1. They’re the perfect distraction from long-haul flights.
Flying nine hours from Chicago to Copenhagen to kick off an 11-day Scandinavian cruise with Princess Cruises may not be the best part of the trip, but when you spend the whole time watching movies and playing games and having deep philosophical conversations with your main gal, it makes the time fly (pun intended).
2. Planning your trip in the first place will be a breeze.
Tamara and I live four states apart and we had our whole itinerary planned in a forty-minute phone call because we already wanted to do all the same things. I know her interests and she knows mine! Wine tasting in Estonia, a river cruise and pretzels in Germany, a bike tour in Oslo...with one read-through of the shore excursions available on the Regal Princess, our plans were set.
3. The champagne toast on Embarkation Day...it takes two to ‘cheers!’
You may have been delayed a couple hours due to a reset of the ship’s communication system...but that just means the champagne toast goes on two hours longer—no complaints here. My favorite place to be at embarkation is at the stern of the ship, watching the sunset and the wake as you sail off to dreamland.
4. You can trust her to be honest.
"The red dress or the maxi skirt?" I always tell Tamara exactly what I think about her outfit and answer honestly when she asks what I think everyone else might be wearing, and I know she’ll do the same for me. Getting dressed is pretty dramatic when you lock two fashion bloggers in a room together, but when one of them is your bestie, you know you can take her at her word.
5. Besties just get it.
Stopping in a new port city every day for five days straight, you’re bound to get a little tired. Tamara could tell by looking at me when I needed a break (or, let’s be real, a glass of wine), and I could tell right away when the mass of tourists was getting to be too much for her. Our travel partnership worked because we could communicate without words, which is always helpful in a public or group setting!
6. You’ll need someone to help you finish your dessert.
From the Horizon Court buffet and the International Cafe to the Concerto Dining Room and Alfredo’s Pizzeria or the Winemaker’s Dinner, there’s a lot to eat on the Regal Princess. Sometimes a little too much. But somehow, you always have room for Swirls soft-serve ice cream on the Lido deck...
7. Who else will talk you out of spending way too much money on souvenirs?
You’ve already bought two things for your ma, chocolates for the whole fam, three things for your dog, and eighteen things for yourself...you definitely won’t be able to fit that Danish lamp in your suitcase. However, your bestie still has extra room, so then again...
8. When you have a routine, you stick to it.
Who else will let you go to the same wine bar—Vines on deck 5—and order the same glass of wine—Mirabelle Brut—for a week straight? Some of Tam’s and my best memories were made sitting on what became “our” barstools, pink champagne in hand, people-watching in the piazza while our favorite waiter ran all the way across the ship just to get us a snack mix from another bar that we mentioned we liked. This is how the best memories are made, folks. When you find something that works, you stick with it.
9. You have a security blanket if cruising makes you nervous.
Someone to hug you when the waves are rocking the boat a little too hard. It lulls most people right to sleep! Having your best friend around also helps quell homesickness if you'll be cruising for an extended period of time—it's comforting to have some element of familiarity in a new place. Thankfully, we only had one night of noticeable rocking (out of eleven total nights) and the rest of the trip was a breeze.
10. You always have a dance partner.
We all need someone to encouragement to get just one more margarita on salsa night in the Piazza...
11. You’ll have 1,000 new inside jokes to make the memories even sweeter.
I can’t tell you how many times Tamara and I danced around yelling, “Bonjour!” in sing-song voices in every country that didn’t speak French—without a reason why that any of you would understand. Now, I can just text her, “Bonjour!” and it gets a giggle out of both of us, plus takes us right back to our happiest memories sailing the Baltic Sea.
12. You’ve got a built-in photographer.
What better way to remember your travels than with a few frames of yourself in front of beautiful and monumental historical sites? While you’ll still have to snag another passenger to get pics together, your best friend is the only person you can boss around to get the exact photo you want!
13. You get twice the wardrobe in half the space.
I can’t tell you how many times I ran out of clothes and asked Tamara, “Can I borrow this?” Especially since our Baltic cruise was so much colder than we expected—we needed all the layers we could get. About the coldest it gets is during the Movies Under the Stars...luckily, Princess provides cozy blankets for that, so all we needed to bring were our hats and gloves!
14. They’re the perfect person to walk down memory lane with after you get home.
Solo travel is sweet, but traveling with your best friend is sweeter. The trip feels so much more real when you can relive your favorite memories together...cake and coffee in the town square of Tallinn, getting stuck in a snowstorm in Stockholm, or shedding a tear during the Russian ballet in St. Petersburg...there are some things you just had to be there for.
Thank you to Princess Cruises for sponsoring this post.