Single Supplement: What Solo Travelers Pay on Cruises and Tours (2027 Table, How to Avoid It)
Last checked Nov 7, 2026 Reviewed by Dana Whitlock
A single supplement is the extra charge a solo traveler pays on a cruise or tour for a cabin or room priced for two. In 2027 prices at Tauck and Uniworld, it added 36% to 98% to the per-person fare, and a few cabins waive it. Fares assume two people sharing, so a solo traveler pays for part or all of the empty berth.
- Standard river cabins
- 45% to 48% extra on one Uniworld itinerary, 50% at AmaWaterways
- Paying double
- Royal Caribbean's stated rule and AmaWaterways' suite rate
- Tauck
- no supplement in Category 1, then 36% to 78% extra on its UK site
- Solo cabins
- Norwegian sells them across its fleet, "priced for one"
- Waived cabins sell out
- 186 of 263 Tauck Category 1 sailings were closed to solo travelers
- Tours
- $60 a day on five Rick Steves tours, and nothing extra if you share at Intrepid or on most G Adventures trips
In this guide
- How much is a single supplement?
- How do you calculate a single supplement?
- Which operators waive or cut the supplement?
- Worked example: supplement, sharing or waived cabin?
- How can you avoid the single supplement?
- When should a solo traveler book?
- Do hotels and all-inclusive resorts charge a single supplement?
- What our figures cover and what they miss
- Questions
- How we checked
Before you pay it, check your dates for a waived or solo cabin, then compare that fare with the supplement price.
How much is a single supplement?
At Tauck and Uniworld, the two river lines whose 2027 double and single prices we compared, a paid supplement ran from 36% to 98% of the per-person fare. We read Tauck on November 6, 2026 and Uniworld from an archived page of October 15, 2026. In the table, Uniworld's suites sit near 97%, its standard cabins near 47%, and Tauck climbs from 40% in Category 2 to 70% in its top categories.
| Operator and cabins | Prices read | Lowest | Median | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uniworld Danube Grandeur, standard cabins, US dollars | 38 | 45% | 47% | 48% |
| Uniworld Danube Grandeur, suites, US dollars | 10 | 97% | 97% | 98% |
| Tauck Europe river, Category 1, UK site, pounds | 263 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Tauck Europe river, Category 2, UK site, pounds | 263 | 36% | 40% | 45% |
| Tauck Europe river, Categories 3 and 4, UK site, pounds | 526 | 38% | 40% | 76% |
| Tauck Europe river, Category 5, UK site, pounds | 259 | 57% | 61% | 76% |
| Tauck Europe river, Categories 6 and 7, UK site, pounds | 322 | 67% | 70% | 78% |
| Rick Steves, five 2027 tours, US dollars | 5 | 14% | 16% | 22% |
Each percentage is the single price minus the double price, divided by the double price. Tauck's come from double and single prices in pounds, so its US fares may differ. Uniworld's come from one itinerary, in a copy of its pricing page archived on October 15, 2026, because Uniworld's site refused our requests on November 6. They are regular prices, before temporary offers, and no waived prices appear on that page. Rick Steves' are the published supplement divided by the tour's from-price.
"100% of the fare" is a common rule of thumb, and two operators do state it: Royal Caribbean says a single guest pays "200% of the category rate", and AmaWaterways charges 100% on suites. Among the prices we read, only Uniworld's suites come close, near 97%. Tauck's page calls its waiver "savings of up to 50%", which implies a solo price of twice the shared fare, yet its 2027 prices top out at 78% extra, and its Category 7 suites at 77%.
Wikipedia, citing a 2013 New York Times article, gives a wider range of 10 to 100 percent. We verified 10% and 25% only as limited offers from AmaWaterways, whose standard rate on the five itineraries we read is 50%, or 100% for suites.
How do you calculate a single supplement?
Subtract the double fare per person from the solo price, then divide by the double fare. On Uniworld's Danube Grandeur cruise of May 23, 2027, as archived on October 15, 2026, a Classic cabin is $9,399 per person for two and $13,799 for one. The supplement is $4,400, or 47%.
Some operators quote only the percentage. A 25% supplement on a $4,000 fare means $5,000 for you, and a 100% supplement means $8,000. Check whether the percentage applies to the fare alone or to a package, because AmaWaterways' offers cover the cruise and not its land packages. On a cruise, also ask whether taxes, port charges and daily gratuities are charged for one guest or two. Royal Caribbean states its rule against the "category rate" and Virgin Voyages its cut against the "Voyage Fare", and neither page says how those extras are billed to a solo guest.
Which operators waive or cut the supplement?
Royal Caribbean's FAQ states a 100% supplement unless its pricing says otherwise, while Norwegian sells solo cabins and Virgin Voyages, Tauck, Uniworld and AmaWaterways publish limited offers. Several tour operators avoid the charge by pairing you with a roommate. Every offer has limits, so read the limits column before you compare fares.
| Line | What a solo traveler pays | Limits | Sailing or season | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Caribbean | "200% of the category rate", a 100% supplement | Applies "unless otherwise noted in the pricing". Some guides report solo Studio cabins on Quantum-class ships, but we could not confirm them on Royal Caribbean's FAQ or Quantum of the Seas rooms page on Nov 6 and 7, 2026 | Standing rule | Royal Caribbean FAQ |
| Norwegian | Solo cabins "priced for one"; no fare on the page | Solo Inside, Oceanview and Balcony "available fleetwide"; Solo Studio varies by ship | Standing cabin types | Norwegian solo staterooms |
| Virgin Voyages | Second fare cut "by up to 70%", so about 30% extra at best | Sea Terrace cabins only, not the Lock it in rate; lost if occupancy changes; "may be withdrawn without notice" | Select voyages, all sailing in Nov and Dec 2026 when we checked on Nov 7; terms updated Oct 15, 2026, no end date | Virgin Voyages solo offer |
| Fred. Olsen | "Reduced single supplement", no figure published | Selected cabin grades, "offers varying between cruises" | 2027 and 2028 cruises | Fred. Olsen solo deals |
Carnival, Princess, Cunard and P&O are missing because we could not read a published supplement for them, so this table is a sample of the ocean market.
| Line | What a solo traveler pays | Limits | Sailing or season | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tauck | No supplement in Category 1, same price as double | European river cruises, Category 1 only; 186 of 263 sailings closed to solo travelers | 2027 departures | Tauck solo page, UK site |
| Uniworld | Waived on select departures and cabins, 45% to 98% on the one itinerary we read | "Select stateroom categories only" | 2027 departures | Uniworld 2027 solo offers, archived Oct 15, 2026 |
| AmaWaterways | Standard rate 50%, suites 100%; 25% on a current offer | The 25% covers Category E and D in Europe and Category C on the Mekong, on select sailings; land packages pay the standard rate | Standard rate on five itineraries read; offer for new bookings by Dec 31, 2026 | AmaWaterways solo offers and sample itinerary, EU site |
| Viking | No figure in its FAQ; "On occasion, Viking will make special solo traveler fares available" | Fares are per person "based on double occupancy" | No dated offer | Viking FAQ |
AmaWaterways also lists a waived supplement and a 10% supplement, but both show a booking deadline of September 30, 2026, and the fine print gives different dates. Treat both as ended unless the line confirms otherwise. Tauck also lists £750 off per cabin in select categories on select river cruises, and unspecified savings on select land departures, with details on each trip page.
| Operator | What a solo traveler pays | Limits | Sailing or season | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rick Steves | $600 to $1,020 on five tours, $60 a day on each | Only "a limited number of extra-cost private rooms" | 2027 tours | Rick Steves Tours FAQ, Best of Scotland |
| Intrepid Travel | Nothing extra if you share; a paid single supplement on most trips | On Best of Morocco, a "limited amount" per departure, and the desert camp and homestay nights stay shared | Standing policy, no dates | Intrepid solo travel |
| G Adventures | Nothing extra on most trips if you share; "My Own Room" costs extra where offered | "Some tours have an optional single supplement or rarely a mandatory single supplement" | Standing policy, no dates | G Adventures FAQs |
| Contiki | Nothing extra if you share; a private room upgrade costs more | Rooms hold up to 6, or 8 at festivals; upgrades can be unavailable on hostel trips | Standing policy, no dates | Contiki FAQ |
| Trafalgar | The twin-share price if matched; a single room supplement for a room of your own | Matching on "nearly all" solo tours, same sex | Standing policy, no dates | Trafalgar solo travel |
| Insight Vacations | Nothing extra if matched; a single room supplement for a room of your own | Matching on "most" tours, same sex | Standing policy, no dates | Insight solo savings |
Worked example: supplement, sharing or waived cabin?
Dropping one cabin category saved more than any other option in this example. All figures are samples from one published sailing: Tauck's Rhine & Moselle of July 28, 2027, on Ms Grace, from its UK site on November 6, 2026.
Sample figures: one solo traveler, one Tauck sailing
| Option | You pay | Compared with paying the supplement |
|---|---|---|
| Pay the supplement, Category 2 | £10,640 | Base case |
| Share with a friend at the double fare, Category 2 | £7,630 | Save £3,010 |
| Waived supplement, Category 1 | £7,140 | Save £3,500 |
All three prices are Tauck's own, and both cabins showed limited availability for one guest. A matched roommate would land on the shared row, but the Tauck pages we read offer none. A solo cabin has no Tauck price either: AmaWaterways' single stateroom costs its standard per-person fare, so it compares with the shared row, not the supplement row.
The same sailing shows how sharp the step out of a waived cabin can be. Category 2 costs one guest £3,500 more than Category 1, while a couple pays only £490 more each. On this sailing both cabins are 150 sq ft, and the money buys a higher deck, Ruby instead of Emerald. Category 1 and 2 were the same size on 120 of the 263 sailings we read.
How can you avoid the single supplement?
Four routes work, and the right one depends on whether you want a room to yourself.
- Find a waived cabin. Start with Tauck Category 1 and Uniworld's 2027 solo offers. Category 1 is Tauck's lowest-priced cabin, so check the deck and the size.
- Book a solo cabin. Norwegian's solo cabins are "always priced for one", so compare that fare with the per-person double fare on the same sailing. Fred. Olsen lists 43 solo cabins on Bolette, 49 on Borealis and 65 on Balmoral. AmaWaterways has a few 140 sq. ft. single staterooms with French balconies on AmaCello, AmaDante, AmaDolce and AmaLyra, at the standard per-person fare.
- Accept a matched roommate. Intrepid pairs "solo travelers with another traveler of the same gender", and G Adventures, Trafalgar and Insight do the same by sex. At Contiki, choose "Twin share" and you are assigned one other traveler of the same gender. Ask what happens if no roommate turns up, because G Adventures' FAQ, for one, does not say.
- Share with a friend. Two people on the double fare pay no supplement, and our guide to splitting group trip costs covers who pays what for an unequal room.
Before you pay, ask three things. Does the offer cover this date and this cabin? Does it cover any hotel nights or land package? Who pays the supplement if a companion drops out?
When should a solo traveler book?
Book early for waived cabins. By November 2026, 186 of Tauck's 263 Category 1 sailings for 2027 showed as sold out or unavailable for one guest, and 52 of those were still on sale to couples. On the May 19 Rhine & Moselle sailing, Category 1 was sold out for one guest while still on limited sale for two. Fares also move through the year, so check the cheapest months to travel too.
Offers come and go. AmaWaterways calls its offers "capacity controlled and subject to change without notice". Use a published supplement as your fallback, then compare it with the full trip in our trip budget calculator.
Do hotels and all-inclusive resorts charge a single supplement?
It depends on how the room is priced: a per-room rate has no supplement line, while a per-person rate based on two sharing can carry one. Test it by entering one adult, then two, on the booking screen. If one adult pays the same total as two, you are paying a 100% supplement on the per-person price, and if the total falls, the gap is your real saving.
Club Med shows how this looks at an all-inclusive brand. Its sample prices are "per adult, based on double occupancy", and its terms list a "No Single Supplement" offer for select dates at resorts such as Punta Cana, Cancún and Ixtapa. Every window listed on November 6, 2026 had already ended, the last on June 27, 2026, so look for new dates before you count on it. We read no published solo figure for any all-inclusive brand, so we give none here.
A daily budget built on a shared room needs the same correction. For the cost of a resort stay, see whether all-inclusive resorts pay off.
What our figures cover and what they miss
On November 6, 2026, we read the solo pages and booking terms of the operators above and compared 1,633 double-and-single Tauck price pairs across 28 European river cruises, all 2027 departures. Family departures are included, and Tauck's Croatia voyage and Paris-Dordogne land journey are excluded because they are not river cruises.
Uniworld's site refused our requests, so its offer and its 48 price pairs on one 2027 itinerary come from Wayback Machine copies of October 15, 2026, and its current prices may differ. Tauck's prices are in pounds from its UK site, and AmaWaterways' terms are from its EU site, so US offers may differ.
We have not sailed these trips or booked these fares. Several ocean lines and tour operators refused our requests, so the tables are a sample and not the whole market.
Questions
Do solo travelers always pay double?
No. Paying double, a 100% supplement, is Royal Caribbean's stated rule and AmaWaterways' suite rate, but every paid supplement we read in actual prices was lower. A waived cabin costs the same as one person's share of a double.
Why do cruise lines charge a single supplement?
Fares are built around two people in a cabin. Uniworld's fares, for example, are "per person based on double occupancy", and Holland America says "cruise fares are typically based on double occupancy".
Which river cruise lines have no single supplement?
Of the four river lines whose terms we read, none waives it on every cabin. Tauck comes closest, with no supplement in Category 1 on every 2027 European river sailing we read. Uniworld waives it on select dates and cabins, AmaWaterways has four ships with single staterooms, and Viking's FAQ says only that solo fares appear "on occasion".
What happens if my travel companion cancels?
You may have to pay the supplement. AmaWaterways' EU booking terms say "A reduction in occupancy is subject to single supplement charge" and treat the change as a cancellation with its charges. Read your own operator's terms before you book a shared cabin.
How we checked
We read the sources below, copied the published figures and dated them.
- Royal Caribbean, FAQ: Can I purchase a room for one person?, royalcaribbean.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Royal Caribbean, Quantum of the Seas rooms and suites, royalcaribbean.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Norwegian Cruise Line, Solo and Studio Staterooms, ncl.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Norwegian Cruise Line, Solo Cruising, ncl.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Virgin Voyages, solo offer and Reduced Single Supplement terms, updated Oct 15, 2026, virginvoyages.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Fred. Olsen, Singles Cruises 2027 & 2028, fredolsencruises.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Fred. Olsen, Singles Cruise Information, fredolsencruises.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Holland America Line, FAQ: single occupancy pricing, hollandamerica.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Tauck, Traveling solo with Tauck (UK site), tauck.co.uk, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Tauck, The Rhine & Moselle, pricing and availability (UK site), tauck.co.uk, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Uniworld, 2027 Solo Traveler Savings, Wayback Machine copy of Oct 15, 2026, web.archive.org, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Uniworld, Danube Grandeur 2027, dates and pricing, Wayback Machine copy of Oct 15, 2026, web.archive.org, checked Nov 7, 2026
- AmaWaterways, Solo Traveler Specials (EU site), amawaterways.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- AmaWaterways, Essence of Burgundy & Provence, single supplement terms (EU site), amawaterways.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- AmaWaterways, booking and sales terms (EU site), amawaterways.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Viking, Frequently Asked Questions, vikingrivercruises.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Rick Steves' Europe, Tours FAQ, ricksteves.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Rick Steves, Best of Scotland in 13 Days, 2027, ricksteves.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Rick Steves, Best of Italy in 17 Days, 2027, ricksteves.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Rick Steves, Best of Turkey in 13 Days, 2027, ricksteves.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Rick Steves, Best of Venice, Florence & Rome in 10 Days, 2027, ricksteves.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Rick Steves, Best of Spain in 14 Days, 2027, ricksteves.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Intrepid Travel, Solo travel, intrepidtravel.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Intrepid Travel, Best of Morocco trip page, intrepidtravel.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- G Adventures, FAQs, gadventures.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- G Adventures, Solo travel, gadventures.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Contiki, FAQ: On your trip, contiki.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Contiki, FAQ: Getting to know Contiki, contiki.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Trafalgar, Solo travel tours, trafalgar.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Insight Vacations, Solo Travel Savings, insightvacations.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Club Med, Terms & Conditions for offers (US site), clubmed.us, checked Nov 7, 2026
- Wikipedia, Single supplement (reference only, cites The New York Times, 2013), en.wikipedia.org, checked Nov 7, 2026
Reviewed by Dana Whitlock, editor at Pilot Travel Deals. How we check