Another Cruise Canceled After Full-Ship Charter Takes Over Sailing

Just two weeks after we reported that Celebrity Cruises canceled a cruise because it had been chartered, Royal Caribbean has sent out a similar notification for Allure of the Seas.

Guests who had booked the March 7, 2027, sailing on the Oasis-class ship were sent notifications from the cruise line stating that their cruise was officially canceled.

The reason? The entire 5,718 double-capacity ship has been booked by a private charter.

The email from Royal Caribbean stated the following:

“We’re reaching out to let you know that, regrettably, we must cancel our March 7, 2027, Allure of the Seas sailing, as it has been chartered.”

The cruise line acknowledged it’s not ideal and apologized for the disruption to vacation plans.

Although it’s not the message you want to receive after weeks of planning and preparation for a cruise, Royal Caribbean is giving impacted guests a few options to sweeten the pot a bit.

Royal Caribbean is offering several options:

• Automatic rebooking on the March 21, 2027 sailing (same ship, same itinerary) with your original stateroom protected at the lower of your original fare or current pricing. The only different is that the cruise departs 2 weeks later.
• A nice onboard credit: $100 for interior/oceanview/balcony cabins, $200 for suites, plus $50 extra per third and additional guest.
• Full refund option with no penalties if you’d rather cancel and go a different route.
• Waived change fees and some help with non-refundable transportation costs (up to $200–$400 per person depending on domestic/international).

If you do nothing, they’ll move you over to the later sailing. Not perfect, especially if you had specific dates locked in because of your schedule’s availability, but it’s better than getting left high and dry.

So What’s Going On With All These Charters?

Private companies and groups have been chartering ships for years. It’s not a new thing. But they do seem to be popping up more often lately, especially on larger ships like Allure of the Seas and Celebrity Equinox.

Often charters are just for part of the ship, but I’ve been seeing more full ship charters taking over sailings in the last few months.

In this case, the ship has been chartered by Atlantis Events for an all-gay Caribbean cruise.

Is This Becoming More Common?

It’s not unheard of, but it’s happening more on popular ships and popular itineraries.

Cruise lines love the guaranteed revenue from a full charter, and with demand for private events growing, we might see a few more of these pop up in the coming years.

For any sailings that are at least a year out, it’s important to have those notifications from the cruise line turned on.  As we always say, it’s important to have flexible travel plans, and travel insurance is pretty much a must these days.

While Royal Caribbean is doing more than their fair share to compensate impacted cruisers in this case, other travel costs that you might have booked on your own might have to come out of pocket. That’s where “cancel for any reason” travel insurance can give you some peace of mind when you spend several thousand dollars on a much-needed vacation.