Key Aspects:
- Allure of the Seas‘ first sailing from Port Everglades in May 2027 is being shortened by a full day.
- The voyage will now be an eastern Caribbean itinerary instead of a southern Caribbean route.
- The change will give the Oasis-class ship more time for turnover as she moves from Miami to Fort Lauderdale.
Itinerary changes can happen on any cruise itinerary, whether it is swapping a port of call, changing up the port order, or even cancelling a port visit. For guests booked on Allure of the Seas‘ May 1, 2027 departure, not only have two ports been changed, but the entire cruise is one day shorter and departing on a different day than originally planned.
Royal Caribbean has reached out to guests with the details of the change and their options if the new cruise doesn’t work for their travel plans.
“As part of our ongoing itinerary planning process – which sometimes requires flexibility due to scheduling, port agreements, or operational needs, your May 1, 2027 Allure of the Seas sailing has been modified,” the email notification confirmed.
“Modified” may be an understatement. Now, the cruise will be departing Fort Lauderdale not on Saturday, May 1, but instead will leave Port Everglades on Sunday, May 2.
Originally, the cruise was an 8-night Southern Caribbean itinerary scheduled to visit Curacao and Aruba, along with Perfect Day at CocoCay in the Bahamas.
Now, however, the 7-night cruise is an Eastern Caribbean itinerary to St. Kitts and St. Thomas. There will still be a visit to CocoCay, but the rest of the sailing is 500 miles northeast of the original destinations.
This is not just a simple itinerary change, but a completely new sailing that may be disappointing to some guests. What is most surprising, however, is that Royal Caribbean is noting that the “sailing has been modified” but isn’t considering it a cancellation of the original cruise.
Options for Booked Guests
The up to 6,780 guests who may be booked on Allure of the Seas have three options regarding the radically changed cruise.
Royal Caribbean will automatically move all booked guests to the new cruise. The cruise fare will be adjusted to the rate for the new sailing or prorated from an 8-night to a 7-night fare, whichever is the best deal for the guest. The cruise line has confirmed it will refund any overage.
A second option is for guests to rebook on any other Royal Caribbean sailing, not necessarily on Allure of the Seas. These rebookings will be at prevailing cruise rates, and guests must still pay for any non-refundable deposit change fees.
If preferred, guests can also cancel their cruise vacation entirely. In this case, they will receive a full refund, including non-refundable deposits, that will be returned to the original form of payment.
Refunds may take up to two weeks to process from the cruise line. The actual time for refunds to be returned to guests may vary depending on individual financial institution policies.
Why Such a Major Change?
There has been no further information released about why this one sailing has been so dramatically changed a year in advance.
Cruise Hive has previously reported how Royal Caribbean has removed Labadee, Haiti from itineraries for all of 2026, but that decision was made following extreme violence and governmental collapse in a country with a history of such unrest.
Allure of the Seas is still scheduled to offer multiple 8-night southern Caribbean itineraries while she is homeported from Fort Lauderdale. At this time, only the first cruise from Port Everglades, the May 1 departure, is impacted.
Before repositioning to Fort Lauderdale, the Oasis-class ship is homeported from Miami. Given that the two homeports are just 25 miles apart, it is not inconceivable that Allure of the Seas would end her last Miami-based cruise on the morning of May 1 as scheduled, then move north to Fort Lauderdale that afternoon to begin boarding guests for her next sailing.
Depending on the operational schedules at either homeport, however, that type of move might be too challenging to pull off effectively.
Instead, by changing the itinerary and cutting a day off her first Port Everglades sailing, Allure of the Seas will be able to offer a more relaxed experience for guests and crew members, ensuring a smooth repositioning.
Because the southern Caribbean itinerary requires more sailing to reach the ports of call on time, it may not be possible to keep the original cruise schedule without that extra night.
Fortunately, with nearly a year to plan, guests can find an alternative sailing that will work well for their vacation plans or else discover just how fun the eastern Caribbean voyage can be.
