Hi, I'm a Diamond member of MSC's cruise program, as well as on many other cruise lines. My travel partner is currently 40 days into an 80 day epic back-to-back-to-back journey on the MSC MERAVIGLIA. When he is finished, he will continue to travel around the world for several months, and has asked me to book a stateroom on one of his cruises so we can visit before he moves onward.. Various booking agencies, as well as MSC themselves, have availability on several bookings within the next month (in fact, they're offering discounts on these sailings) on this ship,
However, yesterday, when I tried to book a stateroom, for 1 person (since the person I usually travel with is already on the ship), I was told that I could not book, there is nothing available to me, a person who wants to travel solo, yet, if I were 2 people, there would be staterooms available. No single supplement of any percentage was offered to allow booking. I was simply refused the opportunity to book any of the staterooms because I would be alone in the stateroom.
I do understand that cruise lines lose money on solo cruisers, when two people would potentially bring in twice the revenue onboard.
I've been a cruiser on many cruise lines for 40 years, but Never have I heard anything like this. To me, it feels like discrimination... Can cruise lines REALLY legally refuse to sell cabins to solo travelers?
