Travel: 'Was there romance on my cruise? There was one wee winch. It swung me ashore. I blame the buffet'

The two floors of studio flats – with a lounge specifically reserved for single passengers – means that the solo adventurer need not pay the premium normally exacted for travelling alone on a liner. It means too that there are facilities and opportunities for those who want to meet others to do so in a relaxed lounge. But it also means that single travellers such as myself can do as little socialising with others as they want. I was as gregarious as a Trappist monk with social anxiety disorder. That is, I shunned company with the same shudder that a turkey offers an advent calendar.

This is not because I am deeply anti-social. Though, I am. It is largely because I viewed the cruise as an escape from the madding crowd. It may seem odd to pursue this ambition in the company of about 6000 people on an enclosed space but I never said I was rational and no one has ever accused me of being so.

Curiously, though, single cruising offers ample opportunity for personal space and reflection. I was warned about the size of the studio cabin but it was more than ample for my needs: good bed, decent telly, ample storage and a functioning shower. It offered a retreat from others on the ship but the Epic is so vast that here were plenty of spots to delve into my necessary provisions of book and Ipod.

The statistics show that there are 18 bars and 14 restaurants and various entertainment venues. There is also a large casino that stretches for most of a deck. When I tired of making my own entertainment (a favourite was tying my towels in the shape of a turtle and filling Sudoku puzzles with telephone numbers from my contacts book), I could venture to see either of the Broadway shows – Priscilla, Queen of the Desert or Burn the Floor, a dancing spectacular –or head to the Cavern Club to see a particularly good Beatles tribute band.

But the two main staples of a cruise for me are the ports and the food. My cruise gallivanted around the Canaries, dropped in at Tunis, berthed in Madeira at Funchal and Malaga and returned one, several pounds heavier, to Barcelona. Access to the cities was easy by shuttle bus or by walking and there were a variety of tours one could book. I made my own plans, this time not involving towels and turtles, but by reading up in advance and heading to a chosen venue. The Picasso museum in Malaga is thus a strong recommendation as is a gander at Reids Hotel on Madeira.

The ship, though, slowly becomes home. Its vastness diminishes with familiarity and the array of options it offers means there is never a staleness. It has a waterslide, a golf feature, a climbing wall and a spa. I contented myself with only experiencing the last though I did exercise by laughing heartily at those on the wall.

The signature of the Epic is its freestyle dining. This means one can eat where one wants, when one wants. It does not work as smoothly as that, of course. There can be queues at the complimentary restaurants though the buffet restaurant always had space. The food, incidentally, was of a high quality even by the standards of cruising. There is also the option of paying a cover charge (roughly about £25 a person) for a variety of other restaurants. These include French, Japanese and Italian restaurants though my favourite was Cagney’s – a very stylish American steakhouse where I paid the surcharge of around £30 for a meal that included a crab salad, fillet mignon with sides and a slice of New York cheesecake so large it would have blocked traffic in Fifth Avenue.

The surcharge restaurants are of a high quality but there is no reason to desert those that are complimentary. Food and service were of high standard throughout the ship. This is a tribute to Richard Janecki, the hotel manager, who was inordinately cheery and visible on the cruise despite looking after 4000 guests and staff. “Every day brings something new and exciting,” he told me.

I was, in contrast, content to sail close to serenity. And this was my tale of the Epic. And what of romance, was there a reprise of the Love Boat, an acquaintance reprised of me on my return.

Well, there was one wee winch. It swung me ashore. I blame the all-night buffet.

Travel facts

Hugh MacDonald paid £1400 for an 11-night cruise on the Norwegian Epic in a single cabin plus a two-night stay at the excellent Senator Hotel in Barcelona. All drink, food and transfer were included as were flights to and from Barcelona. It was booked through Iglu, the special cruise consultants. See www.iglucruise.com