MSC Solo Cruises: My Experience Sailing Alone on MSC

Have you ever considered sailing alone on an MSC cruise? Wondering what it might be like? I did my first MSC cruise as a solo traveler to the Canary Islands out of Southampton and thought I’d share my experience.

Booking a Solo Cruise on MSC

I had been curious about MSC as they seem to have pretty good rates, and I’m always up for saving money where I can. After I was laid off from my job and decided a trip was in store, I started looking at MSC cruises. I found a couple that I was interested in, but when I set the number of passengers to one, the website suddenly told me that there were no cabins available. If I set it to two passengers, there was availability.

Cruise lines make more money by having more people on board, so they want rooms to at least have double occupancy. This is why you’ll see solo travelers charged a solo supplement, usually 100% of the single person fare. This means you’re paying for two, even if you are traveling alone.

If you’re looking to pay less as a solo on MSC, you can find cruises where they’ve reduced the solo supplement on their Cruises for Singles page. I generally prefer to refer to it as solo cruising to distinguish from those looking for romantic interests, but MSC, you do you.

Dining as a Solo Cruiser on MSC

MSC has three different “experiences” to choose from when you book, providing more benefits as the cost increases. The two lower experiences, Bella and Fantastica, come with a set dining time during either the early or late dinner seating. Guests with the Aurea experience are able to dine whenever they’d like.

As a solo cruiser on MSC with the Fantastica experience, I had the early dining time. At 5:30pm, it was a bit early for my liking, but I did go many nights during my cruise. My assigned table was a very large round table with 12 other solo cruisers assigned.

With this cruise being out of Southampton, most of the others at my table were British. There was one other American, and two gentlemen from Norway who were traveling together, but in different cabins, so they were considered solo. It was a great way to get to know some of my fellow cruisers, and made me feel less alone as a solo cruiser.

Solo Traveler Meetups on MSC

During my cruise, MSC offered an unhosted Solo Travelers Get Together on a couple of evenings at 5:00pm. The first one on this cruise was on night four. On Norwegian, I like to attend these meetups on the first night to start meeting people, so I was a bit disappointed that MSC didn’t offer them more often.

I stopped at a bar on my way to the get together to grab a drink and then walked into the room where there were already a dozen or so solo travelers sitting in a circle of chairs getting to know each other. I didn’t really connect with anyone there, and with my dinner seating so early, I didn’t stick around too long.

It’s great that MSC offers these get togethers for solo cruisers. I just wish they were offered more often or at least within the first couple nights of the cruise.

Socializing as a Solo on MSC

My shared dining table and the Solo Travelers Get Together were good opportunities to meet other people on the cruise. The get together was not particularly fruitful in this instance, but the shared dinner table was nice. On other cruise lines, I’ve ended up at shared tables with couples and that was always awkward. I appreciated the shared table of solos. I even hung out with a couple of people from the table throughout the cruise.

If you really want to meet other people on your cruise, I recommend signing up for the Cruise Critic Roll Call and join your cruise Facebook group, if one exists. People on those groups will often coordinate meet ups on the ship. I’ve also started chatting with people in bars who I’ve recognized from their pictures on these groups.

Final Thoughts on my Solo Cruise on MSC

I love to travel solo because I find it to be less stressful to only have to worry about myself. I really like how MSC had such a large table of solo travelers at my dinner seating. It really gave me a variety of people to chat with and get to know. I did not like how hard it was to find a cruise that had availability for solo travelers. My main goal on any cruise is to relax and visit new places. MSC delivered on that. All in all, I think my experience as a solo traveler was right up there with the other cruise lines.