Sailing solo with HAL prices?

[Will_Dieterich]

3 hours ago, Moriah said:

 

First of all, why would you "call them up" and tell them the cabin-mate can't make it?  Are you saying you would sign up a person who never intended to come, and check them in and everything, and pay in advance for their port fees, etc?  Besides the fact that this is ridiculous, if you are going to do this, just go get on the ship because if your cabin-mate does not show up, you will still get YOUR OBC but you will NOT get theirs.  You will sail in the cabin you booked, you will be charged for YOUR port fees and taxes and get YOUR OBC, but again, not theirs.  I fail to see any "benefit" at all, because as said, you will NOT get their OBC.  If that fictitious cabinmate HAD shown up, their OBC would be on their account, and yours on yours.  Yes, they divide the amount in two and allocate it that way.  As for HIA, I have no idea.  So again, knowing you will NOT get the OBC for two people, why would you do this? 

The benefit is that there are various promotional programs where they don't give OBC to single cruisers and since you with some of the single supplements being at 100% you are paying as if two people would be there.  So it is an attempt to get the promotional benefit that people paying the same amount of money, for two people, that you are paying for a single.

 

[Moriah]

15 minutes ago, Will_Dieterich said:

The benefit is that there are various promotional programs where they don't give OBC to single cruisers and since you with some of the single supplements being at 100% you are paying as if two people would be there.  So it is an attempt to get the promotional benefit that people paying the same amount of money, for two people, that you are paying for a single.

 

But as I said, you would NOT get the OBC for two people, unless both people actually board the ship, so in that case there is zero "benefit."

[RuthC]

5 hours ago, Will_Dieterich said:

The benefit is that there are various promotional programs where they don't give OBC to single cruisers ... .

For example? 

I have been sailing solo for years, and have received all the OBC that goes with the cabins I selected. 
I have received credits for booking Future Cruises, early bookings, shareholders credits, gotten half what a couple would get when HAL was trying to make up for something. 

Bad enough that I have to pay (usually) double for the cabin, but I have never been cheated on the OBC portion of the transaction. 

[Woofbite]

On 5/30/2024 at 11:02 PM, westerdam said:

Well, I called HAL today and like some of you said there is no set rate for singles. I bit the bullet and am booking the Nieuw Statendam for the westbound Transatlantic this fall.  It ended up being 200 percent for occupancy of an inside cabin. Wish they still did single share but c'est la vie!

All us singles can sympathize but I think they only charge you for one port charge so it should look slightly lower than 200 percent of what a double costs if it makes you feel any better.

[rj59]

No such thing as a single share any longer. I always go solo, but you never book or search on HAL, since it doesn't show solo pricing. I use cruiseplum, which not only allows you to search for one passenger, but you can also rank the search for overall cabin cost per day, and they have a hot deal and solo discounts section. I've never seen a solo discount on HAL, so I simply have to look for the cheapest fare option, like a Zaandam I just did to Alaska for $750 for a solo, and then cruising to Mexico just after holidays. The Top 10 section on HAL will show deals also, but then you just have to double the listed price to get the solo one. 

[oakridger]

17 hours ago, rj59 said:

but you never book or search on HAL, since it doesn't show solo pricing.

 

The HAL booking site will give you the solo fare in a mock booking.  It won't search for cruises by price though.  I've booked my solo fare on the site a couple of times. (then transferred to my TA)
 

 

~Nancy

 

 

 

 

[sambamama]

The problem with those solo ocean view cabins is that they are charged at the 200% rate. If they charged them at 150%, I would have no issue with that. But they dont. They charge a full 200% for a smaller room, and more of course because it is an ocean view. Its significantly cheaper to book an inside guarantee. I have never booked an inside guarantee and not been upgraded to an ocean view for free. Never! Of course I book a year or more in advance. I won't book an ocean view ever again unless I am sharing a cabin or it is a sale where ocean views are the same price. But based on HAL's prices, I won't be cruising anyway. 

[DuellingDessertSpoons]

A couple of years ago I was booked on KDAM into a solo cabin and called a week before sailing and upgraded to a verandah. Only cost about $100 for the upgrade. Of course this was a lightly loaded repositioning cruise. 

[BermudaBound2014]

There is a 25% solo supplement on the Koningsdam in October if anyone is interested: 

 

[JimDee363636]

I'm in one of those solo OV cabins on the lowest deck of the K-dam for the Oct. 22-26 Vancouver to San Diego repositioning cruise. The cost was $394.00, plus taxes and port charges---a couple hundred dollars less (at the time) than a solo inside would have been. These cabins are under the theater, not the music walk, so most nights there will be nothing going on directly above you after 10:30PM at the latest.

 

I'm looking forward to the experience.

 

Jim

[BermudaBound2014]

20 minutes ago, JimDee363636 said:

I'm in one of those solo OV cabins on the lowest deck of the K-dam for the Oct. 22-26 Vancouver to San Diego repositioning cruise. The cost was $394.00, plus taxes and port charges---a couple hundred dollars less (at the time) than a solo inside would have been. These cabins are under the theater, not the music walk, so most nights there will be nothing going on directly above you after 10:30PM at the latest.

 

I'm looking forward to the experience.

 

Jim

 

I had 1011 on the K-dam and absolutely LOVED that cabin! Super roomy and no noise. Great cabin stewards too. Enjoy 🙂

[sambamama]

Yes, sometimes there are bargains.  But they are few and far between, and usually last minute. 

[Laminator]

Now this is simply an idea to help solo travelers who cruise alot. It requires an initial investment but can save you quite a bit of money in the future. From what a very large group of casino players can tell it appears that 5000 points on a 7 day cruise will get you a come back and sail offer of a free inside cabin with a small amount of free play and drinks in the casino. You have to book that offer within a year and I believe it is limited to cruises up to 14 days. The main goal is to get on the email list. Every email offer allows you to book up to 3 cruises. The Voyage of the Vikings cruise was on one of my offers. The casino pays for the cabin so the solo rate does not apply. The goal is to get on that email list as that is the gift that keeps on giving. I usually receive 2 to 3 offers a month from the casino division. 
5000 points requires you to roll $10,000 thru a slot machine. As with any form of gambling there is a very good chance that you will lose. But you will also win as you are playing. If you lost $3000 from rolling $10,000 thru the machines but you get an offer and get on that email list you will come out ahead as a solo traveler as your cabin cost is nothing. All you pay are Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses. And if you decide later you want to bring someone with you they can be added onto the reservation. 
There is a large group of 6000 Holland America Casino Players on a forum I can not mention on CC. It has something to do with what you see when you look in the mirror. Alot of very valuable info there. 
This is a list of the last cruise offers I received as an example.
Directory Offers (hollandamerica.com)

 

Edited June 10 by Laminator

[JimDee363636]

@Laminator

For the right person, your information is very helpful. If you're going to spend hours in a cruise ship casino anyway, you're crazy not to get something for it (other than the hope---usually an unrealistic one---of coming out ahead).

 

But I think I'd feel that a "free" cruise was too much like a job. You're basically punching a time clock every time you sit down at a slot machine. If the hours (or money spent) aren't up to what your "bosses" expect, this will probably be the last offer you get from them. For me, it would be too much pressure, but, as I say, for the right person it could be a great deal. 

 

Jim

[NCTribeFan]

I haven't received a free cabin offer for a while.  I could have sailed all summer in northern Europe last year in free interiors.

 

We'll see if my play is enough in November to get my offers to start arriving again, but doubtful as it's only 7 nights.  If not then, perhaps on K'dam next January when I'm sailing for 24 nights.  But I have a casino budget.  I'm not going to play way past that trying to "earn" a free cabin.

 

Anyway, I'm solo.  What I do is go online, do a mock booking without logging in (but only for 1 passenger).  Once I see the cost, then I log in to see how much it drops.  It's anywhere from a 15-30% decrease.

 

Not interested in the solo OV cabin. I don't want to be that far forward.  And I prefer a nice, dark interior.  You should've seen my meltdown in January on Eurodam went I checked in at Port Everglades and discovered I'd been "upgraded" from my wonderful large J cabin on Main to an obstructed view.  I made them move me to a regular, smaller inside cabin.

 

I think most OBC is "per cabin" and not "per person" so I get the same amount that everyone else gets sailing double, triple, or quad.  The only OBC I have been refused was S/H credit when I was on a free or deeply-discounted sailing.  I expect to be declined for my November sailing (not free, but a casino discount; I'll submit it and see) but should have a nice OBC for my 3 bookings after that (all over 14 nights).

 

FTR, Virgin has solo interior cabins.  I had a regular interior on the Scarlet Lady TA in April.  Flew from Barcelona to Athens and boarded Resilient Lady, where I had a solo interior.  It was tiny, but I actually really liked it.  It was cozy.  And it was less than paying 200% for a regular interior.  I have a verandah on next spring's TA, but if I book on Virgin again, I'll go for the solo interior unless I get a bargain on a verandah.