Cruise ship passengers who had planned for a fun-in-the-sun winter escape in the Bahamas had a rude awakening when inclement weather rerouted the ship — to Boston and Canada.
The MSC Meraviglia departed New York City on Saturday and had planned to stop in Port Canaveral, Florida, the cruise line’s private island, Ocean Cay Marine Reserve, and Nassau, Bahamas.
However, conditions at sea had turned dangerous, forcing the ship to change directions.
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“MSC Meraviglia sailed to Canada and New England instead of The Bahamas this week due to unseasonable and rapidly worsening weather that would have made it impossible to safely reach the southern Atlantic Ocean from New York City,” MSC told Fox Business in a statement. “The only alternative would have been to take the more extreme step of cancelling the cruise — and thousands of people’s vacations — outright.”
The ship docked in Boston, Mass., Portland, Maine, and St. John, Canada, leaving many passengers disgruntled.
A document circulating on X shows MSC outlining the changes in the cruise’s itinerary to passengers, stating that passengers who do not wish to continue on the new route could cancel and receive a future credit.
“I would think a refund would be one of the options. With that said, no port is ever guaranteed, so I think that’s likely why they’re doing it this way,” one person wrote on the platform. “Keep folks with the line. But for those that still sail? Give them something! Even a free drink.”
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“Obviously it was disappointing at first but you can’t change the weather,” one passenger said on Reddit. “The cruise has been pretty good and lots of activities but me and my husband went into Boston today and it was super rainy and windy but it was fun.”
Others documented their new adventure on TikTok and Instagram.
@mzzkeya #msc #cruise #msccruises #fyp ♬ original sound – Mzzkeya creations
Lakeya Allen told Good Morning America she and her best friend Val Montgomery, who booked the trip together as a combined family holiday, were “devastated” by the divergence of the course.
“We’re from Chicago, so we wanted to change the weather,” Allen said. “I never fathomed that we would be back in cold weather. This is some of my kids’ Christmas gifts.”
“We thought we were being punked. But it’s just like Bahamas, Boston … it’s a huge difference,” Montgomery told The Today Show.
MSC Cruises did not immediately respond to Entrepreneur’s request for comment.
