They booked Bermuda. They got the Bay of Fundy. Passengers on Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas, booked on a five-night getaway from New Jersey to Bermuda, are instead spending this week in Saint John, New Brunswick, where the cruise line’s own pre-trip email advised light sweaters and layers for daytime highs in the mid-50s Fahrenheit (roughly 12 to 13 degrees Celsius).
It is the second time in about a week that a Royal Caribbean ship sailing out of Cape Liberty, New Jersey, has swapped a warm-weather holiday for Canada.
What Royal Caribbean told guests
The 3,858-passenger ship left Cape Liberty as planned on Saturday, October 24, but turned north instead of south. In its email to booked guests, the company explained the switch this way:
“The weather’s impact makes it hard to provide you with a safe and comfortable journey to Bermuda. So, after exploring all of our options, we’ve decided to sail to Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, for an overnight stay instead.”
In a separate statement, Royal Caribbean said it had “been closely monitoring inclement weather developing off the East Coast” for the October 24 sailing.
The weather in question was the leftover system from Josephine, which had formed as a subtropical storm off the US East Coast. A National Weather Service gale warning for waters between the coast and Bermuda called for winds of 25 to 35 knots on Saturday, possibly up to 40 knots into Sunday, with seas of seven to 19 feet.
Bermuda vs. Saint John: the trade
On paper, the swap kept the overnight. In practice, it shaved hours off it.
- Planned Bermuda stop: King’s Wharf at the Royal Naval Dockyard, 9 a.m. Monday, October 26, to 5 p.m. Tuesday, about 32 hours in port.
- New Saint John stop: 10:30 a.m. Monday to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 27, which works out to 28 hours, or four fewer than the Bermuda plan.
- The way home: a final day at sea on Wednesday, then back to Cape Liberty on Thursday, October 29.
Royal Caribbean’s email pitched the city’s highlights, including the New Brunswick Museum and the Reversing Falls, a stretch of rapids where the high tides of the Bay of Fundy push the Saint John River backward against its own current.
There was a paperwork twist too. Guests who had planned on Bermuda were reminded they now needed documents good for Canada, with the company “highly” recommending a passport valid for at least six months after the cruise. Depending on nationality, some travelers may need a visa to enter Canada.
The payout, and how it stacks up
To soften the blow, Royal Caribbean is handing out refundable onboard credit per stateroom: $150 for inside cabins, $200 for ocean-view, $300 for balconies and $500 for suites, plus $50 for each third or additional guest. Bermuda excursions bought through the line are being refunded to onboard accounts, and unused credit goes back to the card on file.
Run the numbers and the gap with the earlier diversion is wide. Oasis of the Seas guests, rerouted from Florida and the Bahamas to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the October 18 sailing, were offered $200 to $600 per guest plus a future cruise credit worth half their fare. A couple in an inside cabin on Independence shares $150, or $75 each, while even the lowest Oasis tier gives that same couple $400 between them. A family of four in an Independence balcony cabin gets $400 in total ($300 plus two extra guests at $50).
The fine print matters here: under Royal Caribbean’s passenger contract, the line can change itineraries for weather, safety or mechanical reasons and is not legally required to refund fares.
Cruisers split on the call
Online, travelers were divided. One defended the decision: “It is costly and complicated for the cruise line to change itineraries on short notice and not something done without good reasoning.” Another, whose relatives were on a different line’s Bermuda route at the same time, wasn’t convinced: “If the storm was really that bad why would NCL not change their itinerary?”
Independence of the Seas has had a rough autumn. On September 26, a powerful nor’easter kept it docked in Cape Liberty, cutting short its Bermuda overnight on that trip. Vision of the Seas, sailing from Baltimore on October 17, also had Bermuda replaced by Saint John, and on that late change passengers could not go ashore at all.
For this week’s guests, the ship is due to leave Saint John at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27, and dock back in New Jersey on Thursday, October 29.
Further reading
Image: Kiran891, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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