Norwegian Cruise Line Announced 35 Additional Cancellations for 2025-2026 Season. Here’s Why

Norwegian Cruise Line has announced that it has canceled 35 additional sailings for the 2025-2026 cruising season. The cruising giant shared that these sailings would affect four ships in the line. Let’s take a look at what we know about this latest development.

Norwegian Cruise Line Announced Cancellations

According to Cruise Industry News, additional revisions to Norwegian Cruise Line’s deployment plans for the 2025–2026 season have been announced, including canceling 35 more trips on four ships. The Norwegian Bliss, Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Encore, and Norwegian Joy were to be the vessels used for the sailings.

Nine Norwegian Bliss cruises to the Caribbean, West Coast, and Panama Canal that were planned to depart on specific days between Nov. 30, 2025, and March 3, 2026, have been canceled.

Additionally, 10 Norwegian Breakaway trips were canceled, including all of the sailings scheduled to take place between Jan. 6 and Feb. 6, 2026. During that period, the ship was supposed to provide three- and four-night trips to the Bahamas, departing from Port Canaveral.

All Norwegian Encore cruises scheduled to depart between Nov. 30, 2025, and Jan. 16, 2026, were canceled. The ship was supposed to provide a number of itineraries to the Panama Canal, the West Coast, and the Caribbean, departing from Miami and Los Angeles.

In addition, Norwegian canceled nine Norwegian Joy cruises scheduled to depart between Nov. 29, 2025, and April 11, 2026. The impacted itineraries were supposed to leave Port Canaveral and travel to the Caribbean, stopping at locations like Puerto Plata, St. Thomas, and Tortola.

As of Dec. 9, Norwegian Cruise Line has begun to send out notification letters to passengers on the canceled sailings, according to the cruise line.

Per Cruise Industry News, Norwegian cited “fleet redeployment” as the reason for the cancellations, and updated deployment plans for the impacted vessels are anticipated to be announced soon. TheStreet reported that this is just part of a wider fleet redeployment plan “designed to introduce enhanced voyages and meet passenger demand.”

Major Profits in Q3

Despite these cancelations, Norwegian Cruise Line experienced major profits in Q3. Per the company’s most recent earnings report, the cruise line’s Q3 profits increased by 37%, improving its financial outlook for 2024.

According to StockStory, the cruise line surpassed Wall Street’s revenue forecasts in Q3 of 2024, with revenues increasing 10.7% year over year to $2.81 billion. Its non-GAAP earnings of $0.99 per share also exceeded analysts’ consensus estimates by 5.3%.

Additionally, management raised its full-year Adjusted EPS forecast by 7.8% to $1.65 at the year’s halfway point. The market capitalization is at $10.48 billion.

“Our exceptional third quarter results, with record revenue, net income and Adjusted EBITDA, surpassed guidance across all key metrics, underscoring the strength of our business, the attractiveness of our product offering across all brands and the superior execution and delivery by our teams both shoreside and shipboard,” said Harry Sommer, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., in the report. “Fueled by robust demand and our relentless focus on cost control and margin enhancement, we’re raising our full-year guidance for a fourth time and expect 2024 to be our best year for revenue, Net Yield growth and Adjusted EBITDA.”

Norwegian Cruise Line also revealed the Luna, a new ship that will go into service in 2026, back in September.

The Luna belongs to the Prima Plus Class of ships, and it provides a range of sun-loving cruises from Miami from April 4, 2026, through November 2026, which went on sale on Sept. 18.

Two western itineraries to Harvest Caye, Belize, the brand’s resort-style destination; Roatan Island, Honduras; and Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico, will kick off the Luna’s inaugural Caribbean season. The ship will then embark on seven-day cruises that will make stops at several stunning Eastern Caribbean locations, including Tortola, British Virgin Islands; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; and Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegian Cruise Line’s Bahamas island, which will have a new pier by the end of 2025.