Royal wont honor price!😠

[Cigar King]

a single cruiser already gets the shaft by having to pay the double occupancy price

 

Why does a single cruiser get the shaft? The room price is based on double occupancy. If you're alone, you actually pay less than a couple and have all the space to your self. Seems like a straight forward deal to me.

 

BTW there are some rooms just for singles. Our friend stayed in a single balcony on Quantum, and it seemed very nice.

[Thoie]

Why does a single cruiser get the shaft? The room price is based on double occupancy. If you're alone, you actually pay less than a couple and have all the space to your self. Seems like a straight forward deal to me.

 

BTW there are some rooms just for singles. Our friend stayed in a single balcony on Quantum, and it seemed very nice.

 

I think single cruisers get the raw end of the deal when they pay more than double, which is what the OP is complaining about.

 

If, for example, a cabin is advertised as costing $500 per person, based on double occupancy, then it is reasonable* that the cabin would cost $1,000 if there's only one person in there. What is unreasonable is if a single person is charged $1,500 for that cabin, which is akin to the OP's complaint.

 

* "Reasonable" is a relative term. A single person will (generally) eat less food than 2 people, use fewer towels than 2 people, use less water for showering/toilet flushing than 2 people, so some kind of discount seems fair.

 

Some people argue that a single person will spend less on board than a couple. Only RCI can know the exact figures on that. From my own experience, I seem to spend a lot more on board than any of the couples I run into. In my case it's because I'm more inclined to spend less time alone in my cabin, and am more likely to be socialising in/near a bar. I'm also more inclined to take a ship's excursion than wander off alone in a strange place, rarely get to take advantage of "buy one, get one free" drink coupons and will often pay for the ship's transfer as it can be cheaper than a taxi for one (whereas a taxi for 2 people is often cheaper than the ship transfers).

[PSCruiser]

I think RC has every right to do what they are doing. They were running a special that was limited to double occupancy only. You are asking them to change the rules of their special pricing just for you. It is like a tire store that offers a sales price but only if you buy four tires and you are asking for the same pricing for only two tires. While it may not seem fair to you, it is the promotion they are offering, though not the one you wish they would offer.

 

Nope, I'm siding with the OP, he's getting shafted.

With your analogy, the OP is asking to buy all 4 tires at the quoted price, but then says only put two of them on the car, and throw the other two away - and the store says sorry, we can't do that??!!

As for the double occupancy disclaimer, if a newbie came up to you and asked the meaning, wouldn't you say that it means that a single should not expect to get onboard at that price, NOT that a single can't get onboard at DOUBLE that price! Cmon, here, where's the sense of fairness?

[delirious9876]

Nope, I'm siding with the OP, he's getting shafted.

With your analogy, the OP is asking to buy all 4 tires at the quoted price, but then says only put two of them on the car, and throw the other two away - and the store says sorry, we can't do that??!!

As for the double occupancy disclaimer, if a newbie came up to you and asked the meaning, wouldn't you say that it means that a single should not expect to get onboard at that price, NOT that a single can't get onboard at DOUBLE that price! Cmon, here, where's the sense of fairness?

Well said. I agree with you and the OP :)

[dacsmom]

I am also frequently a solo cruiser and I would not want to pay more than the normal 200%. Did you try to book through the website too? Just a suggestion, I don't know if you would get a different price or not.

[WpgCruise]

Cmon, here, where's the sense of fairness?

 

Fair is where you go to pet the farm animals.

 

This discussion is about contracts, and the "fine print"

 

It was explained to me one time the party that writes the contract is usually the party favoured by the contract and this is true for the cruise lines.

 

My opinion is that if you don't like the deal, don't do business with Royal Caribbean. There's lots of other options, shop around until you find the deal you are comfortable with.

[delirious9876]

Fair is where you go to pet the farm animals.

 

This discussion is about contracts, and the "fine print"

 

It was explained to me one time the party that writes the contract is usually the party favoured by the contract and this is true for the cruise lines.

 

My opinion is that if you don't like the deal, don't do business with Royal Caribbean. There's lots of other options, shop around until you find the deal you are comfortable with.

I disagree totally. Royal shouldn't be charging a single cruiser more than 200%. It simply is not fair.

[Paul65]

I have cruised approximately 40 times or so, and I TOTOLLY understand the fact that it is double occupancy, but what No one is seeming to understand is that the RC phone Agent would not let me book the guarantee for the advertised price wanted me to pay more that what they were charging 2 cruisers😠so yea I guess that does up set me just a little. Read my post, want me to pay 708 an 2 people can go for 675. How does this seem right?

 

Calm down and stop fussing at the people here. You've gotten multiple answers, and they almost all involve people who understand what you're trying to claim they don't.

 

And, yes, I had the same thought as the other person who said that a single person cruising alone and paying double fare is not the same as two people paying the single fare. In the former case, there is one less person to sell things to on-board. That was not a commentary on how much you spend vs. someone else, just a statement of fact that you are one person. If someone else sailed with you, they would likely spend something, in addition to whatever you spend, and they would be paying another set of gratuities for the service staff.

 

You did ask for explanations of why they might have this policy. Perhaps you really only wanted to hear people say that there was not reason for it.

[denatravels]

This was on the phone with 2 different agents neither would budge.:confused:

 

 

I guess I spoke to the "third" and the "fourth" agent when I called.

If you call during normal business hours, the agent can call on their end to request that a Z category gets opened up for a solo. I've done this three times now. If you don't like the answer you're getting, I guess call again. I found that this was very easy-- takes about 15-20 minutes to resolve.

[Cigar King]

Just to be clear, I agree that paying more that the double occupancy rate seems unfair.

 

I'm curious though for you singles...my assumption is the double occupancy is pretty standard? I don't think I've seen a singles rate at a hotel or resort. Do singles, more often than not, pay double for every vacation?

[Thoie]

Just to be clear, I agree that paying more that the double occupancy rate seems unfair.

 

I'm curious though for you singles...my assumption is the double occupancy is pretty standard? I don't think I've seen a singles rate at a hotel or resort. Do singles, more often than not, pay double for every vacation?

 

Pretty much, yes. Some hotels do have discounted singles rate. I was in Riga last year and the solo surcharge was only around €5 extra per day, which was very reasonable.

 

One complaint I have about hotels/resorts is when they charge a single person the full price of 2 people (fair enough), but then stick you in some crappy room somewhere that wouldn't be suitable for 2 people - that's pulling the proverbial.

 

NCL moved in the right direction with their studio cabins, but they look like coffins to me. While a solo may not need quite as much space as a couple, there's no bedside locker, nowhere to sit other than the bed (the dressing table seat looks useless and isn't a lounging chair). With luggage in the room it looks like there wouldn't be room to move around until you get rid of the bag(s). I appreciate that they have the special studio lounge, but I can't exactly sit in there in my knickers reading a book. Would it be acceptable to remove the armchairs/sofas from "normal" cabins on the basis that there are plenty of places to sit in public?

[Cigar King]

FWIW, our friend's single balcony on the Quantum, was nice, but it was smaller than a normal room. It did have quite a bit of storage, which I thought was nice. Maybe they'll add some of these to older ships as they renovate?

[Stitchman]

So just book yourself and a fictional person in the cabin and have the fictional person not show up on boarding day. Taxes will be refunded.

 

that's what I was going to say.

They didn't turn up at the port !!

[Cruzin-K]

I don't think that solos should have to pay MORE than double occupancy. That is not fair.

 

Perhaps try a few travel agents and see what they can do for you.

[roquejo]

I cruise solo most of the time. There are guarantee cabin categories e.g. W for suite, Z for interior that won't appear when booking solo. My next cruise a week from now also showed that....

 

but via this forum, I've read several instances where solo cruisers went around this by booking double, inputting a fictitious 2nd person, then calling RCCL afterwards informing them they booked a 2nd fictitious person because the online system doesn't allow solos to book W or Z and asking to drop the charges for the 2nd person....

 

In most cases, RCCL adjusted the price over the phone....

 

So please don't make this thread more complicated... follow the advice.. CALL... if denied, then call again until a more senior agent who has done this before picked up the phone.

 

Not all RCCL customer service agents are equal.. some are better than others in handling these kind of special situations.