Does the Day of the Week a Cruise Leaves Change the Price?

On Royal Caribbean the day a cruise leaves mostly tells you how long it is. Compare the same ship, port and length on two different days and the gap is small about half the time.

The day a cruise leaves tells you its length far better than its price. Friday starts are mostly 3 nights, Monday and Thursday starts are mostly 4, and Saturday and Sunday starts are mostly 7. A night costs a middle $160 on a Friday, $132 on a Saturday, $149 on a Sunday, $136 on a Monday and $126 on a Thursday. Those are the five big days, and they run from $126 to $160 a night.

Every number comes from our own price data, as captured on 19 October 2026. For each of 1,891 sailings we took the lowest interior fare per person, taxes and port fees included, and divided it by the number of nights. The box at the bottom says exactly how. This is what Royal Caribbean is asking today for sailings that have not left yet.

Which day, which length, which price

Cruises leave on every day of the week, but not evenly. Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Friday each have about 400 sailings priced, Thursday has 177, and Tuesday and Wednesday have 30 and 56. The table shows why the day and the length go together.

Lowest interior fare per person, taxes and port fees included, for cruises leaving 1 November 2026 to 31 October 2027, priced on 19 October 2026. Usual length is the middle number of nights. Tuesday and Wednesday are small groups.

A Friday start looks dear at $160 a night, and it is, but it is mostly a 3-night cruise, and 3 nights is the dearest length per night. Our look at cruise length shows that. A Saturday or Sunday start is mostly a 7-night cruise, and costs a middle $990 or so for the week. So the table is partly a table of lengths.

The same ship, port and length on two days

To take length, ship and port out, we found every case where one ship sails the same route and length from the same port on two different days of the week, with at least 4 priced sailings on each. There are 11 such cases. In 5 of 11 the two days were within 7 percent of each other. In the other 6 the gap ran from 8 to 28 percent, and no day won every time.

Same ship, same port, same end port and same number of nights. Days with at least 4 priced sailings; the number of sailings is in brackets, and the cheapest and the dearest of the days is shown. Priced on 19 October 2026. Small groups, and school holidays are not separated out.

When the day does matter, the cause is usually the date and not the weekday. A Wednesday that lands in a school holiday costs more than a Friday that does not. We showed that for the weeks around Christmas in Christmas week cruise prices, and the cheapest week from each home port lists the weeks themselves.

Saturday against Sunday for a 7-night cruise

The most common choice is a 7-night round trip leaving on a Saturday or a Sunday. By port, with at least 15 of each priced, the two days look like this.

7-night round trips only, ports with at least 15 priced Saturday and 15 priced Sunday sailings. Ships differ between the two days, and that is most of the difference. Priced on 19 October 2026.

The days swap places from port to port. Where one day is much cheaper, a different ship sails on that day, and the ship is doing the work. What a night costs on each ship is the better guide.

What to do with this

Do not pick a start day for the price. Pick the ship, the port and the length first, and then the cheapest week. If you want a 7-night cruise, you will mostly be choosing between a Saturday and a Sunday. For a leg-to-leg trip, the next leg leaves from the port where the first one ends, on the day it arrives, so a first leg that leaves on a Saturday sets the day for every 7-night leg after it. How legs join up, and what happens on the day between them, is in what happens on turnaround day and the back-to-back guide.

What this does not tell you

• It is the lowest interior cabin. A balcony or suite can follow a different order.
• It is fare only. Flights, hotels and the cost of getting to the port the night before are not in it. A weekend flight can cost more than a weekday one.
• Tuesday and Wednesday starts are rare (30 and 56 priced), and their middles are not reliable.
• The same-route cases are small: 11 groups, each day with 4 or more sailings. School holidays and events are not separated out.
• The weekday is worked out from the sailing date Royal Caribbean lists for the port.
• This is one day of fares, 19 October 2026. Fares move daily, and nothing here is a quote.

Sailings with no fare

29 cruises in the window had no fare when we looked. They are shown as unpriced on the site, left out of every figure here and never estimated. We also left out the 179 cruise-and-land-tour packages, because a tour fare covers days on land.

How we measured this

The legtolegcruises.com Logbook is independent editorial and is not affiliated with Royal Caribbean International or Club Royale. Offers, fares, and program rules vary and change often; confirm every detail with Royal Caribbean before you book.