Sometimes, early birds get the worm, but sometimes, early planning results in frustration.
Travel agents have been the first to be notified that Norwegian Cruise Line will reposition two of its ships, cancelling 2026 and 2027 sailings for guests who thought they were scoring early-bird cruises.
Beginning in November 2026 and continuing through March 2027, 21 Norwegian Breakaway and 20 Norwegian Prima cruises have been cancelled, impacting dozens of scheduled itineraries.
UPDATE: NCL has now clarified the redeployment changes for Norwegian Prima and Norwegian Breakaway. You can read it here.
Cancellations
- November 2026: All Norwegian Breakaway voyages November 8 through 29 and all Norwegian Prima sailings November 15 through 29
- December 2026: All Norwegian Breakaway voyages December 6 through 27 and all Norwegian Prima sailings December 13 through 27
- January 2027: All Norwegian Breakaway Norwegian Prima sailings January 3 through 31
- February 2027: All Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Prima voyages February 7 through 28
- March 2027: All Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Prima sailings March 7 through 28
“Due to fleet redeployments, NCL has made the decision to cancel the sailings specified below,” Norwegian Cruise Line simply stated.
The cruise line did not specify the nature of redeployments or where the ships will be repositioned.
Passengers affected by the cancellations will be notified directly, according to the notice circulated to travel advisors earlier this week. They will automatically receive a full refund to their original form of payment.
Additionally, the cruise line is offering a 10 percent discount in the form of a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) as compensation for the disruption, helping those affected rebook a cruise at prices similar to the original bookings.
“A full monetary refund of the fare paid will be automatically returned to the form of payment provided at the time of the reservation,” the company shared in its statement.
San Juan and New Orleans Removed
Of the cancellations, Norwegian Breakaway’s Caribbean season looks to be scrapped.
After completing the Boston to Halifax and Bermuda routes on November 8, 2026, the 145,655-gross-ton vessel was to launch a repositioning cruise to St. Thomas and Tortola in the Virgin Islands on the same day.
That voyage, along with 20 others departing from a home base in San Juan, Puerto Rico, through March 28, 2027, have been removed.
The announcement comes just days after San Juan reopened its cruise pier to mega ships.
The changes disrupt a string of 7-night cruises that were to journey across the Southern Caribbean, including holiday voyages around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.
The 3,903-passenger ship was originally going to alternate routes with guests having a choice of roundtrip voyages. The first was to sail to La Romana, Dominican Republic; Oranjestad, Aruba; Willemstad, Curacao; and St. Thomas and Tortola.
A second option would have taken passengers to Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Basseterre, St. Kitts; Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St. Lucia; and St. Thomas and Tortola.
Also cancelled is 143,535-gross-ton Norwegian Prima’s 2026-2027 winter lineup out of New Orleans, which hit a record-breaking month for passenger movements in April 2025.
The 3,099-guest ship will complete its fall in Port Canaveral, Florida, on November 12, 2026, with a 4-night cruise to Nassau and the Norwegian Cruise Line’s private destination, Great Stirrup Cay.
It was originally going to spend three nights repositioning to New Orleans to launch a series of roundtrip cruises beginning November 15, 2026. Now, 20 voyages have been called off through March 28, 2027.
The changes remove 7-night journeys to Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico; Roatan, Honduras; and the cruise line’s other private destination, Harvest Caye in Belize.
The cancellation also affects Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s voyages.
With the changes, Norwegian Cruise Line will not have any ship positioned in San Juan or New Orleans as an alternative.
Currently, Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Liberty and Carnival Valor and Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas will have New Orleans departures.
In Puerto Rico, cruisers will find Explora Journeys, Crystal Cruises, Viking Oceans, Royal Caribbean, Virgin Voyages, and Celebrity Cruises.
It is possible Norwegian Cruise Line will replace the ships with other repositionings, but it’s likely to keep its other lineups intact and move Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Prima to areas with stronger demand.
The cruise line also surprised passengers in April when it announced it would be retiring Norwegian Sky and Norwegian Sun.
