Two Florida residents are urging cruisegoers to be careful when booking a cruise. According to News4Jax, the friends thought they had secured a dream vacation, only to find out their booking was a scam.

The duo said they responded to a Facebook ad promoting a heavily discounted Royal Caribbean cruise. Contacting someone they thought was a legitimate travel agency to book their voyage, they received what they thought was real confirmation details for a 3-night itinerary aboard Utopia of the Seas.

The 236,860-gross-ton ship is currently offering 3- and 4-night itineraries from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas that visits Nassau and Royal Caribbean’s private destination, Perfect Day at Coco Cay.

Nyeasha Lambert of Jacksonville and Rochelle Price of Ocala, Florida, made regular payments for a $523 cruise through Cash App. However, on the day of departure, the friends were turned away, as their reservation never existed.

“It was embarrassing,” the 71-year-old Lambert told Northern Florida media, saying she was literally crying, saying, “What just happened?”

The couple reported the incident to authorities and are warning others to always book directly through a cruise line or a trusted travel advisor.

Authorities are investigating the scam and emphasizing fraudulent travel offers are on the rise, particularly during the holiday season, when people are eager to secure deals.

Protecting Yourself From Cruise Scams

Unfortunately, stories like these are not uncommon. In 2023, an 83-year-old woman contacted authorities about a travel agency that had taken her payments but cancelled her Alaskan cruise a day before she was set to depart, without refund.

Investigators discovered a fake travel agency and arrested a man for scamming thousands of dollars from elderly passengers to take his own vacations.

Another woman in England, age 64, lost £6,300 on a Caribbean cruise she booked through a fraudulent company on eBay.

Spotting a scam can be tricky, especially when an offer seems too good to pass up. But the adage holds true: If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

However, the deal Lambert and Price thought they were securing is not that far off of Royal Caribbean’s official pricing through its website. Currently, 3-night roundtrip cruises from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas begin at $585, including taxes and fees.

Read Also: How to Save Money on a Cruise: Cash-Savvy Spending Tips

However, one red flag in the transaction was the payment method. Unsolicited deals that require payments to be made through apps like Cash App or other peer-to-peer platforms are often untraceable and provide little to no recourse for refunds.

Unlike credit cards, which offer fraud protection and the ability to dispute charges, payments made through apps are considered final and are nearly impossible to reverse, making them a preferred choice for scammers seeking to make a quick buck.

In the case of the eBay scam, eBay is typically a safe platform that offers a Money Back Guarantee if purchases are completed through approved payment methods. However, the guarantee does not apply to travel tickets or vouchers.

Before booking a cruise, guests should take the time to compare a deal in question to similar offers from legitimate sources. As scammers can create websites that look real and post fake positive reviews, experts advise travelers to check review sites like Google Reviews, Trustpilot, or the Better Business Bureau.

Of course, contacting or booking through a cruise line directly can confirm the authenticity of a deal and guarantee a reservation.

The world’s second-busiest cruise port is going to see even more passengers arriving at its terminals in the coming months.

On November 26, 2024, Port Canaveral celebrated the arrival of Royal Caribbean’s 3,600-passenger Voyager of the Seas, which will homeport at the port for its 2024-25 winter season. 

The ship joins Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas, Utopia of the Seas, and Adventure of the Seas at the Space Coast port, which saw more than 7.6 million passengers during fiscal 2024.

To mark the occasion, a traditional maritime plaque ceremony was held aboard the ship.

Although Voyager of the Seas set off on her first sailing from Port Canaveral on November 30, 2024, a 5-night Eastern Caribbean journey to the Dominican Republic and the cruise line’s private destination, Labadee, in Haiti, the formal plaque exchange took place on December 5, 2024, after the ship returned.

Read Also: Why Were Fighter Jets Flying Over Port Canaveral’s Cruise Ships Over the Weekend?

Prior to departing on a 4-night Bahamas cruise to Royal Caribbean’s other private destination, Perfect Day at Coco Cay, and Nassau, Captain Josep M. Ruyra received the warm welcome from Canaveral Port Authority Commission Vice Chairman Wayne Justice.

“Port Canaveral is thrilled to welcome Voyager of the Seas as the fourth Royal Caribbean International ship to call the port home,” a statement from the port revealed. “Welcome to Port Canaveral, Voyager of the Seas!“

The vessel is now operating 4- and 5-night voyages from Central Florida to the Caribbean through May 3, 2025.

Together, the four Royal Caribbean ships calling Port Canaveral home this season will bring a combined total of 18,118 passengers to the port for each sailing, reinforcing its role as a key hub for Caribbean cruises.

Port Canaveral Poised for Record-Breaking Growth in 2025

Port Canaveral has experienced significant growth in cruise ship arrivals and passenger traffic in recent years. At the beginning of 2024, the port projected it would receive 7.3 million passengers. Instead, fiscal year reports recorded a record-breaking 7.6 million.

Trailing behind PortMiami, which witnessed more than 8.2 million visitors in fiscal 2024 and overtook Port Canaveral as the world’s busiest port in 2023, officials anticipate it will host 8.4 million cruise guests in 2025, spurred by the arrival of several new ships.

Royal Caribbean’s 5,668-passenger Utopia of the Seas, the second-largest vessel in the fleet made Canaveral its home when it debuted in July 2024, where it is slated to remain through at least April 2026, providing 3- and 4-night weekly sailings to the Bahamas.

The cruise line’s new Star of the Seas, currently under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, is also scheduled to arrive in the summer 2025.

As the second Icon Class ship after Icon of the Seas, the 250,800-gross-ton vessel will bring 5,610 guests for its weekly 7-night sailings to the Eastern and Western Caribbean. The ship is scheduled to stay through April 2027.

Additionally, Celebrity Cruises just set off on its first journey from Canaveral with Celebrity Equinox taking up to 2,850 guests to the Bahamas on December 3, 2025. The ship will remain homeported through April 2025.

Meanwhile, Disney Cruise Line’s newest vessel, the 144,000-gross-ton Disney Treasure, is making her much-anticipated maiden voyage from Port Canaveral on December 21, 2024. Carrying up to 4,000 guests, the ship will call the Space Coast home through May 2026.

MSC Cruises’ 181,541-gross-ton MSC Grandiosa, carrying up to 4,842 passengers, will become the cruise line’s largest ship to homeport at Port Canaveral when it arrives in December 2025.

In total, the port will homeport 16 ships in 2025 and anticipates more than 1,000 calls.

Cruisers will no longer get away with a somewhat common hack to avoid paying to use the internet – at least not on Royal Caribbean sailings. 

Some techies within the cruise community don’t like to set sail without packing their handy dandy portable travel routers – which they use to stay connected during their voyage. 

Not only are the devices tiny and portable, but they can connect to the internet with just a data plan and a SIM or eSIM card, depending on the router’s compatibility. 

They then create a private Wi-Fi network that only the passenger’s private devices can connect to – without ever needing to pay for the cruise line’s internet package. 

While Wi-Fi onboard Royal Caribbean’s ships has improved drastically thanks to the rollout of Starlink, the internet can sometimes still be spotty – which might be problematic for cruisers who need to work remotely. However, this issue can also usually be avoided with travel routers. 

However, Royal Caribbean is cracking down on the use of these portable Wi=Fi routers after quietly adding the devices to their list of banned items. They weren’t listed as recently as November 22, 2024, but they are certainly included as of December 4, 2024. 

“Cybersecurity and deliberate electronic crime: Satellite dishes, routers, and other networking equipment,” the list now reads.

While the wording now clearly includes the routers, it also leaves the option open for Royal Caribbean to confiscate more items it has not yet specifically named. 

Indeed, the family friendly cruise line has begun enforcing the ban – with recent passengers reporting that devices found during the security check on embarkation day had been compensated.

It’s also possible that room stewards could report or confiscate routers they discover while performing housekeeping services if guests manage to sneak them through the luggage scans. 

Royal Caribbean Internet Plans

With the ban already in effect, future Royal Caribbean guests will need to invest in a VOOM Surf + Stream Internet package if they want to stay connected during their voyage. 

According to Royal Caribbean, their VOOM packages offer the fastest internet at sea – allowing guests to stream their favorite shows, music, and movies, check their emails, browse the web, post on social media, and partake in video calls at sea. 

“VOOM is 6x faster than any other internet at sea! For the first time you will be able to stream music and movies, upload pictures, video chat with family and friends using FaceTime or Skype, check your email, look at your stock prices, surf the web and stay connected with work,” reads Royal Caribbean’s website.

The specific pricing depends on the sailing and how many devices are included in the internet package – with plans available to cover individual devices, as well as more inclusive family plans. 

Read Also: Royal Caribbean Amenities You Should Pre-Book

There are also discounts available for booking internet packages early – which guests can do online through their My Royal Cruise account. 

But while some will be frustrated with the change – especially after Royal Caribbean already banned multi-plug outlets earlier this year – they aren’t the only cruise line to make this change. 

Carnival Cruise Line also cracked down on portable routers in September of 2024 – which came to light after a YouTuber named Richard Shillington had his Starlink Mini confiscated during his sailing. 

Shillington reportedly paid $599 to purchase the device and $250 a month to use it during his travels. 

He got caught after he posted a video showing how his portable router significantly outperformed the download speed of Carnival’s Premium Wi-Fi package – which was seen by the cruise line. 

He was soon called to the hotel director’s office, where the Starlink Mini was confiscated due to a violation of Carnival’s policy – and the prohibited items list was updated accordingly.