I went on a cruise where my only friends were in their 70s. I'd recommend the experience to all solo travelers — especially women.

• I traveled alone for the first time on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth cruise ship in October.
• I met two passengers in their 70s who became my self-proclaimed "surrogate grandmothers."

"Are your mom and dad here?" a server asked upon seeing me dine alone on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth cruise ship in October.

It was the last day of the five-night western Europe voyage on Britain's luxury cruise line. I wasn't surprised by the question — I'm 25, although I've been told I look younger — and I was one of the youngest solo passengers on board. I was later told by the Cunard press team that the average age of their guests is 61.

Although I didn't have parents on board, I did have my self-proclaimed "surrogate grandmothers": Janet Russell, 70, and Celia Steele, 78, my new friends who were on their way to meet me for breakfast.

I met Russell and Steele at a solo travelers meetup hosted by Cunard's entertainment team on the first day of the cruise. They already knew one another, having previously met on a different Cunard voyage in January 2020. This cruise was their planned reunion, and they seemed more than happy to add a new member to their group.

I'd recommend the experience to all solo travelers, especially women

I ended up spending a lot of time with Russell and Steele, both on the ship and when we ported in Amsterdam.

We signed up for the same walking tour of the city, which I was thankful for since I didn't know any of the other guests. When the tour guide started to assign people to different walking groups, she asked if the three of us were together. They didn't hesitate before saying yes, despite only having met me the day before.

After the tour, Russell joked that the other tourists probably thought that I was on vacation with my two grandmothers. She referred to herself and Steele as my "surrogate grandmothers," which I found endearing.

As someone who had never been on a cruise before, I was surprised to have made such close connections just days into the trip. It also made me feel much safer than if I had explored Amsterdam alone.

"Even if you travel solo, you don't necessarily feel solo," Sally Sagoe, Cunard's entertainment director, told me. "I'm delighted we have a solo travelers program because this would be one of the few holidays you could go on as a solo traveler and immediately feel at home."

Sagoe added that the cruise ship is a safe environment for solo travelers, "particularly for women" who she said are more likely to feel at ease when speaking to strangers on board rather than in a hotel or a bar on shore.

It wasn't just the safety aspect that made it worthwhile

Philly, a fellow guest I met on board, told me that she was advised by her travel agent to go on a cruise after getting a divorce 20 years ago. She said she was told that it was both safer for single women and more sociable "because nobody wants to be alone at dinner."

There were a handful of solo travelers on my voyage, however, there didn't seem to be any other solo travelers my age.

This didn't go unnoticed by my fellow passengers, who asked why I hadn't chosen another cruise line that catered to younger guests. Some of the cruise lines recommended to me included Carnival Cruises in the US and P&O Cruises in the UK.

But I found that spending time with older guests who had different life experiences from mine was rewarding.

On the final night, I had Champagne with my new friends in Russell's stateroom, and they shared stories of the places they had traveled to and the people they had met. Their most recent travel story was about the cruise where they met in January 2020.

The women said they met at an event for solo travelers on Cunard's Queen Mary ship, but that halfway through the voyage they were "kicked off" due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They said the ship ported in Australia for two weeks to ensure nobody had contracted the virus (and thankfully nobody did) before guests were allowed to disembark. From there, they made their way home to the UK by plane.

"You have to remember, nobody was wearing masks at that time," Steele said of the situation at the airport. "And by the time we got home, the supermarkets were empty. It was really scary."

Since both women are in their 70s, their risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19 was higher than mine. It was inspiring to see that they returned to cruising after the experience they had in Australia.

After that conversation, both women reminded me to travel while I'm young. But I found myself hoping for something more — that, like Russell and Steele, I'm still traveling and making new friends when I'm in my 70s.