Did I make a rookie mistake? Booked single cabin and now may need to add a person.

[robtx100]

I booked my SIL as a single in a promenade cabin months ago  for our upcoming February cruise. She now may want to bring a friend. The current rate is much higher than when we booked her as a single occupancy. If we add her friend, do they just add port charges and taxes for the new person, or do they charge the current double occupancy fare? I should know this as many cruises as I've been on, but I'm afraid I made a rookie mistake by not just booking double occupancy in the beginning. 

[PWP-001]

I was infuriated to learn that even though I paid double for three cabins, to each sail solo, that I would have to pay more than just taxes and port fees for a second person to join in one.  This is recent and was for a LOTS sailing Nov 2022.  

 

Here are the specifics:  A was booked solo, but now A doesn't want to go, so I thought I could book B in to share with A, just paying port fees and taxes.  Then at last minute, would cancel A for a refund of A's port charges and taxes, so B would sail alone.  (I planned this shenanigan's because I was pretty sure that RCI wouldn't permit a straightforward name change from A to B.)

 

Well, since B never confirmed in time, I canceled A's room for 75% cancel fee and got 25% back plus tax & pc's.  These are for a cheap, cheap 3 day cruise mid-week in an inside cabin, so not much money.

 

Here we are two weeks later, and there's a price drop for balcony's, so for my cabin and another inside cabin for C, I was able to pay $150 to upgrade to a balcony for each of the two cabins.

 

OP... don't know booking pace for your cruise or room type you booked for SIL, but you MAY have luck adding and upgrading during a fare sale:  if the cabin type originally booked for SIL has gone up, it could be cheaper to upgrade to a higher cabin type that's discounted more during the sale for a reasonable price, extracting greater value.

 

In general, while there seems to be greater cruise demand and cruise lines are burdened with tremendous debt acquired during COVID shutdown, I think we'll see pricing policies that border on gouging.  Whether it's cruise fares or $500/hour beach cabanas, they're most likely the norm-- at least for awhile.

 

To me, it's just price gouging to essentially say: 

 

"Yes, we know we made you as a solo traveler pay as if two are in the room, but now that two are really in the room, we're going to reprice your room at current rates.  We are NOT GOING TO EVEN CONSIDER that it's better for us to have two 'buying units' in the room rather than the solo traveler, with double the potential for us to earn in the casino, bars, specialty restaurants and excursion desk.  We know it could be better for us, but we still want you to pay up to our current pricing."

 

Ugh!

 

 

 

[ARandomTraveler]

You didn't make a mistake, you did everyone a favor because if they did in fact sail solo, they'd get the extra point per night because they were actually booked as a solo (vs having been booked as a double with a fake person who would ultimately "no show).

 

If someone else wants to come, let them pay the cost of whatever the difference is for booking late in the game. If it's more than they want to spend, then they don't go on this trip.
 

Why should you guys have to pay more money just because someone decided after the prices went up that now they want to join you? I would never expect any of my friends (or family) to pay additional costs because of my late addition. Either I pay it or I don't go, period.