Cruise line policies

Not established — the binding terms could not be read.

Allgemeine Reisebedingungen · gültig ab 01.08.2026

The terms document itself refused every attempt to read it. We are not assuming AIDA matches its sister brands: Costa proves brands in this group genuinely differ. Unknown, not either answer.

We could not read the binding document, so this is unknown rather than either answer.

We may refuse to embark or may disembark, confine to a stateroom, quarantine or limit the activities during the Cruise at any time or at any port of any Passenger who may be suffering from a serious and readily communicable infectious disease or whose presence … may be detrimental to the comfort, enjoyment or safety of other persons …

Terms & Conditions for Passengers, section 9(b)

The least exposure of any line here: no conviction clause, no screening, and because the itineraries are all within the United States the contract contains no immigration clause at all. No date or version is published, so there is no way to tell when the terms last changed.

Not established — the binding contract is not published.

Terms of Use

What Atlas publishes states plainly that it is not the contract: carriage is governed by terms printed in the guest ticket, which the line does not put online. Those published pages contain no conviction language, but they are not the document that binds you.

We could not read the binding document, so this is unknown rather than either answer.

The Cruise Line will not refuse to provide transportation based upon race, color, national origin, religion, sex, ancestry or sexual orientation. Subject to those qualifications, the Cruise Line may refuse to accept a booking request from a guest, may refuse to allow a guest to board a vessel or may remove any guest from its vessel, when such refusal or removal of the guest is reasonably necessary in the Cruise Line's sole discretion …

Refusal to Transport Policy, section G

Azamara's contract descends from the Royal Caribbean template, so readers may assume it carries the same terms. It doesn't, and neither does Royal Caribbean's. The policy document still served on the site dates from 2004.

Carnival may deny boarding to any persons with certain enumerated crimes on their record, which include but are not limited to aggravated assault (including aggravated domestic violence), murder, robbery, sexual assault, and other sexual offenses. Carnival reserves the right to access public records containing information about any criminal convictions and/or crimes to which Guest has pleaded guilty as part of its Guest screening process, including obtaining a consumer background report … and to deny embarkation at any time to any person who has been convicted of any of or pleaded guilty to any of the crimes enumerated above.

Ticket Contract, section 2(g) · says it screens

If they refuse you: Treated as your own cancellation, backdated to the booking date — standard penalties apply

The refund treatment is the harshest of the group that shares this wording: a refusal is deemed to be your own cancellation, backdated to the day you booked, so standard penalties apply. Companions' bookings are expressly unaffected, so they cannot cancel penalty-free either.

Carrier may refuse to transport any Guest, and may remove any Guest from the Vessel or Transport at any time, for any of the following reasons: (i) whenever such action is necessary to comply with any government regulations, directives or instructions; … or (v) Guest's passage is denied by Carrier pursuant to its Refusal to Transport Policy.

Cruise Ticket Contract, section 9(i)

Shares the group's contract and its Refusal to Transport Policy, neither of which mentions convictions or registries.

If, in the sole opinion of the Master, a Passenger is unfit to begin or proceed on the cruise or their physical or mental condition constitutes a risk to the vessel or to the health and safety of any other Guest or crew member, or their behavior is such that it may affect the enjoyment of other Passengers, the Master has the right … to refuse passage …

General Terms and Conditions, clause 11.2

The only Carnival brand with no conviction clause. Its contract is visibly built from the Carnival template — one clause still says 'Carnival' — but the screening paragraph was not carried over. That is an absence in today's document, not a promise about practice.

Carrier may deny boarding to any persons with certain enumerated crimes on their record, which include, but are not limited to, aggravated assault (including aggravated domestic violence), murder, robbery, sexual assault, and other sexual offenses. … Unless in breach of any obligation under this agreement, any person(s) refused booking or passage in advance of the scheduled sailing by Carrier will be given a refund of their Total Voyage Price.

Passage Contract, section 4 · Updated June 2026, Version 1.0 · says it screens

If they refuse you: Full fare refunded if refused before sailing

Cunard and P&O Cruises are the same company, Carnival UK Ltd., yet their terms differ sharply. Brand decides the policy, not the corporate parent.

The Carrier and the Master each further reserves the right, without any liability whatsoever, to refuse passage or transport, or to disembark at any port, quarantine, restrain or confine to a stateroom or any other area any Guest with a criminal background or any Guest who may be suffering from a communicable or infectious disease …

Cruise Contract, clause 25 · Version #16

Disney is widely said to bar registrants outright. Its US contract does not: across the whole document the words sex offender, sexual offense, convicted, conviction and registry appear nowhere, and the only hook is the undefined phrase 'a criminal background'. That is broad enough to cover a registrant and can be used at the pier without stated criteria, but it is not the explicit ban it is reported to be. Only the US contract was read; Disney publishes separate contracts for other regions.

any Guest who, as a result of the Guest screening process, is identified as being included in the US National Sex Offender Registry or any other applicable sex offender list.

Booking Terms and Conditions, clause 15.4(f) · says it screens

The clause sits in a list whose opening words limit it to former guests who misbehaved on a previous journey, which this sub-clause plainly isn't about. The drafting is inconsistent, and the screening process it relies on is never defined. Read it as reaching any booking, but know the published text is muddled. Note the trigger is being on a register, not holding a conviction — which can reach someone whose registration continues after a conviction was vacated, expunged or pardoned.

Carrier may deny boarding to any persons with certain enumerated crimes on their record, which include, but are not limited to, aggravated assault (including aggravated domestic violence), murder, robbery, sexual assault, and other sexual offenses. … Any person(s) refused booking or passage in advance of the scheduled sailing or commencement of the Cruisetour or pre-cruise Land Trip by Carrier will be given a refund of their Total Cruise Price.

Cruise Contract, section 4 · Updated July 2026, Version 1.0 · says it screens

If they refuse you: Full fare refunded if refused before sailing

If it appears to us, the ship's captain or our nominated medical representative that you are unable or unfit to travel, likely to endanger your own safety or the safety of any other passengers or our crew, likely to be refused permission to land at any port … we … shall have the right to … Refuse to embark you at any port …

North America General Terms and Conditions · Effective for bookings from November 1, 2024

No conviction or registry language in either brand's North American terms. The only refusal power is about fitness to travel — though 'likely to be refused permission to land at any port' could reach a registrant whose destination would turn them away. Non-US terms were not checked.

Carrier may deny boarding to any Guests with a criminal record, including but not limited to, murder, aggravated assault (including aggravated domestic violence), rape, sexual assault and other sexual offenses and robbery. Carrier reserves the right to access public records … and to deny embarkation at any time to any Guest who has been convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, any of the above-referenced crimes.

Cruise Ticket Contract, section 4(g) · says it screens

If they refuse you: Treated as your own cancellation, backdated to the booking date — standard penalties apply

Follows the Carnival template, including the backdated-cancellation treatment that leaves you paying penalties. The line publishes no date or version on its contract, so there is no way to tell when the terms last changed.

The Company further reserves the right to reject or cancel any Bookings made by or on behalf of any Passenger who is determined through the passenger screening process to be included in the U.S. National Sex Offender Registry or any other applicable sex offender list.

Standard Booking Terms and Conditions, section 15 · says it screens

One of the few lines that names the US registry outright and says it screens. The bar sits in the booking terms rather than the conditions of carriage, so it governs whether MSC will sell or keep your booking. It is also recent: MSC's June 2020 booking terms, still published, contain no registry, conviction or screening language at all. Someone who sailed MSC years ago without trouble should not assume today's terms are the same.

Carrier further reserves the right to refuse to transport a Guest and/or remove a Guest from any property, facility and/or vessel operated by Carrier if the Guest refuses to comply with any law, government order or regulation, possesses illegal drugs, possesses weapons of any kind, exhibits inappropriate behavior in the sole discretion of Carrier, appears on any sex offender list, fails to comply with Carrier's Guest Ticket Contract, and/or fails to abide by any of Carrier's policies, including but not limited to the Ship's rules and/or Carrier's Code of Conduct.

Guest Ticket Contract, section 5(b) · 02/2026

A reserved right, not an automatic bar, and the contract sets out no screening process and no duty to disclose. The words conviction, criminal and felony do not appear in the sister brands' contracts at all: the trigger is the listing.

Carrier further reserves the right to refuse to transport a Guest and/or remove a Guest from any property, facility and/or vessel operated by Carrier if the Guest refuses to comply with any law, government order or regulation, possesses illegal drugs, possesses weapons of any kind, exhibits inappropriate behavior in the sole discretion of Carrier, appears on any sex offender list, fails to comply with Carrier's Guest Ticket Contract, and/or fails to abide by any of Carrier's policies, including but not limited to the Ship's rules and/or Carrier's Code of Conduct.

Ticket Contract, section 14

Word for word the same clause as Norwegian and Regent. The document carries no printed date; the file was posted in May 2026.

By making a booking, the Guest confirms that all persons named in the booking are not persons who: … (ii) have a conviction for a sexual offence including but not limited to a sexual offence that is subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003; or (iii) are subject to a Risk of Sexual Harm Order or Child Abduction Notice.

Booking terms & conditions, clause 3

If they refuse you: 100% cancellation charges

The strictest terms found. It works as a promise you give when booking, so booking at all while registered is itself a breach, before anyone checks. Enforcement runs to disembarkation at the next port with no accommodation or repatriation paid, and it covers everyone else on the booking. Same legal entity as Cunard, different rules.

Carrier may deny boarding to any persons with certain enumerated crimes on their record, which include, but are not limited to, aggravated assault (including aggravated domestic violence), murder, robbery, sexual assault, and other sexual offenses. … Any person(s) refused booking or passage in advance of the scheduled sailing by Carrier will be given a refund of their Total Cruise Price.

Passage Contract, section 4 · Updated August 2026, Version 1.0 · says it screens

If they refuse you: Full fare refunded if refused before sailing

Same screening sentence as Carnival, opposite refund treatment.

Carrier further reserves the right to refuse to transport a Guest and/or remove a Guest from any property, facility and/or vessel operated by Carrier if the Guest refuses to comply with any law, government order or regulation, possesses illegal drugs, possesses weapons of any kind, exhibits inappropriate behavior in the sole discretion of Carrier, appears on any sex offender list, fails to comply with Carrier's Guest Ticket Contract, and/or fails to abide by any of Carrier's policies, including but not limited to the Ship's rules and/or Carrier's Code of Conduct.

Ticket Contract, section 14

Identical to the Norwegian clause. The file carries no printed date; its metadata records creation in April 2025.

Refusal may be warranted when we, in our sole discretion deem the Refusal to be in the best interest of: (a) any Cruise Line, (b) the guest's comfort, enjoyment, health, welfare or safety, (c) other guest's comfort, enjoyment, health, welfare or safety …

Refusal to Transport Policy, ground 13 · Last Updated: November 20, 2020

Travelers report Royal Caribbean declining these bookings, but nothing in writing says so. The ticket contract, the group conduct policy and this policy together mention convictions, criminal history and registries nowhere. Refusals rest on a general discretion the policy declares final, so there is no criterion to check beforehand and no stated appeal. The policy is from 2020 and still names Azamara, which the group sold in 2021.

Carrier may deny boarding to any persons with certain enumerated crimes on their record, which include, but are not limited to, aggravated assault (including aggravated domestic violence), murder, robbery, sexual assault, and other sexual offenses. … Any person(s) refused booking or passage in advance of the scheduled sailing or pre-cruise Land Trip by Carrier will be given a refund of their Total Cruise Price.

Cruise Contract, section 4 · Updated June 2026, Version 1.0 · says it screens

If they refuse you: Full fare refunded if refused before sailing

Carrier may refuse to transport any Guest, and may remove any Guest from the Vessel or Transport at any time, for any of the following reasons: … (v) Guest's passage is denied by Carrier pursuant to its Refusal to Transport Policy.

Cruise Ticket Contract, section 9(i) · S(US)MAY2024

Covered by name in the group's Refusal to Transport Policy, which contains no conviction language.

Carrier reserves the right to refuse a booking, deny embarkation, disembark, confine to a stateroom, quarantine or remove any person … who, in Carrier's sole opinion, is not fit to travel, or whose presence, in the opinion of the Master or any doctor, may be detrimental to the comfort, safety or wellbeing of the person or any other person, or in the Master's opinion, might be excluded from landing at any destination by immigration or other governmental authorities.

Passenger Ticket Contract (non-US ports) · 3-260324

Ocean and river, across four documents, contain no conviction, registry or screening language. The refusal clauses differ by itinerary: sailings touching a US port are governed by a health-only clause, while the non-US contract that covers European river cruises carries this open-ended one, which expressly contemplates a destination refusing you entry.

Carrier may refuse to transport or may disembark at any port any Guest with a criminal background or any Guest who may be suffering from contagious or infectious disease, ill health, immigration or other governmental authorities.

Ticket Contract, section 20.3 · October 7, 2025 (v.6.5)

Near-identical wording to Disney, apparently from a shared industry template, and equally undefined. The trailing words are garbled in the published text; quoted here exactly as they appear. The onboard conduct policy covers acts committed during the voyage, not past convictions.

you are inadmissible under the immigration or other laws of any country included in the Cruise itinerary or fail at any time to possess required travel documents

Passage Contract, clause A.6(b) · Effective for cruises after September 1, 2026

If they refuse you: Treated as your own cancellation, backdated to the booking date — standard penalties apply

No conviction or registry language anywhere. But being inadmissible to a country on the itinerary is an express ground for refusing to carry you, and the contract rules out any refund or repatriation cost if they do.