Royal Caribbean has pushed back once again its plans to release new cruises in 2026-2027.
Just two weeks after revising its deployment schedule, the cruise line has done so again and even delayed one deployment until further notice.
The most recent change affects three specific releases: short Caribbean, seasonal Caribbean, and Australia.
Royal Caribbean's deployment schedule is a plan for when it will put new sailings on sale for the first time, with each release tied to a specific region that will take place in 2026 or 2027.
Some new 2026-2027 sailings were announced already in November and December, but there's been a break for Christmas and New Years.
Here's what's changed and what you can expect.
The revised deployment schedule
The new deployment schedule has changes to three regions, with one now paused until a new date can be found.
- Week of February 3, 2025: Singapore
- Week of February 10, 2025: Europe 2.0
- Week of February 17, 2025: West Coast
- Week of February 24, 2025: Short Caribbean
- Week of March 3, 2025: Seasonal Caribbean
- Week of March 10, 2025: China
- TBD: Australia
Revised schedule
First revision
What's changed is short Caribbean has been pushed back to February 24, and seasonal Caribbean has been pushed back to March 3.
In addition, Australia has been placed in "TBD" until a new release window can be identified.
Plans to release new Europe, West Coast, China, and Singapore cruises remain unchanged.
Previously released 2026-2027 cruises
Royal Caribbean has released some of its 2026-2027 cruises in fall 2024, and they're available to book immediately.
Expect more changes
As we've seen twice so far, the deployment schedule could be altered again. In fact, it will given the pause on Australia releases.
The release of new sailings is part of the cruise line's annual tradition of systematically putting new cruises on sale in the fall and spring.
It's also important to note that when the schedule says a release will occur during "the week of" a certain date, it could be any day that week and is rarely actually on the exact date.
As an example, when Europe 2.0 comes out during the week of February 10, 2025, it almost certainly will not be available on February 10. Rather, it will be posted at some point during that week.
Usually new sailings start appearing on the website around midnight GMT, and usually fill out the schedule by the next morning.
Icon 3 announcement is still forthcoming
Something else probably not included in this latest revision to the deployment schedule is when we can start booking cruises on Royal Caribbean's third Icon Class cruise ship.
We know Icon 3 will start sailing sometime in 2026, but the cruise line has not revealed where in the world the new ship will sail, or any other details about it.
The reason why I believe Icon 3 is not part of this updated deployment schedule is because Royal Caribbean usually puts sailings on a new ship out for sale on its own. It's kind of like its own launch event.
It's likely where Icon 3 gets inserted has an effect on other ships. Deployments tend to have a domino effect, where one ship gets moved to a new homeport and other ships get shifted around as a result.
Make plans now before the new cruises are released
While we all wait just a little bit longer for these new sailings, you'll want to start planning to get a jump start on it.
One of the best ways to get a lower price on a cruise is to book as early as you can, and the day new cruises go on sale is the perfect time.
I recommend alerting your travel agent to your desire to book a new cruise when these deployments go live. That way, your agent can get a hold of a cabin immediately.
Of course, we don't yet know which ships will sail from which ports or when they will depart, but having a plan in place now ensures you'll get a room booked quicker when they do release.
As an example, if you want to cruise during a major holiday, there's bound to be a weeklong cruise offered that week. So you could tell your travel agent to book a balcony cabin on whichever ship is sailing from a certain port over a given holiday.
The other really good reason to book something immediately is if you want a suite.
Suites are almost always the first category of stateroom to sell out on any sailing because they are the fewest types of rooms on any ship.
