Royal Caribbean is about to announce our 2026/27 season – will Australia or Singapore win out?

• Royal Caribbean is about to reveal its Australian deployments for the 26/27 season.
• There are three ships yet to be assigned, and they will be divided between Australia and Singapore – Anthem of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas and Quantum of the Seas.
• There have been rumours that Australia will return to two Quantum-class ships, and Quantum of the Seas will sail out of Brisbane.

On Thursday, Royal Caribbean will finally release the much-anticipated Australian sailings for the 2026/27 cruise season. After several delays, the line has confirmed the new sailings are about to come, and we’ll finally be certain what ships Royal Caribbean will bring to Australia. 

A couple of months ago, Cruise Passenger made the estimate that it would be Anthem of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas. 

Currently, the only three Royal Caribbean ships that are yet to be assigned for the time period of the Australian 2026/27 summer season. They are Anthem of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas and Quantum of the Seas.

The only other region yet to be assigned ships is Singapore, which in the past has had one Royal Caribbean ship based there. 

Cruise Passenger’s previous assumption was that Quantum would be dedicated to the Southeast Asian market due to the reported success of the line in the Singapore market.

However, there have been rumours that Australia could see the return of Quantum-class ships, meaning Quantum of the Seas would be homeported in Brisbane, and Navigator of the Seas, which is a bit smaller and older, would be sent to Singapore.

This would represent a return to two Quantum-class ships for Australia, like we’ve had in the season just ended, with Quantum and Ovation of the Seas.

One cruise travel agent revealed that she saw a quick test-sailing for Quantum of the Seas posted on the Royal Caribbean website. While not a sure thing, it is how Cruise Passenger broke the news last year on the arrival of Anthem and Voyager.

Other cruisers have commented in online forums, stating that their Royal Caribbean ship captain told them that Quantum would be returning to Australia and sailing out of Brisbane.

If Royal Caribbean does opt to send a Quantum-class ship to Australia instead of Singapore, this would be a good win for the region and a show of Royal Caribbean’s faith to grow cruise in Australia.

It could also suggest that plans are moving forward to create a private beach resort in Lelepa, and Royal Caribbean wants to have a larger ship to take more passengers to its new private destination. 

According to port schedules, it’s more or less confirmed that Royal Caribbean will only sail out of Brisbane and Sydney, but many cruisers will also be hoping for new itineraries, including more visits to regional destinations in Australia or different ports in the Pacific. 

All will be revealed very soon, and Cruise Passenger will be here to bring you the news.