You can (and should) book your Royal Caribbean cruise in advance.
Reserving your cruise ahead of time has its perks. For example, there are typically more cabins available, which means you can snag your ideal stateroom, whether it's a sought-after suite, solo room, or standard cabin in a specific location.
Plus, booking in advance also means you will have flexible payment plans. Rather than having to pay the entire fare upfront, you can split your payments over time.
But just how early can you book a Royal Caribbean cruise?
Royal Caribbean releases new deployments as early as two years before the sail date, though the widest selection of itineraries is usually available about 18 months before the departure date.
However, everyone can't plan that far in advance. Between work schedules, children's extracurriculars, and more, looking into a weeklong cruise that sails over one year away isn't always realistic.
Still, the earlier you can start planning, the better your chances of locking in the best itinerary, stateroom, and price, even if it's just 6 to 9 months ahead of time.
When does Royal Caribbean open bookings for future sailings?
Generally speaking, you can book most Royal Caribbean cruises around 18-20 months in advance. For example, at the time of publication, Royal Caribbean's website lists cruises available through April 2028. However, available 2028 cruises are currently limited to The Bahamas, Caribbean, and Mexico.
Even still, many guests opt to book their cruises somewhere between 9 to 12 months ahead of time to ensure that the dates work with their schedules.
If you want to plan as far in advance as possible, the best way to keep an eye out for new Royal Caribbean sailings is to sign up for their newsletter, which will let you know when they plan on opening sailings for booking.
Royal Caribbean deployment schedule 2027-2028
You can also look at the cruise line's deployment schedule. Royal Caribbean has released when it plans on opening up new 2027-2028 itineraries for booking:
- NOW OPEN: Alaska (May 2027-Sept. 2027)
- NOW OPEN: Europe (April 2027-Oct. 2027)
- NOW OPEN: 7-night & short Caribbean (March 2027-April 2028)
- NOW OPEN: Northeast, California, & Texas (April 2027-April 2028)
- Week of Dec. 8, 2025: Seasonal Caribbean
- TBD: Australia (Oct. 2027-April 2028)
- TBD: China (Oct. 2027-April 2028)
- TBD: Singapore (Oct. 2027-April 2028)
New bookings are available to book at some point during the specified week, not necessarily on that Monday. Moreover, it's common for new sailings to be entered into Royal Caribbean's booking system first, followed by the cruise line's website.
This means that you might be able to book a new cruise on the phone with a representative or through a travel agent, even if they aren't listed on Royal Caribbean's website.
Read more: Royal Caribbean adds new Alaska itineraries, including two giant cruise ships
Best time to book a cruise
Cruise pricing can change by the hour, as fares fluctuate based on supply and demand. As demand increases and cabin availability decreases, prices rise. That said, you can generally find the best cruise prices by booking in advance.
When new itineraries are released, the fares are lower to generate early interest. These prices increase over time as ships fill up and stateroom availability becomes more limited, especially for popular sailing dates such as Spring Break, Christmas, or New Year's.
If you can book a cruise around 10 to 12 months before departure, you will likely secure the best rate. Cruise fares tend to steadily increase after that, with prices often at their highest within 1 to 3 months before the sail date.
Can you book a cheap last-minute cruise?
Although too-good-to-be-true last-minute cruises aren't as common as they used to be, it's still possible to score a great deal by checking out Royal Caribbean's Going, Going, Gone PDF.
These last-minute deals are for unsold cabins on upcoming cruises, with discounts ranging from good to incredible. New cruises are listed on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, though there are some weeks when no deals are posted at all — it all depends on the available inventory.
The catch is that you’ll need to be flexible with your travel dates, departure ports, and itineraries. Moreover, most Going, Going, Gone cruises are listed past the sailing's final payment date.
As such, you must pay the entire fare at the time of booking, rather than placing a deposit and having months to come up with the remainder of the balance.
