These days, many people book their cruises several months or even a year or more in advance to secure the itinerary, stateroom type, and extras they want for their vacation.
Most cruise lines release itineraries a year-and-a-half to two years in advance and encourage their passengers to book as early as possible.
Related: Royal Caribbean, other cruise lines face Bahamas island problem
But just because you can book a cruise that early doesn’t mean that all the extras are available to reserve at that time. Cruise lines don’t always communicate that properly, though, which sometimes creates confusion for passengers.
Opening bookings so early sometimes creates other complications for cruise lines and their passengers. Occasionally, schedule changes happen, and cruises even have to be canceled.
Cruise lines may also decide to change a ship’s deployment for a future season. When this happens, an entire season of cruises gets canceled to make way for new itineraries from a different departure port that the cruise line thinks will yield stronger bookings.
Sometimes in their efforts to sail ships at full capacity, cruise lines even overbook cruises, which is something Royal Caribbean seems to be doing more often lately.
Doug Parker shared details on how Royal Caribbean is handling its oversold cruises, and a confusing issue Carnival Cruise Line is addressing around booking specialty dining for future cruises, on the June 4th edition of Cruise News Today.
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Royal Caribbean overbooks ninth cruise of 2025
Transcript:
This is Cruise News Today with Doug Parker.
Good morning. Here’s your cruise news for Wednesday, June 4th.
Royal Caribbean has overbooked another cruise — this time the Adventure of the Seas set to sail this weekend from Port Canaveral.
Now the line is offering guests two different choices: either transfer to a different sailing and get a 50% refund plus $300 an onboard credit or cancel the cruise for a full refund and a future cruise credit. This is a six-night Western Caribbean itinerary.
Royal Caribbean has faced repeated overbooking issues this year linked to its use of guaranteed cabin sales where passengers book a cabin type but get their room assignment later. This method is not working out too well for the cruise line, since this is its ninth oversold cruise in 2025.
Related: Royal Caribbean confirms its working on new, smaller ship class
Carnival Cruise Line alarms passengers with sold-out dining messages
And Carnival passengers booking 2026 sailings may see sold-out messages for specialty dining. But the cruise line says don’t be alarmed, as these venues aren’t actually booked up.
Brand Ambassador John Heald clarified that the booking system is showing sold out because reservations haven’t opened yet, not because the spots are taken.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line bans another popular item
Impacted venues include popular spots like the steakhouse, Teppanyaki, and The Chef’s Table. Carnival hasn’t shared when bookings will open but says guests won’t miss out and better messaging is coming to the website.
Guests are encouraged to book specialty venues before the cruise so they won’t miss out, especially with those hot-ticket venues like Teppanyaki and Chef’s Table.
And cruise stocks ended higher on Tuesday. Carnival Corporation: up 2%, 23.96; Royal Caribbean: also up 2% to 66.96; Norwegian: up 3%, 18.29; and Viking: up 2%, 46.50.
If you have a lead on a story, let us know: [email protected].
Here at the Hilton in Seattle. Feels like I’m in the ’80s again or ’90s.
I’m Doug Parker with Cruise News Today.
Have yourself a great Wednesday.
(The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.)
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