Solo passenger gratuities

[Shingles Mark]

Hi everyone 

Im on the Iceland cruise on QA on July 14, 

Ive paid dual occupancy for my cabin , not sure if I have pay gratuities times two ?

Many thanks 

Mark

[carlmm]

You pay the per person gratuities once.

[Pushpit]

Since it is voluntary, even if you did get a double Hotel Service Charge, you can simply bat it back to a single person's charge.

[Bell Boy]

3 hours ago, Shingles Mark said:

Hi everyone 

Im on the Iceland cruise on QA on July 14, 

Ive paid dual occupancy for my cabin , not sure if I have pay gratuities times two ?

Many thanks 

Mark

Are you in Grills category ? if not you have paid 175% 

Either way your auto gratuities will be a single person charge . 

[Se1lad]

I had a recent 3 night trip - my friend was taken ill the day before so I ended up travelling by myself.  They automatically adjusted my bill so that I was only charged one service charge.

[Shingles Mark]

Thank you for your replies everyone. 
Bell boy no I am not in Grills and I can assure you I paid twice the per person price for the cabin . Perhaps it’s 175% if one is able to book a rare solo occupancy cabin.

Mark

[Pushpit]

56 minutes ago, Shingles Mark said:

Thank you for your replies everyone. 
Bell boy no I am not in Grills and I can assure you I paid twice the per person price for the cabin . Perhaps it’s 175% if one is able to book a rare solo occupancy cabin.

Mark

Normally just booking (say) a solo balcony simply involves putting 1 in the Cunard "Find A Cruise" and then if you compare it to a 2 person booking it's quite a discount on the total spend. So take V417A, the QV sailing on 8 July, 7 nights, Rome to Barcelona. If one person travels in Balcony it's £1048 total. If two people book for the same grade it's £1198. [Yes, this is a give-away fare, they are clearly panicking that they haven't shifted all their inventory]. In other words Cunard is pretty friendly to solo travellers, it's by no means always double fare for us.

 

Paradoxically, the solo cabins are so sought after (e.g. some of the best bathrooms on board) that it's more expensive to book a solo occupancy stateroom. So the QM2 Outsides solo routinely cost more than Balcony booked for one person.

 

This explains the question from @Bell Boy since that built-in solo discount does not apply at Grills level

[Bell Boy]

1 hour ago, Shingles Mark said:

Thank you for your replies everyone. 
Bell boy no I am not in Grills and I can assure you I paid twice the per person price for the cabin . Perhaps it’s 175% if one is able to book a rare solo occupancy cabin.

Mark

I'm totally confused with your reply , I have a wealth of travelling Solo with Cunard ( 54 voyages almost eight hundred days)  in Britannia Balcony or more often Britannia Club, never paid for double occupancy always paid less ( approx 175%)  unless I book Grills which is double.

 

Not too sure if the booking was made on line by your self, if so may I suggest booking any future cruises via a reputable cruise specialist, OR, take advantage of booking on onboard ( voyage sales) and transfer the booking to a cruise specialist of your choice who will often in turn offer a further small discount off the original invoice.  

   

[e&mcruise]

15 hours ago, Bell Boy said:

Are you in Grills category ? if not you have paid 175% 

Either way your auto gratuities will be a single person charge . 

Not the case with our QM2 TA. 200% for solo and only half the OBC of dual occupancy. If they tried to charge double gratuities as well we would be.......well less than happy.

[Pushpit]

7 minutes ago, e&mcruise said:

Not the case with our QM2 TA. 200% for solo and only half the OBC of dual occupancy. If they tried to charge double gratuities as well we would be.......well less than happy.

How would you be booking this? Cunard has different deals in different places, but the OP here is UK based, and Bell Boy is right that there is a 13 to 25% discount for single occupancy over double occupancy, with the Grills excluded. The only exception I can think of is a late booking and/or a changed booking, where that discount may not apply. It may be that some TA deals, and some markets outside the UK, have different arrangements. Some TA deals relate to a particular form of packaged price which is not discounted, but clearly there would be the option to book direct instead.

[e&mcruise]

We are in QG.

[Winifred 22]

5 hours ago, Shingles Mark said:

Thank you for your replies everyone. 
Bell boy no I am not in Grills and I can assure you I paid twice the per person price for the cabin . Perhaps it’s 175% if one is able to book a rare solo occupancy cabin.

Mark

In U K 175% if booking with Cunard direct is the standard calculation for solos . I have always paid that rate regardless of cabin grade except grills. Solo cabins are priced differently and come up cheaper. I have several cruises for 2024 and 2025 and have been charged 175% I suggest you contact Cunard as there may have been a mistake or contact you TA if  you used one and query it as it’s not the norm. Same rate as for P&O so presumably a Carnival U K pricing structure. 

[*Miss G*]

I paid 175% booking through Cunard US.

[Pushpit]

43 minutes ago, e&mcruise said:

We are in QG.

Yes, that would be different as mentioned above. QG and PG are not discounted for singles. If it's for a third member of the family what many people would do is book an Inside cabin just for sleep purposes, and that would be discounted by 25% on double occupancy.

[e&mcruise]

1 minute ago, Pushpit said:

Yes, that would be different as mentioned above. QG and PG are not discounted for singles. If it's for a third member of the family what many people would do is book an Inside cabin just for sleep purposes, and that would be discounted by 25% on double occupancy.

We looked at that but then couldn't dine together in QG. If we added the solo to the QG cabin, by the time you had the 3rd passenger in the cabin, drinks package (with one who doesn't drink) plus the cost of the inside cabin it was a push.

[Winifred 22]

2 hours ago, e&mcruise said:

We are in QG.

Grills are always 200% charge for single occupancy but only I set of gratuities charged 

[Shingles Mark]

Queen Anne 8th September 

inside cabin 2 people £3398     Solo passenger £3398 

balcony 2 people £6258.      Solo passenger £6168 saving £90

thats on the Cunard website 

[Pushpit]

31 minutes ago, Shingles Mark said:

Queen Anne 8th September 

inside cabin 2 people £3398     Solo passenger £3398 

balcony 2 people £6258.      Solo passenger £6168 saving £90

thats on the Cunard website 

Yes, I see that too. I think that sailing must be very close to being full since that's a very high price for a 14 night sailing. If you look at say QM2 on 13 April 2025, also 14 nights in the Med (M508) these figures are:

inside 2 people = £2358, Solo = £2063

balcony 2 people = £3518, Solo = £3078

 

So I think that 8 September sailing is getting something of a surge price.

[Shingles Mark]

Looks like everyone wants to go on QA ,let’s hope it doesn’t disappoint. I went on QM2 with my late wife in 2013 it was fabulous 

[Winifred 22]

This bizarre. I have priced up a QA in August I am tracking and again no single supplement. I never checked and just assumed the price was with solo discount but my July cruise which still has availability  is quoting a single occupancy rate. Seems some extra dynamic pricing going on. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

2 hours ago, Winifred 22 said:

This bizarre. I have priced up a QA in August I am tracking and again no single supplement. I never checked and just assumed the price was with solo discount but my July cruise which still has availability  is quoting a single occupancy rate. Seems some extra dynamic pricing going on. 

 

When you say no single supplement, are you saying a single will pay only half of the double fare? I've never seen Cunard be that generous.

[Winifred 22]

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

When you say no single supplement, are you saying a single will pay only half of the double fare? I've never seen Cunard be that generous.

No I mean no discount.  No supplement available so being quoted  x2 adults rates. 

[Bell Boy]

15 hours ago, Winifred 22 said:

This bizarre. I have priced up a QA in August I am tracking and again no single supplement. I never checked and just assumed the price was with solo discount but my July cruise which still has availability  is quoting a single occupancy rate. Seems some extra dynamic pricing going on. 

Unlike the other ships in the Cunard fleet Queen Anne will from 'Time to Time' offer Special Solo rates on 'certain itineraries' . This is because QA does not have Solo Cabins.

This concept was made known in a flyer I picked up ( over a year ago) whilst on Queen Victoria in onboard voyage sales.

 

 Similar to Silversea cruise line   

 

 

[Winifred 22]

2 hours ago, Bell Boy said:

Unlike the other ships in the Cunard fleet Queen Anne will from 'Time to Time' offer Special Solo rates on 'certain itineraries' . This is because QA does not have Solo Cabins.

This concept was made known in a flyer I picked up ( over a year ago) whilst on Queen Victoria in onboard voyage sales.

 

 Similar to Silversea cruise line   

 

 

Interesting. My July cruise was booked over a year ago and definitely has the standard reduction. My love affair with her will be very short lived if I have to pay 2 x adults. Only reason I don’t sail on Princess is a refuse to pay X 2. Have only QV and QM booked so far for 2025 may be staying that way. Don’t remember seeing any flyers last year and was no stranger to voyage sales. Only travel Carnival brands and have zero interest in any others so can’t comment on other lines. 

[*Miss G*]

2 hours ago, Bell Boy said:

This is because QA does not have Solo Cabins.

 

That surprised me! It is Pinnacle-class so I just assumed that it would have the same solo cabins as the ships on HAL. Reading all the differences on this ship has me curious to sail her.