Singles Cruises: The Complete UK Guide for Solo Travellers

Pick a line that builds proper solo cabins and the single supplement disappears. Norwegian Cruise Line, P&O Cruises, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, Cunard, Saga Cruises, Ambassador Cruise Line, Virgin Voyages and Celebrity Cruises all do it, and which one’s right for you comes down to your age, your budget and how sociable you fancy being.

Singles cruise or solo cruise: what’s the difference?

A singles cruise usually means a themed sailing or charter, put together specifically so single people can meet each other, with mixer events built into the schedule. A solo cruise is just an ordinary sailing you take on your own, where the cabin type and the supplement matter a lot more than any singles branding on the brochure.

Proper singles-only charters are rare and don’t stick around long, so solo cruising on an ordinary sailing is what most single UK travellers actually book. And solo cruising has grown fast.

Figures from CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) show the share of solo cruisers roughly doubling year on year, before easing back to around 7% of all cruise travellers in its most recent industry report, as more people chose to cruise as a pair instead.

What a single supplement costs

A single supplement is simply the extra a cruise line charges when one person books a cabin priced for two, because the standard fare is set per person on double occupancy, and the line loses that second fare. It usually runs from 50% to 200% of the per-person rate, so it’s worth checking where your chosen line sits before you start comparing quotes.

Family-focused lines like Carnival Cruise Line and Disney Cruise Line charge the full 200% and don’t bother with solo cabins at all. Celebrity Cruises sits at 100% to 200% on its standard cabins, and Cunard’s sole-occupancy supplement on a standard stateroom runs 175% to 200%, depending on voyage length and cabin grade.

Book a standard P&O cabin without going for one of its dedicated singles cabins and you can end up paying up to 100% extra on most grades, so read how to avoid single supplement fees before you price anything up.

The cruise lines built for solo travellers, compared

Eight mainstream lines now build solo cabins, or at least run a clear supplement policy for solo UK cruisers, and the right one for you comes down to whether you want a fare with no supplement at all, a particular age group or a quieter ship.

Cunard: solo cabins on three of its four ships

Cunard’s fleet runs to Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2, each with dedicated single staterooms sold at a fixed solo price, and then there’s Queen Anne, which has none. Assume the whole fleet works the same way and you could end up booking Queen Anne expecting a no-supplement solo cabin, only to find there isn’t one.

Queen Anne has no solo cabins, so a standard stateroom there means paying the full supplement. Check which of the four ships your sailing uses before you compare solo fares, and book early regardless, since dedicated solo cabins on any line sell out well before the rest of the ship fills up. The best times to book a singles cruise covers this in more detail.

Solo cabin types: studio, inside, oceanview and balcony

You’ve got a choice ranging from windowless Studio and Solo Inside cabins right up to Solo Oceanview and Solo Balcony staterooms, and which one you pick is the single biggest thing driving the price. Most purpose-built solo cabins are priced for one person with no empty-second-berth charge, though the fare can still land a bit higher than half a double cabin’s rate, so what you’re often getting is a reduced supplement rather than none at all.

If those terms are new to you, the cruise cabins overview explains the general grading.

• Norwegian’s Studio cabins trace back to Norwegian Epic, which introduced the concept for solo travellers and still carries 128 of them, with keycard access to a dedicated lounge for solo guests across the fleet. The guide to studio cabins on cruise ships covers how these work in more detail.
• P&O’s single cabins run from around 101 to 130 square feet, smaller than a standard double, but you still get air conditioning, a hairdryer, a safe and a desk.
• Saga’s solo balconies measure 158 square feet, about 85% the size of a double balcony cabin, and the solo suites go up to 374 square feet with a separate living area and butler service.
• Celebrity’s single staterooms vary a lot by ship, from just four inside cabins on Celebrity Silhouette to far more, with an Infinite Veranda, on its newer ships.

Which solo cruise suits your age: 30s, 50s and 60s+

Age matters more than almost anything else when you’re choosing a solo cruise, since it decides the size of ship and whether you’re on an adults-only sailing, and that’s what shapes who you’ll actually be sat with at dinner. In your 30s or 40s, Virgin Voyages (adults-only, with a crowd generally aged 40 to 55) or Norwegian’s Studio Lounge culture suit a livelier crowd better.

In your 50s, Ambassador Cruise Line’s strictly 18+ policy sits somewhere between the party ships and the retirement-focused lines, and the comparison of Ambassador vs Fred. Olsen is worth a look if you’re weighing up a slightly younger feel against something more traditional.

From your 60s onwards, Saga Cruises (adults-only from 50, with around 40% of its passengers travelling solo) and Fred. Olsen’s smaller ships, each carrying 1,350 passengers or fewer, are built around a quieter pace. The Ambassador vs Saga comparison covers the finer differences between the two for this age group.

P&O’s family ships, Iona, Arvia, Britannia, Azura and Ventura, still carry single cabins for solo travellers who aren’t ready to commit to an over-50s-only line, while Arcadia and Aurora are kept exclusively for adults. Arcadia’s singles cabins book out well ahead of sailing, so don’t leave it late.

Cheap and all-inclusive solo fares: where to find them

Your best bet for an all-inclusive solo fare with no hidden supplement is Saga Cruises, whose fares already bundle drinks, tips, travel insurance and door-to-door transfers into the solo price, or Ambassador Cruise Line, which came out as strong value for solo travellers in a recent study and usually reduces or waives the supplement outright.

Elsewhere, an advertised all-inclusive fare can still hide a supplement if the line has no dedicated solo cabin, so check whether a quoted price is a true one-person rate or a double-occupancy fare with the extra folded in. Since these all-inclusive fares often already cover travel insurance, check what cover you actually need before booking a separate policy.

If you do need one, you can compare UK cruise insurance quotes that account for solo travel.

River cruises as a solo alternative

River cruises give solo travellers a smaller-ship alternative, though solo cabins are thin on the ground, simply because the ships themselves are smaller. Some river lines now offer small single-occupancy staterooms, around 140 square feet, with no supplement at all on specific ships.

Others don’t have a dedicated solo cabin but will cut the standard supplement to as little as 10% to 25% on selected sailings, or drop it through a promotion, and a few run occasional solo-only departures where the supplement disappears completely. The river cruise guide is worth a look too, since solo pricing on rivers doesn’t always follow the same rules as it does on ocean ships.

Adults-only ships vs family ships for solo travellers

Adults-only ships suit solo travellers after a quieter, age-matched atmosphere, while family ships still carry solo cabins for anyone happy with a broader mix of passengers, children included. Ambassador Cruise Line, Virgin Voyages and Saga Cruises strip the family holiday feel out entirely. P&O keeps this choice within one line, so you can pick the atmosphere you want without switching cruise lines at all.

Are singles cruises about dating or hooking up?

Not really, whatever the name suggests. Most of what gets sold as a singles cruise is just a solo-friendly sailing with organised social events bolted on, rather than anything resembling a dating event.

Cunard runs dedicated solo meet-ups alongside complimentary dance classes, team quizzes, fencing lessons and deck game tournaments, and Norwegian’s Studio Lounge is pitched as somewhere to eat, drink and meet other solo travellers, not a dating space. There’s no reliable data saying singles cruises skew towards men, so don’t let that assumption shape which line you pick.

Solo female safety on a cruise: what helps

Cruising solo as a woman is generally considered safe, particularly on lines like Virgin Voyages, Norwegian Cruise Line and Celebrity Cruises, which run solo mixer events and keep a visible onboard community going, so the first night doesn’t feel so exposed. Fixed dining, like Cunard runs, helps too, because you’re seated with the same group each evening instead of hunting for a new table on your own every night.

For more detail, the solo female cruise safety guide and some tips on making friends on a solo cruise cover the onboard side, while the port safety tips are worth reading before you head ashore on your own.

UK no-fly singles cruise departures

Sailing from a UK port means you can reach the ship without flying alone, which matters if you’d rather skip managing an airport by yourself. Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines sails from Liverpool, Newcastle, Dover, Rosyth and Southampton, Ambassador Cruise Line runs its sailings from UK ports, and Virgin Voyages departs from Portsmouth.

The broader look at no-fly cruises from UK ports and at sailings from Southampton covers the wider options if none of these match your usual route.

If this is your first booking, the guide for first-time solo cruisers is worth a read, and Saga’s own solo travel guide and Ambassador’s solo travel guide both go into more detail on what to expect once you’re aboard, alongside the benefits of cruising for solo travellers and a solo cruise packing list for the practical side.

Singles cruises FAQs

Are singles cruises worth it for a solo traveller?

They’re worth it for most UK solo travellers, as long as you book a line with a proper solo cabin or a reduced supplement, since the fare can then land close to a couple’s per-person rate while still giving you a built-in social scene.

Can you book a cruise for one person?

Yes, any cruise line will sell a cabin to a single traveller, usually at the double-occupancy price plus a supplement, though only a handful of lines price a dedicated solo cabin without one.

Are there cruises for singles over 50?

Yes, Saga Cruises, adults-only from 50, has around 40% of its passengers travelling solo, and lines such as Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines build their solo cabins around a similar age group too.

Are singles cruises mostly men?

There’s no published data confirming singles cruises are mostly men, so the idea is more assumption than fact, and it shouldn’t shape which line you choose.

Do cruise lines ever drop the single supplement close to departure?

Yes, lines sometimes drop or reduce the single supplement on unsold standard cabins close to departure, just to fill the ship, but it depends entirely on how well that sailing is selling, so it suits flexible travellers more than anyone fixed on specific dates.

Are cruises good for solo travellers generally?

They generally suit solo travellers well, because meals, entertainment and the transport between destinations are already sorted, which strips out most of the planning and logistics that a solo trip on land usually needs.