CruiseStar
Starting today, October 11, 2026, Royal Caribbean is running a new North American cancellation schedule on all new bookings. The line told travel advisors on September 28 that it was simplifying its penalty structure, and the full rollout lands today.
The practical result is not friendlier. The gentlest penalty tier is gone, and canceling a sailing in the weeks after final payment is due can now cost twice what it did.
Royal Caribbean
Symphony of the Seas
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The headline change: the 25% tier is gone
Under the old schedule, passengers canceling a five-to-14-night sailing 89 to 75 days before departure paid 25% of the cruise fare. That was the softest landing available after final payment.
Starting today, that tier no longer exists. For five-to-nine-night sailings, the penalty jumps straight from no charge to 50% at 89 days out. There is no intermediate step between owing nothing and losing half your fare.
Put it in dollars. Cancel a $3,000 cruise 80 days before departure and the old rules took $750. Under the new schedule that same cancellation costs $1,500.
New sailing-length bands
Royal Caribbean also reshuffled its sailing categories. The old five-to-14-night and 15-plus-night bands are out. The new bands are five-to-nine nights and 10 nights or longer.
The new penalty schedules:
- Five to nine nights: 90+ days out: no charge. 89 to 61 days: 50%. 60 to 31 days: 75%. 30 days or fewer: no refund.
- 10 nights or longer: 120+ days out: no charge. 119 to 61 days: 50%. 60 to 31 days: 75%. 30 days or fewer: no refund.
- Four nights or fewer: unchanged.
The band shuffle hits 10-to-14-night sailors hardest. Those sailings now fall into the 10-plus-night band, which carries a 120-day final payment deadline. That is a full month earlier than the 90 days those cruisers were used to planning around.
Third and fourth guests are no longer waved through
Penalties for third and fourth guests in a cabin will now be applied automatically through the reservation system rather than handled manually. Travel trade reporting notes that the routine practice of waiving those charges is ending, which matters most for families who assumed the kids on the booking would be forgiven.
What about bookings you already hold?
Sailings already open for sale stayed under the current schedule until today, when the new structure goes live across the board. The new rules already apply to the 2028-2029 Alaska, Hawaii, Pacific Coastal and Transpacific sailings that opened for booking on September 29.
If you booked before October 11, check which penalty schedule your confirmation falls under, especially around your final payment date. Do not assume the old dates still apply.
How to protect yourself from here
- Know your final payment date before you book. On a 10-night sailing that date just moved 30 days earlier. Put a reminder two weeks before it, not the day of.
- Buy travel insurance early. Once final payment passes, the first cancellation window now opens at 50%, so insurance is doing more of the protecting than it used to.
- Hold, do not book, when you are unsure. If your dates are soft, an agency hold or a refundable deposit category is worth more than it was a week ago.
- Read the actual penalty table on your confirmation. The tiers above are the North American schedule; the dates on your booking are the ones that count.