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There’s no such thing as a bad cruise ship for everybody. There is such a thing as the wrong cruise for you, booked in the wrong month, on the wrong week, with the wrong flight.
Most “cruises to avoid” lists name and shame a few ships on the strength of somebody’s bad week. This one doesn’t. Each of the seven below is a type of sailing or a booking situation, and each comes with a documented reason: a government dataset, a contract clause or a cancellation the cruise line itself announced.
Here’s the short answer. The seven cruises to avoid are: a peak-hurricane-season Caribbean sailing when you need the exact itinerary, a three-night weekend cruise when you want peace and quiet, a repositioning cruise when you hate sea days, a ship whose latest CDC inspection was a fail, the first sailings of a brand-new ship, a late-September Alaska cruise when the scenery is the whole point, and any cruise you have to fly to on the morning it leaves. Every one of them is a fine choice for somebody else, and we say who.
7 Cruises to Avoid: The Short Version
If you only have a minute, this table is the whole article. The details, sources and workarounds follow.
| Cruise to avoid | Avoid it if… | The documented reason | Book this instead |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Caribbean at hurricane peak | You need those exact ports on those exact days | NOAA puts the peak at September 10. Cruise contracts allow port changes with no compensation | The same route from December to April, or go anyway and stay flexible |
| 2. Three-night weekend cruise | You want quiet | Reviewers describe a louder party crowd, and a higher price per night | A midweek sailing, or seven nights |
| 3. Repositioning cruise | You get restless on sea days | One-way routes with long runs at sea, and a one-way flight to pay for | A port-heavy round trip |
| 4. A ship with a failed CDC inspection | The latest score on file is 85 or lower | Two ships on the CDC’s list when we checked on September 30, 2026 | Any ship with a recent passing score. Most have one |
| 5. A new ship’s first sailings | You can’t absorb a late cancellation | Three big ships had inaugural cruises cancelled in 2024 and 2025 | The same ship a few months in |
| 6. Alaska in late September | Glaciers, whales and ports are the point | September is a very wet month in Juneau, and storms have wiped out whole itineraries | May or June |
| 7. Any cruise with a same-day flight | Always | About one U.S. flight in five arrived late in 2024. The ship doesn’t wait | Fly in the day before |
1. A Caribbean Cruise at the Peak of Hurricane Season (If You Need the Exact Itinerary)
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. According to NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, “the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is September 10, with most activity occurring between mid-August and mid-October.” An average season produces 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes.
Your ship will almost certainly sail. “Cruises are very rarely cancelled due to hurricanes, but they can have itinerary changes,” as Cruise Mummy puts it. The risk is that the cruise you get isn’t the one you bought. When Hurricane Melissa bore down on Jamaica in late October 2025, Cruise Hive counted nine ships with changed itineraries in a single round-up. Icon of the Seas swapped an Eastern Caribbean route for a Western one, and Carnival Dream dropped Ocho Rios for a day at sea.
You aren’t owed anything for that. Clause 8(d) of Carnival’s ticket contract says the line may “omit or change any or all port calls, arrival or departure times, with or without notice, for any reason whatsoever, including but not limited to… adverse weather, hurricanes,” and that Carnival “shall have no liability for any compensation or other damages” for an itinerary change, with narrow exceptions. Other lines’ contracts have similar clauses. Our guides to hurricane cancellations and skipped ports go through them.
Avoid it if the trip is built around one fixed thing: a wedding in St. Thomas, a family reunion in Jamaica, the one private island the kids were promised. Book it happily if you just want sun and a ship, because a captain can steer around a storm in a way a beach resort can’t.
2. A Three-Night Weekend Cruise (If You Want Peace and Quiet)
Friday-to-Monday Bahamas runs are the cheapest way to try a cruise, and they’re great fun if fun is what you’re after. They are not restful.
“Generally speaking, shorter cruises have a rowdier clientele who are looking to let loose and party,” Elizabeth Wright wrote in Royal Caribbean Blog’s guide to short Florida cruises. The Points Guy’s Erica Silverstein found the same thing on a weekend sailing full of bachelorette parties: “The nightclub, bars and karaoke were hopping each evening — more so than on longer cruises,” she wrote in her guide to weekend cruises.
There are two smaller catches. The low total price hides a high nightly one: Royal Caribbean Blog priced an inside cabin on a three-night Wonder of the Seas sailing at roughly $215 a night, against about $147 a night for seven nights on Oasis of the Seas. And you may not get the newest hardware. The Points Guy notes that lines “often put older ships without the latest wow-factor attractions on these routes,” though Royal Caribbean now runs several of its Oasis-class giants on short sailings too.
Avoid it if you want early nights, a quiet pool or a calm first cruise with small children. Instead: pick a four- or five-night sailing that leaves on a Monday, or go for seven nights, where Wright says the mood is “more balanced.”
3. A Repositioning Cruise (If You Hate Sea Days)
The per-night price on a repositioning cruise can look like a misprint. There’s a reason.
These are, in The Points Guy’s words, “one-way sailings that bring the ship to a new home port or a different part of the world to kick-start a new cruise season.” Norwegian’s own explainer says they “usually take place in the spring and fall” and “often run for seven to 14 days.” A ship moving from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean has an ocean to cross, so much of that time is open water with no port to break it up.
They’re cheap, The Points Guy explains, because “the one-way, sea day-heavy itineraries are less desirable to the majority of cruisers.” The saving can also vanish at the airport: “The cost of the potentially expensive one-way or open-jaw flights needed before and after a repositioning cruise could eat up most of the money you’d save.” The same guide adds a note on weather, since these sailings happen in the shoulder seasons: pack a sweater.
Avoid it if you count ports, get bored by day three of trivia and buffet, or are prone to seasickness. Book it happily if your idea of a holiday is a book, a deckchair and nowhere to be. Price the flights before you pay the deposit.
4. A Ship Whose Latest CDC Inspection Was a Fail
This is the only entry that names ships, because it’s the only one with a public scorecard. The CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program inspects cruise ships that call at U.S. ports and scores them out of 100. Its own site states the rule plainly: “Inspections scores of 85 or lower are NOT satisfactory.”
We checked the CDC’s Green Sheet, which lists the most recent score for every ship in the programme, on September 30, 2026. Of just over 200 ships, two had a failing score as their latest result:
- Norwegian Dawn: 84, inspected March 29, 2026. Cruise Law News, quoting the CDC report, lists flies at the buffet (“One fly was resting on bread”), mould-like growth in a soda cabinet and dairy stored too warm. It also reports that Norwegian filed a corrective action report on April 24 describing cleaning, repairs and staff training. A Fox review of 2026 inspections in August found it was the only ship to fail this year.
- Villa Vie Odyssey: 81, inspected July 9, 2025. This is a residential world-cruise ship, so few readers will be booking it. Cruise Radio reported that the main problems involved chlorine levels in the drinking water, along with food temperatures and pool safety.
Now the fairness part. A score is a snapshot of one day. Ships fix what inspectors find, and a later inspection can look completely different. Neither ship had a newer result on the Green Sheet when we looked, and that can change any week. For balance, 48 ships on the same list had a perfect 100 as their latest score.
What to do: before you book any ship, look it up on the Green Sheet. It takes thirty seconds. If the latest score is 85 or lower and there’s no newer inspection, ask the line what’s been fixed, or pick a different ship.
5. The First Sailings of a Brand-New Ship (If You Can’t Absorb a Cancellation)
A maiden voyage sounds glamorous. It’s also a booking on a ship that doesn’t exist yet, built to a schedule that shipyards regularly miss. Here’s the recent record for three of the biggest launches.
| Ship | What was planned | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Sun Princess (Princess) | Maiden voyage from Barcelona, February 8, 2024 | Cancelled in late January when delivery slipped. The replacement first sailing on February 18 was cancelled five days before departure. She finally sailed on February 28 |
| Star Princess (Princess) | Delivery on July 29, 2025 | Delivery moved to September 26, 2025, and nine inaugural sailings were cancelled. The first cruise became October 4 |
| Star of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) | First cruise from Port Canaveral, August 17, 2025 | Delivery was delayed and the first two sailings were cancelled. The new first cruise was August 31 |
The Sun Princess saga is documented by Cruise Hive, Travel Market Report and Cruise Mummy. For Star Princess, see Cruise Industry News and Cruise Trade News. For Star of the Seas, see Cruise Hive and Cruise Radio. “After a review of the work that remains to be done, we’re unfortunately forced to delay the ship’s delivery date,” Royal Caribbean told booked guests.
To be fair to the lines, they paid up. Princess gave Sun Princess guests a full refund, a 50% future cruise credit and up to $200 per person toward flight change fees, and the Star Princess and Star of the Seas delays were announced more than a year ahead. But a refund doesn’t hand back your annual leave, your non-refundable hotel or the anniversary you planned around it. Guests on the second cancelled Sun Princess sailing got five days’ notice.
Avoid it if the dates can’t move or the flights are non-refundable. Instead: book the same ship a few months into her first season. You get the new-ship shine without being the test run.
6. An Alaska Cruise in Late September (If the Scenery Is the Point)
End-of-season Alaska fares are tempting. When Dori Saltzman of Travel Market Report compared prices, she found a balcony cabin at $2,321 in mid-July 2024 and $1,297 in late September. You’re being paid about $1,000 to take a risk.
The risk is weather. Southeast Alaska is a rainforest, and the National Weather Service’s Juneau climate guide says “April, May, and June mark a distinct dry season.” By autumn, it’s another story. The Alaska Climate Research Center recorded 12.8 inches of precipitation in Juneau in September 2025, which was 3.7 inches above the 1991-2020 normal. That puts a normal September at about nine inches.
Rain you can dress for. Wind is what cancels things. Three autumns in a row show how:
- 2023: Saltzman’s captain warned of waves of up to 19 feet. In Juneau, “just about half of all excursions were canceled due to high winds including all whale watching, sea plane excursions, kayaking, zip lining.” She reported that Radiance of the Seas cancelled four of its five ports that week.
- 2024: Ovation of the Seas left Seattle on September 27 and skipped Sitka, Skagway and Ketchikan because of a Gulf of Alaska storm. Royal Caribbean Blog reported compensation from $125 for an inside cabin to $400 for a suite. One passenger called it “the most expensive ferry I’ve ever taken to Victoria.”
- 2025: a mid-September low in the Gulf of Alaska led three Princess ships to cancel Juneau and cost other ships Skagway and the Hubbard Glacier, Cruise Hive reported.
Avoid it if this is your one Alaska trip and you’ve paid for helicopters, whales and glaciers. Book it happily if you’re mostly there for the ship and would treat a clear day as a bonus. For the best odds of dry weather, the Weather Service’s dry season points to May and June.
7. Any Cruise You Have to Fly to on Embarkation Day
This is the only one on the list with no “book it happily if.” It isn’t a kind of cruise. It’s a way of turning any cruise into one to avoid.
Look at the numbers. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s full-year report for 2024 put the airlines’ on-time arrival rate at 78.10% and the cancellation rate at 1.4%. So roughly one flight in five ran late, and a cruise ship won’t hold the gangway for you. “Royal Caribbean will not refund your money, regardless of the reason,” Matt Hochberg warns in Royal Caribbean Blog’s guide to same-day flights.
One line has stopped leaving it to chance. Since January 26, 2026, anyone who books flights through Norwegian Cruise Line’s own air programme is scheduled to arrive at least a day before sailing. Norwegian’s explanation, as reported by Cruise Industry News, was that “flight delays (particularly day-of-sailing arrivals) have, in some cases, resulted in guests missing embarkation.” Travel Extra reported the same change. The hotel night is at your expense.
What to do: fly in at least one day early for a U.S. departure. Hochberg suggests two or three days for a cruise that starts in Europe. A hotel night costs far less than catching up with the ship at the next port, as our guide to what happens if a cruise leaves you behind explains.
How to Check Any Cruise Before You Book
Run these five checks on any sailing. They take about ten minutes.
- Check the calendar. Is it mid-August to mid-October in the Caribbean, or late September in Alaska? If so, decide now whether you’d be fine with a different itinerary.
- Count the nights and the sea days. Three nights over a weekend means a party. Six days with no port means a crossing. Both are fine if that’s what you wanted.
- Look up the ship on the CDC Green Sheet. You want a latest score of 86 or higher.
- Check when the ship entered service. If your sailing is in her first few weeks, book refundable flights and hotels.
- Book the flight for the day before, and read what your travel insurance says about missed connections and itinerary changes.
Quick Answers
What is the worst month to take a Caribbean cruise?
For weather risk, September. NOAA says the Atlantic hurricane season peaks on September 10, with most activity between mid-August and mid-October. Cruises are rarely cancelled, but ports are often swapped or dropped, and the contract doesn’t require compensation.
Which cruise ships have failed a CDC inspection?
When we checked the CDC’s Green Sheet on September 30, 2026, two ships had a latest score of 85 or lower: Norwegian Dawn (84, inspected March 29, 2026) and Villa Vie Odyssey (81, inspected July 9, 2025). Scores are snapshots and change after re-inspection, so check the list yourself before booking.
Are short cruises party cruises?
Often, yes, especially three-night weekend sailings. Royal Caribbean Blog says shorter cruises draw “a rowdier clientele who are looking to let loose and party.” Midweek and seven-night sailings tend to be calmer.
Is a repositioning cruise worth it?
It can be very cheap per night if you enjoy days at sea. It’s poor value if you want ports, and the one-way flight home can eat up the saving. Price the flights first.
Should I fly in the day before my cruise?
Yes. In 2024, 78.10% of U.S. flights arrived on time, which means about one in five didn’t. Norwegian Cruise Line now schedules guests who book its air programme to arrive at least a day early.
The Bottom Line
None of these seven is a bad cruise. Each is a bad match for a particular person: the planner in hurricane season, the light sleeper on a weekend party ship, the port collector in mid-Atlantic, the once-in-a-lifetime Alaska visitor in the rainiest weeks. Work out which person you are, run the five checks, and fly in the day before.
Cruise Chaos earns nothing from cruise lines, airlines or booking links. Every fact in this guide links to where we read it, and the CDC scores were checked on September 30, 2026. If something has changed since, tell us and we’ll correct it.
Coming up on Cruise Chaos: 6 must-know cruise hacks, the legal, rule-abiding kind that save you money and time.
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Keep Reading
- What Happens If Your Cruise Is Cancelled Due to a Hurricane? Refunds, Credits and the Fine Print
- What Happens If a Cruise Leaves You Behind? The Bill, the Rules and the $996 Nobody Mentions
- 8 Things You Should Never Do on a Cruise
Sources
- NOAA National Hurricane Center: Tropical Cyclone Climatology
- Carnival Cruise Line: Ticket Contract, clause 8(d)
- Cruise Hive: Hurricane Melissa Forces Cruise Itinerary Changes Across the Caribbean
- Cruise Mummy: How Hurricanes Can Affect Cruises
- Royal Caribbean Blog: Should you take a short cruise from Florida?
- The Points Guy: Weekend cruises and Repositioning cruises
- Norwegian Cruise Line: Transatlantic vs repositioning cruises
- CDC Vessel Sanitation Program: Green Sheet Report and Advanced Cruise Ship Inspection Search (checked September 30, 2026)
- Cruise Law News: Norwegian Dawn Fails Health Inspection
- FOX 35 Orlando: Cruise ships with the worst CDC sanitation scores revealed
- Cruise Radio: World Cruise Ship Fails Health Inspection
- Sun Princess: Cruise Hive, Travel Market Report and Cruise Mummy
- Star Princess: Cruise Industry News and Cruise Trade News
- Star of the Seas: Cruise Hive and Cruise Radio
- National Weather Service Juneau: Southeast Alaska Summer Climate Guide (PDF)
- Alaska Climate Research Center: Juneau, September 2025
- Travel Market Report: Testing the Waters with Dori, Late Season Alaska Cruising
- Royal Caribbean Blog: A Royal Caribbean cruise ship in Alaska had to skip almost all of its port stops
- Cruise Hive: Alaska Storm Forces Cruise Ships to Cancel Ports and Reroute
- U.S. Department of Transportation: Air Travel Consumer Report, December 2024 and Full Year 2024 Numbers
- Royal Caribbean Blog: Why it’s a mistake to fly the same day as your cruise
- Norwegian air policy: Cruise Industry News and Travel Extra
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