Repositioning Cruises Left in 2026: Fall and Winter Sailings Still to Come

Our repositioning cruise finder lists 76 one-way sailings departing between October 13 and December 31, 2026, on 12 cruise lines and 60 ships. Thirty-four cross the Atlantic from Europe to Florida, the Caribbean or the US East Coast. Seventeen move ships within Asia, Australia and the Pacific, 10 transit the Panama Canal, and the rest are East Coast moves south, Europe to South America voyages and a few Queen Mary 2 crossings.

These are the last-minute repositioning cruises of the year, and that changes how you book them. At Princess and Royal Caribbean, final payment for every one of these sailings has already fallen due, so a booking made now is paid in full and comes with cancellation charges from the first day. The sailings were checked on each line’s own website in late September 2026. Some will have sold out since, and lines occasionally change an itinerary, so the line’s page is the final word on what is still available.

What’s left in 2026, month by month

October covers departures from October 13 onward. “Coastal and other” means moves from New England and Canada south to Florida, Puerto Rico or New Orleans, plus one MSC sailing from Rome to the Canary Islands.

One route is already finished. The last Pacific coast and Hawaii repositioning sailing in our data left on October 12, so there are no more Vancouver to Los Angeles or Vancouver to Honolulu moves this year. The next ones run in April and May 2027 northbound and from September 2027 southbound; our 2027 repositioning schedule has the full calendar.

The 76 sailings run from 5 to 30 nights, with a median of 15. Princess has the most (15), followed by Norwegian (11) and MSC (8). Fort Lauderdale is the most common end port with 16 arrivals, then Miami with 11.

Westbound transatlantic: Europe to Florida, October to December

This is the main event. Leaving out Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, which runs a scheduled service, 31 westbound repositioning crossings remain on 10 lines, and 19 of them depart in the 11 days from October 23 to November 2. After mid-November the list thins out fast: the last two are Holland America’s Nieuw Statendam from Rotterdam on December 5 and Viking Sky from Barcelona on December 9.

Most of these crossings run 13 to 16 nights; the median is 15. The longer ones start further east: Holland America’s Oosterdam and Princess’s Island Princess each take 25 nights from Piraeus, and MSC Meraviglia takes 23 nights from Marseille to Miami by way of Boston and New York. Fifteen of the 31 call in the Canary Islands or Madeira, nine stop in Bermuda and six in the Azores, which affects how many straight sea days you get. You also gain an hour on several nights heading west. Our westbound transatlantic guide covers the route itself, and the finder has the full westbound list.

Queen Mary 2 adds five more crossings before the year ends: Southampton to New York on October 23, November 10 and December 12, and New York to Southampton on October 30 and November 28, each 7 nights.

Panama Canal sailings in November and December

Ten one-way Panama Canal sailings remain, and eight of them leave in December, when the canal’s dry season begins. Princess describes the dry season as mid-December to mid-April.

• November 6: Disney Magic, San Diego to Galveston, 14 nights; Sapphire Princess, Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles, 16 nights.
• December 3 and 4: Crown Princess, Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale, 16 nights; Norwegian Star, Miami to San Diego, 16 nights.
• December 12: Island Princess, Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles, 16 nights.
• December 19 to 22, over Christmas: Zaandam, San Diego to Fort Lauderdale, 15 nights; Oceania Insignia, Miami to Lima, 15 nights; Viking Sky, Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles, 17 nights.
• December 28 and 29, over New Year’s: Island Princess, Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale, 16 nights; Seven Seas Grandeur, Miami to Los Angeles, 16 nights.

Viking Sky’s two sailings line up on paper: the December 9 crossing from Barcelona arrives in Fort Lauderdale on December 22, the day the canal voyage leaves. Ask Viking whether it sells them as a back-to-back before assuming you can stay on board. Our Panama Canal guide explains full transits and which side of the ship to choose in each direction.

Asia, Australia and the South Pacific

Seventeen sailings remain in Asia, Australia and across the Pacific, most of them moving ships south for the Australian summer. Six run from Tokyo or Yokohama to Hong Kong or Singapore between October 16 and November 30, on Viking, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Regent, Princess and Norwegian. Six more end in Sydney or Brisbane between November 6 and December 3, coming from Bali, Singapore or Fiji. Two cross the whole Pacific: Crown Princess from Sydney to Los Angeles in 30 nights on November 4, by way of New Zealand, Fiji, Moorea and Hawaii, and Sapphire Princess from Los Angeles to Tokyo in 19 nights on November 22, with four Hawaii calls. See our guide to Australia repositioning cruises for the ports and seasons there.

Europe to South America and the East Coast moves

Four ships head south across the Atlantic for the Brazilian and Argentine summer: MSC Divina from Naples to Santos on October 29 (18 nights), MSC Virtuosa from Southampton to Santos on November 7 (25 nights), MSC Splendida from Marseille to Buenos Aires on November 9 (24 nights), and Majestic Princess from Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires on November 19 (18 nights).

Closer to home, eight ships leave New England, New York, Baltimore or Canada between October 20 and November 8 for Florida, Puerto Rico or New Orleans, in 10 to 16 nights. They’re the easiest trips on this list to add at short notice, since you can drive or take a domestic flight to the start, but they are still one-way trips with foreign stops.

Booking this close: payment and cancellation

Every sailing on this page leaves within 80 days of mid-October 2026. That puts all of them past the final payment date under the Princess and Royal Caribbean schedules: Princess wants final payment 90 days before departure for cruises up to 13 days and 120 days before for 14 to 24 days, and Royal Caribbean uses 90 days for 5 to 14 nights and 120 days for 15 nights or more. A booking made now is paid in full at once.

Cancellation charges then apply immediately. Princess keeps 75% of the total for a 14 to 24 day cruise cancelled 61 to 90 days out and 100% at 60 days or less. For cruises of 1 to 13 days the charge reaches 100% at 30 days or less. Royal Caribbean’s terms for bookings created on or after October 11, 2026 charge 50% for a 10-night-plus cruise cancelled 61 to 119 days out, 75% at 31 to 60 days and 100% at 30 days or less. Both lines refund government taxes and fees. As of October 13, 49 of the 76 sailings leave within 30 days, so for practical purposes those fares are non-refundable the moment you pay. Other lines use their own schedules, so read the terms on the booking page before you pay.

Two things follow from that. Buy any travel insurance at the same time you book and read what it counts as a covered reason, because a change of mind usually is not one. And don’t wait for a last-minute price drop on a sailing you’ve already decided on: the fare is a daily price, and close in it can move either way. Our guide to cheap repositioning cruises covers how to compare fares across lines.

Flights, documents and weather to check before you book

Flights. For a westbound crossing, the expensive flight is the one-way trip to Europe, and the trip home from Florida is a short domestic ticket. Price both before you commit to the cruise, and plan to arrive in the departure city at least the day before sailing, since the ship will not wait. For Panama Canal and Pacific sailings you need a one-way flight from the far coast or from Asia. Our guide to flights home after a repositioning cruise covers how late you can safely fly on disembarkation day.

Passport. CBP’s closed-loop exception, which lets US citizens use a birth certificate and photo ID, applies only to cruises that start and end at the same US port within the Western Hemisphere. None of these one-way sailings qualifies, so you need a valid passport book. If you fly into the UK to board in Southampton, US citizens also need a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation, which GOV.UK lists at £20.

Weather. The Atlantic hurricane season runs until November 30, according to NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, so late-October crossings can still see a port swapped or a Bermuda or Caribbean call dropped. November and December crossings from Southampton and Rotterdam also start further north than the Mediterranean departures. Our guide to whether transatlantic cruises are rough breaks sea conditions down by month and route, and the transatlantic packing list covers clothes for a trip that starts in a European fall and ends in Florida.

Before you pay, open the sailing on the line’s own site and confirm three things: the cabin type you want is actually bookable, the itinerary still matches what you saw, and the final price with taxes, fees and daily gratuities fits the budget. If all three check out and the flights work, a sailing that leaves in three weeks is as good a trip as one booked a year ahead.