Single Pricing!

[lovetoholiday]

Got my FCC through, so looking at cruises next year.  I travel as a solo but with another couple, so I generally pay about the same as them!  I've just seen a cruise next October from Southampton and the price is fine although similar to 2 people sharing.

 

But when I get to the experience it wants to charge me exactly the same as for 2 people sharing.  How can they justify that.  I had thought that as I was using my FCC and had a bit left over after the basic price I would splurge and book Auria. But for 2 people sharing it's £510 each for 1 in a cabin it's £1020.  Will I get twice as many drinks?  2 Massages? 2 sunbeds?   I think not!!!  I mean really how can they do that???

 

Rant over.

[Av8tor]

I know it's not fair, but this is how the cruise lines view it:

 

Their business plan is based on two cruisers (or sometimes more) in each cabin.  Two cruisers means two paid fares.  If they sell a cabin to a solo traveller, that means one less cabin to sell to 2 cruisers.  So to make up the "lost" paid fare, they charge the solo person more.  Sometimes its just a percentage of the normal fare and other times its an amount equal to a "normal" full fare.  They don't view it as the solo not getting twice as many drinks, massages or sunbeds, but rather making up for the lost opportunity to get two fares.

 

That business plan is based on the old paradigm of ships sailing full almost all the time.  We'll have to see how things work out post COVID.  If people don't flock back to cruising and the ships have lots of open cabins, MAYBE they'll get smart and start to lower or drop the single supplements and just charge a regular fare to solos to get at least that one fare instead of having an empty cabin and no fare at all!

[lovetoholiday]

I fully appreciate the charging double for the cabin and I'm used to paying it. It's my choice to prefer an outside or balcony cabin rather than a solo inside or similar so I have to go with it.  But, I think when they are also charging double for the 'experience' is just a bit too much.  I've probably been paying double for that all along and just not realised it until this time when I selected Aurea and saw how much more it was. I would have paid the extra £510 as a treat but there is no way I'm going to pay £1020.

 

I have had the Aurea experience before and enjoyed it, so I'm thinking I must have got a great deal then - maybe sometime in the future I might get another one.          (sorry realised I spelled it wrongly in the original post)

[George C]

They were offering singles at no extra charge for a while last year. Double is a rip-off, ages ago when I was single most lines charged 150 percent for singles 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

14 minutes ago, George C said:

They were offering singles at no extra charge for a while last year. Double is a rip-off, ages ago when I was single most lines charged 150 percent for singles 

 

Indeed.  We took advantage of the no single supplement offer last fall and a bunch of women had a wonderful cruise, each in our own suite in the Yacht Club.

 

I think that eventually cruiselines will have to wake up to the fact that there are a lot of solo travelers out there and become more solo friendly.  Some, notably Vantage, already are.  I value having my own space, so I pay the single supplement.  At least Celebrity gives me double points for a cruise when I pay for a cabin, which is only fair considering that I have paid the price of two people occupying the cabin.  And the cruises I have booked with them for 2021 all have a reduced single supplement.

[hamrag]

16 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

....I think that eventually cruiselines will have to wake up to the fact that there are a lot of solo travelers out there and become more solo friendly.  Some, notably Vantage, already are.  I value having my own space, so I pay the single supplement.  At least Celebrity gives me double points for a cruise when I pay for a cabin, which is only fair considering that I have paid the price of two people occupying the cabin.  And the cruises I have booked with them for 2021 all have a reduced single supplement.

 

Given that your preference is Yacht Club, both Silversea and Seabourn have low single rated....when I looked a couple of weeks ago SS was only 10% and SB 30 or 40%. I know these are truly luxury lines, and priced as such....but, for a solo traveller who pays double in YC they begin to hit the same price point.