It’s not easy to find single cabins on most cruise ships, usually singles have to pay a single supplement.

When one books a cruise, you normally pay a per person, double occupancy price. The single supplement is usually quite expensive – 50 percent+ or more of the total cruise cost because it is designed to recoup the income lost by not having a second traveller in the cabin.

A handful of cruise lines/ships offer single fares without the supplements; click here for some of the major cruise lines’ policies.

The problem is that these special fares may not include all sailings and there may be limited availability. Often single supplements are waived when cabin sales are slow on a particular itinerary.

The great news is that some new ships are being built with single cabins. Norwegian Cruise Line has pioneered this concept onboard its newest vessel, Norwegian Epic, to great acclaim and I certainly hope others will follow.

Depending on cabin sales, some lines offer last minute “singles pricing”.

The moral of the story is “stay in touch with your cruise specialist” and ask them to let you know of any specials aimed at singles. This is a huge market, not only for the younger single cruisers, but for the growing number of single seniors.

ALL CRUISE LINES TAKE NOTE – we need more new ships with single cabins!

Princess Cruises was, I think, the first line to promote cruises as ideal for single travellers. They did it via the hit TV series The Love Boat which aired from 1977 to 1986. (I actually worked on this TV series in Hollywood in the 80’s).