Total Price Difference Between Single and Double

[Fish42]

I'm cruising solo and understand that the single and double occupancy total prices are usually close to the same.  However I'm looking at a cruise today and the single total price is more than double the double occupancy total price.  For example, the double occupancy total price (not per person) is around $1500, but the total price for solo travel is more than $3000.

 

Can I book the cruise at the double rate and just not have the second person show up on cruise day?  Will there be a penalty for that?

[runner15km]

Yes, but the cruiseline will need the name of a real person to refund taxes and fees. FYI, MSC has good pricing right now on solo cabins. 

[sparks1093]

47 minutes ago, runner15km said:

Yes, but the cruiseline will need the name of a real person to refund taxes and fees. FYI, MSC has good pricing right now on solo cabins. 

Taxes and fees would be refunded to the card used for the booking. As for the OP's question I would suppose that every line will likely handle it differently. I would suggest asking on the forum for the line in question.

[leaveitallbehind]

2 hours ago, Fish42 said:

However I'm looking at a cruise today and the single total price is more than double the double occupancy total price.  For example, the double occupancy total price (not per person) is around $1500, but the total price for solo travel is more than $3000.

I realize your question was regarding how to book at the double occupancy fare.  But what you indicate regarding the solo fare just doesn't make sense.  I am not questioning what you are seeing, but whether or not it is truly an accurate fare. 

 

Are you getting this fare from the cruise line website or other on line booking tool, or is a live rep issuing it?  If just on line, I would call the cruise line and have their rep confirm the fare, or contact a TA and have that agent do the same before I accepted it as accurate. 

 

Seeing a cruise line charging more than double for a published double occupancy fare for a solo booking would not be something I would take at face value without confirmation from the cruise line or a TA.  Website fare mistakes have been made in the past and this seems to me to likely be a mistake.

 

If you have done so and this is the actual rate from a live rep, IMO I would steer clear of that booking altogether as something is just not right about that. You shouldn't have to resort to a fictitious double booking to get the correct solo fare.

 

Again, I am not challenging you on this - just curious if this is a verified fare.

Edited November 15, 2023 by leaveitallbehind

[GeezerCouple]

2 hours ago, Fish42 said:

I'm cruising solo and understand that the single and double occupancy total prices are usually close to the same.  However I'm looking at a cruise today and the single total price is more than double the double occupancy total price.  For example, the double occupancy total price (not per person) is around $1500, but the total price for solo travel is more than $3000.

 

Can I book the cruise at the double rate and just not have the second person show up on cruise day?  Will there be a penalty for that?

 

I had the same thoughts as leaveitallbehind...

25 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

I realize your question was regarding how to book at the double occupancy fare.  But what you indicate regarding the solo fare just doesn't make sense.  I am not questioning what you are seeing, but whether or not it is truly an accurate fare. 

 

Are you getting this fare from the cruise line website or other on line booking tool, or is a live rep issuing it?  If just on line, I would call the cruise line and have their rep confirm the fare, or contact a TA and have that agent do the same before I accepted it as accurate. 

 

Seeing a cruise line charging more than double for a published double occupancy fare for a solo booking would not be something I would take at face value without confirmation from the cruise line or a TA.  Website fare mistakes have been made in the past and this seems to me to likely be a mistake.

 

If you have done so and this is the actual rate from a live rep, IMO I would steer clear of that booking altogether as something is just not right about that. You shouldn't have to resort to a fictitious double booking to get the correct solo fare.

 

Again, I am not challenging you on this - just curious if this is a verified fare.

 

I also recommend *calling* someone to get the single fare.  Don't even mention what you have seen already.  Is it correct to assume you are looking at a fare online somewhere?

There are times when the way it displays online can be misleading, or, well, a better word might be "confusing", although I have no idea whether that is happening here.

An example of that can be when pricing 3 in a cabin.  Depending upon how it is displayed, it could show the regular full price for pax 1 and 2, and that could lead someone to think *each* passenger is paying that same "full price".  But if one looks at the total, and divides by 3... "each passenger" is indeed paying less.  HOWEVER... "how much each passenger pays" is actually up to the passengers to figure out.  They may want to split it evening, or perhaps the person sleeping on the sofa bed pays less... or however they decide.  And the cruiseline won't know about that. 

But at first glance, it might look like it's going to be the same "per person" fare for 2 *or* for 3 in the cabin.

 

I'm guessing something like that is happening with OP's situation.  Or it's actually a software glitch (?).

 

I'd call the cruiseline directly.  Or you could try a travel agent first to see what they quote.

 

GC

 

[Fish42]

Thanks for the replies.  I just went to get screenshots of what I was seeing booking on the cruise line website and now the fares have been adjusted to correctly reflect the total fares being similar.  The double occupancy fare increased dramatically.  Oh well...

 

I'm going to chalk this one up to a pricing glitch of some kind.  I have seen this situation in the past and will post back here if I see it again.  Always on the cruise line website.

 

I think it is good advice to call the cruise line directly for this situation, however I feel like I'm being penalized (slightly) as a solo cruiser so if there's a chance to beat the system, I might have to take it.

[leaveitallbehind]

4 minutes ago, Fish42 said:

I think it is good advice to call the cruise line directly for this situation, however I feel like I'm being penalized (slightly) as a solo cruiser so if there's a chance to beat the system, I might have to take it.

It is unfortunate that in general a solo cruiser often pays essentially the double occupancy fare less one set of port fees and taxes.  As you are likely aware, cruise lines will issue reduced solo fares from time to time to mitigate that somewhat.

 

But, if you have not already, you also should check cruise lines like NCL and Celebrity (among others) who offer dedicated solo staterooms on some of their ships that are somewhat smaller than standard but are priced intentionally at a solo rate that is somewhat higher than the one persons' double occupancy rate would be, but significantly lower than the typical double occupancy rate for a solo. Celebrity offers these stateroom on their Edge class ships as balcony staterooms.  Maybe worth looking at?

[new_cruiser]

3 hours ago, Fish42 said:

I'm cruising solo and understand that the single and double occupancy total prices are usually close to the same.  However I'm looking at a cruise today and the single total price is more than double the double occupancy total price.  For example, the double occupancy total price (not per person) is around $1500, but the total price for solo travel is more than $3000.

 

Can I book the cruise at the double rate and just not have the second person show up on cruise day?  Will there be a penalty for that?

When taking a cruise with family on Royal Caribbean, I saw pricing like that. When I selected 1 passenger, the guaranteed room rate didn't appear - only the higher price for selecting your room. My guess is that with the very low fare, they are hoping for additional revenue from add ons like excursions, drinks and specialty dining for two people.

 

For that trip, it turned out not to matter because someone else decided to come along so I ended up with two in my cabin.

 

The extra cost for a solo that I was seeing was significant but not as large as what you are seeing. $750 pp double occupancy going to $3k single occupancy is a 300% solo supplement. For the cruise I was looking at, it was more like 150% (and not quite equivalent because the lower rate was for a guarantee but as it was past final payment, there wasn't much room choice available anyway).

 

I usually sail on Windstar and their normal solo supplement is 75%.

 

[leaveitallbehind]

1 minute ago, new_cruiser said:

When taking a cruise with family on Royal Caribbean, I saw pricing like that. When I selected 1 passenger, the guaranteed room rate didn't appear - only the higher price for selecting your room. My guess is that with the very low fare, they are hoping for additional revenue from add ons like excursions, drinks and specialty dining for two people.

 

For that trip, it turned out not to matter because someone else decided to come along so I ended up with two in my cabin.

 

The extra cost for a solo that I was seeing was significant but not as large as what you are seeing. $750 pp double occupancy going to $3k single occupancy is a 300% solo supplement. For the cruise I was looking at, it was more like 150% (and not quite equivalent because the lower rate was for a guarantee but as it was past final payment, there wasn't much room choice available anyway).

 

I usually sail on Windstar and their normal solo supplement is 75%.

 

Just to clarify, the OP already indicated that upon checking further, the double occupancy fare was an error on the website and the current pricing reflects the correct double occupancy fare.

[new_cruiser]

27 minutes ago, Fish42 said:

I just went to get screenshots of what I was seeing booking on the cruise line website and now the fares have been adjusted to correctly reflect the total fares being similar.  The double occupancy fare increased dramatically.

It may have been a sale rate that wasn't programmed into the solo fare (either intentionally or by mistake) or something like the guarantee fare coming and going. On the cruise I mentioned, the guarantee rate would come and go every few days and at varying prices.

[Toofarfromthesea]

6 hours ago, Fish42 said:

I'm cruising solo and understand that the single and double occupancy total prices are usually close to the same.  However I'm looking at a cruise today and the single total price is more than double the double occupancy total price.  For example, the double occupancy total price (not per person) is around $1500, but the total price for solo travel is more than $3000.

 

Can I book the cruise at the double rate and just not have the second person show up on cruise day?  Will there be a penalty for that?

 

This doesn't answer your question, but there is a very good cruise database (that is NOT a TA, mods) called CruisePlum that, among other things, lets you search for solo accomodation, including solo cabins and solo supplements on double occupancy cabins.  It's at CruisePlum.com.

[firefly333]

Rcl does this al the time. I'm not sure why the op doesnt say which line. If you see peices from $1000 pp, and change it to 1 pax, then see $2500, you know the $1000 was for a gty. For some reason the gty bookings only are available to 2 pax.

 

Before covid solo would book a fake 2nd pax who of course never showed up. Now rcl is on to the trick and now to get the 2nd loyalty pt it has to be booked solo, or 2nd pax removed before sailing. 

 

Rcl 1 pt regular, 1 pt solo, 1 suite, so solo in a suite gets 3 loyalty pts a day, has to be a solo booking to get the extra solo pt. I see it all the time. I pushed thru to 340 pts last year to get the solo discount, so now every cruise is 25% off as a solo. 2nd pax is half off is how it's written. The 25% off makes up that I cant book a gty. 

[Fish42]

Here's a great similar example from Royal Caribbean:

 

If I try to book a single occupancy room, this cruise is sold out:

 

 

However if I switch to two guests, suddenly there's room at the inn for a reasonable price:

 

 

So while not exactly the same as the pricing question I had in the original post, I think it does show that cruise lines have some peculiar booking policies or the website is bugged.

[new_cruiser]

10 hours ago, Fish42 said:

So while not exactly the same as the pricing question I had in the original post, I think it does show that cruise lines have some peculiar booking policies or the website is bugged.

That's another case of Royal Caribbean only showing the guarantee fares for double occupancy bookings as I mentioned above. If you go a step further by clicking "Select", it takes you directly to inputting your booking info saying you have selected a guarantee fare.

 

There aren't currently any specific interior cabins left, but some might become available (e.g. cabin changes with Royal Up). Therefore, they are willing to sell a guarantee. If no one moves cabins, that might end up in a currently available higher category cabin.

[rj59]

This has been happening with Celebrity lately, so as a solo, I look at the double rate and then just mentally double it. I booked with my niece for a cruise a few weeks ago, and she just no-showed at embarkation and I got my taxes for her a few months ago. You can just use a relative whose birthdate and passport info you know. Sometimes Celebrity has less than 200%, like on a few Beyond sailings next summer, and on a couple of transatlantic cruises on Eclipse I booked in 2025, for $650-750. Otherwise, for searching Princess, Carnival, and NCL, you can search by single passenger. For HAL, they usually charge double the single price, but some of their new ships have solo Oceanview, and a lot of the Royal ships have solo cabins as well, so I use travel websites to search for them by number of passengers. Cruiseplum also has a section for solo deals and hot deals--I scored Azamara and Virgin in Europe for $100/day or so, deals that quickly vanished. 

[firefly333]

On 11/23/2023 at 3:52 PM, rj59 said:

This has been happening with Celebrity lately, so as a solo, I look at the double rate and then just mentally double it. I booked with my niece for a cruise a few weeks ago, and she just no-showed at embarkation and I got my taxes for her a few months ago. You can just use a relative whose birthdate and passport info you know. Sometimes Celebrity has less than 200%, like on a few Beyond sailings next summer, and on a couple of transatlantic cruises on Eclipse I booked in 2025, for $650-750. Otherwise, for searching Princess, Carnival, and NCL, you can search by single passenger. For HAL, they usually charge double the single price, but some of their new ships have solo Oceanview, and a lot of the Royal ships have solo cabins as well, so I use travel websites to search for them by number of passengers. Cruiseplum also has a section for solo deals and hot deals--I scored Azamara and Virgin in Europe for $100/day or so, deals that quickly vanished. 

I don't know if celebrity gives solos a extra solo pt so I get at least 2 per night, 3 in a suite, but rcl cracked down on the adding a fake problem by no longer giving solo the extra pt. I want to hit pinnacle for the free wifi, before you judge me. So i started doing mostly royal until i hit it. If you book as 2 pax and 1 no shows, you lose the extra loyalty pt. I've started having to book group rates thru a TA. Sometimes not that much cheaper but as he points out it's also refundable. 

 

Before covid solo all the time were doing the fake 2nd pax. Now I'm just doing the group rate route. Some are a bit cheaper some over 1k cheaper. I do think it's a unfair practice royal doesnt allow solo to book gty. Bugs me to heck but what can I do. 

 

Ive done celebrity carnival ncl solo. Princess only with friends. 

[Milangel]

I have this same issue.  I went through a mock booking on a cruise that was offering a deep discount for the second person.  The trip total came to $3266.28 for two people.  When I went back to do the mock booking for one person the price changed to  $4734.64 for the trip total for the exact same room type.  This mock booking was on Celebrity also.  I think having the imaginary cruise companion is the way to go.  I don’t recall this happening on Princess or Norwegian.  I will check again to see.

Edited January 1 by Milangel