How Big Is a Royal Caribbean Cruise Sale? The Crossed-Out Fare on 1,854 Cruises
Almost every cruise shows a crossed-out higher fare, and it is almost always about a third off. That is why a big cut on its own does not tell you the fare is low.
On 1,750 of 1,854 Royal Caribbean cruises (94%), the fare comes with a higher fare crossed out beside it. The middle cut is 34%, about $405 per person. Nine in ten of the cuts fall between 32% and 40%. So a cut of a third is the normal state of a Royal Caribbean fare, not a special deal.
Every number comes from our own price data, as captured on 20 October 2026. For 1,854 cruises we took the lowest interior fare per person, taxes and port fees included, and the higher fare Royal Caribbean lists beside it. The box at the bottom says exactly how. We do not know what any traveller paid, and we are not saying the crossed-out fare was ever charged.
How deep the cut is
The cut is nearly the same everywhere. 1,089 cruises (62% of those on sale) are between 30% and 35% off, 488 (28%) are between 35% and 40%, and 158 (9%) are 40% or more. Only 15 are under 30%, and none is over 45%. The smallest cut we found was 29%, and the deepest was 44%.
The cut from the crossed-out fare, by cabin type
The lowest fare in each cabin type against the crossed-out fare beside it, for cruises leaving 1 November 2026 to 31 October 2027, priced on 20 October 2026. Each bar runs from the 10th to the 90th percentile of the cuts. The note beside it gives the middle, the number of cruises on sale and the middle dollars off.
| Cabin type | Cruises with a fare | On sale | Middle cut | Middle dollars off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interior | 1,854 | 1,750 | 34% | $405 |
| Ocean view | 1,828 | 1,736 | 33% | $463 |
| Balcony | 1,814 | 1,741 | 35% | $619 |
| Suite | 1,750 | 1,741 | 38% | $1,290 |
Lowest fare per person in each cabin type, taxes and port fees included, against the crossed-out fare beside it, for cruises leaving 1 November 2026 to 31 October 2027, priced on 20 October 2026.
A suite gets a slightly deeper cut than an interior (38% against 34%), and a much larger one in dollars, because a suite starts higher.
Does a bigger cut mean a lower fare?
A little, and that is the useful part. We compared each cruise's night with the usual night for the same home port and the same number of nights. Cruises with a cut of 30% to under 35% cost 11% above usual. Cruises with a cut of 40% or more cost 21% below usual. So a deep cut does tend to go with a lower fare, but a cut by itself does not tell you the fare is low, because most cruises have one.
| Cut from the crossed-out fare | Cruises | Share of those on sale | A night against usual for the same port and length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30% to under 35% | 1,089 | 62% | 11% above |
| 35% to under 40% | 488 | 28% | 7% below |
| 40% or more | 158 | 9% | 21% below |
Lowest interior fare per person, taxes and port fees included, priced on 20 October 2026. "Usual" is the middle night for the same home port and the same number of nights across all ships. 1,240 of 1,750 cruises on sale have a usual to compare with; the rest sail from ports or lengths with too few cruises or only one ship. Groups with fewer than 20 cruises with a usual are not shown.
Does the cut change with how soon the cruise leaves
Not much. The middle cut is between 33% and 36% in every group. A cruise a year away is on sale by about the same amount as one next month.
| How far away the cruise is | Cruises on sale | Middle cut |
|---|---|---|
| Leaves within 60 days | 133 | 35% |
| 60 to 119 days away | 296 | 36% |
| 120 to 239 days away | 600 | 35% |
| 240 days or more | 721 | 33% |
Lowest interior fare per person, taxes and port fees included, against the crossed-out fare, priced on 20 October 2026.
The crossed-out fare moves when the fare moves
Between 13 and 20 October, 1,134 of these cruises had a different fare. On 899 of them (79%) the crossed-out fare changed as well. It changed on only 2 cruises where the fare did not. So the higher fare is not a fixed price that the real fare is cut from. It follows the real fare up and down, and the gap stays close to a third.
The fare to compare is the one you see today against the same cruise on other days, not against the crossed-out number. The price checker does that for a cruise you are looking at. How a fare for a leg of a back-to-back adds up is in the cost guide.
What this does not tell you
- We do not know what the crossed-out fare means to Royal Caribbean, or whether any traveller ever paid it. We can only say it is listed beside the current fare.
- We have recorded the crossed-out fare since 1 October 2026, so we cannot say how deep the cuts were before that.
- It is fare only. Flights, hotels and the night before the cruise are not in it.
- A cruise with no crossed-out fare, or one equal to the current fare, is not a worse deal for that reason alone.
- It is the lowest fare in each cabin type. A balcony or suite in another category can be cut by a different amount.
- This is one day of fares, 20 October 2026. Fares move daily, and nothing here is a quote.
Sailings with no fare
38 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. 104 cruises showed a fare with no cut. We also left out 15 priced cruises on Hero of the Seas, which has not entered service yet, 179 cruise-and-land-tour packages, because a tour fare covers days on land, and 13 cruises of 2 nights.
How we measured this
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