Singles Face High Price of Entry When Cruising

In the 1980s the TV show the Love Boat gave the general public a peek at life aboard a cruise ship. Story lines almost always involved a couple or two and one or more single passengers, which perhaps gave consumers the impression that a cruise was a great vacation for a single person.

But most cruise lines don’t exactly cater to solo cruisers. All cruise sellers are familiar with the single supplement, resulting in single passengers in a cabin paying 200% of the cabin fare. But few are aware that some cruise lines are now doubling the taxes and fees, and one cruise line has gone even further and capped the number of single cabins that can be booked on any given sailing.

As advocates for their clients, most cruise sellers aren’t pleased with the way cruise lines treat their solo passengers – though most admit they book very few single cruise passengers.

“The cruise lines are definitely not ‘singles friendly,’” said Kathy C. Bustos, of Bustos Travel Service, who said that for every 50 double cabins, she books one or two singles.

It was Bustos who alerted Travel Market Report to the fact that her singles clients sometimes now pay not only twice the cruise rate but twice the port taxes and fees, as well.

“It is worse now than before. In the past, they paid twice the cruise rate and one set of port taxes and fees.”

Requests to the cruise lines however only turned up Norwegian Cruise Line charging double port taxes and fees.

Cruise Lines Lose on Singles

Nancy F. Yoffe, ECC, of a S.C.-based Cruise Planners, told TMR that Holland America Line used to be “good about only charging 50% supplement, rather than the 100% most lines charge, but that is changing.”

Additionally, Holland America is the only cruise line with a cap on the number of single cabins it will sell on any given sailing – something that shocked, but didn’t surprise, agents.

Yoffe is the only cruise seller TMR spoke with that has run up against Holland America’s policy. Like Bustos, Yoffe said she rarely books singles, though she does have a few clients who sail alone.

“This was the first time I ran into the cap,” she said. “My client looked at other options on Holland but they were charging 75% to 100% (more) so she booked nothing.”

“I am not surprised that HAL caps the number of singles,” said Bustos. “They want at least two-plus people in the stateroom spending money elsewhere on the ship.”

Yoffe agreed that the limit is most likely in place because the line can make more money with two passengers than one – “But I think that stinks,” she added.

Most travel sellers understand where the cruise lines are coming from. Ken Schwinn, of Schwinn Tours & Travel, first told TMR he was shocked where he learned of Holland America’s single cap.

“When you hit me with it, it seemed quite unfair to single cruisers,” he said. “However, considering that cruise lines must make a profit, the limits make sense and are necessary. Single travelers, even if their cruise fare is double the per person double occupancy fare, most likely would spend half as much onboard as would two travelers in the same cabin. Therefore, a sailing with a substantial number of singles would be far less profitable than would a full ship at standard double capacity.”

Single Cabins

Though Schwinn said he understands why cruise lines charge extra for singles, and in Holland America’s case limits the number of singles, he also said, “With an aging population and more single people, it would be thoughtful of lines to design newbuilds with at least a few smaller single staterooms.”

He cited Norwegian Cruise Line as a line that has taken the first steps toward this with its Studio staterooms, available only on Norwegian Epic, scheduled to launch this summer. The Epic offers a select number of Studios, smaller sized inside cabins being marketed as singles cabins.

Additionally, according to Bustos, Carnival Cruise Lines offers a handful of 1A category cabins specifically for singles.

Also, some cruise lines occasionally offer specials whereby the supplement is reduced from 200%.

“We don’t sell single cabins on a regular basis,” said a spokesperson for Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises. “There are occasional and situational times where we will sell a cabin to a single person at a reduced rate. So, for example, instead of them paying 200% for the cabin, we may charge them only 150% of the cruise fare for double occupancy. However, this is not common and is only found in some discounted price programs, not on a regular basis.”

Carnival and Princess also occasionally charges 150% depending upon sailing, while Costa Cruise Lines charges between 180% and 200%.