(StraightNews.org) – A cruise ship bound for Florida and the Bahamas was forced to re-route to Boston due to weather conditions. Passengers on MSC Cruises’s Meraviglia said they thought it was a joke when they were told that instead of enjoying the warm climes of the Caribbean, they would have to contend with the winter temperatures of Boston, Maine, and Canada. The ship remained docked in Boston for three days and left for Portland, Maine. From there, it would travel to St. John in Newfoundland before eventually returning to New York.
The company informed passengers of the new route by email the night before departure, but many customers did not see the email on time and were shocked to find they were going on a winter rather than summer vacation. The email said the change was made to “ensure the safety and well-being of everyone onboard” and to avoid high winds and heavy rain in the Bahamas.
One passenger, who lives in Pennsylvania and regularly travels to Boston for work, was outraged that she would also have to spend her vacation there. “I did not want to pay $5,000 to come to Boston,” she said.
The Meraviglia was one of several ships affected as unexpected weather conditions in the Caribbean caused “multiple itinerary changes.” The Sky Princess, which sailed from Florida, canceled its stop at Princess Cays in the Bahamas but was expected to reach Puerto Rico as planned. A second ship, the Carnival Freedom, that also sailed from Florida, could not dock at any of its pre-planned stops and simply sailed “nowhere” until returning to its departure point.
The changes and cancellations were attributed to “rough seas, high swells, and strong winds,” which present “hazardous navigational challenges for docking or make it unsafe for guests to walk along exposed piers.”
Officials in Nassau’s Cruise Port in the Bahamas said the absent cruise ships cost the area 10,000 visitors and their economic input.
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