Lowering the Cost of Solo Cruise Trips
And do single travelers have to pay double?
Does It Always Cost Double for a Solo Passenger on a Cruise Ship?
I have never been on a cruise. One day soon I intend to put that right and take to the water, either on the oceans of the world, or perhaps on a river trip.
The cost of cruise travel for a solo traveler can be eye-watering. Look at a number and double it seems to be the rule.
At least, that was what two local travel agents said when I walked in last week and asked. Neither seemed to want to spend much time with me as a potential solo cruiser, probably because the number of individuals who ask the question and then book, is so small once they discover the premium charged, that the agent can’t be bothered.
The impression is, that most cruise lines, or travel agents in my town anyway, don’t want solos. There is some logic in that from their point of view.
After all, a standard-sized twin cabin is only half-full, and the potential for extras such as shore trips is limited, with one sale rather than two per cabin. Then there are extras such as drinks packages or bar bills. Again, a cabin with one person only contributes a single bar bill to the shipping line’s balance sheet.
The only saving over two people to a cabin for the cruise company is one set of meals a day.
Is there a solution to this double-the-price conundrum? The answer seems to be ‘maybe’.
Where to Start
I began researching a cruise recently, looking through printed brochures and various cruise line websites. The words ‘single traveller’ or ‘solo guest’ seems to have been edited out of the text. It’s if we are not wanted.
However, if you dig a little deeper, it isn’t all doom and gloom on the ocean wave. A number of cruise ships do have single cabins. The only way to find them is to look at the layouts of the decks, usually towards the back of the brochure, or by scanning the pictures on websites.
The Single Cabin Hunt
Let’s take a cruise line whose brochure is open on the desk in front of me and take a typical ship in their fleet.
The vessel in question boasts a capacity for 3,100 guests along with 1,250 crew. There are ten decks with accommodation for passengers and each individual cabin is colour-coded and numbered. Different cabin styles are available, from suites, balcony cabins, those with a full or partial sea view, and inside cabins. Right at the bottom of the list are the magic words ‘single cabin’.
There are two options for the single cabins, 12 with a sea view, along with six inside. I make that 18 single cabins in all, although to make that count, I needed a magnifying glass.
Eighteen solo travelers from a total capacity of 3,100. The single cabins are the only ones on the deck in question making it a bit Billy-No-Mates and placed right next to the casino. Not an inviting prospect in many ways.
The Single Prices
This is where it becomes complicated.
Let’s take a specific cruise from the brochure, a Mediterranean fly cruise for seven nights.
Like any cruise or holiday brochure, the prices start ‘from £679 per person’. The £679pp is the cheapest of 60 or so dates for an inside cabin with no sea view on the route between now and October 2025.
Off to the website to check availability and the latest prices. Cruise lines work on dynamic pricing like airlines, which means that the cost of an individual package will change constantly depending on demand, or lack thereof. All prices indicated were at the prices today on the website.
Firstly, I looked at the exact cruise date to find the £679 per person price and found it was still available at that cost. So far, so good, proving that the website matched the brochure price.
Now was the time to test the 18 single cabins squeezed into the ‘singles only’ deck next to the casino. They were all sold.
The next grade is a single person in a cabin which comes in at £1,086 and the space with the sea view is £1,326. With the date being almost two years away, unsurprisingly, there is availability.
An increase from £679 to £1,086 means that the solo cruise passenger is paying £407 more for the trip, equal to 60% over a couple. The size of a single cabin is 130 square feet, whereas the couple, or a solo in a standard inside cabin, have between 159 and 236 square feet to share.
If you fancy staying in the suite as a solo traveler, look to be paying £5,498 which, curiously, is the same price two people would pay in total.
In our example, we discovered a cost of £1,086 for the cheapest date in the brochure and a 60% premium for the solo passenger. Picking three random dates for the route as a comparison, the rate difference remained at 60%, although the cost for each date varied.
Single Cabins Sell Out
While checking various dates during my research for this article, it became clear that many of them had already sold the single cabins.
The moral here is that to grab the dates you want is to book early. In our example where there are just 18 single cabins from a total passenger count of 3,100, you need to be in there fast. Alternatively, if you are flexible with you dates, you could find one a week either side is cheaper.
The Big Cruise
The World Cruise - 100 days or more, up to 274 with one line. The ultimate cruise trip for most of us, but what of the single-person supplement here?
This one was a little more difficult. Our chosen ship has 20 single cabins, from a passenger count of 5,200. Looking at their online booking system, it became clear that with both their 2024 and 2025 around-the-world trips, the single cabins were fully booked.
The comparison is therefore based on the next grade of the cabin, the inside which is suitable for two people.
An inside cabin for this 99-day trip is £9,629 per person, whereas, for the solo cruise traveler, a rate of £15,406 is payable. The premium for a single person on a world trip with this line is 62%. If you want the space of a full suite just for yourself, look to pay just shy of £50,000.
Looking at a second voyage around the world with a different shipping line, (I will do this one day!) the solo premium hit 75%. It is simply a case of undertaking research to find the best options.
Not As Bad As It Seems
Searching for my maiden cruise continues.
The priced examples shown here are for one cruise line and the percentage payable for us solo cruisers will vary between each line.
The secret to keeping down the solo cruisers extra means spending a certain amount of time cruising websites first to find the best deals.
They are out there, although sometimes not as easy to find as prices for a couple. I wonder why?
Safe travels!