Solo pricing

[Kevin A]

Hi All

My first time on the blog but I would welcome your own opinions on the email below that I have sent to RCI.  Am I being unrealistic or are RCI being unfair.... thanks in advance.

Whilst looking for a cruise recently, I noticed something that I consider to be both unfair and unethical in your pricing.  As a solo traveller, I am often charged a large single supplement when I select a cabin designed for 2 people.  Whilst some of the supplements are extortionate I suppose I have no choice as I am using a room that you could have filled with 2 paying guests ... I get it!  However, I am aware that a few of your ships do have cabins designed for solo travellers and in my case I found an itinerary on Anthem of the Seas which I know has single studios.  The exact itinerary I am looking at is a '13 night Mediterranean Beaches Cruise' departing 28th June 2020 from Southampton where, as a Diamond level member of your Crown and Anchor programme(313385536), I am being quoted a total of £4,113 for a 2F Studio Ocean View Balcony on Deck 6 or Deck 7.  This is for 1 person, in a single studio designed for 1 and I do not believe there was any OBC, drinks packages etc included with this price.  However, when I look at how much a larger room, designed and booked for 2 passengers it would cost only £2,713 per person (£5,426 total).

I asked one of your colleagues why a single passenger in a single cabin was being asked to pay over 51% more than a sharing passenger in a cabin designed for 2 and the only answer I received was 'this is based on the live system that works with established prices by our revenues team' which, I think you will agree, is not an answer.

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For information, I am not new to travelling on my own and have booked RCI studios previously on recent cruises and the price was much more inline with what I would expect for a studio (ie. pretty much half-price of a double occupancy)

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I would very much appreciate an explanation of your pricing structure and in particular why you charge so much for studios that are designed for 1 person.  I strongly feel that you are penalising us and as I said earlier it is both unfair and unethical.

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I look forward to your response and actually hope that maybe, I have highlighted an error in your pricing which you will now correct.

[Matt]

Welcome! To be honest, I think you're wasting your time asking for an explanation of the "why" in the cruise line pricing model. It is what it is.

When it comes to solo pricing, don't overlook booking with a phantom second person. This can often be cheaper than booking it with just one person in the room.

As it pertains to why is it the way it is, that's a much deeper question and you have to remember that cruise lines are a for-profit company and they model their pricing to provide the best return possible. Long story short, solo cruising pricing is a relatively new offering and RC does not offer a ton of it.

[AshleyDillo]

36 minutes ago, Kevin A said:

this is based on the live system that works with established prices by our revenues team'

This is actually pretty accurate.  The system does price based on supply and demand.  If there's a rush on a particular room category you may see this happen and it doesn't appear to make much sense (e.g. balcony rooms being priced lower than insides).

I understand how it is frustrating that the solo rooms are priced who where the per person price is more than traveling in a double occupancy room.  I would have gone on many more cruises had there been more reasonable prices for a solo passenger.  However, I do see the cruise line's reasoning behind the higher pricing. 

The price that Royal sells a cabin for is only part of the entire revenue picture for the cruise line.  These solo cabins only have one passenger and thus only one person potentially buying things onboard.  Royal has built the potential loss of onboard revenue into the pricing of the solo cabins.  

The bottom line really is if Royal isn't offering the price that you feel is acceptable paying to travel solo, then you vote with your wallet and take your business elsewhere.  

[twangster]

Basically too many other solo guests were faster to book the studio cabins when they were cheaper.

All cabin types are subject to supply and demand pricing. 

Cruise ships cabins are not a fixed price.  They adjust over time based on how well each type of cabin is booking.  

I often see ocean view cheaper than interior.  How?  Because the interior have been selling well and reach a threshold where they increase in price based on demand.  Eventually as people book the now cheaper ocean view cabins they reach their threshold and their prices catch up and exceed interior cabins.  

The same holds true for balconies, especially on Quantum class since those ships have more double occupancy balcony cabins than any other type of cabin.

I've often booked Anthem solo in a regular balcony because that is the cheapest category.  Rather than getting stuck on why one type of cabin is more than another, I simply book the cheapest one I can for the type of cabin I want.

These ships have very few studio cabins, just a handful so they are hot commodities and sell fast.  When they do the prices goes up.  As regular balcony cabin begin to sell better eventually they will once again exceed studio cabins.

Airlines do it too.  The price you paid is different from what the person in front of you paid and different from what the person behind you paid.  Cruise cabins work the same way.

I look at it this way - you can get a regular balcony cabin cheaper PLUS you get double C&A points for being solo in a regular cabin (no double solo points in studio cabins).

[AshleyDillo]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

no double solo points in studio cabins

Do you get still get double points in a regular cabin if there wasn't a solo supplement?

[twangster]

49 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Do you get still get double points in a regular cabin if there wasn't a solo supplement?

Did on Empress 

But I asked C&A by email before booking Empress and Majesty when they didn't have the solo supplement in the wake of Cuba changes.

[AshleyDillo]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Did on Empress 

But I asked C&A by email before booking Empress and Majesty when they didn't have the solo supplement in the wake of Cuba changes.

That will be a sweet bonus for my Oasis Thanksgiving sailing if it happens..not that I'm really worried about points.

[CruiseGus]

In my opinion the pricing pp that OP is using as an example is more than fair.

The pricing structure is most likely based on Sq Ft.  The solo in the example is 119 sf,  the 2 person cabin is 198 sf.  The solo is using 1.66 more dedicated space on the ship than 2 person cabin.  So technically this solo should be priced at around 65% more than the pp cost of the double (the 14% actual saving probably accounts for the food not used).

JMHO but if you think about this way it make sense.

Almost all your travel tours are based on double, and all have a single supplement, if they even give a break to singles.

 

[Sarah]

I priced up a cruise from Southampton to sail this year.  I looked at the solo price and the price if I added a non-travelling mystery companion.  The solo price was more than having two people in the cabin!!  Ridiculous.  In the end I chose to sail with another company.  I only wanted a week's cruise, I didn't mind where to put me onto diamond level in C&A.  Oh well, there's always next year to try!

[YOLO]

@Kevin A  Welcome to the RCB forums!

I feel your pain.  My sister is trying to book solo next year on the Harmony.  She hasn't had much luck.  Sending a letter is a good idea, but in the end it all depends on RCCL.  I suppose a well written letter sent to key employees may work.  For different issues I sent one letter to RCCL that did not work, but one to NCL which did.  Good Luck!