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Wanted: Baby Boomers Going Solo By Pat Hagan, Singles Editor Article from 2002 posted on Cruisemates.com After a recent singles cruise where the over-35 crowd complained about the wild antics of the younger set, I posted the question on Cruisemates' Singles Message Boards as to interest in cruises for the "more mature." The response was strong enough in favor that I started looking for find travel agents who focus on this market to see what is available. Donna Ignasz of Binnacle Travel (www.binnacletravel.com) is well aware of the singles market potential in the Baby Boomer generation (those in their 40s to mid-50s), as well as those over 55. Her popular Senior Fall Foliage cruise in September from New York to Boston, Maine and Nova Scotia on Carnival's Triumph is sold out, but another is planned for next year. Ms. Ignasz said an upcoming cruise on Carnival's Imagination, October 28 to November 2, from Miami to Belize and Key West, is attracting passengers between 35 and 50, but she says more men are needed, as a large number of women are booked. The cruise features two singles cocktail parties and a special Halloween party. Prices start at $745 per person, double occupancy, including port taxes and gratuities. Also drawing Baby Boomers is the December 1 to 7 Windjammer Barefoot Cruise sailing from Grenada to St. Vincent and Tobago Cay. There will be an open bar the entire week for the 64 singles expected to cruise. Prices start at $1,345, port taxes and gratuities included. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GOING SOLO February 24, 2002 When contemplating a single cruise keep in mind : Seven-day trips, as opposed to the quick weekend getaway, provide enough time both to enjoy the trip and meet someone. And to avoid the costly "single supplement" applied to most single cruisers, be prepared to share an often-cramped cabin with another same-sex single. True singles cruises are rare, but it's possible to find ships that cater to singles. Some places to start: Travel operators www.lycos.com is one of the Web sites for Terra Lycos, which owns Matchmaker.com, and its Travel section contains future cruise information. Discount Travel (www.discounttravel.com) is an agency often used by Carnival Cruise Lines to set up its singles excursions. www.ACruiseLink.com is an Internet travel agency whose "Cruise Together" subdivision organizes singles into cruise groups. Binnacle Travel has worked many large singles cruises, mostly in collaboration with match.com, another Internet dating service. Call 800-936-2250 or go to www.binnacletravel.com. Travel Service Everywhere, Ft. Worth, has organized singles cruises. Its most recent event involved 20 travelers on a short Carnival cruise to the Caribbean last year. 817-332-7434 or at www.tsetravel.com. Cruise lines Carnival Cruise Lines: 800-227-6482 or www.carnival.com. Princess Cruises has also offered singles events. Two years ago, Princess launched a ship on Valentine's Day, and with online dating service match.com, created a romance theme. Call 800-774-6237 or go to www.princess.com. Norwegian Cruise Line's "free-style cruising" offers an unregimented sailing experience popular among younger cruises, and often more singles, who don't want to be obligated to eat at a certain time, at a certain restaurant, with the same people every day. Call 800-327-7030. Royal Caribbean has worked primarily with Binnacle Travel to set up cruises catering to singles groups. For group reservations, call Binnacle Travel at 800-936-2250 Dating services www.matchmaker.com was the dating service associated with the Carnival singles cruise. www.match.com, another Internet dating service, has sponsored a singles cruise. By Andrew Morton ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) February 3, 2002 Section: TRAVEL Edition: FINAL Page: 1 Sea of love This Caribbean singles cruise has it all: New faces. Rum drinks. A captain that's handy, should you find Ms. Right. So how did our hopeless romantic end up solo, but with hopes still afloat? ANDREW MARTON Star-Telegram Staff Writer "It's only a 'welcome cocktail.' It's only a 'welcome cocktail.'" That's my anxiously repeated mantra as I skitter across the linoleum promenade deck of Carnival Cruise Line's ship Fascination. I'm running late for the first gathering of 90 members of Matchmaker.com, the Internet dating service. Matchmaker has hitched a ride on Carnival's three-day cruise from Miami to the Bahamas, and being a card-carrying member of the singles tribe, I've hitched a temporary ride with Matchmaker. The 1970s TV series The Love Boat christened the image of ship-as-floating-love-nest. The recent Fox reality series Love Cruise took the idea to its hormonally charged extremes. So I'm here to see if searching for romance on the high seas works in real life. Sheepishly, I poke my head inside the Passage to India bar. Adjusting my Matchmaker. com name badge, I'm immediately jolted by the sight of 50 unattached men and women, each guarding a distance of about 20 feet from each other. Suddenly, we're all back in junior high. The atmosphere is so stiff, most of us probably wish we were on a real passage to India. On one side, about 25 women decked out in sequined black gowns sit together, projecting not "come hither" but "go yonder" expressions. I gravitate toward the separate pack of men at the bar, who seem perfectly nice, though an alarming number seem to have a clothing penchant for frightening golf-course colors of tangerine and lime. I do want to talk to a woman, but some nagging apprehension keeps me glued to the bar stool. So I strike up a conversation with Joe, a 36-year-old Los Angeles-based telecommunications specialist, with whom I share singles war stories. Joe and I become comrades in arms, scouting the field of available women. It is at that precise moment that I spot Linda, a swan-necked beauty who has already attracted the ravenous interest of a group of men. I don't even catch where she's from or what she does for a living, but I whisper conspiratorially to Joe that Linda has just given my cruise a much-needed romantic focus. "Singles cruise" is somewhat of a misnomer. Many of the 23 major cruise lines sponsor theme cruises, with programs targeting square dancers or wine tasters or film lovers, but rarely does a line reserve the entire ship for any one of these groups. And few ships hold a reputation as being a draw for singles. In fact, thanks to Titanic, the movie about history's most disastrous cruise, the romance quotient of cruising took a huge upswing among couples, not swinging singles. Nowadays, cruises, according to the Cruise Lines International Association, are dominated by young married couples, baby boomers with kids and a senior generation that isn't shy about rock climbing, ice skating and teeing off from the sports deck. Indeed, cruises' widening appeal is reflected in that just 500,000 Americans cruised in 1970, but roughly 7 million Americans did so last year. "With ships being bigger today, cruising is the fastest-growing vacation choice for families, and it's certainly not trending towards singles," says association spokesman Len Polsky. Nevertheless, Matchmaker (originally based in Bedford), set sail with Carnival in December. Matchmaker has been in the singles romance business for 15 years, and it clearly thought a cruise could be a good way for some of its 5 million users to leave the cyberworld and meet in the flesh. Upon entering my cabin, U-175, I find a goody basket of singles survival items - many of them marked with Matchmaker's tough-love command to "Stop Waiting! Start Cruising! Go Meet Somebody!" I'm not quite sure how a cuddly stuffed animal will improve my chances at getting a date, but I'll work with these props. As the sun sets across the calm Caribbean, I consult my official "sail and sign," a kind of personal plastic-cash card. It says I am to report to the 8:30 p.m. dinner seating. Once at table No. 157, I'm greeted by two women who are clearly not Matchmaker material. They lack the anxiousness that brands most of my fellow hyper-singles. I have the nagging feeling I've already lost my Matchmaker flock. Not a good sign. I, however, am prime Matchmaker material. I've just turned 44, well within the 25-to-55 age range that has signed up for this cruise, according to organizers. I also fit right in with the middle- to upper-middle-class, white-collar professional who is the typical Matchmaker member. Hailing from Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Texas and California, the Matchmakers on board hold down jobs in real estate, furniture sales, financial planning, veterinary medicine and interior design. Though some cruisers seem to be pursuing a fling or looking to make new friends, others are being more ruthless, even predatory, about their quest. I watch as one group of Matchmaker men, assigned to a table composed mostly of women they assume are 10 years older than they, simply leave the table. Unfortunately, Matchmaker doesn't make it very easy for potential matches to meet each other. Despite their perpetually sunny, "go-out-and-meet-someone" demeanor, the three Matchmaker directors are frustratingly lax when it comes to organizing actual activities. Though approximately 90 Matchmakers board the ship, only about 50 make the opening cocktail party. Three days later, I count 32 of us in the final group picture. Matchmaker's daily schedule is filled with such general invitations as "Join us in the pool tomorrow for some beach ball fun!" but once I arrive poolside, not another familiar Matchmaker face is visible. Instead, most Matchmaker events just throw our singles clan together with the hundreds of other passengers. That's fine when it's the late night Karaoke Party but not great for the Couple's and Lover's Party. And the opposite occurs as well; at the first event, at least one attractive interloper crashes the party, monopolizing the attention of eligible Matchmaker men, to the disgust of some Matchmaker women. Other Matchmakers had similar complaints. During the ultra-formal captain's cocktail reception, Theresa, a 48-year-old divorcee and furniture sales rep from Charlotte, N.C., found herself with five Matchmaker women but never spotted another Matchmaker man. Theresa credits her natural extrovertedness with allowing her to meet several fellow singles, but said it would have been easier if the group had been instructed to meet prior to big events rather than just wandering around the ship. Theresa did find herself in one romantically charged shipboard relationship, complete with champagne sent to her table. But the man was not from the Matchmaker group. Joe, my accomplice from the opening cocktail party, complained that there were no breaking-the-ice techniques, such as little group games or trivia contests. Still, at that first cocktail party, he met Judy, an interior designer from Florida. They went on to dinner, drinks and dancing that night, and ended up seeing romantic sparks fly. Months later, they are still in contact, a transcontinental romance in the making. The frequent gaps in my Matchmaker schedule allow me to explore the roomy ocean liner. I find my ideal lounging spot, one deck above the barbed-wire-tattoo set and one deck below the topless-sunbathing area. After repairing to the sports deck, where I pump myself into a very loose definition of buffdom, I cobble together my mental list of where I would squire around my potential Matchmaker mate. We would start with Absolut martinis at the Puttin' on the Ritz bar, then I'd sweep her off her feet at the Diamonds Are Forever disco, before tripling my pocket change at the Casino Royale, where even the sullen croupier, Irina from Bucharest, would be impressed. The second day, as the ship slowly edges into Nassau harbor, I eagerly await the day's Matchmaker tour. Surely, the lovely but elusive Linda will be on the tour. Alas, I know no one on the bus except for my trusty pal, Joe. After a tour of Nassau, its harbor and its fort, I make a beeline for what I hope will be a real Matchmaker hangout at the British Colonial Nassau Hilton, the oldest hotel in the Bahamas and backdrop for several James Bond movies. After snagging a copy of the International Herald Tribune I settle into the hotel's poolside restaurant, order a heaping plate of conch fritters and wait anxiously. The fritters were delicious. Good thing, because I never saw another Matchmaker. Especially not the mysterious Linda. As we steam back for Miami during our last full day at sea, Matchmaker fails to provide organized activities. So, doing my improvisational best, I commandeer a chess set, hoping to spy Matchmaker females on the nearby water slide. No one slides by. Surely, tonight's Matchmaker Goodbye Cocktail Party will provide one last chance for my meeting the by-now legendary Linda. But when she finally waltzes in, her hair braided in the local island fashion, my heart sinks. She's with the same mustachioed suitor who first cornered her at the Welcome Party a thousand rumdrinks ago. No matter. Soon, Joe, Judy and I are joined by new Matchmaker friends Laura, Carol and Theresa. We trade compliments on our spiffy shipboard attire and new tans and sample lethal tropical concoctions. Laura, her courage buoyed by the alcohol, delivers a nicely naughty gag in the stand-up joke contest. We all laugh. Surrounded by my new singles posse, I don't even mind that it's the last night of the cruise and my sea hunt for love has come up empty. Some couples actually did hook up on board. Some singles did end up with a happy ending. For a romantic like me, that's good enough. IF YOU GO A couple of tips to keep in mind when contemplating a singles cruise: Seven-day trips, as opposed to the quick weekend getaway, provide enough time both to enjoy the trip and meet someone. And to avoid the costly "single supplement" applied to most single cruisers, be prepared to share an often-cramped cabin with another same-sex single. True singles cruises are rare; however, it's possible to find ships that cater to singles. Some places to start: Travel operators: * www.lycos.com is one of the Web sites for Terra Lycos, which owns Matchmaker.com, and its "travel" section contains future cruise information. * Discount Travel (www.discounttravel.com) is an agency often used by Carnival Cruise Lines to set up its singles excursions. * www.ACruiseLink.com is an Internet travel agency whose "Cruise Together" subdivision organizes singles into cruise groups. * Binnacle Travel has worked many large singles cruises, mostly in collaboration with match.com, another Internet dating service. (800) 936-2250 or www.binnacletravel.com. * Travel Service Everywhere, 306 Main St., Fort Worth, has organized singles cruises; its most recent event involved 20 travelers on a short Carnival cruise to the southern Caribbean last year. (817) 332-7434 or at www.tsetravel.com Cruise lines: * Carnival Cruise Lines: (800) 227-6482 or www.carnival.com. * Princess Cruises has also offered singles events. Two years ago, Princess launched a new ship on Valentine's Day, and with online dating service match.com, created a romance theme. (800) 774-6237 or www.princess.com. * Norwegian Cruise Line's "free-style cruising" offers an unregimented sailing experience popular among younger single cruisers who don't want to be obligated to eat at a certain time, at a certain restaurant, with the same people every day. (800) 327-7030. * Royal Caribbean has worked primarily with Binnacle Travel to set up cruises catering to singles groups. For group reservations, call Binnacle Travel at 800-936-2250 Dating services: * www.matchmaker.com was the dating service associated with the Carnival singles cruise. * www.match.com, another Internet dating service, has sponsored a singles cruise |