Outrages prices for solo cruiser!?

[island lady]

Sometimes I wonder why cruise ships don't just list "per cabin"...not the "per person" price. Hotels, resorts, condo rentals, campgrounds...etc. charge a per night fee for the room/site. Then they may charge extra for third or fourth person.

 

I can see why it frustrates singles. My sister is sailing with us in December and paying about the same for her cabin as a single as we paid for two of us in one cabin. I just see it as "price per cabin" anyway and wish it was posted as such.

 

The only thing I see is they like to advertise...."sail with us for 499.00"....but you had better have a second person paying with you because that cabin is 1,000.00 plus..plus!

[soccerpapi]

Single supplements are expensive and are usually 200 percent of the per person based on double occupancy cruise fare.

 

This can vary greatly and I usually book a cruise when it is not the case, but not always. The general "rule of thumb" in the cruise line industry is that a single supplement is charged at 200 percent of the per person based on double occupancy cruise fare.

 

In this case, for this specific cruise and example of the cruise fares quoted is exactly what is happening.

 

Cruise fares advertised in the United States and Europe are required to include port charges as part of the advertised or selling price. Only actual taxes and fees that are charged for the journey by local taxing authorities are able to be listed as such separately.

 

It could also be possible that there will be no other taxes charged to any of the parties and the difference is the taxes for two passengers in one cabin and one passenger in one cabin. The additional taxes disclaimer may be included, but not actually apply, which is probably the case in this particular situation.

 

As I stated above, port charges are required to be included in the advertised or selling price of the cruise in the United States and Europe. This is why the 200 percent of the per person based on double occupancy is slightly less for the single passenger. It has nothing to do with the actual fare or tariff of the cruise line ticket.

 

Cruise lines pay port charges based on passengers booked on the sailing, not based on how many cabins there are on the ship. Otherwise, most ports would be more than happy to charge the cruise line based on the amount of "bunks" on the ship for port charges. I am sure if the cruise lines would prefer this way of calculating port charges, every port from "sea to shining sea" would accomadate the cruise lines requests and accept port charges based on the "bunks" on the ship and not based on a per passenger boarded calculation.

 

I am also a single traveler and agree that you have to be very flexible to find a cruise that has less than a 200 percent single supplement. This sucks when you are trying to book on a cruise with others that are traveling in double occupancy cabins, which is about 95 percent of the cruisers out there.

 

In my case, like other single cruisers, we usually have to be flexible and book a cruise that has a reasonable single rate. If others want to join us, that is great and they usually get a great price on thier cruise, but it hardly ever works the other way around, as is clearly the case in the original OP's post.

 

The original OP may consider different cruises, ships and cruise lines if he really wants his single friend to be able to travel with him. He may also want to total the cost for three passengers in two cabins and then divide by three to determine how much each passenger would pay. Either of these suggestions would probably be the best way to go in this OP's case, if he really wants the single passenger to travel with him.

 

I hope this helps clarify things for the OP and other Cruise Critic readers.

 

soccer

[GaNavy]

I'm traveling as a single this year, and the rates on my freedom cruise go from 35%, to 70-80%. Balcony cabin is even 104% more for single cruiser, so I guess it all depends on what type of cabin you want.

Checked your cruise with my TA

Inside: 73%

Inside comfort: 75%

Outside: 76%

Outside comfort: 78%

Balcony and balcony comfort: 80%

 

I guess that sadly enough there is no way around those single occupancy rates. I wish there was :(

 

Cindy

 

It costs the cruise line as much to keep the lights on when there is one person in a cabin as when there are two. So until they can figure out a way to run the ship for half the cost when the cabins are filled with solos instead of couples, there won't be any way around it.

 

Gotta be a ruthless shopper - you can actually find 0% supplements, I know of one agency running such a promotion on RCI's "other" cruise line right now. (There, no mention of the agency or the cruise line! How's that for following the board's rules? :))

 

Happy cruising to all!

[cruisinfanatic]

As per the screenshots:

 

Booking for two:

Cruise fare: 2 * 715 = 1430

Gratuities: 2 * 54,24 = 108,48

Taxes: 2 * 74 = 148

__________________________________

2 * 843,24 = 1686,48

 

 

Booking for one:

 

Cruise fare: 1 * 1324

Gratuities: 1 * 54,24

Taxes: 1* 74

____________________________________

1452,24

 

 

So as I said without Gratuities and tax it´s 106 Dollar less than double, or a single supplement of 92,59%.

no one ever said a 200% single supplement was exactly double.

 

the base fare is 200% for a single (double). the port and tax is added pp after

[Verfai]

Oh my, I had no idea this thread would result in such a discussion :D

Whilst I might be new to cruising, I am certainly not new to traveling far from even…I never ever encountered trips where a single supplement was as much as for a cruise. A supplement for single occupancy that is just not the double price is a joke, I would not pay this personally under the category of “just not worth it” (my opinion).

As somebody above says, they advertise as sail with us from 397€….Unless your single that in ramps up by 90%!?

Also you all say something about OBC…!? There is nowhere a mention of this on the European site of RCI…So yet again we are in a disadvantage.

And plus this, whilst I expected this, does nobody, if you would be in my shoes, find it outrageous that they charge almost the same amount in Dollars as they do in Euros!? Whilst in exchange rates we pay ridiculously more than the Dollar price!?

[cruisinfanatic]

Oh my, I had no idea this thread would result in such a discussion :D

Whilst I might be new to cruising, I am certainly not new to traveling far from even…I never ever encountered trips where a single supplement was as much as for a cruise. A supplement for single occupancy that is just not the double price is a joke, I would not pay this personally under the category of “just not worth it” (my opinion).

As somebody above says, they advertise as sail with us from 397€….Unless your single that in ramps up by 90%!?

Also you all say something about OBC…!? There is nowhere a mention of this on the European site of RCI…So yet again we are in a disadvantage.

And plus this, whilst I expected this, does nobody, if you would be in my shoes, find it outrageous that they charge almost the same amount in Dollars as they do in Euros!? Whilst in exchange rates we pay ridiculously more than the Dollar price!?

your PR cabin is $1997 US compared with your 1579 euro cost

[Verfai]

your PR cabin is $1997 US compared with your 1579 euro cost

 

That sounds about correct….Then I got missed signals from space ;)

[Wendy-Europe]

Hi

 

I am always looking for a good solo cruiser deal - I am flexible - so it works for us and we find a good cruise for us.

 

But I found it very disappointing to see, that at some cruises the prices for double occupancy are lowered and the cruise line gives away a lot of "GTY-cabins" for a really low price at double occupancy.

 

But if you enter "single occupancy" you are not able to book GTY-cabin - so not only a 200 % single supp. - you have to book at a nearly 300 % rate.

 

(for example: At our cruise GTY balcony was 1009 $ before tax/fee few days ago, so it was 2018 $ for two. It was not bookable for solocruisers - cheapest one for solo cruisers is 2129 $ for ONE.)

 

And you can see more examples like that.

 

I understand, that cruiselines see the additional onboard spendings and solo cruisers tend not to spend as much money as couples do (gambling, restaurants, drinks) - so they add these revenues hidden to the cabin price.

 

During the very low season solo cruisers are welcome to fill the empty cabins....

 

Much more disappointing is the fact, that some cruiselines do not accept solo bookings although they have available cabins. Although you are willing to pay the price.

Thats discrimination.

 

 

Wendy

[cadburysmom]

Gotta be a ruthless shopper - you can actually find 0% supplements, I know of one agency running such a promotion on RCI's "other" cruise line right now. (There, no mention of the agency or the cruise line! How's that for following the board's rules? :))

FYI.....You are correct about not naming the agency but there's no rule forbidding you from mentioning other cruiselines here....at least as far as I know....

 

Are you referring to Celebrity? I ask because I tend to find lower single supplements on them than any other line with my upcoming Adriatic cruise being the exception.