Booking solo then adding a guest question.

[Janicept]

My friend is thinking about booking a trip next year on Norwegian.  She's currently single but may not be once the cruise rolls around.  Does anyone have experience with booking a normal cabin as a solo traveler then adding a guest later?

[Cruise Gopher]

27 minutes ago, Janicept said:

My friend is thinking about booking a trip next year on Norwegian.  She's currently single but may not be once the cruise rolls around.  Does anyone have experience with booking a normal cabin as a solo traveler then adding a guest later?

Much easier to just book it as two passengers now and then drop one at final payment if she decides to go solo. 

[hallux]

I agree with @SkierRobUMN  One factor that is considered is lifeboat space, if you book as a solo and the lifeboat assigned to your muster station fills before you add a second passenger in your room they won't allow you to add a person.

[MeHeartCruising]

If you try to add a second person to an existing booking for one person, they will have to reprice it for 2 at the pricing and promotion level at the time the second person is added.  The second person would not be added at the same price the original person paid.  In fact, the original person's price may go up (or down) if the current prices are that way.   It's basically going to be a re-booking at current prices.   And as other's point out, at some point, there may be capacity limitations in force that won't even allow additional passengers to be added to a cabin

Edited August 20, 2021 by MeHeartCruising

[julig22]

38 minutes ago, MeHeartCruising said:

If you try to add a second person to an existing booking for one person, they will have to reprice it for 2 at the pricing and promotion level at the time the second person is added.  The second person would not be added at the same price the original person paid.  In fact, the original person's price may go up (or down) if the current prices are that way.   It's basically going to be a re-booking at current prices.   And as other's point out, at some point, there may be capacity limitations in force that won't even allow additional passengers to be added to a cabin

Unless you got a solo discount, you don't pay anything other than the port fees, DSC and gratuities if you are getting food/drink packages.  You're already paying double.

I've done it (was paying double for a regular cabin) and it definitely was not considered to be re-booking.

The only consideration was capacity/lifeboat capacity.  But I agree that it would be better to book for 2, then delete guest #2 if they don't come.

[MeHeartCruising]

28 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Unless you got a solo discount, you don't pay anything other than the port fees, DSC and gratuities if you are getting food/drink packages.  You're already paying double.

I've done it (was paying double for a regular cabin) and it definitely was not considered to be re-booking.

The only consideration was capacity/lifeboat capacity.  But I agree that it would be better to book for 2, then delete guest #2 if they don't come.

 

I'll defer to your experience if that happened to you.

 

But it seems to me that... if prices were $1000 per person when a solo booked (without a solo discount in effect -- the price would be $2000 for that one person (plus taxes and port fees).  6 months later, if the price is now $1500 per person and a second person wishes to be added, that they would not charge anything to add the second person except taxes and port fees?  If the prices hadn't gone up, I would agree with your above situation.    But I guess I'm wrong.

[KateQ22003]

I booked a cruise solo a few years ago and paid of course for two passengers. I won my upgrade bid to a suite, again having to pay for two passengers. I tried to add a friend to the reservation a month before sailing and they wouldn't let me because of lifeboat capacity. Never again! I really paid through the nose for that one.

 

[Red-Sol]

2 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

I booked a cruise solo a few years ago and paid of course for two passengers. I won my upgrade bid to a suite, again having to pay for two passengers. I tried to add a friend to the reservation a month before sailing and they wouldn't let me because of lifeboat capacity. Never again! I really paid through the nose for that one.

 

Ouch!

 

[Russiamomm]

I’m in a similar situation.  I’m on the 10/10 to Bermuda.  Originally booked as solo, paying twice (no solo discount).  Then rebooked through Casinos at Sea and saved a whole bunch of money.  I asked the guy at the time that there was a possibility that a friend may come.  He said it wasn’t a problem to just call and they’d add the name and all that would be owed was the fees/taxes/gratuities on the Free at Sea.  I’m still solo, but the point is that I don’t think it will be an issue as long as the ships are not sailing at full capacity.  There will not be an issue with life boat space.  But I can see that being an out of and when they start sailing at full capacity.

[luvcruzing]

Okay, so I have two solo cruises booked in 2022 with Carnival through their casino program.  I asked the same question about adding someone at a later date and was also told it would be no problem.  But, if I were to book for two when making the reservation, wouldn’t they want the name of the second person?

[MeHeartCruising]

22 minutes ago, luvcruzing said:

Okay, so I have two solo cruises booked in 2022 with Carnival through their casino program.  I asked the same question about adding someone at a later date and was also told it would be no problem.  But, if I were to book for two when making the reservation, wouldn’t they want the name of the second person?

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by MeHeartCruising

[NRWPA]

I've booked solo with NCL multiple (10) times and added a friend about 2 weeks before the cruise. I never had a problem. As someone else said, if you're already paying double, they have no problem adding the second guest who then has to pay the port charges/tax, and 5 free beverage gratuities if applicable. If you were sailing in a sold out cruise with many families with 4 in a cabin, etc., there's a possibility that you would not be able to add someone (lifeboats). But ships are not sailing full at this time.

[KateQ22003]

8 hours ago, luvcruzing said:

Okay, so I have two solo cruises booked in 2022 with Carnival through their casino program.  I asked the same question about adding someone at a later date and was also told it would be no problem.  But, if I were to book for two when making the reservation, wouldn’t they want the name of the second person?

They would, but you can always just add a friend/family member and then change/drop when the time comes. As long as one of the original two passengers doesn't change, it's not an issue.  I would definitely recommend using someone as a placeholder.

[luvcruzing]

3 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

They would, but you can always just add a friend/family member and then change/drop when the time comes. As long as one of the original two passengers doesn't change, it's not an issue.  I would definitely recommend using someone as a placeholder.

 

Thank you.  I didn’t know if that would be a problem or not.

[NRWPA]

9 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

They would, but you can always just add a friend/family member and then change/drop when the time comes. As long as one of the original two passengers doesn't change, it's not an issue.  I would definitely recommend using someone as a placeholder.

If you do this and get the 5 free deal, you will have to pay the gratuities on beverages, port charges and taxes for 2 people (when payment is due). If you don't get the 5 free, you will still pay port charges/taxes for 2. The way I've done it (booking solo, then adding the second guest) I only pay for one person and my guest pays when I add him/her. Like I said, if the ship is full and there are lots of cabins with more than 2 people in them, you could find yourself unable to add another guest. I just have never had that problem although I did read your post saying you did have a problem.

Edited August 21, 2021 by NRWPA

[bluesea777]

Last year we booked Star's Iceland/Greenland cruise (July 2021) and when we told our son he immediately said he wants to come.

 

So I emailed our PCC and he booked a cabin for him. Our DS wasn't dating anyone at the time so PCC added our female cat (with his own DOB) as the 2nd passenger in the cabin. He said it's easier to remove one than to add one.

 

Now DS is dating and his GF wants to come, so we'll do a name change later, before the final payment.

 

 

[UKstages]

i think i've said this before, but you know the old adage? ask ten different NCL reps a simple question... get fifteen different answers. the truth may lie somewhere in the middle. 

 

i am generally a solo cruiser these days and i have asked that same question many times and was always told "lifeboat" this and "lifeboat" that. i got this answer for a caribbean cruise on the bliss in 2019, and again on a bermuda cruise this october on the breakaway and again for a 10-day cruise on the gem next april.  blah blah blah "capacity," blah blah blah "safety,"  blah blah blah "lifeboats!"

 

and that certainly made a great deal of sense to me....

 

but then i asked the most knowledgeable NCL rep i have ever had the same question for a breakaway sailing out of NOLA in december. she said "nonsense. you can always add somebody, if you haven't exceeded the cabin's maximum occupancy. every cabin has a maximum number of occupants and lifeboat capacity is based on that, plus total number of crew members."

 

and THAT made a great deal of sense to me.

 

upon checking, however, i discovered that regulations stipulate that ships only have to have enough lifeboats for 75% of passengers and crew, with the remaining 25% being accommodated by inflatable "life rafts."  

 

i suppose it's much easier to add a life raft or two than an additional lifeboat. but who knows?

 

your guess is as good as mine.

[victory2020]

On 8/20/2021 at 8:35 AM, julig22 said:

Unless you got a solo discount, you don't pay anything other than the port fees, DSC and gratuities if you are getting food/drink packages.  You're already paying double.

I've done it (was paying double for a regular cabin) and it definitely was not considered to be re-booking.

The only consideration was capacity/lifeboat capacity.  But I agree that it would be better to book for 2, then delete guest #2 if they don't come.

This is what I was told by NCL