Key Aspects:
- Celebrity Millennium’s 12-night voyage through Japan that embarks on March 16, 2026, has been oversold.
- Celebrity Cruises is making tempting offers to encourage some of the booked guests to change their travel plans, including switching to a new sailing for a partial refund or cancelling their trip for a full refund and a 200% future cruise credit.
- Guests who do not want to change their plans do not need to worry, and not everyone who volunteers to accept the offers will be approved.
Celebrity Cruises is following in its sister-company Royal Caribbean’s footsteps in how the brand is dealing with high demand during peak cruise seasons.
Throughout the summer, Royal Caribbean has made multiple hard-to-resist offers to tempt passengers to change their travel plans and voluntarily opt out of overbooked sailings.
Now, Celebrity Cruises has come out with a can’t miss offer of its own for a presumably overbooked voyage onboard Celebrity Millennium, which will be sailing through Japan in spring of 2026.
The specific cruise in question embarks from Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan, on March 16, 2026, on a 12-night sailing to Osaka, Kochi, Hiroshima, Jelu Island, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, and Shimizu.
Even though the cruise is still just under a year away, spring-time cruises to Japan often sell out because the famous cherry blossoms are in bloom and the weather is particularly pleasant.
“If your travel plans are flexible, you may be able to take advantage of our special offer,” the cruise line teased in a letter to booked guests.
The first option the more than 2,000 passengers have is to put off their cruise vacation by a year in exchange for a 50% refund of the cruise fare and a $200 onboard credit per stateroom.
Instead of sailing as planned in 2026, they would switch to the 12-night Japan cruise that embarks from Tokyo, Japan, on March 2, 2027.
The replacement voyage features calls on Osaka, Kochi, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, and Shimizu in Japan, as well as Busan, South Korea.
Alternatively, guests can cancel their booking entirely in exchange for a full refund and a 200% future cruise credit to book a different Celebrity Cruises voyage that sets sail on or before March 16, 2027.
In both cases, documented airline change fees will be reimbursed (up to $350 USD per person), as well as other non-refundable travel-related costs (up to $500 USD per stateroom).
Should Booked Guests Worry?
Especially for less experienced cruisers, receiving a letter asking them to change their plans can be a bit anxiety-inducing.
“Flights are booked and we have made arrangements with work for this trip, but now I’m curious what this email could mean. Has the cruise over sold / not sold enough tickets,” one guest, who booked the sailing as their honeymoon, asked on Reddit.
“Is there a problem with the ship? I’m worried now that the cruise will get cancelled leaving us in a difficult position closer to the time,” they continued.
Others worried that the cruise line would change their reservations without their approval, or that if they chose to stay, the sailing would be overly crowded.
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But when the offers are this good and made this far in advance, the cruise line should not have any issues finding enough takers.
In fact, the letter suggests the cruise line expects more volunteers than they will actually need, as not everyone who expresses interest will be able to take advantage of these offers.
“Please note that this special offer is time-limited and subject to availability,” the cruise line advised.
“If you’re successful, we’ll reach out by either phone or email and send an updated booking invoice to your given email. If you haven’t heard from us by August 5, 2025, you will remain booked on your existing Celebrity Millennium Sailing.”
Guests who do not want to change their plans can ignore the invitation with no penalty or impact to their reservations.
