Broadly speaking, singles cruises are merely cruises that you take by yourself. You, a single person, are going on a cruise, and the English language denotes this concept with the words “singles cruise.” But of course the phrase “singles cruises” has more complex connotations, and not all of them have to do with dating or romance, contrary to popular belief (if indeed there is any sort of popular belief surrounding the meaning of “singles cruises”). It is the purpose of this article to give a brief overview of some of the general features of singles cruises, and as a consequence we won’t be delving into any specific singles cruise vacations you can take. That is a topic for another article, an article we will write in due time.
There are a large number of singles cruise vacations, just as there are a large number of cruise vacations in general. You can take a singles cruise to essentially anywhere you can take a regular cruise. Exceptions likely include very exotic locations that not many cruise ships travel to – like Antarctic cruises, for example – as well as cruises that are aimed at a specific goal, like whale watching cruises. However, we’re not entirely sure that you can’t find a singles Antarctic cruise or a singles whale watching cruise – we’ve never seen one, and these possibilities seem unlikely, but obviously we are not aware of every cruise vacation in existence. That said, there are singles cruises that go to all the classic cruise destinations, like the Caribbean or Alaska, as well as less frequented lands (in terms of cruises), like South America. These cruises depart from all over the world and occur during all parts of the year, including holidays. (Indeed, there are specific singles cruises that occur around holidays, like spring break.) Moreover, they vary in length, lasting from a few days to over a week (although they tend to last about a week, perhaps because this is a popular duration for a cruise, singles or otherwise). Again, singles cruises are just like regular cruises in that there are tons of them.
A great deal of singles cruises are aimed, at least indirectly (and often directly), at encouraging romantic encounters between passengers. The word “single” indicates your relationship status, after all, so a singles cruise obviously has some romantic overtones attached to it in many cases. People take singles cruises to meet other people like themselves, and, with a bit luck (depending on your perspective and moral sensibility), you just might find someone special with whom to share your vacation. To this end, many singles cruises impose age restrictions on passengers. Some are only for people in their 20s and/or 30s, others are for the 40+ crowd, and still others are aimed exclusively at senior citizens. However, it is equally true that not all singles cruises are about finding romantic partners. For example, there are several singles cruises that are targeted exclusively toward Christians. To be sure, a Christian might be looking for romance, but they could also be looking for people with similar spiritual convictions with whom to have deep conversations, and nothing more.
Of course, you don’t have to go on a cruise explicitly for singles if you are single. Plenty of singles go on regular cruises, where they may very well encounter other singles. The advantage of a singles cruise is that everyone goes into the vacation with the same status (at least in one respect). You know where the other passengers stand when it comes to their (lack of a) relationship, and the pool of available people is only limited by the number of passengers on the ship.
For more information, check out our article on which singles cruise is best for you, and you might also look into what you can do on a singles cruise. If you are sold on taking one, here is an explanation of how to book a singles cruise.