Celebrity Semi-Annual Sale, 75% Off 2nd Guest
Key points
- Celebrity's Semi-Annual Sale terms list a one-day booking window on December 18, 2025
- Eligible departures run from December 9, 2025, through May 10, 2028, on select 3-night and longer sailings
- Second-guest savings depend on fare type, up to 75% off for non-refundable fares and 50% off for refundable fares
- Additional guests can have $0 cruise fare in eligible stateroom categories on select sailings, but taxes and fees still apply
- The offer excludes Celebrity River Cruises and Galapagos sailings, and it is capacity controlled
Impact
- Booking Window
- Celebrity's published terms list the Offer Period as December 18, 2025 for eligible new bookings
- Trip Dates
- Select sailings depart from December 9, 2025 through May 10, 2028, plus specific Alaska cruisetour windows
- Fare Math
- The second guest discount varies by refundable versus non-refundable fare selection
- Family Value
- Third through fifth guests may have $0 cruise fare in eligible stateroom categories on select sailings
- Exclusions
- Celebrity River Cruises and Galapagos are excluded, and availability is capacity controlled
Celebrity Cruises has posted new Semi-Annual Sale terms that advertise a broad, sailing-wide discount structure for voyages to Europe, the Caribbean, Alaska, and other regions. The offer is positioned for wave-season style shopping, and it centers on a second-guest discount plus a separate perk for additional guests in the same stateroom on select sailings. Travelers who want to use it should treat this as a time sensitive pricing window, confirm the exact benefit on their specific sailing at checkout, and avoid building a plan around headline percentages alone.
The practical change is that the deal is tied to an "Offer Period" that Celebrity's published terms list as December 18, 2025, while eligible departure dates extend from December 9, 2025, through May 10, 2028, on select sailings three nights and longer. Celebrity also lists separate eligibility for certain Alaska Cruisetours within defined 2026 and 2027 summer windows.
Who Is Affected
Couples booking together are the cleanest fit for the promotion, because the core savings is structured as a second-guest discount that varies by fare type. Celebrity's terms state 75% off the second guest applies to non-refundable fares, while 50% off the second guest applies to refundable fares, which means the "best deal" depends on how much flexibility a traveler needs later.
Families, multi-generational groups, and friend groups sharing a stateroom may see meaningful value when the sailing qualifies for additional-guest cruise fares of $0, but the fine print matters. Celebrity limits that $0 cruise-fare benefit to specific stateroom categories, and it does not waive taxes, fees, or port expenses, which can be a large share of the total for third, fourth, or fifth guests.
Travelers booking niche products are also affected by what is not included. Celebrity's terms exclude Celebrity River Cruises and all Galapagos sailings, and the line notes the offers are capacity controlled and can disappear for a given ship, date, or cabin category without warning as inventory sells.
What Travelers Should Do
Start by pricing your exact sailing twice, once as refundable and once as non-refundable, then compare the total at checkout after taxes and fees. If you are traveling with three to five guests in one stateroom, verify that your cabin category is eligible for the $0 cruise-fare perk for additional guests, and do not assume it applies to every cabin type or every departure.
Use clear decision thresholds before you put down a deposit. If your dates are fixed, your preferred ship is selling quickly, or you need connecting flights and pre-cruise hotels that are already rising in price, locking the cruise now can reduce downstream risk, even if a future promo exists. If your dates are flexible and you are still debating regions, it can be smarter to wait for the next promo cycle rather than forcing a one-day booking decision, because cruise pricing is dynamic and the same sailing can move independently of the headline offer.
Over the next 24 to 72 hours, monitor three things that change the real value of a cruise sale, not just the marketing headline. Watch whether your sailing still shows the second-guest discount and onboard credit on the pricing page, whether eligible cabin categories are selling out in the band you want, and whether airfare and pre-cruise hotel rates are climbing for your embarkation port dates, because those second-order costs can erase cruise-fare savings fast.
Background
Wave-season cruise deals tend to work through layered pricing mechanics that can look simple in ads and messy at checkout. Celebrity's Semi-Annual Sale, as published in its terms, combines a second-guest discount that depends on refundable versus non-refundable fares with separate perks that can include onboard credit by sailing length and stateroom class, plus a $0 cruise-fare overlay for additional guests on select sailings and eligible cabins.
Those mechanics ripple through the travel system in predictable ways. First-order effects show up inside the cruise booking itself, cabin-category scarcity, deposit rules, and the fact that capacity controls can remove the best looking perks before the "departure through 2028" window is anywhere near relevant. Second-order effects show up in air and hotel pricing, because travelers who commit to a sailing years out often need flights, pre-cruise nights, and transfer plans that become more expensive as embarkation weekends fill. A third layer is onboard logistics, shore excursions, dining times, and popular add-ons can sell out earlier when a fleet-wide sale pulls demand forward. For a broader playbook on how to shop these rotating promos without getting trapped by headline math, see Wave Season, and for how Celebrity's far-ahead inventory can tighten, compare with Celebrity Cruises Reveals 2027-28 Global Itineraries and Celebrity's Black Friday Runs Through December 8.