By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Travel Blogger
Cruising can be a somewhat of a low-cost vacation when compared to a land holiday.
Or not.
There is a fee the cruise lines charge that can turn a cheap vacation into an expensive one. And I am referring to the singles supplement fee.
I was talking to a cruise expert the other day, exploring joining some friends on a seven-day journey, when he informed me the singles supplement more than doubles the price of a cabin. If, say, a cabin is $700 for a duo then it rises to more than $1,400 for one person.
As I started to choke on the beer I was drinking at the time, he explained that cruise ships do this to make up for the lost revenue of the “missing” person. So the single person must, if I understand this policy correctly, pay for person who is not there. This has to be the only business in the entire travel world that has such a policy.
A hotel does not charge you for two people if you show up alone. An airline – even with all its add-on fees – does not charge you the price of two seats when you’re only using one (tho I don’t want to give them any ideas here). A restaurant does not expect you to pay double for a meal when there is only one of you.
Yet a cruise line wants a solo traveler to cover the costs of a non-existent person. You must pay for the drinks they didn’t drink, the food they did not eat and the cabin they did not use. That doesn’t seem right to me.
Not All Activities On A Cruise Ship Are Always Included In The Price
Here’s another thing my cruise expert friend told me. Not all amenities on a cruise ship are included in the price of the cruise. Apparently, some things such a water slide (I’m just using that as an example) may not be part of your cruise cost. On some ships, you have to pay extra for fun activities.
That caught me by surprise. I has always thought that once you stepped on board that everything you see if included in the price. All those activities are part of the experience, right? But how many would you do if you had to pay for a few of them? That would be like a cruel tease, to have something there you can’t use without causing even more damage to your credit card.
The lesson here is to know all this in advance and to check with the cruise line or your cruise travel agent as to what is and is not included in the price of the trip.
And, apparently, don’t travel alone.