Solo Studios - tell me more!

[madelk]

So I'm looking at doing some planning for future cruises which I'm likely to be going solo and so I figured it would financially be better to target studio cabins.

 

My understanding is that the following ships are the only ones that have them and that they are quite limited in number (hence my forward planning):

Anthem & Quantum

Radiance, Brillance & Serenade.

 

Am I missing any others on Freedom, Voyager or Oasis Class?

 

Moving forward - I was specifically looking at a Radiance sailing here in Australia in 2016. I stuck in the single occupancy and was stunned to find that a studio was FAR more than the single occupancy of a standard interior. The discrepancy of which I can't account for with BOGOHO - it's still substantially higher.

Here's the numbers:

Studio = $5685

Interior single occ = $3585

IF we assume that the $3585 includes the BOGOHO discount to make it a 50% supp then that would make the standard full price of double occupancy (and equivalent 100% supplement) without BOGOHO around $4780 ($2390pp) (ie [3585/3]*4) (if you currently price out the twin occupancy its $4294 total with a base price of $2207pp undiscounted which would be $4414+taxes)

Yes these numbers are approximate and taxes can change things but neither of those assumptions should make over a thousand dollars worth of difference. :confused:

 

So what gives that the studio is even more expensive than that? My expectation is that a studio would be cheaper than paying the full supplement on double occupancy rates.

 

I've attached a screenshot - you'll notice it also says that a studio is available for up to 2 guests but is actually unavailable in the stateroom types when you search on 2 guests.

 

Any of you who've been around the boards seen this stuff before? I know there's plenty of threads talking about the different single supplement rates in double occupancy rooms and specials not applying but I couldn't find any mention of this type of scenario.

Full page photo.pdf

[Hoopster95]

So I'm looking at doing some planning for future cruises which I'm likely to be going solo and so I figured it would financially be better to target studio cabins.

 

I was going to reply "absolutely not" but you answered your own question with the screen shot! :p

 

My understanding is that the following ships are the only ones that have them and that they are quite limited in number (hence my forward planning): Anthem & Quantum, Radiance, Brillance & Serenade. Am I missing any others on Freedom, Voyager or Oasis Class?

 

Your 1st 5 are 100% correct. Anthem & Quantum have quite a few interior AND balcony single studios... Radiance, Brilliance and Serenade only have 3 interior solo cabins each!!!... extremely limited. There are zero specific solo cabins on any other class of ship at this time.

 

Moving forward - I was specifically looking at a Radiance sailing here in Australia in 2016. I stuck in the single occupancy and was stunned to find that a studio was FAR more than the single occupancy of a standard interior.

 

I have seen this a million times... both RCL reps nor my TA had an answer other than the cruiselines can decide what prices to charge at any time at their discretion.

 

By the way, booking a double occupancy cabin is in your benefit as you obtain 2 cruise credit points for every day you sail, rather than just one. In a solo cabin you receive only one cruise point per day.

 

I've been on 5 solo RCL cruise and 1 Celebrity, all but 1 booked less than 60 days out, and a couple within 2 weeks, and never in a solo cabin (always a double occupancy cabin for a great price). Unless you feel your cruise is selling out very quickly, then I would wait... but things may be different in Oz. I know my Oz Xmas cruise 2012 on Radiance was pretty much sold out 2 months prior to sail date. And of course now that RCL has really clamped down on not providing discounted supplements for single cruisers, things may have changed to the point where booking early for you in Oz is in fact better. Have you ever checked pricing within a month of sail dates?

 

These are my experiences here in North America, but I think you should have someone from Oz reply to these questions for sure

 

Happy Cruising! :D

[138east]

As Hoopster95 pointed out, your observations are 100% correct. For early bookings cat Q and N cabins are less expensive than the SI cabins, offer double points, and are 50% larger. I honestly don't think RCL wants to sell these cabins immediately. They are gambling that prices will rise and at some point the solo cabins will sell. However, if they don't sell, then they can deeply discount them to get them sold. One of my friends picked up a great last minute deal on the Serenade for one of these cabins, but you can't depend on that happening.

 

When the Quantum first came out, the solo balconies were priced as true solo cabins and they all sold almost immediately. When the Anthem opened for bookings, the solo balconies were priced at more than double the original Quantum prices, so I imagine they aren't going to sell so fast.

 

I took an inside guarantee on the Brilliance last year and ended up on deck 2 in a cat Q cabin about 5 cabins from the elevator. Super location, quiet dead end hall, and just two decks down from the Centrum. The 6 bank elevators work really well on the radiance ships - never had any problem getting an elevator. I really liked the location and have booked it again.

[madelk]

By the way, booking a double occupancy cabin is in your benefit as you obtain 2 cruise credit points for every day you sail, rather than just one. In a solo cabin you receive only one cruise point per day.

 

I've been on 5 solo RCL cruise and 1 Celebrity, all but 1 booked less than 60 days out, and a couple within 2 weeks, and never in a solo cabin (always a double occupancy cabin for a great price). Unless you feel your cruise is selling out very quickly, then I would wait... but things may be different in Oz. I know my Oz Xmas cruise 2012 on Radiance was pretty much sold out 2 months prior to sail date. And of course now that RCL has really clamped down on not providing discounted supplements for single cruisers, things may have changed to the point where booking early for you in Oz is in fact better. Have you ever checked pricing within a month of sail dates?

 

Thanks for the reply.

I did know about the double points and my next two RCI bookings are on ships with no studios so I'll be Emerald REALLY soon :D And I wanted to check which other ships to possibly track to see if I wanted to do an international fly/cruise given all the repositioning cruises that are going to be happening in the next 2 years :) (Did somebody say Quantum? :D) I'm still a working young'un that tends to "cruise for the itinerary" not just cruise for the fun of it; so at this stage I'm still keen to plan ahead to get what I want at the cheapest price.

 

I have some flexibility in my time off from work, but I think I'd be pushing it for the longer 10-18 day itineraries that I'm keen on at short notice. :( I haven't closely tracked RCI close to sail date as I don't live close to port and the flights are generally too expensive for me to swallow. So until they release the Legend itineraries for my homeport I'm stuck with planning ahead. I know for certain with P&O from my homeport it is very hit and miss how good the last minute deals are. I've been watching one for July that has just gone on 30% off sale and it's still 20% more expensive than my friend paid 6 months ago :eek: I did snag a bargain on my P&O for June - pretty sure there was a group cancellation - the price dropped for one day in March and then went skyhigh and I believe is essentially a sell out now since April. Definitely all the shorter or interesting itineraries seem to sell out or go really close.

 

The example above just happens to be a particular itinerary and date that I was interested in, and my last cruise was on Radiance (Christmas and it too was sold out well in advance) and I'd really like to go on her again and notice all the things I didn't notice the first time that I've read about on CC here (and by then I should have done at least another 2 RCI ships for comparison).

 

 

The 6 bank elevators work really well on the radiance ships - never had any problem getting an elevator.

You obviously weren't on my Radiance cruise at Christmas!!! The centrum elevators were near impossible to get most of the time - they were either already full when they stopped, closed and left before you could get to the door or just went sailing past the floor even in out of peak times. There were a LOT of people standing around in frustration. But thanks for the info re Quantum vs Anthem price - I'll be very interested in the repo to be announced soon and they were part of the motivation for looking into this now :)

[Zawmer]

I'm booked on an SB on Ovation of the Seas for May/June of 2016. That's a Super Studio Oceanview with Balcony, like they have on Quantum and Anthem. My fare was comparable to what it would have been if I were sharing a double-occupancy oceanview stateroom with someone. So, totally reasonable.

 

Some of the posts in this thread, and others I'm reading, talk about booking a "guarantee". That word never came up when I booked. Am I not guaranteed my cabin? I don't have anything to worry about, do I? I am booked in 6252 for this cruise.

[tomatosauce]

They only offer guarantees when they are having trouble selling rooms of a certain sort. As the Ovation SB cabins have already sold out for your cruise you will keep your cabin unless you end up being upgraded (depending on your upgrade preferences). The fact that the Quantum class only has 12 SB cabins and they (and the solo interiors of which there are a similar number) are much cheaper than any other room for solo cruisers they probably always will sell out fairly quickly.

[Zawmer]

They only offer guarantees when they are having trouble selling rooms of a certain sort. As the Ovation SB cabins have already sold out for your cruise you will keep your cabin unless you end up being upgraded (depending on your upgrade preferences). The fact that the Quantum class only has 12 SB cabins and they (and the solo interiors of which there are a similar number) are much cheaper than any other room for solo cruisers they probably always will sell out fairly quickly.

 

Thanks for the reply, tomato! That's a relief.

[pkexton]

I was wondering if the balcony discounts also apply to the Studio Balcony cabins.

 

Thanks - Pat

[tomatosauce]

The balcony discount still applies but you only get 50% of the value if you are a solo in a studio cabin.