Travelling alone

What a Nile cruise costs on your own

A solo cabin costs about 1.65x the per-person double fare, a supplement of roughly 65%. That is the median of 268 published rates across 68 boats, and the spread is narrower than you would expect: 1.48x at the kindest, 1.75x at the steepest, and not one boat in the fleet charges nothing.

Operators quote solo fares per boat and per season, usually on request, so the only way to learn this has been to ask a dozen of them one at a time. Every vessel we hold a rate matrix for publishes a sole-use line beside its double line, which makes the supplement calculable across the whole fleet. Here it is.

A multiplier, not a price. Cheapest overall for one person depends on the underlying fare too.

Is there a single supplement on a Nile cruise?

Almost always, and it is larger than most people expect. Across 268 published rates on 68 boats the median is 1.65x the per-person double fare, so a solo traveller pays roughly 65% more than someone sharing, not the 33% or so a half-empty cabin might suggest. The range runs from 1.48x on MS Chateau Lafayette to 1.75x on Grand Mandarin. Not one boat in the fleet publishes a zero supplement.

How much does a Nile cruise cost for one person?

Take the four-night winter median of US$1,109 per person sharing a double, apply the fleet median supplement of 1.65x, and a solo cabin comes to roughly US$1,835 for the same sailing. On a boat at the kind end of the range that falls to about US$1,638; at the steep end it is nearer US$1,945. Those are fares for the boat, before flights and before anything ashore.

Which Nile cruise is cheapest for a solo traveller?

On the supplement alone, MS Chateau Lafayette at 1.48x, The Oberoi Zahra, Luxury Nile Cruiser at 1.51x, Iberotel Crown Empress at 1.51x. But the supplement is a multiplier, not a price: a boat with a gentle supplement on an expensive fare can still cost a solo traveller more than a steep supplement on a cheap one. Work out the actual figure for the two or three boats you like rather than picking on the multiplier.

Can I share a cabin to avoid the supplement?

Some operators will pair two solo travellers of the same sex on request, and on the bigger ships that is worth asking about because the cabins are conventional twins. On a dahabiya it is rarer, because the boats are small, the cabins are often doubles rather than twins and a single sailing may carry only a handful of guests. Ask before booking rather than after, since it changes the fare rather than the cabin.

Are dahabiyas better or worse for solo travellers?

Slightly kinder on the supplement and much kinder on the experience. The 8 dahabiyas here run a median of 1.56x against 1.66x on the 60 cruise ships. The bigger difference is social: ten or twelve guests eating at one table is an easier week alone than a dining room of a hundred and forty.

Also useful: which boats sail which day and what a whole boat costs if you would rather not share at all.