Outrages prices for solo cruiser!?

[Verfai]

Hello all,

 

We are a couple, with a friend that is single, he wanted to go on a cruise with us….Yet when we checked the RCI site, to see what it would cost for him to join the cruise we were outraged with the price that they charge for a single occupancy!?

 

We pay something around 570€pp, yet when we put it on single the price goes to1300€………..In my opinion this is outrageous!!! Of course there is always a additional cost for a single occupancy, but that much!?

 

Anybody have some thoughts here???

 

To us it sounds like it is better to book for two and then play a "no show" roll but this is major fraud and don’t think RCI can laugh with this ;)

 

Greets

[nittany68]

It's the same on Princess. Since they lose money to have only one in a cabin, they charge double the price for a solo cruiser. They don't seem to have small cabins for singles. :(

[jpg1747]

All cruiselines have a single supplement. You have to patient and watch the prices. I've gotten some of my best deals on RCCL.

[cruisinfanatic]

Hello all,

 

We are a couple, with a friend that is single, he wanted to go on a cruise with us….Yet when we checked the RCI site, to see what it would cost for him to join the cruise we were outraged with the price that they charge for a single occupancy!?

 

We pay something around 570€pp, yet when we put it on single the price goes to1300€………..In my opinion this is outrageous!!! Of course there is always a additional cost for a single occupancy, but that much!?

 

Anybody have some thoughts here???

 

To us it sounds like it is better to book for two and then play a "no show" roll but this is major fraud and don’t think RCI can laugh with this ;)

 

Greets

you need to call because there is no way the single would be more than double. It should be a few hundred less than double because the single does not pay for the second person's taxes and port

 

The high price you are seing may be because he is booking so close to the cruise whereas you booked earlier when rates were lower

[firefly333]

Usually its a 200% solo supplement, so not sure why your friend got more than 200%.

 

If your friend looks, he can find a lot of RCL cruises that charge less than 200%. He needs to maybe book a cruise on his own. Almost all the tuesday deals on RCL are less than 200%.. I have even seen 0% solo supplement. tell him to look around more.

 

The better idea is for him to find a deal with a lower supplement and you fit your cruise to his not the other way around.

[cruisinfanatic]

Hello all,

 

We are a couple, with a friend that is single, he wanted to go on a cruise with us….Yet when we checked the RCI site, to see what it would cost for him to join the cruise we were outraged with the price that they charge for a single occupancy!?

 

We pay something around 570€pp, yet when we put it on single the price goes to1300€………..In my opinion this is outrageous!!! Of course there is always a additional cost for a single occupancy, but that much!?

 

Anybody have some thoughts here???

 

To us it sounds like it is better to book for two and then play a "no show" roll but this is major fraud and don’t think RCI can laugh with this ;)

 

Greets

If you're writing about your Liberty cruise, yes a single is 1305. You'll find that if you booked a cabin for 2 now, the rate would be 1512.

You booked when rates were lower is all.

[cruisinfanatic]

If your friend looks, he can find a lot of RCL cruises that charge less than 200%. He needs to maybe book a cruise on his own. Almost all the tuesday deals on RCL are less than 200%.. I have even seen 0% solo supplement. tell him to look around more.

 

The better idea is for him to find a deal with a lower supplement and you fit your cruise to his not the other way around.

Not much help if the friend wants to join them on the Liberty this September like I think

[silentbob007]

Sometimes some great solo rates can be had, but they in my experience, they are usually last minute and very hard to predict ...

[Cruisegirl6]

We are sailing on FOS next month and my father in law is solo and my daughter is solo so we paying for all that extra cost, but you do not pay like around $200 because you only pay the taxes for one person....the way I see it they make money yes as they not feeding a second person I say charging 50% and and not 100% is fair.

[sg1phileshipper]

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

[silentbob007]

We are sailing on FOS next month and my father in law is solo and my daughter is solo so we paying for all that extra cost, but you do not pay like around $200 because you only pay the taxes for one person....the way I see it they make money yes as they not feeding a second person I say charging 50% and and not 100% is fair.

 

Fair is whatever someone will pay. Just the way things work. Don't forget that a single cabin also only has one person making purchases and tipping.

[besberry]

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

 

I'm travelling on the Indy this year. Solo. The price I've paid has made my eyes bleed :eek:

[Verfai]

Hey all, thanks for all the fast reply’s.

 

If this is indeed considered as the normal price, I am really surprised…

 

We were talking about this as if it was a joke, but now that we have checked this I am really outraged. This is just too much, if I where single I would not pay this amount…Okay you can wait till literally the last minute but what is the chance you can still get a flight to the city of embarkation???

 

This might sound funny, but I think it is better to find somebody to just share a room with and split the costs…Maybe a new venue for Cruise Critic :D

 

Greets

[Paulxyz2004]

Another single cruiser here.

 

Yep it´s more expensive to travel as a single person, but I don´t see it as outrageous.

 

Even though the cruiselines break down prices to a per person fare, it´s actually not different than most Hotels.

You pay for the room and you can have one or two persons in there. Remaining difference is taxes and fees.

 

Of course there´s always the special offers you can look for with reduced rates for singles.

[Paulxyz2004]

We are sailing on FOS next month and my father in law is solo and my daughter is solo so we paying for all that extra cost, but you do not pay like around $200 because you only pay the taxes for one person....the way I see it they make money yes as they not feeding a second person I say charging 50% and and not 100% is fair.

 

 

Your post makes me wonder how much you think the cruiseline calculates per person for food. :confused:

 

The cruiseline does not make money from single cruisers, they actually on average will lose money because only one instead of two people are spending onboard.

[cruisinfanatic]

We are sailing on FOS next month and my father in law is solo and my daughter is solo so we paying for all that extra cost, but you do not pay like around $200 because you only pay the taxes for one person....the way I see it they make money yes as they not feeding a second person I say charging 50% and and not 100% is fair.

Did you try and see if their hotel would take half for a single?

[TonyFred]

We are sailing on FOS next month and my father in law is solo and my daughter is solo so we paying for all that extra cost, but you do not pay like around $200 because you only pay the taxes for one person....the way I see it they make money yes as they not feeding a second person I say charging 50% and and not 100% is fair.

 

But....the second person is also not buying drinks, playing bingo, taking excursions, gambling, etc etc etc. There is a lot more to it than just the food the person would eat. The cruise line makes a lot of money on extras that are paid for onboard, so I can understand why they have to charge quite a bit more as far as the base fare to make up for the difference.

[Cruisegirl6]

I think I am in a chatty mood sorry lol

 

SiletnBob007 so true, we pay single fare for my daughter since she was 16 years old. We like her to have her own room as the staterooms are small and gives us our own bathroom. We pay it graciously not complain its just part of the rules...but after reading many others saying its not fair I can understand their concerns, we all different but for me we never complain about the price of a single person in a stateroom. We just give her a cheaper stateroom (she not mind and knows how lucky she is at her age to still be going with us and knows we want her).

 

Verfai- Years ago the cruise lines had a program to share a stateroom with somebody I gather it did not work well as they took it away. I also not see myself sharing a stateroom with a stranger I not know...

I agree if you can get another person to share the stateroom that be great and certainly helps with the cost, but to each their own.

 

Paulxyz- You have a point in one way ..yes the cruise line purchases food items in bulk and saves lots of money...but to not give any discount other than not pay the taxes twice for a solo traveler I say is wrong I believe the cruise line should at least offer an incentive for solo travelers such as 200 shipboard credit or 200 off their cruise fare on top of not paying the second parties taxes. To me thats fair...but they not have to be fair we have choices take a cruise or not.

 

Other points:

How come a solo traveler has to pay double the rate or near that....then why don't the cabins that occupy 3/4 persons and some occupy 5/6 persons how come they not make a family of 3 pay for 4 people, its the same principle? Or a cabin that can occupy 4 people you find many of those cabins to be occupied by just two persons they not getting penalized, but the solo traveler does. Its not fair in a way.

 

How come we can go on cruises and buy liquor on a ship I believe absolute vodka which cost here in the states for a small bottle costs about $19.00 on average but on the ship you can get two bottles for that very same price! The cruise lines are charging you (and have recently raised their prices) for liquor as if they paying the regular state prices, their revenue in liquor sales is sky high! They get their money in other places in addition to liquor sales. Honestly the cruise industry is changing drastically now they offering less quality/selection/variety of foods and hoping you dine in their pay/specialty restaurants for better service and food....(next month we will be dining twice in chops and twice in portofino's we love it and knows its all worth the extra cost) but at least we have that option, I feel cruise lines are creating a "class" status like it was many years ago on ships. You got your lower decks for the less fortunate people, and your upper decks for your rich people and then there wass the middle. All had different sleeping quarters according to their status and all had different dining that was geared to their status. Im seeing it happen now with these cruise lines as they offering additonal dining which cost the passenger more money if they chose to do so. I understand this because the price of food only has risen so much they need to cut back. They need to adjust I understand...but on another note, I must say that the food quality/selection even in these times where everything goes up in cost that on RC and Princess have done an excellent job they have cut back but not as much as Carnival has. For this reason is why we not going on Carnival any longer. RC remains to be my cruise line of choice, why because the cruise line is thinking about profit/revenue and at the same time meeting the needs of passengers thusly they created a happy medium for both the cruise line and the passengers....I think.....

[Cruisegirl6]

Tony your absolutely correct, but these newer ships now offer many incentives that will enable them to get additonal revenu...for instance, rock climbing wall, flowrider, specialty restaurants, cooking classes, liquor prices remain to be good for the cruise line they are making additional income from these items that were never existed before.

I just think giving a 200 credit (on top of the no taxing a second time) is a reasonable thing that cruise lines can do for the solo traveler...again, we pay for my daughters solo cabin and never complain but I am just thinking of the many people out there that travel solo that feel they should get a break.

 

My point I brought up in my last post then a family of 3 or a couple book a stateroom that can occupy 3/4 persons how come they not penalized?

[Cruisegirl6]

I failed to say that you may have cabins that have solo travelers, then you have cabins that occupy 3/4 and some even occupy 5th persons so I believe it makes things even when it comes to the revenue for the cruise line.

[CruiseCruiseCruise11]

Tony your absolutely correct, but these newer ships now offer many incentives that will enable them to get additonal revenu...for instance, rock climbing wall, flowrider, specialty restaurants, cooking classes, liquor prices remain to be good for the cruise line they are making additional income from these items that were never existed before.

I just think giving a 200 credit (on top of the no taxing a second time) is a reasonable thing that cruise lines can do for the solo traveler...again, we pay for my daughters solo cabin and never complain but I am just thinking of the many people out there that travel solo that feel they should get a break.

 

My point I brought up in my last post then a family of 3 or a couple book a stateroom that can occupy 3/4 persons how come they not penalized?

 

Because the cruiselines' goal is not this phantom "fairness". It's profit.

 

That's not a dirty word.

 

And giving that single traveler $200 in OBC? Counter-productive. One of the downsides of the solo traveler, as pointed by several previous posters, is that they don't spend as much on board.

[CruiseCruiseCruise11]

Hey all, thanks for all the fast reply’s.

 

If this is indeed considered as the normal price, I am really surprised…

 

We were talking about this as if it was a joke, but now that we have checked this I am really outraged. This is just too much, if I where single I would not pay this amount…Okay you can wait till literally the last minute but what is the chance you can still get a flight to the city of embarkation???

 

This might sound funny, but I think it is better to find somebody to just share a room with and split the costs…Maybe a new venue for Cruise Critic :D

 

Greets

But as SeaUs pointed out, the big price difference is NOT so much the single supplement as the higher prices closer to sailing.

 

If HE had booked, solo, when you did, and YOU were booking now, you would be marveling at what a great deal the single passenger was getting. ;)

[The-Dude]

Hello all,

 

We are a couple, with a friend that is single, he wanted to go on a cruise with us….Yet when we checked the RCI site, to see what it would cost for him to join the cruise we were outraged with the price that they charge for a single occupancy!?

 

Anybody have some thoughts here???

 

This is old news. It's not a shocker at all. RCCL is not a charity line. Cruise lines strive to make a profit with multiple passengers per room.

 

If you're unhappy with the extra premium, perhaps you can book the "Norwegian Epic". The ship has single occupancy rates for their studios.

[Cruisegirl6]

After taking my last two carnival cruises and I have been on 46 cruises and I am 48 years old I seen all the cuts cruise lines have made throughout the years especially the past 5-6 years. I honestly believe that RC and Princess both have done an outstanding job in trying to keep as much as what was in the past but at the same time making the cuts they need to make to keep their revenue up. I applaud RC for not downgrading its seleciton/variety in food, I applaud them for keeping wonderful entertainment and for their fine excellent overall service they provide. I know they want to remain keeping a quality profit but at the same time meet the their needs in cuts due to the changes of the economy and prices of items.

 

Cruisecruise I understand what your saying but what I am saying that even though you have solo travelers (that provide less revenue for the cruise line) you do have many cabins that 3/4 persons are occupying thusly giving the cruise line more revenue to me that balances the "revenue" for the cruise line out.

 

I truely feel that the ratio of families (3/4 persons) is greater than the amount of solo cruises (I assuming).

[librayacht]

I would concur that the facilities provided for the solo traveler on the NCL Epic are well designed and cater totally to the individual. They have a lounge in the single area which is totally devoted to the solo traveler with a bar and other facilities. This is not accessible to other passengers. All you pay is the rate for a "per person" with no other supplements.