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

reading through this thread, it seems that depending on the particular sailing the afore mentioned solo issue becomes applicable...

my personal experience with MSC, (3 cruises) 2 Solo, and 1 genuine no show of 2nd person at embarkation.

Most recent, yesterday....I booked MSC 2 cabins balcony, (1 double, 1 solo) no problem ... the issue did not come up.

Furthermore, I sailed on all major cruise lines totalling about 60 sailings, most of them solo....never had the issue coming up....rarely paid as much as double for single occupancy. However, i have experienced during research with a variety of cruise lines, that certain sailings appear to disallow the booking of specific solo sailings. So, it helps to have flexibility allowing avoidance of such sailing prohibiting solo bookings.

The more I consider this thread, I think if a cruise line refused to allow me to book a solo cabin at the price of two people (buy the full cabin), that cruise line would be off the table for any future trips.

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?

Yes.

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![/quote]

 

Well said!! I should not need to be flexible about when I want to go on vacation when others do not have to.

It is poor customer service to even think that these behaviors by a company are OK.

 

Safe sailing!

Make the reservation for the guarantee (2 people) on the automated/online system, then call. I have always been able to book the guarantee this way. Also, just keep going back to the online process, at some point it almost always lets you book as a single. I float on Celebrity.

Yes, I had the response nothing available unless I change and put 2 into test. And there is available rooms. Same thing happened with a cruise finding site.

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These days I sail exclusively on Cunard, doing Trans Atlantic crossings. I had no difficulty booking a cabin for one (paying the full two person rate), I have a number of friends over the years who have booked singles with a supplement usually 50% more. I have not heard anyone complaining about Cunard's solo policy

Queen Mary 2 now has a number of solo ocean view cabins, where there is no supplement. I had a chance to see one on my last crossing and they are quite nice, but I was willing to pay more to get the type of room I wanted.

I am at the point in life, where 'you can't take it with you' so I allow myself a good time every now and again.

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.

I tried to book a particular solo passenger cruise with MSC a year or two ago because I liked the itinerary and the website wouldn't let me. If I entered "two" passengers it would. I probably would have paid the double rate but it made me SO mad, I swore I would NEVER even look at another MSC cruise...and I haven't.

OP here - coming back to report post my "test" first cruise with MSC. Overall it's a thumbs up and I did enjoy the cruise a lot!

On the first day I just told any crew that asked that "my roommate couldn't come", it was only asked about a couple of times, (and I'm pretty sure I wasn't fooling anyone, nor was I trying too). With any fellow passengers I made friends with along the way, I was honest and said I was travelling solo [and got a few "oh, aren't you brave" remarks:D!]

The YC doesn't seem to mind solos, sometimes I ate with fellow cruisers I made friends with, sometimes by myself, the YC staff just roll with it. Whether I got a "good" table by the window or not seemed to depend on what time I went to dinner rather than whether I was eating with fellow cruisers or not - the majority of the YC window tables are two tops anyway. I did notice a couple of other people dining solo, but they seemed to keep to themselves and there's no forced sharing of tables in the YC!

I would report there didn't seem to much of anything organized for solo travellers - there was one "get together" on an evening 2 or 3 days into the cruise, which a handful of people showed up for, but I didn't see anything else. Not a big deal for me, organized events can be nice, but I've cruised enough to be independent, and I seem to meet up with people at trivia events more than anything else. I did talk to another solo lady at the solo get together - she reported that in the MDR she had started off at a two top, but the maitre'd had noticed and asked if she wanted to move to a sharing table and it had all worked out well for her - which is nice to note!

Would I do the "fake roommate" booking again? Yeah, if I have to (but obviously would prefer to be able to book at the 150% solo supplement!) It was annoying to have to pay double for an "all inclusive" rate, and I know that it really wasn't economically smart in any way! But that's a good thing about travelling solo, you only have to convince yourself and I'm at a point where if I want something enough I'll go ahead and do it!

My next MSC booking is in the Fall of 2019 on a smaller ship so no YC anyway - this time it's Aurea level at the 150% supplement and no fake roommate!

If anyone has any specific MSC Seaside questions I'll be happy to try and answer them.

Thanks for letting us know. I'm glad you had a good time.

I’ve heard that the trick to not having to pay anything extra is to pretend that the “fake roommate” is still going to board but at a later time after you. I.e my husband/wife is on a later flight then me and not due to arrive for another couple of hours.

I’ve heard if you arrive and tell them that your roommate isn’t coming then they may charge you the extra.

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I have also heard that some passengers who have booked a 'phantom' cabin mate have been refused boarding unless they pay the solo rate at the time of sailing. I personally wouldn't want to risk it.

You don't book 2 people thinking you'll get to sail for the price of 1. You know in advance, right from the beginning, that you are paying for BOTH passengers. The only refund is port fees & taxes. That's it. And if you know that up front & in advance and fully plan to pay for it ... you sail solo.

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'...

MSC has some sailings that simply will NOT allow you to put 1 passenger in the form. As soon as you do, the entire cruise shows sold out. SO ... going the 2 person to a cabin route with a no show is the way to get the sailing that you want.

You don't book 2 people thinking you'll get to sail for the price of 1. You know in advance, right from the beginning, that you are paying for BOTH passengers. The only refund is port fees & taxes. That's it. And if you know that up front & in advance and fully plan to pay for it ... you sail solo.

Pricing isn't always that simple. There are many cruises where the cost for a solo passenger is a lot more than for the original double occupancy offer.