Royal Caribbean and Carnival market themselves as family cruise lines.
They offer extensive kids' clubs and family-friendly features like water slides, bumper cars, indoor skydiving, ice skating arenas, roller coasters, escape rooms, and more.
Both cruise lines market to families, but when it's not summer or school vacation, they serve couples traveling without kids, older couples, and solo travelers.
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When you take a cruise by yourself on Royal Caribbean (RCL) -) or Carnival, you pay what's known as a solo supplement. Essentially, aside from taxes and port fees, a solo cruiser pays for two people because cruise cabins are sold based on double occupancy.
Royal Caribbean has a limited selection of solo cabins on Brilliance of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas, Quantum of the Seas, Ovation of the Seas, Harmony of the Seas, and Spectrum of the Seas. Those ships, aside from Harmony, also generally sail out of Alaska, Australia, and other exotic locations, not the company's core Florida and Texas ports.
Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) -) has no solo cabins. That means that solo travelers planning to sail with the cruise line essentially have to pay the same price as two people, who almost certainly eat more food, consume more entertainment, and take up more room at the pool.
It's a flawed system — and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) -) has taken a major step to correct it.
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Norwegian adds more solo cabins
When a cruise line sells a solo traveler a cabin that can accommodate two people, it costs itself revenue unless it charges the double occupancy price. But not accommodating single travelers who don't want to pay twice as much for their cruises also costs the cruise lines money.
Norwegian has solved this problem by greatly expanding its solo-cabin offerings. The cruise line has offered some solo cabins since 2009, but it is adding a lot more.
"NCL will introduce 1,000 solo cabins across its fleet of 19 ships. The solo cabins, available Jan. 2, 2024, will come in three categories: Solo Inside, Solo Oceanview, and Solo Balcony," Travel Weekly reported.
That's a start, but the cruise line is actually doing a lot more,
Norwegian makes solo sailing better
Norwegian is offering solo rooms of 100 square feet (9.3 sq. m.), compared with a normal double cabin at 185 to 200 square feet. It's also offering planned activities for solo travelers, and on some ships the cruise line has a dedicated lounge for them.
"As a Studio guest, you will have exclusive key card access to the Studio Complex and Lounge," the cruise line said on its website. "This shared private area is where you can stretch out, have a drink, order room service, watch the big-screen TV, and meet your neighbors."
Not every ship offers the Studio Complex and Lounge, but the ones that have it will attract solo travelers looking to make friends or romantic connections.
Royal Caribbean has self-directed solo meetups on its cruises. This is essentially the cruise line telling solo travelers where they can meet but not organizing any actual activities.
Norwegian, even on ships that do not offer the Studio Complex and Lounge, generally offers more to solo travelers.
"During each of Norwegian's sailings there are plenty of opportunities to meet fellow passengers," the company said.
"Most sailings have singles meetups for those cruising alone. Some of our onboard cruise staff host bar crawls around the ship, or even get your pride on at the Friends of Dorothy happy hour happening every night."
Virgin Voyages hosts solo-traveler events on many sailings and sometimes reserves tables in various restaurants to enable people traveling alone to sit together.
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