More Than 5,000 Passengers Booked a Sunny Bahamas Cruise and Ended Up in Freezing Canada Instead
More than 5,000 passengers boarded a cruise ship expecting the sunny Bahamas. Instead, forecasts of stormy weather changed the itinerary and sent the ship north to chilly Halifax, Canada — a rerouting of Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas that has drawn wide attention.
According to reports, passengers boarded the ship in New Jersey on October 18 for a seven-day cruise to Florida and the Bahamas. But forecasts of stormy weather off the East Coast prompted the cruise line to change the itinerary, sending the ship north to Halifax, Nova Scotia, instead.
The ship stopped in Halifax for about 24 hours, giving passengers time to explore ashore, shop and take harbor rides. It departed Wednesday evening and is scheduled to return to New Jersey on Sunday after three days at sea.
The biggest difficulty was preparation. According to reports, the line announced the changed itinerary the evening before the ship sailed, leaving passengers who had packed for summer with very little time to adjust.
New Jersey resident Marie Durning told CTV News her husband's first reaction was, 'This is a joke, right?' Durning said she had her winter hat and earmuffs, but had forgotten her scarf, and was left scrambling to repack.
The contrast in weather was stark. Daytime temperatures hovered in the upper 40s to low 50s Fahrenheit in Halifax this week, with overnight lows in the 30s — a far cry from the warm beaches of the Bahamas the passengers had expected.
Some passengers, however, chose to make the most of an unfamiliar city. Jim Matthews, who lives near Paterson, New Jersey, said, 'I'm grateful and I'm going to make the best of it. And I have found out that Halifax is a beautiful city.'
Not everyone felt the same. Nicholas Meli, who drove seven hours with his family from Toronto to New Jersey to board the ship, put it plainly: 'I am already from Canada, and I wanted to go to the Bahamas.'
Online, commenters in Reddit's Canada thread expressed sympathy for the passengers while also sharing their fondness for Halifax. One called it their favorite Canadian city to visit, but said they would be 'bummed' to end up there while expecting a Bahamas beach vacation.
Another commenter summed up the change more bluntly: 'Halifax is gorgeous, but it is not the Bahamas' — a single line that seemed to capture what most passengers were feeling.
PEOPLE reported that passengers received a 50% travel voucher and refunds for shore excursions. However, weather and other circumstances can prompt Royal Caribbean to alter or substitute ports, according to its website, and it is not necessarily required to refund fares or provide compensation.
Halifax was the cruise's only port stop. After about 24 hours ashore, the ship is now spending three days at sea on its way back to New Jersey.
