of that, each ship has its own personality – the Queen Mary has the planetarium, Illuminations as well as plenty of maritime history on display. The Queen Elizabeth has a dedicated Games Deck which features croquet, deck tennis and lawn bowls. And Queen Victoria has a special Winter Garden which is great place for relaxing solos.
3. Crystal Cruises
On the upper-luxury end of things, Crystal definitely stands out as a luxury line that still keeps social travellers in line. There are dedicated pre-dinner cocktail parties for those travelling alone and special solos tables for dining.
There are even dedicated dancers onboard who will twirl you around on Latin ballroom nights if you don’t have a dance partner.
Crystal also offers special promotions with a reduced single supplement to encourage solo travellers to get onboard.
4. Holland America Line
Holland America Line recently announced a huge US$500 million fleet refresh called the Holland America Line Evolution. One of the big parts of the refurbishment is that HAL will be introducing Solo Verandahs. This new class of accommodation which is designed for solo travellers will be the first true solo cabins with private balconies.
Each suite measures 200 square feet with a glass-walled shower, a dedicated workspace, and the highly anticipated private balcony (rather than a virtual balcony in an interior cabin or an oceanview cabin). The first solo balcony cabins will be launching on the Oosterdam in 2027 and will be an industry first. Bookings are now open for the cabins.
Aside from the accommodation change, HAL has great appeal for more mature solo travellers. Embedded in the onboard culture and atmosphere, HAL typically attracts cruisers who love their music, such as blues and jazz and the routes are longer through destinations like Alaska, where the demographic tends to be older. HAL also puts a focus on enrichment-heavy programming throughout its voyages, like BBC Earth-branded experiences, culinary demonstrations and guest lecturers.
HAL is also known for its gentleman host (dance host) program: trained ballroom dancers, typically retirees aged 40-70, who partner with solo women for dancing, dining, shows, and shore excursions. This service is offered on Grand Voyages or voyages of 40+ days.
5. Norwegian Cruise Line
NCL is generally known as the best cruise line for solo travellers, as across their fleet they’ve refined their offerings for solo travellers and made it a specialty of theirs. All their ships are equipped with solo cabins which makes it easy to avoid a single supplement for wherever you’re sailing.
However, NCL’s focus on solo travel also extends into the social life onboard. There are daily events run specifically for solo travellers, and NCL will even help you book dining times with other travellers, rather than leaving you to eat alone. Some ships even run bar crawls for solo travellers.
In general, NCL’s relaxed style of cruising which doesn’t have specific dining times also lends itself to social cruising, as you can easily head off to eat with new friends.
6. Oceania Cruises
In general, Oceania often lands as one of the highest rated cruise lines due to its close attention to service, dining and more; it even landed at number one in the Cruise Passenger Readers’ Choice Awards.
Oceania also carries the advantage of being an adults-only line, and there’s a daily program of meet ups and events for solo travellers.
There are also solo cabins up for grabs on most ships, as well as ongoing promos for reduced single supplements.
Oceania is an upscale cruise line, built around enjoying the finer things and adventuring at the same time, so it’s also a great cruise line to meet like minded people. It’s also a great relaxing, small-ship experience, so Oceania ships are also a great place to simply spend time by yourself.
7. Princess
Princess is a new entrant in the solo cruising sector when it comes to dedicated staterooms. The first four interior solo cabins made their debut on the Sun Princess when the ship launched in 2024. There are also be solo cabins on the new Star Princess.
Tese are compact interior rooms (around 136-145 sq ft) but come with the same “Princess Luxury Bed” (queen, pillow-top, hypoallergenic duvet), a sofa, glass-panel shower, flat-screen TV, fridge, and 24-hour room service as the larger cabins — just priced for one person, no supplement. It’s a small inventory for now (only a handful of cabins per ship), so availability is limited.
On the rest of the fleet, without a dedicated solo cabin, you’re looking at the standard single supplement, typically 100-200% of the double-occupancy fare depending on the category and sailing.
Where Princess stands out more is in how easy the ship experience is for a solo traveller day-to-day, largely thanks to its OceanMedallion technology. It’s a wearable device that handles contactless check-in, acts as your room key, lets you order food and drinks from anywhere on the ship via the app (rather than needing a dining companion to “hold a spot”), and even helps you find your way around a very large ship — genuinely useful when you don’t have anyone else to navigate with.
Princess ships are also built around The Piazza, a central atrium that functions as a casual, always-on social hub with live music, coffee bars, and easy seating — a much lower-pressure way to be around other people than committing to a formal shared dinner table. On top of that, Princess leans into enrichment programming (cooking demos, guest speakers, its “Discovery at Sea”), which gives solo travellers structured things to do that don’t require a plus-one.
7. Royal Caribbean
Royal Caribbean is one of the best lines for solo cruisers who want a big ship experience.
The cruise line has specific studio cabins available so solo travellers don’t have to pay any supplements. The studio cabins are available on Quantum (Quantum, Anthem, Ovation and Odyssey) – and Oasis (Wonder of the Seas) -class ships. The cabins have been cleverly designed with a ‘virtual balcony’ option. In actual fact, these are interior cabins that have a floor-to-ceiling LED screen which shows real-time ocean views.
These cabins often sell out quickly – but Royal Caribbean often rewards loyal solo cruisers. If you’re a member of their loyalty program, the Crown & Anchor Society, the cruise line will drop the standard single supplement from 200 per cent to 150 per cent.
In terms of activities, there are plenty of options from FlowRider surf simulators, rock climbing walls, ice skating as well as Broadway-style shows. The buffet (Windjammer) and casual dining venues also make solo meals easy without the awkwardness of a formal sit-down table for one.
Often, the cruise line will have, in their program, specific solo meet up events like singles mixers so you can meet other cruisers early on in the voyage.
8. Virgin Voyages
Similarly to NCL, Virgin Voyages has a strong focus on solo travellers, across both its cabins and social offerings. There are daily meet ups which start from the first day of sailings, special solo traveller group dinners and all kinds of activities across bar crawls, karaoke, group fitness classes and more.
All their ships have solo cabins, with both inside and outside cabins on offer.
Another advantage of Virgin compared to other lines is that its adults only, and generally set up to be a very sociable experience, with more of a lean towards partying and entertainment than other lines. This gives you a larger pool of people to meet and makes it easier to meet people and find activities onboard.
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