For years the bane of taking a cruise for single travelers has been the additional 125% up to 200% supplement they are charged. Why are single supplements charged? Unlike an airline seat that can go empty on one flight and be sold the next, often in the same day, cruise cabins, which have almost always been built to accommodate two or more persons, on average operate 7-day cruises or longer. A berth that’s not sold to a paying passenger goes unocupied for that entire week, or longer. 

The cruise line has fixed costs to operate each cruise, including staff onboard, and doesn’t have the luxury of “staffing up,” or down, based on the number of passengers onboard.  As a result, single travelers that exclusively occupy a cabin meant for two or more persons are assessed a supplement to help defray the loss of revenue on the unoccupied berth. While some cruise lines have periodically waived single supplements, overall, single travelers have not had many opportunities to cruise on mainstream cruise lines and avoid paying more.

But single travelers can toast Norwegian Cruise Line, whose new ship, the Norwegian Epic, will feature single cabins! Norwegian’s exciting new ship will include 128 studio cabins, that will be smaller than a standard cabin for two persons, and feature a “Living Room,” a common area with a lounge, private bar and two large-screen TVs.

Dan Ilves
dan.i@travelstoreusa.com

Tags: Dan Ilves, Norwegian Cruise Line, Norwegian Epic, single travelers

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 11:00 pm and is filed under Cruise Industry Topics, Norwegian Cruise Lines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.