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What to do when the cruise line will not allow a solo booking? [like MCS]


westcoasttech
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Anyone had any experience in getting a booking when a specific sailing of a cruise line will not take a solo booking?

 

I've seen in the past where some lines (Celebrity and RCCL) restrict the type of cabin a solo may book on a specific sailing - usually locking out the cheaper options, like guarantees.

 

At the moment I'm looking at some MSC cruises where the various sites (both direct with the CL and through TAs) will not allow a booking by a solo at all - I'm presuming they have some kind of quota for solo bookings (as they offer the lower 50% supplement) and once that is reached, no more solo bookings - despite there being a fair amount of availability on the sailing!

 

One of the sailings I'm looking at is only about a month away, lots of availability, but will not allow me to book. The other is April 2019, so quite a time away, again fair amount of availability, but will not allow me to book.

 

In the both instances I might be open to paying for 2 people (but only 1, me, would turn up to check in!), after all that works out the same as the 200% supplement on the major lines. But not sure how to go about it.

 

Anyone done this fake person booking before? Can I go ahead and book for "A.N. Other" with fake information or would that be red-flagged and nullify the whole booking? Do you put in real information, say a relative or friend, and then just say at boarding that they couldn't come? (But I would worry then that that "real person" might get red-flagged on their record, either with the cruiseline (or immigration) and have problems at a later date.)

 

Suggestions and experiences, anyone?

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I did a two person booking on NCL Pride of America a few years ago and I neglected to mention the other person wasn't coming when I checked in. They called me the next day to check on the status of my cabinmate and I then explained they had to cancel at the last minute. They refunded the other persons port taxes to my on board account. Based on that, next time I do it, I'll alert them at check in that my companion isn't coming. Yes, you need to use a real person, and I asked permission in advance. But there are often noshows on a cruise - illness, family emergency, etc - so its understandable and no reason anyone would be "red-flagged" for any reason.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Book for two people and only one shows up..... It is easy to do, I would not worry about the postings that will come here that say "I heard" "my friends brother in law said" or any number of other negatives. You are not responsible for the second person.... If the cruise line did try to give you a problem the minute you started to push back they would back down. They do not want bad PR.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have never heard of a cruise line refusing to book a solo, so long as the solo was willing to pay the full fare for two. I have seen the opposite...refusing to book more than two to a cabin, even if the berth's were there, due to reaching the ship's 'lifeboat max'...

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I'm curious if OP asked if he could pay the two person fare for a cabin, and not have to play games with fake passengers?

 

Yep - checked with 2 different agencies, who checked with the cruise line, and they would not accept a solo booking even with an agreement to pay the 200% fare. I went ahead and "invented" a roommate, and booked with a TA that did not require anything more than a name (so no "fake" passport details needed). I board the ship in 2 weeks time - I'm debating whether to advise that my "roommate" will not be coming, before time, or just at checkin. I'm sure (well, pretty sure, anyway) that they wouldn't cancel the whole booking just because of it - but do want to make sure that I get the port fees back for my imaginary roommate!

 

MSC seem to limit solo bookings quite often - this is my first cruise with them, but I've been watching their pricing for a while. Like I said above there is one MSC sailing in April 2019 I'm interested in, but can only seem to book it as two people not one. In a way I do understand they want to limit the rooms they "only" get 150% for but it does seem rather discriminatory! RCCL and Celebrity have for many years limited which categories of cabin can be booked as a solo i.e., making guarantee rates not accessible to be booked as solo. I've read on this board that sometimes you can phone up the CL directly and get around this, but I've never tried it myself.

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Yep - checked with 2 different agencies, who checked with the cruise line, and they would not accept a solo booking even with an agreement to pay the 200% fare. I went ahead and "invented" a roommate, and booked with a TA that did not require anything more than a name (so no "fake" passport details needed). I board the ship in 2 weeks time - I'm debating whether to advise that my "roommate" will not be coming, before time, or just at checkin. I'm sure (well, pretty sure, anyway) that they wouldn't cancel the whole booking just because of it - but do want to make sure that I get the port fees back for my imaginary roommate!

 

MSC seem to limit solo bookings quite often - this is my first cruise with them, but I've been watching their pricing for a while. Like I said above there is one MSC sailing in April 2019 I'm interested in, but can only seem to book it as two people not one. In a way I do understand they want to limit the rooms they "only" get 150% for but it does seem rather discriminatory! RCCL and Celebrity have for many years limited which categories of cabin can be booked as a solo i.e., making guarantee rates not accessible to be booked as solo. I've read on this board that sometimes you can phone up the CL directly and get around this, but I've never tried it myself.

 

Good Luck! You deserve to be successful due to your inventiveness. Some rules cry out to be broken. Bon Voyage!

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I booked my first ever MSC cruise on the Meraviglia, for October of 2019, 10 day round trip New York to Quebec...

What attracted me was their loyalty "status match". I had no problem booking it, although, it was early in the booking period, if that has some affect on their policy.

 

The only "reason" that seems logical in their refusal, is potential loss of shipboard purchasing, including daily service charges.:confused: I would think that as sailing gets closer, they would be glad to fill any unsold cabins with whatever they could get...:confused:

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[The only "reason" that seems logical in their refusal, is potential loss of shipboard purchasing, including daily service charges.:confused: I would think that as sailing gets closer, they would be glad to fill any unsold cabins with whatever they could get]

 

I would guess that it depends on a line's business model. If a line discounts the basic fare and expects to make up the revenue from drink packages, spa options, tours, etc, the more sense it would make to pass on a single fare. I agree that as sail date approaches they would be wise to take whatever they could get.

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I have never heard of a cruise line refusing to book a solo, so long as the solo was willing to pay the full fare for two. I have seen the opposite...refusing to book more than two to a cabin, even if the berth's were there, due to reaching the ship's 'lifeboat max'...

 

Yup, it happened to me with MSC and Celebrity. Would not let me book for 1 person. :(

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Yup, it happened to me with MSC and Celebrity. Would not let me book for 1 person. :(

 

I have sailed with Celebrity over 40 times (solo) and never had an issue...…….that is surprising to me that they would not allow you to book a cabin:eek:

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As far as MSC, I guess it depends on the specific sailing. We're going on the "Divina" Jan 2019, 10 days. A friend is coming solo for $1029, incl all fees for an inside cabin. They were told the single supplement is 35%. MSC pricing seems to be lower across the board, and that would be a decent price if it were the pp price for a double. We're paying little more than that pp for a balcony cabin.

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Following. Since MCS match loyalty from other lines,been seriously considering them.

I've placed a few bookings just to get a price range and no issue, but also did everything except pay.

Haven't sailed Celebrity, but I see Lois already answered and she and a few others sail solo on them quite often.

Also want to say I find the agurement that a couple will spend more on a cruise than solo cruiser as b.s.

At times I know my spending equals or more than couples I've sailed with. For my upcoming cruise since its to celebrate my 50th birthday,spending on several nights in steakhouse,chef table,drink package,one ship tour is a nice penny

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OP here - so with 8 days to go before sailing, I phoned up my TA and informed them that "sadly my roommate is unable to go". They were very apologetic that there would be no refund of the fare (yep I know) [i had booked within the 90 pre-sailing window so knew this all along]. They phoned up MSC and advised them, but was told that I should just inform the ship when checking in as it was "too late" to put the cancellation through (whatever that means!). But they did forward me my e-tickets, something I couldn't get online as they only become available when all parties to the booking have filled in the appropriate information (and I didn't want to make up information for my imaginary roommate!)

 

I should get the port fees (or government taxes as they are referred to on my paperwork) refunded for my "roommate" at some point, now presuming they might come in the form of OBC during the cruise (would prefer a refund to the credit card - but can work around that), and hoping that they don't try and charge me an daily service charge for the "roommate". I was hoping to get the "roommate cancellation" sorted before boarding - I don't want to have to deal with explanations and commiserations that poor me has to travel solo [that's sarcasm] - I enjoy travelling solo. I also don't want to have to try and remember to keep my story straight as I'm not a good liar! But I guess I can make up any mysterious story I want to - I should have made my roommate's name "Bond, James Bond" and had him called away for super secret government reasons!!

 

It does bring up the idea though, that if a solo has to book as a couple to get on some of the MSC ships, and you make that booking well prior to the 90 day window, and then cancel the roommate outside that 90 window, what rate would they charge you? The rate I've seen for sailings where solo booking is open is around the 150% mark, so would your booking automatically go to that rate, even though that rate was not available at the time of the initial booking? Mmmm...

 

I won't go into the rights or wrongs of not being able to book at the solo rate for the trip I ended up booking - there were other dates available on the same ship that did have open booking for solos, but I was limited to a certain week, so bit the bullet and paid double for that week (I'm used to paying double on RCCL or Celebrity etc.) - so I went in knowing the issues and I'm still looking forward to the cruise. I'll come back and report further probably post-cruise!

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Had no problem booking MSC as a solo last year.

 

While the cruise was OK and I had a good time, I don't think I'd sail them again.

 

I just went through UR comped to do a mock booking and again, had no problem booking solo.

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Was it the classification of the cabin that you were trying to book?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

That I don't really know, I only looked in the balcony cabin category. I only wanted a balcony.

I have cruised on Celebrity solo but I have also been refused by them as a solo; also was quoted more than double supplement by Celebrity.

Safe sailing!

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So for all the people who keep saying they've never experienced or heard of this problem [which by the way, comes across that you don't believe me as you've never seen it for yourselves!], let me give you a specific example:

 

Go to the MSC site and look up the April 26, 2019 sailing of the Musica from Durban (SA) to Venice (this is basically a northbound repositioning) but look for it requesting it for 2 people. No problem, there it will be!

 

Once you've found that try changing the setting to 1 person ... like magic the sailing will disappear, as if it doesn't exist!

 

Now, look up the October 18, 2019 sailing of the Orchestra from Genoa to Durban (SA) (this is basically the southbound version of the same repositioning at the end of the summer season, as the Orchestra is replacing the Musica for the South Africa sailings) - this sailing is bookable for 2 people and magically, also available for booking by 1 person (currently, anyway).

 

This are not the only sailings this happens to - there are others too!

 

Yes there are options if you want to chose other dates or other routes, but sometimes people are limited to particular dates or sailings, and it's frustrating that they are there but not bookable, just because I chose to sail solo!

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I know you are speaking to all of us but I never thought you were not telling the truth...…...I just posted once saying it has never happened to me in all my years of sailing with Celebrity. Sorry you are being denied a cabin because you are sailing solo.....it is definitely wrong (in my opinion). Seems stupid to me.....especially if the cabin was going to stay empty.....you have to wonder why they don't want your money:eek:

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So for all the people who keep saying they've never experienced or heard of this problem [which by the way, comes across that you don't believe me as you've never seen it for yourselves!], let me give you a specific example: <snip>

 

I note that you are referring to WEBSITE results only. Have you actually contacted the cruise line directly (by phone or via a travel agent) to confirm your results?

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So for all the people who keep saying they've never experienced or heard of this problem [which by the way, comes across that you don't believe me as you've never seen it for yourselves!], let me give you a specific example:

 

Go to the MSC site and look up the April 26, 2019 sailing of the Musica from Durban (SA) to Venice (this is basically a northbound repositioning) but look for it requesting it for 2 people. No problem, there it will be!

 

Once you've found that try changing the setting to 1 person ... like magic the sailing will disappear, as if it doesn't exist!

 

Now, look up the October 18, 2019 sailing of the Orchestra from Genoa to Durban (SA) (this is basically the southbound version of the same repositioning at the end of the summer season, as the Orchestra is replacing the Musica for the South Africa sailings) - this sailing is bookable for 2 people and magically, also available for booking by 1 person (currently, anyway).

 

This are not the only sailings this happens to - there are others too!

 

Yes there are options if you want to chose other dates or other routes, but sometimes people are limited to particular dates or sailings, and it's frustrating that they are there but not bookable, just because I chose to sail solo!

 

I believe you!

 

Nothing new alas - MSC custom and practice on certain cruises for a few years now.

 

There used to be a loyal band of solo cruisers on MSC but we have all moved on.

 

Annie

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My reply wasn't denying the booking issue you are facing

 

I understand the frustration of wanting to book a vacation for a certain time frame. I have friends that are schoolteachers and a relative that works in manufacturing. Both have certain timeframe for vacation. Add traveling solo mean either they can't book or pricing is outrageous.

I used to work for an airline. A coworker found a great deal on a 10 day in which two people in a balcony was cheaper than a solo inside cabin.

She booked the balcony. When questioned about the other person,told she flew in two days prior and the other person was doing day of cruise and may not make the sailing. She did pay an upcarge

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Even my TA website won't let me book solo cruises on a number of cruise lines - not just MSC. You need to call or email your request for a price quote. I actually have been able to take MSC bookings to pay level as one person.

 

 

 

As a slight aside, on another travel forum, someone from UK was taking a short all inclusive cruise. His travel partner was not able to attend, and when he embarked and told them so, they said he could not sail without coughing up the difference to solo supplement.....well, so he said. I can only assume it was a 2 person promo where the solo supplement was more than 200%. I have seen Cunard promos where the solo price was 300% on a double occupancy promo, so the 'book for 2 and have one no show' may not work for long on some cruises.

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