Ok this is one of the most frustrating topics of my job, and to be honest I could be opening a huge can of worms here, but frankly after 15 years in the industry being moaned and groaned at by solo cruisers, I thought it was high time to bring it up.
Firstly solo cruisers, I’m a sales agent, that means, I’M ON YOUR SIDE!!! I make this point because for some reason a lot of single guests seem to think it’s me personally hitting them with a whopping single fee. Please understand that this is absolutely not the case! Ultimately the supplements and percentages rest with the cruise lines pricing. Yes I can discount generally, but only to a point. I can’t just ‘wipe out’ half the fare because there is just one person going. I want your business! It’s not in my interest to increase prices, I’m in a job because I have the ability to decrease prices! But I’m not a miracle worker (well some may disagree with this). So work with me folks, I’m not the enemy.
Okay so that addressed, I now move onto the actual point of this blog which is do the cruise lines need to do more in terms of satisfying what seems to be an ever growing number of single cruisers.
More single rooms in each category?
Lower Supplements?
Cabin share scheme?
Solo guided entertainment and dining?
Many cruise lines will argue that they already do the above, and it’s true, some are better than others.
But can they do more? Particularly on the price side of things. Sometimes a single passenger can pay the same as two. Which from a monetary point of view I understand, they have to sell the cabin regardless of the occupants.
Why not have times of the year where supplements are reduced?
Why not increase the number of family cabins to make up the shortfall?
Could any of the cruise lines be brave enough to build a ‘solos only’ ship?
I wonder if that would be the answer….
Ultimately a lot of research would need to be done to build an entirely single cabin ship.
Again cruise lines would say that this might alienate couples, but this wouldn’t have to be the case, there are thousands of couples that have separate rooms at home, for various reasons, medical issues, bed space, snoring etc. All they would have to do is build smaller cabins to get more in.
Who knows what the answer is, but I do think more effort should go into at least these supplements for solos.
Thanks for reading, and as always, until next time….