Royal Caribbean makes generous offer to fix overbooking issue
CocoCay can accomoadate two of Royal Caribbean's largest ship.Image source: Daniel Kline/Come Cruise With Me
Although overselling flights is common among some airlines to compensate for "no-shows," overselling cruises is not something cruise lines regularly do.
Occasionally, it does happen, potentially when the cruise line anticipates receiving some late cancellations. But other factors can contribute to cruise overbookings, too.
Related: Royal Caribbean follows Carnival with new island development move
When cruise overbookings happen, certain cruisers sometimes get the chance to score big if they're willing to be flexible with their travel plans.
One such opportunity was just presented to some Royal Caribbean cruise passengers booked on an upcoming Mediterranean cruise. And in this case, even just being willing to switch to a different stateroom category could reward select flexible cruisers with a nearly free vacation.
Sign up for the Come Cruise With Me newsletter to save money on your next (or your first) cruise.
This Royal Caribbean cruise ship was just upgraded to add new features like the Ultimate Abyss 10-story dry slide. Image source: Royal Caribbean
Royal Caribbean offers free cruise to flexible Allure of the Seas passengers
Royal Caribbean reached out to some passengers booked in an oversold stateroom category on the May 15 Western Mediterranean cruise aboard Allure of the Seas. They received a very generous offer to entice them to change their booking, according to RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com, an unofficial fan blog not affiliated with the cruise line.
"If your plans are set in stone, please mark this email as 'Read,' and gear up for your upcoming adventure - although, there are some pretty sweet options below," the cruise line's email suggested.
Royal Caribbean outlined two enticing options that could be available to passengers with flexible travel plans, and both options came with a full refund of their cruise fare, even though they'd still get to cruise.
Related: Royal Caribbean CEO reveals key trend that's costing cruisers
The first option offered a full refund plus a $200 onboard credit to passengers willing to move to an interior stateroom, which suggests that only the higher stateroom category these passengers booked was oversold.
The second option also offered a full refund of their cruise fare, but required the passengers to transfer to a different sailing on another ship – the May 18 Greek Isles cruise aboard Odyssey of the Seas that departs from Rome, the same port as their original Allure of the Seas sailing.
With this option, passengers would get the same stateroom category, but the complimentary transfer would only cover their cruise fare for the new sailing and exclude taxes, fees, and gratuities (about $280 per person).
Be the first to see the best deals on cruises, special sailings, and more. Sign up for the Come Cruise With Me newsletter.
Allure of the Seas is a popular ship that just got major upgrades
For most cruisers, especially those set on their itinerary, departure date, and ship, changing stateroom categories would likely be a more attractive option if they want to take advantage of the generous refund offer.
The cruise ship and itinerary likely matter most in this specific situation. Although the two cruises both leave from Rome on seven-night itineraries, they visit different ports and sail on ships from different classes.
It's likely that many passengers would want to stick with Allure of the Seas due to the fact that Royal Caribbean just completed a highly anticipated $100 million upgrade of the fan-favorite Oasis Class cruise ship.
Related: Royal Caribbean adds new onboard WiFi option cruisers will love
Highlights of the revamped ship include new bars and restaurants, a reimagined resort-style pool deck, and new thrills like the 10-story dry slide, the Ultimate Abyss. The ship's renovation also added more than 100 additional staterooms across various categories.
Allure of the Seas is cruising in Europe this summer for the first time since 2015, sailing seven-night Western Mediterranean cruises from Rome and Barcelona, visiting destinations in Spain, France, and Italy.
(The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.)
Make a free appointment with Come Cruise With Me's Travel Agent Partner, Postcard Travel, or email Amy Post at amypost@postcardtravelplanning.com or call or text her at 386-383-2472.
Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published May 7, 2025 at 1:48 PM.
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Like, you know, I was looking at like the swatch section and he was looking at like used Rolexes. So are people getting more cautious or is it different for the, you know, the so-called 1%? Cody Kline: No, I feel like if you asked me this last quarter, I think you would've had a little bit of a different answer because the numbers have shown that yes, it seems like there's a little bit of drops, drop in sales, drop in profits for these companies. But actually this week, a whole bunch of slew of earnings are about to be released. So I'm excited to see how it goes. But so far I do have two that I was actually kind of surprised on. You know, for example, in the U.S., Burberry was up 4%. But it was down in China. That's kind of weird to me, honestly. I was not expecting it. Daniel Kline: And the thing- Explain Burberry to me. Because I only know Burberry because there's a pro wrestler who wears a scarf that's Burberry. But is Burberry's entire thing just that pattern? Like, is that the whole thing? Cody Kline: No, no, no. They have a ton of other styles. It's not only the pattern, but that's just their iconic pattern. That's how it kind of started. So like, and they'll do different colors, but that brown, I'm assuming you're talking about the brown. That's like the iconic pattern. But no, they have like, I have a jacket that's black, for example. It's not the check. So it started out with scarves. Related: Costco quietly drops favorite member perk So that was one thing which I found interesting. And they're kind of going through a really big transformation right now to try to be modern, but also heritage, which is very hard to do, like modern heritage. That kind of sounds like an oxymoron. But I think they can do it. I'm a big Burberry fan. I have a jacket. I have a scarf that I've had probably for a decade. And they're in great shape. So I'm pro Burberry coming back and being modern and heritage, whatever that means. 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Like I, you know, so I would say not even after a year they completely lost their shape. They do not. I'm literally pulling up my leggings. If I wear those you should not have to ever pull up leggings. Like even when you lose weight there's never a time where leggings should be falling down. And that's exactly what happened with these dupes. So I end up personally to me you're going to end up spending more money. It's like, if you just get dupes it's like the guy with the boots. I know there's like an analogy where, you know a guy buys a really expensive pair of boots and he has them for 10 years or someone buys a cheap pair of boots and he has to buy a pair every year and ends up spending more anyways. This is totally true with dupes. Daniel Kline: Yeah, I'm going to jump in here because while I am not a fashion plate by any means I am wearing an Under Armour shirt. 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