South Pacific itineraries sailing from Australia offer amazing opportunities to visit remote destinations that embody the untouched beauty of the tropics. The Conflict Islands in Papua New Guinea are one such destination.

Unfortunately, an unexpected change in ownership means those islands will be unavailable to cruise guests and multiple sailings of Carnival Encounter will now have itinerary changes.

“Carnival has been advised that Conflict Islands, Papua New Guinea, has been sold to a new owner and will no longer be available for cruise ship visits,” a notification sent to travel agents and booked guests explained.

A total of six Carnival Encounter voyages are impacted and will no longer be able to visit the Conflict Islands as planned. This includes the following departure dates over more than two years:

• June 9, 2026
• August 19, 2026
• April 19, 2027
• August 18, 2027
• April 18, 2028
• June 14, 2028

These sailings are all 10-night roundtrip cruises from Brisbane. In addition to the Conflict Islands, other ports on the itineraries include Alotau, Kiriwina Island, and Rabaul. The Conflict Islands are the final port visit for each voyage.

While the other Papua New Guinea [PNG] ports are not affected by the ownership change, it is possible they may be rescheduled or cancelled as Carnival Cruise Line adjusts to new routes or offers other alternative ports.

“We are now actively evaluating the alternatives for PNG itineraries and will be in touch with guests in January 2026, once we have finalised plans,” the notification said.

Another option might be a longer stay in ports already planned, but Carnival Cruise Line will investigate all possible options before confirming changes.

In addition to the 108,865-gross-ton Carnival Adventure, Holland America Line’s Noordam and Zaandam have visits planned to the Conflict Islands in 2026 – on January 13 and February 7, respectively. Seabourn Pursuit is scheduled to call on May 12, 2026.

Several other ships are also scheduled for the destination in 2026, 2027, and 2028, including Westerdam, Coral Princess, Seabourn Quest, Hapag-Lloyd’s Europa 2, and Grand Princess.

Other than Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, all the other lines scheduled to visit the Conflict Islands are part of Carnival Corporation & plc.

Whether or not other cruise lines must likewise cancel the port or adjust itineraries will depend on their own arrangements with the new owner.

Who Owns the Conflict Islands?

The Conflict Islands are an atoll with more than 15 small islands east of the main body of Papua New Guinea. While their name might indicate ownership disputes, the islands were actually named after the Royal Navy schooner HMS Conflict in 1880.

Nevertheless, there have been conflicts with the Conflict Islands in recent years. Previously owned by Australian businessman Ian Gowrie-Smith, the islands were up for sale in 2022.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald at that time, there were security concerns that islands might be sold to Chinese interests. This could have caused significant political and economic instability in the region.

That sale apparently fell through, but now the islands have transferred to new but as yet undisclosed ownership.

“The Conflict Islands, which are part of Papua New Guinea, have been sold to a new owner,” John Heald, Carnival Cruise Line’s brand ambassador, said. “I didn’t know islands moved around like that.”

While the islands may remain under private ownership and unavailable to guests, there are other options as well. It is possible a resort may have purchased the location and could be planning a new destination for visitors, or even private entities such as television studios or research facilities could make such purchases.

Cruise lines may even make such purchases to develop private destinations, such as Royal Caribbean’s purchase of Costa Maya to construct Perfect Day Mexico.

In some cases, such agreements are not actual purchase contracts, but instead are long-term leases with the governments who retain ownership of the islands or destinations.

Itinerary Updates Planned

Regardless of who the new owner of the islands may be, cruises will be unable to visit for the foreseeable future.

“The new owners do not want the cruise ships there,” Heald confirmed in a daily video. “That’s very sad because I know it was a very popular area, but we are looking extremely hard now to provide you with an exciting itinerary and you’ll have that news in the early part of 2026.”

There is no precise timeline for when the itinerary updates will be announced. Because the first impacted cruise is not for six months, however, there is plenty of time for Carnival Cruise Line to make alternative arrangements to offer outstanding destinations for guests to visit.

Guests booked on the impacted sailings should stay in close contact with Carnival to be sure they are updated as soon as changes are confirmed.

Carnival Adjusting Itineraries After Islands Sold to New Owner