Roughly 9,000 re-routed cruise ship passengers have docked in Saint John, N.B., this week to avoid hurricanes spinning in the south.
The passengers were originally destined to arrive in Bermuda and the Bahamas, but those itineraries were disrupted by Hurricane Humberto and Tropical Storm Imelda.
Craig Landry, a passenger from Truro, N.S., drove all night to New York City to board a Bermuda-bound cruise ship when the schedule officially changed for northern ports – including Saint John and Halifax.
“I’m a little disappointed, Bermuda is absolutely beautiful,” says Landry. “But you’re on the ship with good people, with family, you’re still going to have a blast. So you take it as she comes.”
Several diverted U.S. passengers took the changes in stride while strolling around Uptown Saint John on Friday.
“As soon as I saw the hurricane being where it was, I said, ‘We’re going to go to Canada,’” says Susan Willner from New York State. “I anticipated that, because no ship would go… and we didn’t want to be on a ship in Bermuda in a hurricane. So it’s fine. It’s beautiful up here"
Last week, Port Saint John received two storm-diverted ships with about 7,500 passengers between both: the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas, with about 4,500 passengers, had a Bermuda itinerary from New Jersey, while the Carnival Sunshine, with about 3000 passengers, had a Bahamas itinerary from Norfolk.
Port Saint John said the Carnival Pride, with about 2,000 passengers, arrived Thursday from Baltimore, originally intended for the Bahamas. The Norwegian Aqua, with about 3,000 passengers, also arrived Thursday with initially a Bermuda itinerary from New York.
The Carnival Venezia, with about 4,000 passengers, left New York and arrived in Saint John on Friday, originally scheduled for Bermuda.
Port Saint John says it has welcomed about 20,000 diverted cruise passengers this season.
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