Single travellers can often find it difficult to get a holiday at a reasonable price, because of high ‘single supplements’, and this can be worse with cruises. From the passenger’s point of view, paying double for single occupancy doesn’t seem fair. There are several reasons often cited to me, including the fact that they don’t eat the same as two people, and I fully understand that. however, from the cruise line’s point of view, there are several reasons why they do charge more for single occupancy or a double cabin, including the fact that the cabin takes about the same amount of time to clean. However, a major factor is that all prices, for everyone onboard, are based around the total cost of operating the ship, including crew, fuel, port charges etc. They also take into consideration the amount spent onboard for drinks, speciality dining, shore excursions etc. If they then sells lots of cabins for single occupancy, without charging a premium, overall revenue would be well down, and prices for everyone would then need to increase.
The best way around this is for single travellers to look for the cruise lines, and escorted tour operators, which give more thought to their single travellers, and price their solo deals accordingly. Prices can vary from ship to ship, or departure to departure, due to how full the ship is, and how many single travellers are already booked. However, GoCruise with Ian is happy to help find the right real for you, and you can contact him on 014558217701 or 08002922850. Meanwhile, here are some brief details about some of the cruise lines and holiday companies which are often better for single travellers.
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines – they have a higher percentage of single cabins than other cruise lines, and they are generally the same size as double cabins. They also tend to offer single occupancy offers when they single cabins are sold out. While onboard they do a lot for solo travellers, with the opportunity to dine with other single travellers, if required, and there are Dance Hosts in the evening.
Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) – on their largest ships, Columbus and Magellan, they reserve 150 double cabins for single occupancy, with a supplement of just 25%. They organise singles meetings onboard, including single cocktail parties on cruises of 6 nights or longer. The restaurants will also endeavour to seat single passengers together.
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) – Many their larger ships have a separate area with Studio Cabins for single occupancy. Some of them are adjoining, so two people travelling together, but wanting their own cabin, can be ‘together’ but ‘separate’. These are sold as single cabins, so don’t attract any supplements on top.
Tauck European River Cruising – They offer ‘no single supplement’ for category 1 cabins, on the lower deck of their river cruise ships.
Riviera Travel – not only do Riviera Travel offer many lower deck cabins on their river cruises with no single supplement, they also have a separate Solo Traveller Collection. This includes a selection of European river cruises, and Worldwide Escorted Tours, all of which have no additional supplement to pay.
Titan Travel – they offer a selection of departure dates, which are just for single travellers, on many of their escorted tours around the world. They also have reasonable single supplements on many other departure dates.
Just You – this is a range of holidays, in Europe and Worldwide, which are just for single travellers, with no supplements to add on.
There are also other river cruise companies who sometimes offer cabins on the lower deck with no single supplement, and also escorted tour companies offering hotel rooms with low or no single supplement. For an up-to-date check on availability and price contact GoCruise with Ian.
All the above information was believed to be correct at the time of posting, but is subject to change by the cruise line or tour operator at any time, without notice.
