How far ahead of time are the itineraries released?

[AlwaysMouseTime]

I've been doing way, way too much reading....and now I can't even google my questions properly, because I get too many if/and/or answers....

How far ahead of time do they release itineraries? Do they release for an entire year? I had asked previously about booking onboard for my next cruise...but I doubt the dates will be released yet. So in that case, if I do the "placeholder" deposit, I would just have to wait until the itineraries are released? I know there are blackout dates- is the week BEFORE Christmas generally a blackout week?

 

[KristiMc]

They do not release an entire year at the same time. Jan-May 2017 was released in October 2015 and summer 2017 will probably be released in March 2016 and then rest of 2017 in May. I say probably because only DCL knows for sure. If you have a placeholder booked then you can go ahead and change it to a real booking on opening day.

 

[CathyCU03]

We were able to book a Dec. 17-24, 2016 cruise with OBB. The cruise departing Dec. 24 was blacked out.