Is it a bad year to be travelling solo? Some really bad solo pricing rip-offs - Vent

I travel solo ... I like travelling solo. I accept that I will frequently have to pay 200% pricing and hunt for normal pricing that is lower, so that the 200% doesn't sting so much.

I've been looking around for last minute price drops on some of the routes I would really like to do, if I can get them at the "right" price, and these are some of the recent examples I've found of solo gouging:

RCCL "Arctic Circle" in early June - the price has dropped to $1294 (Cdn pricing) per person for an inside ... so you would think something around $2,500 for a solo, right, an acceptable price for my budget? Nope - guarantees are not available to be booked as a solo, so lowest pricing for a solo is around the $4,500 mark - so not 200%, or 300%, but almost 400% supplement!!! I have seen Celebrity do this (guarantees not available for solos) before (frequently), but now RCCL is doing it too! I like the RCCL product (and sail them frequently), but this is just blatant gouging [iMO]!

NCL have a no/low single supplement promo currently running. However that seems to be only for very few categories of cabins, so if they are sold out, then it's back to 200% supplement. On some ships the guarantee categories (X categories) are still available at no/low supplement. HOWEVER, with those guarantee categories you then don't get the current perks of beverage package, credits etc. So the choice then is take the no/low supplement but be the only one on the ship that doesn't have the perks, or you can pay the double supplement and get the (single) perks (as there is only one of you in the cabin). So, pay the same/close to every other passenger but not have the same perks, or pay double what every other passenger has paid and get half the perks.

I would really like to do the Norway coast up to the Arctic circle, however the pricing is just crazy on some of these sailings. While I appreciate that this is a popular route with less cruise traffic and smaller ships, however $6K, $7K and up for an inside cabin for a solo cabin is, in my books, a rip-off - the luxury lines of Viking Ocean and Azamara are not much more than that, and you get all the extras that those lines offer.

Okay, vent over ... I'm having a very frustrating day of cruise hunting!!!

Have you tried calling (or having your travel agent call) Celebrity and RCCL and see if they will let you book a guarantee at a 200% rate? I know I have read on here in the past that when people have called Celebrity they have been given the 200% and told the fact that solos can't book those guarantees is a glitch in their booking system.

I've never tried it myself, and things certainly may have changed recently, but I'd give it a try if I were you.

In general, I think because the economy has been better the past couple years, cruising bargains are harder to find. Maybe they are tightening up their pricing policies around solos, too, though. I can still find decent prices but I have to book after final payment, watch prices like a hawk and jump when they get to acceptable levels, and be a little bit flexible on the itinerary.

I've been keeping my eye on New Zealand cruises because I'd very much like to do one of those at the end of the year, but yikes! Prices have been crazy high. I'm hoping there will be cabins available after final payment and I'll be able to get decent pricing.

Good luck, hope you succeed in finding something with a price that doesn't feel like you're being robbed at gunpoint! :)

As a newly solo cruiser, I sadly have learned that it's a "couple's world", and agree with the unfairness of it all. Not to defend the unfair practice of the cruiselines, but since the modern business model seems to be, offer cut-rate fares, and make the profit on money spent for the various extra's on board, I can see why they do not like to have single occupancy of double rooms, even at a 100% supplement, due to the potential lost revenue of another person spending on board...

At least until the last minute, when they are glad to get whatever they can get to fill up those unsold cabins...so that would seem to be the best booking strategy for solo cruiser's, unless it's a "must go" cruise...

Yes it is a bad year for solo cruise pricing.

I cruise for itinerary and fortunately my bucket list is almost complete.

I am not interested in the dross and vote with my wallet.

I spend my vacation allowance elsewhere.

Annie

Is it a bad year to be traveling solo? Nope, not for me. It is never a bad year to be traveling solo because it is the only way

I travel:)

As long as the cruise lines do have an occupancy rate of 90 to 100 % they simply don`t have any reason to offer special discounts for solo travellers.

I guess that NCL is a big expection in the cruise industries with offering so much service,discounts and special cabins for solo travellers.

I just came back from an AmaWaterways river cruise in Europe, and they waived the single supplement. They do this on quite a few of their cruises. It was my first river cruise after many years of ocean cruising, and I had a great time.

If you want to do the Norwegian coast cruise, check out Hurtigruten. I went solo with them 2 years ago, and although for the dates that I wanted I did have to pay the single supplement, on some of their trips they offer a low or no supplement. There is a ship leaving Bergen daily, 365 days/year. I wanted to go in the spring, but the single supplement discounts are generally in the winter, when people go to see the Northern Lights. You can go one way (either Bergen to Kirkenes or the reverse) in 6 days, but I did the entire round trip (11 days). It was beautiful.

I just came back from an AmaWaterways river cruise in Europe, and they waived the single supplement. They do this on quite a few of their cruises. It was my first river cruise after many years of ocean cruising, and I had a great time.

 

If you want to do the Norwegian coast cruise, check out Hurtigruten. I went solo with them 2 years ago, and although for the dates that I wanted I did have to pay the single supplement, on some of their trips they offer a low or no supplement. There is a ship leaving Bergen daily, 365 days/year. I wanted to go in the spring, but the single supplement discounts are generally in the winter, when people go to see the Northern Lights. You can go one way (either Bergen to Kirkenes or the reverse) in 6 days, but I did the entire round trip (11 days). It was beautiful.

I sailed AMA last year and it was FABULOUS:D...glad you had a good time too!

Splinter, add me to the list of solo cruisers that tried river cruising and loved it. I sailed Uniworld and didn't pay a single supplement. I'm sailing with them again this September, and I'm paying a discounted single supplement.

Roz

I don't think of it as a "bad" year, but I do believe that the future won't bring lower prices.

I agree with the OP- I wasn't going to go this year anyway but got Escape studios for 2018 for $1,049 and $1,099 which were more than I paid in the past. A Breakaway Studio for $1,129 I cancelled earlier in the year- is now up to $1,499!!

I almost wish I kept my Escape studio from last December which was $899 and had TWO free promos (a rare offering done 12/15 for a few weeks )

If trying to get the guarantee book with 2 names, the other is a no show, you get the port fees etc back and you pay the 200%.

OP here, to report back a little positive news (followed by a little negative). I did manage to snag an OV on one of the NCL Norwegian coast cruises, yes it was 200% (but I got the drink package included), and it was very much at the high end of my budget, especially for an OV, but it was still cheaper than a lot of the other lines were showing for similar routes. I also got the chance to bid for an upgrade, put in a low end bid, and to my surprise actually got the upgrade, so am now in a mini-suite! (My bid may have been "helped" by the fact that I had also booked the earlier 3 day cruise on the same ship to make a mini-B2B, and I had managed to negotiate an upgrade to a mini-suite on the 3 day cruise due to a price drop - don't know if the powers that be actually look at that, or if it's coincidence.) Again I did have to pay the "upgrade" price for 2 people, but I consider the total package price (ended up just under $300 CDN per night, to break it down), while not a "bargain" by any means, to be in the "reasonable" range, which as a solo traveller is all I'm asking for.(It's certainly cheaper than if I had attempted to book a mini-suite as an original booking.)

Also earlier in the year I had chanced upon special BC Resident pricing for one of the Celebrity repositionings (Vancouver to Japan), and hooked a Concierge balcony for less than $3k (CDN) for that 15 day cruise - I wasn't 100% sure that I would actually be able to take that cruise (due to work commitments), but have now decided it's such a good deal I'll make the dates work. Again not a "bargain", but in the "reasonable" range, especially seeing where the prices are now.

So with a lot of searching and a little luck, I have managed to find 2 cruises this year, that work for me! The cruiselines definitely don't make it easy!

I acknowledge the comments above that I "could" phone up the cruiselines and request the guarantee cabins (when they don't show for 1 traveller), but my point is, why should I have to make "special" requests - surely the correct options, and the correct pricing should show up when I'm using their websites? It's very hard to research options, when you never know if the pricing that is showing is "real" or not! On that point I've been clicking around the RCCL site today, and the cruises I've been looking at (Explorer of the Seas early 2019) are coming up at around 300% supplement once you put in 1 person in the cabin, even the solo cabins on the Quantum (Fall 2018) are coming up with very high supplements. I'm pretty sure that it's a glitch in the system (earlier today, the prices were coming up at around 200% supplement), maybe related to the current "sale" of 60% of the 2nd person, but it's not helping with my future planning for 2019!

Again, I "could" phone up and wait on hold for 20 minutes (or more) to attempt to confirm pricing, but when I am just trying to find out prices for various cruises and combinations to see what's possible, that's a waste of my time and the time of the phone agent ... how about just getting the website to work correctly?

Is it a bad year to be traveling solo? Nope, not for me. It is never a bad year to be traveling solo because it is the only way

I travel:)

Agreed! worth the extra money to be able to do what you want and not having to deal with someone else's wants - eg meals, excursions, activities and where are you going? what are you doing? when will you be back? why do you want to do that? Not worth the hassle and a waste of my holiday money.

Agreed! worth the extra money to be able to do what you want and not having to deal with someone else's wants - eg meals, excursions, activities and where are you going? what are you doing? when will you be back? why do you want to do that? Not worth the hassle and a waste of my holiday money.

Oh, I can so relate to that! I'm a very independent person and my kids are grown so it's been solo cruising for the last few years. I just got back Sunday from an Alaska cruise and since I booked a balcony--something I can't usually justify for just me--I invited a friend who's going through a difficult divorce. We had a great time, but it was difficult at times as I was surprised to find she wanted to do everything with me. I'm used to doing my own thing and having sufficient alone time to feel relaxed and refreshed. It was a very different cruise for me!!

Like the OP I sometimes struggle with finding good deals as a solo and I take the same tactic (as do many of us) of deciding what I"m willing to pay and looking a the total price and not the pp price. Last year I was on the NCL Epic for a 10-night cruise and it was $904 including port fees and taxes. This fall I'm back on the Epic for a 7-day cruise and it's $1,200 before port fees and taxes. But, it's the itinerary I wanted to do and within the range I was willing to pay.

It is frustrating that when I book a studio cabin on NCL, the booking promos don't usually apply to me. As long as they also don't apply to inside bookings, I find it a little easier to swallow. It seems that when you're booking a studio, more often than not you're paying more than someone in a double-occupancy inside and sometimes even more than half the price of a balcony for two. I feel a studio booking should qualify for at least one promo when you're paying a premium like that. But, it's their ship so it's their rules and it's my choice whether to book. I love to travel, so I generally suck it up and book! :D Fortunately, I'm not much of a drinker so not having the beverage package isn't much of a factor for me.

Oh, I can so relate to that! I'm a very independent person and my kids are grown so it's been solo cruising for the last few years. I just got back Sunday from an Alaska cruise and since I booked a balcony--something I can't usually justify for just me--I invited a friend who's going through a difficult divorce. We had a great time, but it was difficult at times as I was surprised to find she wanted to do everything with me. I'm used to doing my own thing and having sufficient alone time to feel relaxed and refreshed. It was a very different cruise for me!!

ahhh......a person who wants to be "tied at the hip"............clingy.:eek:......in my opinion, it can ruin a vacation. Glad you

had fun but I bet when you have time to think back on it you will want to sail solo again;):)

ahhh......a person who wants to be "tied at the hip"............clingy.:eek:......in my opinion, it can ruin a vacation. Glad you

had fun but I bet when you have time to think back on it you will want to sail solo again;):)

Oh, I knew that before I even went on the cruise! LOL. I LOVE cruising solo. I'm back on the NCL Epic in 89 days and have a 14-day Norway, Scotland, and Iceland cruise booked for next year. My daughter's booked on that one, too, but I doubt she'll be able to make it. Cruising is a great way to travel solo (as so many of us know!). :D

I am sailing in just over a month:D.....cruising from Barcelona to Rome for 9 nights:)...solo, of course:D

i am sailing in just over a month:d.....cruising from barcelona to rome for 9 nights:)...solo, of course:d

:d:d:d

So glad I found this subforum! I'm trying to branch out of NCL for other cruises, but just cannot seem to find the prices that I do on other cruises that I often do on NCL. I just got back from a NCL Alaska trip and had the single supplement waived in a standard cabin. I've been wanting to try Holland America, Celebrity, and Royal Carribean but just have not had luck with finding things generally. With RC, the single cabins with no supplement fee get snatched really, really quickly. Seems to happen with Holland too. Celebrity just doesn't seem to ever offer any type of lower supplements to parties of 1. I'm envious of many of you where you will happily spend double just to get the solo cabin. I just cannot bring myself to do that. If I want a bit of an escape and see that for the time I have off that a cruise is doing the normal 200% thing, I just do a standard land based trip which I still like.

So glad I found this subforum! I'm trying to branch out of NCL for other cruises, but just cannot seem to find the prices that I do on other cruises that I often do on NCL. I just got back from a NCL Alaska trip and had the single supplement waived in a standard cabin. I've been wanting to try Holland America, Celebrity, and Royal Carribean but just have not had luck with finding things generally. With RC, the single cabins with no supplement fee get snatched really, really quickly. Seems to happen with Holland too. Celebrity just doesn't seem to ever offer any type of lower supplements to parties of 1. I'm envious of many of you where you will happily spend double just to get the solo cabin. I just cannot bring myself to do that. If I want a bit of an escape and see that for the time I have off that a cruise is doing the normal 200% thing, I just do a standard land based trip which I still like.

Hi, what is your "standard land based trip"? Just curious really. Food, entertainment, tours (or not) finding restaurants,

I just have no desire to fly somewhere and do a land trip anymore........then if there multiple places you want to see,

flying from one place to another, packing/unpacking, it seems like such a hassle after you board a ship, unpack once

and are spoiled for a week;)

Hi, what is your "standard land based trip"? Just curious really. Food, entertainment, tours (or not) finding restaurants,

I just have no desire to fly somewhere and do a land trip anymore........then if there multiple places you want to see,

flying from one place to another, packing/unpacking, it seems like such a hassle after you board a ship, unpack once

and are spoiled for a week;)

Usually just something like 5 nights in Hawaii. I figure I would have to fly one way or another for a cruise or Hawaii. I go to Hawaii every 1 or 2 years and have a routine pretty much down- cheap car rental for the week, 1-2 tours, beach hop for snorkeling, and go to happy hours at bars where there is usually music.

Usually just something like 5 nights in Hawaii. I figure I would have to fly one way or another for a cruise or Hawaii. I go to Hawaii every 1 or 2 years and have a routine pretty much down- cheap car rental for the week, 1-2 tours, beach hop for snorkeling, and go to happy hours at bars where there is usually music.

Hi, thanks for the reply.:) That is not my kind of vacay;).......I love cruising too much. ...and as much as I love cruising

on my own, I enjoy being around the other people too.

I want to do a cruise to Hawaii one day as well, but to fly all the way there for only 5 nights? That doesn't appeal to me

and when I travel, I want to leave the driving to someone else.:D.....but it sounds like you have do your vacation

routine down and that is a good thing for sure. Ahhhh....you live in San Diego so the flight is not too bad......I live on the East Coast.......

Different strokes:D

Hi, what is your "standard land based trip"? Just curious really. Food, entertainment, tours (or not) finding restaurants,

I just have no desire to fly somewhere and do a land trip anymore........then if there multiple places you want to see,

flying from one place to another, packing/unpacking, it seems like such a hassle after you board a ship, unpack once

and are spoiled for a week;)

For me, land based travel is not a hassle but an adventure -- and my favourite are road trips. Fly to X (say Portugal), pick up a rental car, and drive around the country, return the rental car and fly home. Rent hotel rooms or cottages along the way, and experience/eat/sleep on your schedule as you see fit. Or fly to Y, take a hotel room for the duration, and then consider bus or train travel for day trips to other cities to see things you might want to see nearby. I did that in Spain, with a hotel room in Barcelona for a week followed by Madrid for a week, but in actuality I visited about 7 different places in Spain during my 2 weeks.

Eating alone is my only down side to land trips, as I get enough of that at home and like company - but I can manage. And I also shop locally and prepare my own meals when I can, which is another fun experience of different markets and culture.