Solo cruiser

[ranchette]

Do I have to pay double occupancy for a cabin if I am single?

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, ranchette said:

Do I have to pay double occupancy for a cabin if I am single?

Yes, unless you have 340+ C&A points, are in a solo cabin or there's a promo.

Edited March 17, 2022 by Biker19

[brillohead]

Most of the time, everything is Double Occupancy, so you pay double if you're in a regular room.  This is called a 100% single supplement (you pay an additional 100% of the fare). You get an additional point per night (for the Crown and Anchor Society, like the frequent flier program for Royal cruises) in this case.

There are a very few "studio single" rooms on some ships where you only pay for one person, but these rooms are often more expensive than paying double for a regular room.  These rooms only earn one point per night for CAS.
 

There are also times when Royal will lower the Single Supplement by a certain amount when something's not selling well... sometimes all the way down to a 0% supplement.  You still get the additional point for CAS in this case.

[Marie51]

 Recently I booked a solo cabin on odyssey… They have single studio cabins for one person.

[ditmar2007]

16 hours ago, ranchette said:

Do I have to pay double occupancy for a cabin if I am single?

You can also say that you pay the price of a cabin no matter if you are one or two people in it. 

I'm not sure the cruise companies make that much money from our cruise fare. They earn money on drinks, specialty dining, casino, and the shops. If you are only one they'll earn less on the extras.

I also cruise solo occasionally. I just grind my teeth and pay. Or invite a friend along.

[MikeTheNFT]

16 hours ago, ranchette said:

Do I have to pay double occupancy for a cabin if I am single?

 

Generally, yes.

 

But if you are patient and not too picky you can keep an eye out for numerous sales where the 2nd occupant is at a huge discount (30-70%) and then you only pay that much instead of double.

 

Sometimes if you book close to a sailing date and the ships are far from full you can get some good deals on solo sailings, too. Working with a good travel agent (or using something like Cruise Compete) can help a lot there.

 

Plus as others have mentioned, if you get up to 340+ points you can get a good discount.

[SargassoPirate]

4 hours ago, ditmar2007 said:

You can also say that you pay the price of a cabin no matter if you are one or two people in it. 

I'm not sure the cruise companies make that much money from our cruise fare. They earn money on drinks, specialty dining, casino, and the shops. If you are only one they'll earn less on the extras.

I also cruise solo occasionally. I just grind my teeth and pay. Or invite a friend along.

 

When She Who Must Be Obeyed decides to stay home, I cruise solo in. Luxury Inside Suite.  Even with the single supplement it's cheaper than two in a balcony (SWMBO does not do insides) and I have the freedom of doing what I want, when I want without everything requiring a committee decision.

 

Look on the bright side.

[cublet]

Hello,

 

At the moment Celebrity has a range of 2022 cruises with single supplements ranging from 0% to 50% - I know 'cos I've booked one! And it had benefits above its normal 'Always included'.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[leaveitallbehind]

To be clear, you typically will pay the full double occupancy rate for a solo, but only one person's port fees and taxes.  So the total amount is less by that amount than the full double rate with port fees and taxes included.

 

As mentioned RCI does offer reduced single rates on various itineraries and stateroom categories from time to time and also has several ships that have dedicated studio staterooms - with a reduced rate - for solo passengers.  That rate is still considered a double occupancy rate but is calculated at a reduced supplement rate.  Relative to a standard stateroom double occupancy rate it is certainly lower, but the staterooms are also smaller.  But it does provide a reasonable alternative to a standard solo booking.

Edited March 18, 2022 by leaveitallbehind

[John&LaLa]

46 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

To be clear, you typically will pay the full double occupancy rate for a solo, but only one person's port fees and taxes.  So the total amount is less by that amount than the full double rate with port fees and taxes included.

 

As mentioned RCI does offer reduced single rates on various itineraries and stateroom categories from time to time and also has several ships that have dedicated studio staterooms - with a reduced rate - for solo passengers.  That rate is still considered a double occupancy rate but is calculated at a reduced supplement rate.  Relative to a standard stateroom double occupancy rate it is certainly lower, but the staterooms are also smaller.  But it does provide a reasonable alternative to a standard solo booking.

 

Those cabins don't qualify for the additional C&A points typically given to solo passengers 

[leaveitallbehind]

39 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Those cabins don't qualify for the additional C&A points typically given to solo passengers 

Good point and one I was not aware of.  So if the points are important then stick with a standard stateroom at a solo booking fare.

[bhsolo]

As others have mentioned, sometimes the solo cabins can be a great price and other times they are more expensive. I like to go through and do a booking for each type of cabin (regular and solo). Sometimes the regular cabin can be a better deal since there are more of them they need to sell. You also get double points for a regular cabin vs. single and the obc can also change.