5 Best Sail Away Parties at Sea: Ranked From a Cruiser Who's Been to All of Them
- The Walking Cruiser
- 2 days ago
- 9 min read
The best sail away party at sea is on Royal Caribbean's Utopia of the Seas, but we are counting down to it. Norwegian's Spice H2O takes fifth, Disney takes fourth for families, Virgin Voyages' Scarlet Lady takes third for adults only, Carnival takes second for pure noise, and Utopia takes the top spot because short Bahamas sailings put a whole ship in weekend mode before the ropes are even off. Here are the top 5 cruise sail away parties, counted down from 5 to 1.
So what actually makes a sail away good? Not the free drink. Three things: how many people bother to turn up, whether the ship has anywhere for them to stand, and whether the crew genuinely commits to it. Plenty of ships manage one of those. Very few manage all three.
In this article
What is a sail away party on a cruise?
The top 5 sail away parties at a glance
5. Norwegian Spice H2O: the best late sail away
4. Disney Cruise Line: the best family sail away party
3. Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady: the best adults only sail away
2. Carnival: the loudest sail away party
1. Utopia of the Seas: the best sail away party at sea
Which sail away parties are not worth turning up for?
How do you get the best spot at a sail away party?
Frequently asked questions
What is a sail away party on a cruise?
A sail away party is the deck party a ship throws as it leaves its home port. It usually kicks off 15 to 30 minutes before the lines go and runs about an hour. Expect a DJ or the ship's band, a cruise director on a microphone, drinks trolleys working the crowd, and a lot of people waving at strangers on shore who did not ask to be waved at. It is free, it is included, and it is completely optional.
Now, it matters more than it sounds. It is the first hour of your holiday and it sets the tone for the rest of the week. Get it right and the ship feels alive by dinner. Get it wrong and you have paid for a floating hotel that took two days to warm up.
The top 5 sail away parties at a glance
Rank | Ship or line | Best for | Where it happens |
5 | Norwegian (Spice H2O) | A later, calmer, adults only start | Aft, top decks, adults only |
4 | Disney Cruise Line | Families with young kids | Main pool deck stage |
3 | Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady | Adults only, club atmosphere | Pool deck and The Dock |
2 | Carnival (Lido deck) | Pure volume and crowd energy | Lido main pool |
1 | Utopia of the Seas | The best all round sail away | Pool deck, plus the whole ship |
5. Norwegian Spice H2O: the best late sail away
Norwegian's sail away is the one that rewards patience. The main pool deck party is fine, nothing special, usually a DJ and a decent crowd. The real one is Spice H2O, the adults only area right at the back of the ship on the upper decks, which on Joy sits on deck 17. During the day it is a quiet spot to grab a drink under the waterfall. After dark it turns into an Ibiza style deck club with a DJ and dancing under the stars.
So it is a slow burn rather than a bang. If you sail out at 4pm, the good stuff has not started yet. Where Norwegian wins is that the party carries on properly into the night with themed events across the sailing, from 80s nights to glow parties. Where it loses is the sail away moment itself, which is a bit flat compared to everything below it on this list.
Worth turning up for? Not at sail away. Turn up at Spice H2O after dinner instead and you will get far more out of it.
4. Disney Cruise Line: the best family sail away party
Disney does the most produced sail away at sea, and that is both the strength and the problem. The pool deck party is a proper staged show with characters, choreography, a countdown, and the ship's horn playing a tune, which on a Disney ship never stops being funny. If you have kids under about 10, nothing else on this list comes close.
Now the honest bit. It is a show you watch, not a party you are in. There is no wandering around with a drink and getting swept up in it. You stand, you film it, it ends on time, and everyone files off to dinner. For adults sailing without kids, it is a lovely 20 minutes and then you want something else.
The other thing worth knowing: the deck is rammed and sightlines are tight, so if you want your kids to actually see the characters rather than the back of someone's phone, get there 30 minutes early or watch from the deck above.
Worth turning up for? Yes with kids, absolutely. Without kids, watch it from a level up with a drink and then move on.
3. Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady: the best adults only sail away
Scarlet Lady has no children on board at all, and you feel it within about 90 seconds of the music starting. There are no family games, no "everybody clap" moments, no cruise director trying to keep four different age groups happy at once. It is a DJ, a well designed pool deck, and a crowd that is mostly in their 30s and 40s and already on their second drink.
The atmosphere is closer to a rooftop bar than a cruise ship deck party, which is exactly what Virgin is going for. Drinks are the fairest part: there are no extra gratuities added at the bar, so the price you see is the price you pay, which after a week of Royal Caribbean receipts is a genuinely nice change.
So why only third? Because the crowd is smaller. Scarlet Lady carries around 2,770 guests against Utopia's 5,600 plus, and at sail away that gap is obvious. It is a better designed party with fewer people in it. If you want atmosphere over noise, move it up your own list.
Worth turning up for? Yes, and it is the best one on this list if you actively do not want to be near other people's children.
2. Carnival: the loudest sail away party
Nobody does volume like Carnival. The Lido deck party is unapologetic: bass you can feel through the deck, a cruise director who is fully committed, conga lines, and a crowd that does not need any warming up. Carnival's own line about turning land people into sea people at sail away is marketing, but it is marketing that describes what actually happens.
What earns it second place is consistency. This is not a special event on one ship. It happens on Liberty, on Breeze, on the short Galveston and Florida runs, week in and week out. You do not need to pick the right ship or the right sailing to get it.
The trade off is space. Carnival's older ships are much smaller than the Royal Caribbean giants, so the Lido pool area fills fast and gets tight around the bars. You are shoulder to shoulder by the time the ropes go. Some people love that, some people last ten minutes and go find the aft deck. There is no wrong answer, but know which one you are before you commit.
Worth turning up for? Yes, and get there early if you want somewhere to actually stand.
1. Utopia of the Seas: the best sail away party at sea
Utopia of the Seas wins this for one structural reason that no other ship can copy: it only does 3 and 4 night Bahamas sailings out of Port Canaveral. That means nobody on board is settling in for a slow two week holiday. Everyone has a Friday-to-Monday window and they are spending it. The pool deck is busy well before departure, not filling up gradually after it.
Then you add the ship itself. Utopia carries more than 5,600 guests at double occupancy and it has the deck space to spread them out, so a crowd this size never has the crushed feeling you get on a smaller Lido deck. There is a pool deck DJ, there is more than 40 dining and bar venues open around you, and the bars stay open late into the night, so the sail away is genuinely the start of something rather than an isolated hour.
The honest criticism: because there is so much ship, the party is diluted across it. If you want one dense wall of noise in a single spot, Carnival still does that better. Utopia's version is a whole ship switching on at once, which I would take every time, but they are not the same thing.
Would I plan a sailing around it? For a first cruise or a group weekend, yes. That first hour on Utopia does more to sell someone on cruising than any brochure ever has.
My full walkthrough of Utopia of the Seas, including the pool deck where the sail away party happens.
Which sail away parties are not worth turning up for?
Plainly: most of them. Some categories of ship simply do not do this well, and there is no point pretending otherwise.
Small luxury and expedition ships. Silversea, Seabourn, Viking. The pool deck at departure is a quiet drink and a view, not a party. That is the product working as intended, not a failure.
Late night departures. If the ship leaves at 10pm or 11pm, half the passengers are at dinner or already asleep. The party either does not happen or it happens to about 40 people.
Cold weather sailings. Alaska and Northern Europe sail aways move indoors or shrink to almost nothing. Nobody is dancing on an open deck out of Southampton in March.
Second and third embarkation ports. On a ship that picks up guests in two ports, the second sail away is usually a token version of the first.
Turnaround days in bad weather. Rain moves it indoors and it is never the same. This is worth knowing before you skip the buffet to save your spot.
How do you get the best spot at a sail away party?
Five things that actually make a difference:
Get up there 30 to 40 minutes early. Not 10. The good railing spots on the pool deck go first and they never open up again.
Stand one deck above the party, not in it, if you want the view and the atmosphere without being packed in. You lose the drinks trolley and gain everything else.
Use the promenade deck for the actual departure. You are lower and closer to the water, so you see the tugs, the lines going, and the port sliding past properly. Then go up for the music.
Order at the smaller bar. The pool bar queue at sail away is the longest queue you will stand in all week. Any bar one deck down or forward is faster.
Do not unpack first. Cabins are usually ready before sail away and the bags come later anyway. Get up on deck, come back down after.
One more thing. If your balcony faces the port side of the pier, you will get a better departure view from your own cabin than from anywhere else on the ship. Quiet, free, and you can still hear the music.
Frequently asked questions
What time do sail away parties start?
Usually 15 to 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time, so if the ship leaves at 4:30pm expect the music from about 4pm. It typically runs for around an hour.
Is the sail away party free?
Yes. The party, the music, and the entertainment are all included. Drinks are not, unless you have a drinks package or the line includes them.
Do you get a free drink at sail away?
Rarely on the big mainstream lines. Waiters circulate with souvenir cocktails you pay for. Some luxury and all inclusive lines do serve complimentary sparkling wine, but that is a different style of sail away entirely.
Which cruise line has the best sail away party?
Royal Caribbean on the short Bahamas sailings, with Utopia of the Seas as the standout. Carnival is the closest competitor and is the loudest of the lot.
Where is the best place to watch sail away on a cruise ship?
The promenade deck for the departure itself, since you are lower and closer to the water, and the pool deck or one level above it for the party. Forward facing observation areas give the rarest view if your ship has public access to one.
Do you have to attend the sail away party?
No. It is entirely optional and plenty of people skip it for a quiet balcony or an early dinner. Nothing is missed that affects the rest of your cruise.
What should you wear to a sail away party?
Whatever you traveled in. It is the most casual hour of the whole cruise, shorts and flip flops are standard, and no dress code applies.
Do cruise ships have sail away parties at every port?
No. Most lines only do a proper party on the first embarkation day. Leaving a port of call mid cruise usually gets music on the pool deck at most.
Is the sail away party good for kids?
On Disney, yes, it is built around them. On Royal Caribbean and Carnival it is loud but family friendly. On Virgin Voyages there are no children on board at all.
Can you watch sail away from your balcony?
Yes, and on the right side of the ship it is the best view on board. You will still hear the music from the pool deck, just without the crowd.
So which one would I book for?
If the sail away party genuinely matters to you, book a short Royal Caribbean sailing on Utopia of the Seas and get on the pool deck by 4pm. If you want the loudest hour at sea, book Carnival. If you never want to hear a children's entertainer again, book Scarlet Lady. Everything else on this list is a nice bonus rather than a reason to pick a ship.
Have you been to a sail away that beat any of these? Tell me in the comments, because I will happily be talked into changing this order.
Watch the Full Walkthrough
See the Utopia of the Seas pool deck, bars and cabins before you book.
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