Princess Cruises Oversells Mediterranean Sailing, Offers Double Refund
Key Aspects:
Enchanted Princess is overbooked for her April 15 departure from Rome, a 10-night Mediterranean cruise.
Select guests have received a tempting offer to change their plans for a full refund and 100% future credit.
Overbooking on cruise lines is becoming more common, but offers are always limited in availability.
Cruise travelers may plan their getaways months in advance and occasionally even more than a year before setting sail. So, how would you feel cancelling those plans less than a week before embarkation? Is there a deal good enough to make you give up your cruise vacation?
Guests looking forward to the April 15, 2026 sailing of Enchanted Princess are facing just that decision as the cruise line has reached out with a spectacular but very limited special offer.
“Due to the popularity of your upcoming April 15th cruise on Enchanted Princess you are eligible for exceptional savings should you choose to change your travel arrangements,” the email notification reads. “Change your voyage and receive a 100% refund now AND 100% of your cruise fare paid as BONUS future cruise credits, valid for 2 years.”
Read that more closely: give up your cruise and not only do you get a full refund, but you also get the full cruise fare as a future cruise credit that can be used on rebooking for another sailing anytime in the next two years.
Okay, the bummer is you don’t get to board Enchanted Princess on Wednesday, April 15 for the 10-night Mediterranean sailing. You won’t be visiting Naples, Sicily, Valletta, Split, Kotor, or Corfu Island as planned.
But, you get a full refund, plus a second full refund (of the fare price, not including taxes, port fees, or add-on extras) in future cruise credits so you can rebook on another voyage.
These types of offers are typically made when a ship may be overbooked. The deals are tempting enough to entice enough guests to take advantage of the offer, so no guests must be turned away at the cruise terminal.
Cruise Hive reported a similar offer for guests on Discovery Princess just days ago for that ship’s April 7 sailing, a 30-night transpacific cruise from Sydney, Australia to Vancouver, Canada.
To sweeten the deal even further, Princess Cruises is offering reimbursement of up to $1,500 (USD) for travel expenses. This could include nonrefundable airfare, airfare cancellation or change fees, hotel fees, and similar charges. Guests who take advantage of the offer will need to submit receipts for those charges for reimbursement consideration.
The offer for Enchanted Princess is very limited and may be withdrawn at any time. Typically, as soon as enough guests have taken advantage of the offer, no further offer-related cancellations will be accepted.
Enchanted Princess is a Royal-class ship that can welcome 3,660 guests at double occupancy.
Why Do Cruise Lines Overbook, and Who Uses These Offers?
It may seem unacceptable that a cruise line would overbook a sailing and potentially need to bump guests off their carefully chosen cruise vacation.
Cruise lines know, however, that a certain number of last-minute cancellations is normal for every sailing as guests come into unexpected challenges and may not be able to take their cruise after all.
Therefore, some “extra” cabins may be sold, typically in guarantee stateroom categories. When there are not enough cancellations in the days before embarkation, these overbooking offers may be extended to all guests or just guests in oversold categories.
This is similar to overbooking on airline flights, which are also often corrected with great offers to travelers. While a relatively new phenomenon on cruises, overbooking is becoming more common.
Cruise guests who are flying to Rome and may even be in Italy several days ahead of embarking on Enchanted Princess are less likely to take advantage of this particular offer, no matter how tempting it may be.
Anyone who drives to the cruise port, however, may have much more flexibility in their travel plans and could look at the offer as a great way to save. Similarly, guests who can set sail at any time (not just as predetermined vacation periods) could give serious consideration to such an offer.
Princess Cruises Oversells Mediterranean Sailing, Offers Double Refund