The Dreaded Single Supplement

Hi Everyone, Sailor here.

As you may know, I'm a single guy.  I'm actually pretty content with that as it appears I had certain anatomical parts removed long ago.  And hey, I've got my Dorothy (& my Nana) for companionship.  Dorothy and Nana are also single, but that's neither here nor there.  They're happy, content, well-balanced and independent - kind of like me except they have opposable thumbs.

What does make my Dorothy unhappy is single supplements.  The "Gee-Nobody-Wants-to-Go-With-You", in your face punishment for traveling (gasp!) by yourself.  In fact, last year she accompanied a 50-passenger wedding group that she organized, and even though she is a travel agent and brought all this business to the cruise line (the one that had a ship without power in the Gulf of Mexico for several days last winter), they still made her pay the single supplement for the cabin she booked to accompany the group.  This was not a pleasure cruise, it was a WORKING cruise (sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it -working cruise - but don't hate her just because she has a cool job) yet she still had to pay through the nose to go with them.

The oceangoing cruise lines just plain expect people to travel two by two - I think it dates back to Noah's Ark.  And if any of those people want to sail on an oceangoing cruise as a single passenger they almost always have to pay a 100% single supplement.  That means they have to pay the cruise fare and the port charges as if two people were traveling, the only thing they don't have to pay twice is the taxes.  My Dorothy has lots of clients who are single due to death, divorce or just not currently being in a relationship - if they want to sail on an oceangoing cruise they have to find some friend or relative to sail with them (not always possible) or pay the "YOU ARE ALL ALONE" penalty.  Hotel rooms don't have single supplements, airlines don't have single supplements, restaurants don't have single supplements, but cruise lines do.  Makes me want to bite someone.  Admittedly there are a few (very few) single occupancy cabins out there, mostly on Norwegian Cruise Lines, and while I applaud them for that, they're all interior cabins - no daylight.  Guess what - single people like sunshine too!!

So here's one of the things she just adores about river cruises.  Many times, especially if you travel during shoulder season (Mar., Apr., May or Sept., Oct., Nov.), it's possible to get a cabin on a river cruise with minimal or no single supplement.  I think the river cruise lines get it.  I mean, studies have shown that more than half of US households are headed up by a single person - even counting on all four paws I can't count how many people that is, but it's a lot.  It's more than the number of cookies in 10 large boxes of Milk Bones.

So if you are drooling over the thought of going on a cruise, but don't want to have to dig up someone (like your great aunt, your weird cousin, best friend from 7th grade or litter mate) to go with you, ask my Dorothy about a no-single-supplement river cruise.  It just might be the solution to scratch that traveling itch!

Remember, keep your nose to the wind and all four paws on deck!  I think I'll curl up under my "Big Dog" blanket for the rest of the afternoon.



Dorothy Flannery is president of Top Sail Journeys, Sailor C. Flannery is Director of Public Relations and all around dogsbody.  If you would like to learn more about European river cruises, check out their sites at http://cruisethedanube.com and http://cruisetherhine.com or for special event cruises go to http://eventcruises.co.