The good and the bad on my first solo cruise – with pictures

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In this review are the things that I actually participated in and saw. There were lots more things to do that I didn’t get a chance to do. I didn’t spend much time on deck because of the weather, and didn’t use the pools.

Before the cruise

I decided to book a solo cruise to recharge after some health issues. After looking around, I decided to book a solo cabin on the Norwegian Gem to the Bahamas out of Jacksonville, Florida, which is about a 4-hour drive from where I live.

I found a cruise with a travel agent discount, and booked. However, ten days before the cruise the prices were reduced drastically. When I called Norwegian and tried to get an upgrade to a balcony cabin, but not a refund, I was refused because it was less than 14 days before my cruise. I suspect that prices usually come way down in that 14-day period so that no one who is already booked can take advantage of the lower prices. Just something for you to think about before you book on Norwegian. At that point I was already starting out with a bad view of Norwegian Cruise Lines. Let’s see if things continue in this way.

Also, I’ve almost always been able to be in contact with a cruise line’s Media and Influencer department, including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Princess Cruises. MSC was the only cruise line in the past who would not answer my email or acknowledge me. And now Norwegian has been the same way. I’m afraid that I’m not very thrilled with customer service so far on Norwegian. I wasn’t starting out with the best opinion of Norwegian’s customer service. Let’s see if things continued in this way.

The cruise

Port of Jacksonville

I decided to spend the extra money and park directly at the port of Jacksonville. The other cheaper options didn’t look that good to me, the reviews weren’t the best.

Parking at the port is very easy. You can either pay ahead of time online or pay when you get there. There is plenty of parking for the two ships that make Jacksonville their port, and the parking for each ship is separated. It’s not a very long walk to the ship, and you can also drop off your checked luggage before you park.

I’m glad that I did park there, it was very easy getting off the ship and to your car. And then you were ready to hit the road without having to deal with a shuttle to another parking lot.

Embarkation

The worst part of the embarkation process was waiting in line for security. First there’s a long line outside the terminal, but you are under shelter for that time. Then, once you get into the terminal there’s a long winding line to get to the security area. It probably took about 30 minutes for me altogether. Guess that’s not too bad.

At security they have the face recognition for your passport. I’m not sure what they do if you are traveling with a birth certificate. Then you put your carry-on luggage on the X-ray machine just like you would at an airport.

After that you go to the check in area, which was a pretty fast process for me. They have quite a few agents working. I got my cruise card there, but she forgot to give me a boarding pass number. They started calling numbers to board, and the agent directing people told me to just go ahead and get in line, so I did. Then the agent letting people through to the gangplank told me to go ahead. I’m pretty sure that I got in early that way.

Getting onto the ship

As usual, getting onto a ship the first day is chaos. Jacksonville has a very long gangway, and it’s sloped up when you get onto the ship. If you need help with that, let them know. I saw people being taken on wheelchairs. Then you have your cruise card scanned on deck and they will direct you which door to go into.

Once you actually get onto the ship, which will be on deck 7, you will immediately check into your Muster Station. If you don’t, you’ll get a letter telling you where and when you need to check in. Then you can check your carry-on luggage into the Bliss Lounge, also on deck 7. This will save you from having to carry it around until you can get into your cabin. After I checked my luggage into the Bliss Lounge, I went to the buffet to get some lunch.

After 1:30 pm I decided to go to deck 5 where my cabin was, and wait by the steps and elevator till they let us into our rooms. I waited a while, and then one of the room Stewards told me that I could go to my cabin early, it was ready, so I did.

My Oceanview Cabin – 5552

I’m glad that I booked an oceanview cabin, in retrospect. It was big enough for me as a solo traveler, and I was actually able to sit in the window area and watch the ocean go by. I think that maybe it would have been a bit chilly on a balcony on this cruise.

All in all, it was a good room and kept clean. The bed was comfortable, and the thermostat worked well. My biggest disappointment was that I never met my room steward. Normally on a ship, the steward will introduce themself at the beginning of the trip, learn your name, and converse with you when they see you. On the entire trip, I had no idea of which of the crew I saw in the hallway was my steward. They’d all say hello, but that was about it. Either Norwegian is overworking them, or the crew is just not that friendly.

I couldn’t figure out how to tell the steward to make up my room, but someone told me how. On the room number sign outside the door there is a spinner at the bottom. Just spin and the Welcome sign will go to Do Not Disturb, Make up Room, and Turn Down Service.

I did smell marijuana at one point in the cabin, not sure where that came from. Also, the smell of diesel was strong one day. I asked one of the stewards to come and check because it was giving me a headache, but he wouldn’t come and just said it was diesel.

The bathroom is adequate, with sliding doors for the shower and toilet area. It’s a small area, and I don’t know how comfortable the toilet would be for someone big or tall. The shower is good sized though, and I like that it has a door and not a shower curtain. There is plenty of storage and plenty of hangers in the room. There’s a very small fridge, and a safe also.

There’s not much to watch on the small television. And at first I couldn’t figure out how to work it. But just press the channel section on the remote to get more channels. There are a few sports channels, a couple of movie channels that rotate the same few movies throughout the cruise, two channels that have mostly the same shows on all the time, and some channels about the ship.

Check out the tour on YouTube. By the way, I did find one more 110 volt plug by the makeup mirror. I’m no YouTube vlogger, so please bear with me.

Food

Food was just okay on the ship. Nothing really stood out to me except for the Teppanyaki grill, which is what I chose as my “free” upcharge restaurant, although you still had to pay $20 per room even if you were traveling solo.

There was barely any sugar free desserts on the ship except for fruit. The one place that I found sugar free desserts was the Main Dining Room, but they would not let you take any to go. I was told by the host that every single food venue had sugar free, he knew because he used to work in the buffet. But if they had anything at the buffet, it was not marked sugar free. I looked more than once.

Garden Cafe Buffet

It seemed like the food in the buffet on deck 12 was mostly cold by the time that I got to my table, and just okay in flavor. They did have a lot of variety for each meal, and I always managed to find an empty table. It is a small buffet, and can get pretty crowded. And of course you have the “washy washy” employee at the entrance spraying you with antibacterial liquid. There was a lady singing as she sprayed you, really cute. There are also smaller buffets and tables on the outside deck at each end of the buffet.

Main Dining Room

I chose to eat at the Grand Pacific Main Dining Room twice, although both the Grand Pacific and Magenta dining rooms have the same menu. They just have different atmospheres. I asked the host to please sit me with someone, since I was traveling solo, but they would not. I ended up at a table for two, but the waiter was very nice, probably the friendliest staff member that I met on the ship. I went back on the second day of the cruise and he remembered my name, the only staff to remember my name on the entire cruise. The food was good, but not exceptional. Service was fast.

O’Sheehan’s Pub

It took me awhile to figure out that O’Sheehan’s is the word Ocean pronounced a different way. I went to O’Sheehan’s twice for breakfast and once for dinner. The wait service seemed to depend on which side of the restaurant you were on. My first breakfast was a traditional English breakfast, two eggs, toast, baked beans, potatoes, sausage, and bacon. It was good, but the service was incredibly slow. I went back again the second day for breakfast and service was very fast, and the waitress even left me an entire carafe of coffee. Below is the English Breakfast. It was good.

And then I went for dinner on the last day of the cruise. Service was very slow again, I was about to get up and leave when I finally saw a waiter. I got the Fish and Chips, which was okay, but not great.

O’Sheehan’s is open 24 hours, so it’s a good place to go if you need a late night snack.

Teppanyaki Grill

I choose the Teppanyaki Grill for my “free” specialty dining. I could only get a reservation for 9 pm on day three, but I wanted to sit with others to dine for a change, and I knew that I would with Teppanyaki. The host was able to sit me at an 8:30 pm seating instead. And as usual for Teppanyaki, it was a very fun and enjoyable experience.

I sat with a very nice family who adopted me as a “cousin” for the evening, so I felt right at home. And the food was hot and delicious, I choose chicken and steak. It is a noisy atmosphere, but I’m glad that I did it.

Private Island

Great Stirrup Cay is Norwegian Cruise Line’s private island. Right now (December 2025) there’s not a lot to it, but they are building a dock and a water park to be opened sometime next year.

This is a tender port, which means that you take a ferry boat from the ship docked in the ocean to the port. It’s not a hard process, there’s a gangway that you walk across to get onto the ferry. Then the ferry will drop you off at the island.

There were plenty of open chairs on each beach that I saw. I walked down to the furthest free beach and was practically the only one there. There are lifeguards walking around, but it was kind of stormy looking when I went so not many people in the water.

A large lighthouse houses a gift shop and the zipline, which is an upcharge. I didn’t see a lot of people using the zipline. You can rent snorkel gear, kayaks, floats, and other equipment, it seemed kind of pricey though.

There is a buffet on the island with hot dogs, hamburgers, and normal picnic fare, and I saw one food truck way at the end of the pathway. That food truck had sandwiches, ceviche, and deserts. The coconut chocolate fudge bar was to die for, wish I’d had more than one. Wish I had one right now or had the recipe.

A small Straw Market with the same old souvenirs can be found near the entrance of the island. There are a number of bars, and some food carts, including Starbucks, on the island also.

Freeport and Garden of the Groves Excursion

Our other stop was in Grand Bahamas / Freeport. There are quite a few shops in the port area, and also food. Some of the restaurants were closed for good, it seems.

I decided to take the Garden of the Groves Excursion since it wasn’t too expensive, and I didn’t want to try a taxi as a female solo traveler. The excursion was again…okay…but nothing that I’d recommend to someone else. We were on a full-sized bus to get there. Once the seats were totally filled up, they opened up booster seats in the center of the bus and sat more people on those. It was like being in a can of sardines. We drove around the island for around 45 minutes with the driver commenting on the sites. However, in the back of the bus we couldn’t hear anything.

Garden of the Groves is basically a tourist attraction with trees, flowers, water, a couple of parrots, and lots of bees. One of our group was stung, so if you are allergic to bees, don’t go. They did get her some ice and tried to be helpful. But we had two hours there before the bus left, which meant after the tour we had an hour to waste in the small park. They do sell food and drink, there are restrooms, and there is an overpriced straw market. The straw market did have drinks and chips that you could buy, at least. I hung out with another solo traveler and we ended up getting back on the bus early.

After that we went to Port Lacaya to shop. Port Lacaya was my very first port on my very first cruise, so I wanted to see it again. It seems a bit more run down than it did before, and the shopping is more overpriced than I remember. I did end up buying a magnet. There is some food at the shopping area, including conch fritters, but I considered it rather expensive for street food. I believe that they had an ice cream shop and a coffee shop also. There are restrooms. Last time they had a casino in the area, not sure if it’s still there or not.

Entertainment

Pretty much the only entertainment that I saw were the song and dance shows and the Deal or No Deal show. But I enjoyed them, the entertainment staff were the best part of the cruise for me. The first night it was a Broadway hit show, the highlights for me were excerpts from Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair. I know, that dates me. The next night it was a Cowboy show with country music. Then the last night was another wonderful show with lots of singing and dance. All of the singers and dancers were top notch, and I enjoyed every minutes. The theater is large, and there always seemed to be empty seats.

Deal or No Deal is basically another way for the Cruise Line to take your money. If you want to participate (you don’t have to), you buy cards (sort of like bingo cards). One was $29, then you could get discounts if you bought more. If you’ve watched the Howie Mandell show, Deal or No Deal, you know how it goes with the briefcases. It didn’t seem to me that many people won much. One guy won $400, one won $50, then there were a lot of little worthless prizes. Glad I didn’t participate.

I did try to make an origami Lily, but either the directions were horrible or I am not talented at all. I also saw a lot of trivia shows each day. There were bands and singers scattered around the ship in different venues also. No comedian shows at all.

Captain’s Party

Since I’m a Travel Agent I was invited to the Captain’s Party in the Bliss Lounge. I’ve done Captain’s Party’s before, but this one was strange. We had to get squirted with antibacterial spray before we went in, which I can understand. But when we got in, instead of the crew shaking our hands, they said hi or nodded to us. Then we were given the choice of a pre-mixed fruity drink or wine. They then came around with some small hors d’oeuvres. A singer was singing softly in the background. A couple of the officers mingled a bit. I spoke to one of them and told him that I was disappointed that I never met my room steward. He promised that I’d meet him the next day, but I never did. Then all the officers disappeared and people started leaving. I don’t think that I was in there for 20 minutes all together. It was just strange.

Wi-fi

75 minutes of wi-fi is included, and worked pretty well. If you can’t figure out how to get the wi-fi, there are staff in the art gallery area on deck 7 to help. And remember to log off each time you’re done or the minutes will be gone like that. You can use the NCL app to get the entertainment for the day without having your wi-fi on.

So, how did I feel about my first solo cruise?

I wasn’t sure how I’d feel when I cruised alone for the first time, but actually, it was generally very nice. I had a few times that I’d rather have been with people, like at meals, but since I’m an introvert, I loved my alone time. I could do what I wanted when I wanted.

Plus, I met some really special people. Norwegian does have Solo meet ups, but I figured that if I was meant to meet people, I’d meet them along the way. I met Mina on my excursion, and we enjoyed talking and hanging out for a while. I met a lady at breakfast in O’Sheehan’s and enjoyed our conversation. I met a couple at the Captain’s party and had some enjoyable time with them. Plus, my adopted for the evening family at the Teppanyaki Grill was a fun surprise.

So, honestly, I would definitely solo cruise again without any trepidation. But I don’t think that I would sail again on Norwegian.

And how did I feel about Norwegian’s Customer service after my rough start with them?

Honestly, I still feel that Norwegian has poor customer service. It was almost as if they thought about what might make their customers happy and decided to do the opposite. I have sailed Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean, and MSC and this is the first cruise where I didn’t get to know any of the staff fairly well. It was if I didn’t matter as anything but money to the staff and cruise line. Other people on the cruise were saying the same thing.

The biggest things that I don’t like about Norwegian are the “anytime dining” where you don’t get a dedicated wait staff, the unfriendliness of some of the crew, and the customer service of NCL. I think that Norwegian is not the cruise line for me, I think that I need a cruise line that encourages friendliness in its staff.

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed my cruise. I enjoyed the entertainment the most, and I enjoyed getting to know other passengers. I enjoyed being able to be by myself when I wanted to be. I’ll solo cruise again, but next time, I’ll probably choose another cruise line to sail on.