The era of solo cruising is here: Norwegian will soon have more than 1,500 rooms just for singles
Brittany Chang
- Norwegian Cruise Line will double its number of staterooms designed for solo travelers in 2024.
- There will now be solo inside, ocean view, and balcony staterooms along with the existing studios.
If you're drawn to the convenience and freedom of traveling alone, you could soon find yourself passing on a big backpacking trip to go on a cruise instead.
On Tuesday, industry giant Norwegian Cruise Line announced it will roll out an additional almost 1,000 staterooms designed for solo travelers in 2024. And if more cruise lines continue taking cues from the rapidly growing trend of vacationing alone, we could see a growing number of these cabins.
Cruising alone can be expensive for travelers who're only interested in typical staterooms.
To make up for revenue loss on double occupancy rooms, some cruise lines charge a "single-supplement" fee for independent travelers who want to book these traditional accommodations.
On cruise lines like Silversea, this fee starts at an additional 25% on top of the base fare.
With Royal Caribbean, this payment could double the cost of a trip.
But for travelers who prefer cruising alone, there is one cost-saving light in the dark: solo staterooms.
Having accommodations designed for just one traveler isn't standard across every cruise ship. But companies like Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Celebrity Cruises, and Virgin Voyages all operate vessels that offer just that.
In 2021, both Oceania Cruises and Atlas Ocean Voyages announced its then-upcoming ships will have staterooms designed for solo travelers.
At the time, Alberto Aliberti, then-president of Atlas Ocean Voyages, said travelers could see single supplements as a "major obstacle" and a "penalization" for solo vacations, he told Insider in 2021.
The new Oceania vessel, the Vista, finally set sail in May with single-person "concierge level" veranda staterooms, a first for the cruise line.
And for the first time, Princess Cruises' upcoming Sun Princess will sail in 2024 with accommodations designed for single travelers as well.
So if Norwegian's announcement indicates cruise industry titans are continuing to take interest in solo travelers, we could see more announcements like this in the future.
The company says it was the first to create solo cruising accommodations when it implemented this stateroom category on the Norwegian Epic in 2010.
Norwegian says its single-person hotel rooms at sea have been a hit as more people continue to vacation alone.
As of now, Norwegian has 642 studios — the name for its solo traveler accommodations — across nine ships. These smaller rooms (pictured above) are no comparison to its more luxurious double occupancy staterooms.
But on January 2, 2024, the cruise line's number of single-person accommodations will exceed 1,500 across its fleet of 19 ships.
And these rooms will no longer be tiny 100-square-foot boxes.
From 2019 to 2022, the cruise line saw more solo travelers booking staterooms that weren't studios.
So to meet this demand, Norwegian will implement three new solo stateroom options: inside, oceanview, and balcony. And some will be available to book as soon as this week — the cruise line won't make any physical changes to its existing staterooms, a spokesperson told Insider in an email.
Travelers booking these will still have access to the Studio Lounges pictured above, a private space for solo cruisegoers available on several ships.
For cruisers who enjoy Norwegian's plusher staterooms, it's a big cost-saving announcement.
The cruise giant's solo supplement is 100%. In terms of pricing for these new cabins, travelers "can expect to pay less" than the typical double occupancy stateroom "with pricing and availability dependent on the destination and demand," the cruise line said.
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