Christmas Week Cruises Cost Nearly Double on Royal Caribbean

Cruises that leave in Christmas week cost about 1.9 times the usual fare for the same ship and port. By 1 January the premium is gone.

A Royal Caribbean cruise that leaves between 24 and 27 December 2026 costs a middle 2.2 times the usual fare for the same ship, from the same port, for the same number of nights. All 20 of the sailings we could compare that left in those four days were at least 1.5 times the usual fare. Take the whole Christmas stretch, 20 to 27 December, and the middle sailing costs 1.9 times the usual: $219 a night against $109, which is about $620 more per person for the cruise. Then it ends. Sailings that leave from 1 January are back to the usual fare.

Every number comes from our own price data, as captured on 19 October 2026. The "usual fare" for a sailing is the middle (median) fare of every sailing of that same ship from that same home port for the same number of nights, over the year we cover, 1 November 2026 to 31 October 2027. The box at the bottom says exactly how. This is a story about fares, not a forecast: we show what Royal Caribbean is asking today for sailings that have not left yet.

The Christmas run, day by day

The premium builds in the week before Christmas, peaks for sailings that leave on 26 and 27 December, and drops away completely on 1 January. Sailings that leave on 17 to 19 December are already 24% above usual in the middle. Sailings that leave on 20 to 23 December are 55% above. Sailings that leave from 24 to 27 December are 118% above, with the 10th percentile still at 1.7 times the usual, so there are almost no cheap ones. Sailings of 28 to 31 December, the New Year week, sit at 72% above, and from 1 to 3 January the middle sailing is back at the usual fare.

Lowest interior fare per person, taxes and port fees included, against the usual fare for the same ship, home port and number of nights (a ship, port and length with at least 8 priced sailings). Typical range is the 10th to the 90th percentile. Priced on 19 October 2026.

In dollars, the middle seven-night sailing that leaves 20 to 27 December costs $1,440 per person, where the same ship and port usually cost $747. That is for the lowest inside cabin, taxes and port fees included, and it is per person, as Royal Caribbean prices a cabin for two sharing it. (24 sailings.)

The biggest premiums, and the ones that escaped

The five sailings with the biggest gap all leave on 27 December, between 2.6 times and 2.7 times the usual fare. Only 2 of the 35 sailings in the 20 to 27 December stretch were below their usual fare, both three-night sailings that left on 21 December.

The five largest gaps among the sailings leaving 20 to 27 December 2026 that we could compare. A single sailing is one fare on one day; use these as examples of the range, not as a booking tip.

Who pays the premium

The premium is steadiest on seven-night cruises (1.9 times the usual, 24 sailings) and in the Caribbean (1.9 times, 26 sailings). Bahamas cruises show the smallest middle (1.1 times, 5 sailings), though the top of their range is as high as anywhere. Other lengths and regions have fewer than five comparable sailings in that stretch, and home ports are too thin to rank: the most we can compare is 9 sailings, from Miami.

Sailings leaving 20 to 27 December 2026, by length and by region, against the usual fare for the same ship, home port and number of nights. Groups with at least 5 comparable sailings, priced on 19 October 2026.

The other holidays are a small story

Christmas is the only holiday with a big premium across the fleet. Thanksgiving week costs the same as any other week in the middle (1.0x the usual, 31 sailings). Easter, spring break and Memorial Day sit 7% to 8% above usual. The Fourth of July week is the dearest of the summer at 1.2x, and the summer as a whole, 1 June to 8 August, is 17% above. The cheap end of the year is the long stretch from 4 January to 7 March and then from 6 September to the end of October, both 8% below usual in the middle.

Same measure as the table above. A month mixes whichever ships sail that month, which is why the comparison is made against the same ship, port and length. For the cheapest week at each port, see the cheapest week to cruise from each home port.

What this does not tell you

• It is the lowest interior cabin. Balcony and suite fares are higher, and we have not measured their Christmas premium.
• Sailings are compared only with the same ship, home port and length, and a group needs at least 8 priced sailings. That covers 84% of the 1,891 priced sailings. The rest, mostly one-off itineraries, are left out of every figure here.
• The usual fare is the middle of the year's fares for that group, which includes the Christmas sailing itself. That pulls the usual a little up, so the true premium is slightly larger than shown.
• Christmas-week sailings are few: 35 comparable sailings from 20 to 27 December, and 5 to 20 in each other row. Small samples move more.
• Prices are as captured on 19 October 2026. Fares move daily (see what a Club Royale offer is really worth for how far), 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, left out of every figure above and never estimated. We also left out 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.