Key Aspects:
- Carnival Miracle has received an itinerary change for its October 16 and October 26 departures in 2027.
- Both sailings will now call at Souda (Chania), in Crete, Greece, instead of Santorini, Greece.
- The ship’s only other 10-night sailing to Greece in 2027, which embarks on September 28, is unchanged.
Carnival Miracle will only offer three 10-night sailings to Greece, Turkey, and Italy in 2027, and two of these sailings just got a major itinerary change.
The impacted departures on October 16, 2027, and October 26, 2027, will both replace Santorini, Greece, with visits to Souda (Chania) in Crete, Greece.
At this time, the first of these sailings, which sets sail on September 28, 2027, remains unaffected.
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And thankfully, the remaining stops on the affected sailings remain in place. After embarking in Rome, guests will still get to visit Kusadasi, Turkey; Mykonos, Athens, and Katakolon in Greece, and Naples, Italy.
The only other change, which is more minor, is that the timing of the visit to Kusadasi will be adjusted to accommodate the change in plans. Instead of being the next port after Santorini, it will follow the day in Souda.
It already takes a cruise ship around 10 to 14 hours to cover the approximately 122 nautical miles from Santorini to Kusadasi, and Souda is around 300-350 nautical miles away from the Turkish destination.
“We have made slight adjustments to your itinerary. Santorini has been replaced with a visit to Souda (Chania) – Crete, Greece, and port times have been modified for both Souda and Kusadasi,” Carnival wrote in a letter, which was obtained by Cruise Hive.
The new times will be updated on Carnival’s website and in the Carnival Hub App within 24 hours.
Any pre-purchased Carnival shore excursions for Santorini will also be automatically cancelled and refunded, with new tours for Souda becoming available soon.
Are Cruise Ship Limits to Blame?
Carnival Cruise Line did not specify why Santorini was removed from the two itineraries, but this could be done for a variety of reasons. However, one theory does come to mind first.
The first possibility is port availability and cruise ship limitations. While there is technically room for four to six large ships to conduct tender operations in Santorini at once, Greece imposed a daily cap of 8,000 cruise passengers per day in 2025 to mitigate overtourism.
For context, Carnival Miracle can already carry up to 2,124 guests. And while the ship was not meant to be alone during its scrapped visits, the total number of cruise passengers in the port should have been under the cap.
The October 16 sailing would have included a call to Santorini on October 19, when Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas is also on the schedule.
With a maximum capacity of 5,510 passengers onboard the Quantum-class ship, the combined passenger total for the two vessels would come in just below the daily cap.
During the October 26 sailing, the 130,000-gross ton Carnival Miracle would have been joined by two other ships during the now-cancelled visit on October 29.
These would include the 2,604-guest Celebrity Infinity and the 638-guest Seabourn Ovation, which would again bring in a combined daily passenger total that is below the limit.
That said, it’s possible that these totals are close enough to the daily cap to receive pushback, or that planned maintenance or other activities within the port is temporarily limiting cruise operations more than normal.
Other Factors at Play
Port availability is not the only reason a cruise line would swap a scheduled visit. In the case of Santorini, the cost to visit the Greek island might also be a factor.
Starting last summer, Greece has been enforcing a seasonal cruise passenger tax of €12 to €20 (about $13 to $23) for all guests who visit Santorini.
More likely than not, Carnival would pass this fee onto its guests rather than eating the cost, but extra fees are never desirable either way.
Some cruise fans also wondered if the change was related to an “earthquake swarm” that impacted Santorini in early 2025. The quakes raised some concerns about Santorini’s carrying capacity and the potential risk of being a volcanic island.
But while the region remains tectonically active, seismic activity has returned to normal levels, and there is no indication that a volcanic eruption is imminent as of the time of this writing.
If information is made public that confirms the reason behind the itinerary change, Cruise Hive will issue an update.
