- Carnival Cruise Line has cancelled a 2027 voyage to New Zealand on Carnival Splendor.
- The ship has been chartered by another organisation, which has not been revealed.
- While guests have been offered refunds and rebooking options, many remain disappointed.
Carnival Cruise Line has told guests that a 2027 cruise on Carnival Splendor has been cancelled due to the ship being privately chartered.
The cruise was due to depart Sydney on October 12, 2027, and visit New Zealand on a 10-night, round-trip voyage.
In an email to guests already booked onto the cruise, Carnival wrote: “We are very sorry to inform you that the ship has been chartered and your cruise has been cancelled.
At this stage, it is not known who has chartered the ship. It appears the ship will still sail the same route around the North Island of New Zealand, but the cruise will no longer be available to the public.
Guests have been offered refunds or a protected rate to book other cruises, as well as $100 in onboard credit if they book a new voyage. If guests choose not to reschedule, they will receive an automatic full refund of their cruise fare and all pre-purchased items.
New Zealand sailings with Carnival aren’t as common as sailings to the South Pacific or other itineraries, meaning some cruisers may struggle to find a suitable replacement cruise for a comparable price. Carnival offers by far the cheapest cruises to New Zealand, with lines like Royal Caribbean and Princess often costing nearly double the price.
Another ship, Carnival Adventure, will sail some homeported cruises out of New Zealand in 2027, which could be another option for cruisers hoping to get to Aotearoa. But once the cost of flights and land travel are added into the equation, it will likely come out more expensive than boarding a cruise out of Sydney.
It is common for cruise lines to charter out their ships, as they will generally be paid a lucrative fee that makes it worth their while to let another organisation use their ship for a short period of time. However, it’s slightly less common for this to happen when sailings have already been booked.
Carnival ships are sometimes chartered out for special music cruises such as Rock the Boat or even heavy metal cruises. Cruise Passenger will keep an eye out to see who chartered the ship and what kind of cruise they’ll be enjoying.
What are guests saying?
Some guests are naturally upset with the decision to cancel the cruise on Carnival Splendor and have been left feeling underwhelmed by the compensation on offer or their rebooking options.
Kerry Yates said: “Carnival is all about money. I just don’t think it’s right (even though it’s in their contract) to cancel a cruise because someone wants to charter it.”
Kylie Lucas added: “How can they charter it out if it’s already booked by guests? Seriously lift your game Carnival this is BS.”
Another cruiser, Mel Guy, noted that for many people booking well in advance was the only way to make holidays work for families and groups. “Many employees like myself have restricted windows to book leave in,” he said. “Booking that far ahead is the only way we could line up leave in my family so I would not be impressed.
“Carnival has also not made it easy for people to rebook. Their call centre is difficult to get through to and they have a small window [of time] to do it. They would obviously prefer refunding deposits so that people have to pay the inflated new prices to book again.”
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