Teri West
Solo travel may be a hot travel trend (anyone else binge Tracee Ellis Ross's solo travel-themed show this summer?), but it's still something of a conundrum for cruise lines.
The reason is simple math: higher occupancy on a cruise ship means more per-cabin revenue. Selling a cabin to just one traveler when it could fit multiple leaves money on the table. A higher occupancy also means more in onboard spend.
But many single travelers balk at the single-supplement rate, which can be prohibitive; on the other hand, they also don't want to share a cabin with a friend or stranger. Sensing an opportunity, Norwegian Cruise Line was at the forefront of working to cater to solo travelers, debuting custom-built, cabins-for-one on the Norwegian Epic in 2010. It was an instant public-relations win -- and a sales win: According to senior vice president of sales John Chernesky as recently as 2023, the solo cabins sell out quickly.
But on Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings' Q3 earnings call, it seemed like one of solo travelers' allies in cruise was pulling away. On the call, chief financial officer Mike Kempa said, "We want to get back to historical load factors."
Chiming in, CEO Harry Sommer said, "We're also focused on, if you will, minimizing the number of single cabins that we take across all three brands, not just for NCL but for Oceania and Regent."
Sommer later clarified the company's position: It's not abandoning the cause. "While we will be looking at optimizing our single cabins, it is still an important segment we want to continue to cater to," he said in a statement. "NCL was the first to deliver solo staterooms in 2010 with the launch of Norwegian Epic, and since then, every ship with the exception of Norwegian Joy features studio staterooms. ... We are still focused on this category with our upcoming Prima-class ships, which will continue to deliver this offering."
But what about the luxury segment? Luxury lines are popular with travelers seeking a solo cabin, agency sources told me: Adults traveling as friends often prefer their own space, and you'll also find widows or widowers traveling solo with family or friends on luxury ships.
Crystal, Atlas Ocean Voyages and Virgin Voyages have solo accommodations to their lineup, as does the Oceania Vista.
Still, the fact remains that despite the prevalence of the luxury traveler seeking a solo cabin, cruise lines are typically not inclined to build solo cabins or waive single supplements. Again, it's about efficiencies.
"They base all of their commercial models off double occupancy and hitting a certain number of berths," said Fora interim head of cruise Shelley Wise. "So solo travelers have always been a bit of a challenge economically."
Advisors see more promotional deals on single supplements in the luxury and river space, Cruise Planners chief operating officer Theresa Scalzitti said. But they're just that: deals. They come and go and are rarely evergreen.
"A lot of times it's last minute or it's closer-in travel," Wise said.
If NCLH is moving to minimize single cabins, might other cruise companies be developing similar plans?
That's more likely the case with contemporary lines, which, like NCL, are increasingly catering to a family market as they ramp up their private destinations with experiences like waterparks for guests of all ages, said Truist Securities analyst Patrick Scholes. A recurring theme throughout NCLH's earnings call was its desire to attract more families with children to NCL.
Plus, Scholes said, "I think it's probably going to be a little bit harder, not impossible, but harder, to dissuade older, single friends who are like, 'Listen, I'm 75 years old. I like my friends, but I want my own cabin.'" In other words, those passengers will pay the supplement for the privilege of a solo cabin.
But for most lines, a shift toward selling fewer single cabins wouldn't be particularly dramatic, since they've resisted offering too many deals on them in the first place.
"It was very well received because I think that there was a need for that, but we didn't really see a lot of the other lines following in that suit," Scalzitti said. "Maybe financially it makes more sense to have a higher occupancy cabin."