These Are Some of the Biggest Event Cruises of 2025

Most cruise lines are selling special themed cruises for 2025. Here are some of the biggest ones, plus how to find even more future sailings that might suit your taste.

By Jason Cochran

January 10, 2025

Think of an event cruise as a floating convention. You take all the normal trappings of a regular cruise, then add another layer of entertainment and social events that aren't usually available.

Event cruises are a good way to try out cruising if you've never done it before. After all, if you're not sure that being stuck on a big boat for a week with 3,000 strangers is your bag, at least you'll still have, say, 7 days of Golden Girls–themed lectures, celebrity appearances, and screenings to divert you.

One thing themed cruises aren't good for is saving money. They're expensive to mount, and those costs show up in the prices charged to passengers. Themed cruises also tend to sell out much quicker than other itineraries—waiting lists often form months ahead—so the price of an event cruise is almost never lower than what you'd pay for a standard sailing. If you're looking for discounts, go themeless.

Themed cruises aren't ideal for experiencing a cruise line's standard product. Some lines won't offer a full schedule of the usual activities during a themed journey. When there's a buyout aboard Disney Cruise Line, for example, the company may not put on its usual stage shows, character meet-and-greets may be at a minimum, and dinner-service performances may be curtailed or simplified. But if a cruise line does scale back its usual offerings, those are always replaced by a slate of entertainment put together by the organizers of the themed cruise.

There's a second category of event cruises that are organized by outsiders—for gamer cosplay, playing bridge, LGBTQ+ gatherings, classic movies, Pokémon training, psychics, crafting, Bible study, you name it—that you might not hear about from the cruise lines.

Sometimes the entire ship is involved, and sometimes the special events are only available to small groups who buy blocks of cabins on otherwise normal sailings. Because of those small-group bookings, the options for special event cruises can be rich indeed.

(Costume designer Bob Mackie meets a fan on the TCM Classic Cruise in 2022 | Photo credit: TCM)

Themed cruises make up such a significant portion of the cruise industry that they're now put together by professionals who work with talent bookers, technical specialists, and the cruise lines to make sure things run smoothly. One of the biggest players in event cruises, Atlanta-based Sixthman, also promotes many of the voyages the firm arranges on behalf of clients.

You can find pop-up special cruises by searching online for your area of interest along with "cruise." Work in the beauty industry? There's a cruise for you. Yankees fan? Someone's got you. Love magicians and the Magic Castle? Presto. And on and on.

Some cruise lines target special sailings at customers in specific countries, such as MSC Cruises' lineup of South African–themed music and cultural trips. So you might even find themed cruises that appeal to you by checking the international versions of the big cruise lines' websites.

The list below comes from the major themed departures that the cruise lines are currently promoting themselves, which often means the line is partnering with the organizers and everyone on the entire voyage will be invited to the special events. Many of these cruises happen annually, so if you can't get onto a voyage this year, check for 2026 sailings instead.

Major Carnival Cruise event cruises for 2025

January 19–25: Shiprocked: Rock Hard, Vacation Harder

May 2–5: The Old School Cruise (classic songs performance)
August 18–25: The Line Dancing Groovy Cruise
September 12–15: Super Legends Cruise (classic songs performance)
October 11–19: Bravo (classical music)
October 16–25: Rock the Boat (Australian rock music)

Major Celebrity Cruises event cruises for 2025

January 18–15: The Jazz Cruise
January 15–February 1 and February 1–8: The Smooth Jazz Cruise
February 8–16: Chris Botti at Sea (trumpeter)
March 9–15: Golden Fans At Sea (The Golden Girls)
March 22–29: The Flower Power Cruise ('60s music)