Independence of the Seas arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick on Monday morning after Royal Caribbean dropped its scheduled Bermuda stop, and the ship departs for Cape Liberty today at 2:30 p.m., returning on October 29. The reroute was driven by Post-Tropical Cyclone Josephine, with gale warnings and seas of 7 to 19 feet in the Bermuda-bound corridor.
It is the third such diversion in two weeks. Vision of the Seas was rerouted from Bermuda to Saint John on October 17, with guests kept aboard, and Oasis of the Seas was diverted from the Bahamas to Halifax on October 18. Independence guests, unlike Vision's, were allowed ashore in Saint John, and received refundable onboard credit from $150 to $500 by cabin category, with prepaid Bermuda excursions refunded as onboard credit.
What it means for your sailing: if you are booked on a late October Bermuda sailing from the Northeast, treat the weather risk as real and pack layers for a possible Canadian port instead of Bermuda. Travelers who need a Canadian visa to disembark should confirm their documentation before sailing, and any unspent onboard credit from a reroute is refunded to the card on file at the end of the voyage.