Picture a Carnival cruise and you no doubt imagine a busy pool deck, drinks flowing, sunshine, and families having a great time.
But for some people, sailing with kids isn’t ideal even if they love Carnival. Kids tend to make a cruise louder, more hectic, and lead to a lot of the focus on board — from food to entertainment — to be geared toward them. Bottom line: A cruise full of kids can be less relaxing.
As a result, just about every cruise line has adults-only places on the ship. There areas are typically sun decks or solariums and have an age minimum to visit. They tend to be much quieter and calmer, making them some people’s favorite spot on the ship.
Meanwhile, one cruise line has gone even further. Virgin Voyages is seeing growing popularity thanks to being entirely 18+ in order to sail. More than just having adult spaces, the entire ship is for adult cruisers.
Now Carnival is getting in on this adults-only segment of the market.
Adult Cruises Started for Carnival Casino Players. Now They’re Branching Out.
If you haven’t heard of these adult Carnival cruises until now, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Despite being tuned into the industry, we didn’t catch wind of these sailings until recently. While not being a secret, Carnival hasn’t promoted them too heavily.
The sailings are known as “SEA” cruises, with stands for Sailings Exclusively for Adults. As you would guess by the name, the cruises aren’t open to families. All passengers must be at least 21 years old to sail.
It’s not clear when these cruises first started, but they seem to have begun with cruises put on for the Carnival’s Players Club casino loyalty program.
The casino offers casino-exclusive sailings that are adults only. These casino cruises, known as “ACES” (All-Casino Exclusive Sailings) are invitation only. They feature multiple casinos on the ship and even have itineraries with more sea days to increase the amount of time available to play.
There are currently three of these cruises listed, sailing consecutively from mid-October and early November aboard Carnival Magic from Miami.
However, while adults-only cruises might have began with casino offers, the SEA cruises are something different and you don’t have to be a gambler to sail.
Six Announced Sailings for 2026
With the introduction of SEA cruises, Carnival has announced at least six sailings across multiple ships and ports.
So far the sailings we’ve seen are just through the first three months of 2026. They include sailings from three different ports:
- Jan. 5, 2026 | 12 Days | Miami | Carnival Conquest
- Jan. 17, 2026 | 13 Days | Miami | Carnival Conquest
- Feb. 7, 2026 | 9 Days | Galveston | Carnival Dream
- Feb. 16, 2026 | 15 Days | Galveston | Carnival Dream (Transatlantic)
- Mar. 2, 2026 | 8 Days | Port Canaveral | Carnival Glory
- Mar. 10, 2026 | 15 Days | Port Canaveral | Carnival Glory (Transatlantic)
If you search around Carnival’s website, however, you won’t find much mention of these sailings. In fact, you may not find them at all.
We searched for these cruises and couldn’t find them at first. It was only on a second search where we were logged into our Carnival account when the cruises appeared on the website booking engine. In fact, we originally found the sailing list from Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald on Facebook.
Carnival offers a registration page where people interested can sign up. You can book them directly on the Carnival website if you are signed in and the offer is available to you. Otherwise, they seem to be unlisted.
According to the terms and conditions, the offer is available only to “targeted guests” and is “capacity controlled.”
John Heald posted that the cruises are selling quickly and “you only have until the 15th to book one.” The terms and conditions do in fact say bookings are only available until September 15.
We Expect More Sailings and Easier Bookings in the Future
Given the limited routes so far and the hurdles that come with booking one of these offers, it could be that you aren’t able to book a spot.
In that case, we wouldn’t worry too much. By all accounts the cruises so far are a hit. The comments on Heald’s Facebook posts on the SEA cruises are universally positive, with many people asking for more options, including ones sailing from other ports, different schedules, and shorter itineraries.
In other words, it seems lots of people interested in the concept.
With that in mind, we’d find it likely that more trips would come online in the future that are adults-only.
So if you want to sail one of these few cruises but can’t make one yet, give it some time and you may have more options.
In the meantime, you can register your interest in SEA cruises here.
