When Maribel Lopez heard her cruise ship was not going to Bermuda, she even considered cancelling her trip altogether.
“I was definitely a little disappointed and I had second thoughts about even coming to the trip at all,” she said.
Virgin Voyages’ Valiant Lady launched Saint John’s cruise season Wednesday morning — more than two months ahead of schedule.
According to Port Saint John’s cruise ship schedule, the season was not set to begin until June 20.
The ship, with more than 2,000 passengers on board, sailed Monday from New York and was originally bound for Bermuda, but was forced to divert to Saint John due to weather conditions.
Lopez, who is from Brooklyn, N.Y., said with New York still experiencing cold weather, she had “sadly” not put her winter clothes away when she heard the news.
However, she said the diversion meant she had to think more carefully about what to pack to face the negative temperatures in Saint John.
“I definitely packed more relaxed and warmer clothes,” she said. “Some outfits will not be seeing the time of day here but it’s okay.”
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Lopez travelled with her friend Rachel Torres, also from Brooklyn. She said both she and Torres are still processing the change of plans and are “rolling with the punches.”
“Ultimately, I had my time scheduled off, and I was like ‘I’m on vacation, so I have to go somewhere’,” she said.
Lopez said she and Torres have enjoyed their time in the city so far and were glad it wasn’t as cold as they expected.
“I mean, it’s a lovely town. It’s a little different than what I’m used to in New York,” she said. “It seems a lot more quieter and calmer, but I kind of appreciate that energy.”
Lopez and Torres weren’t the only disappointed passengers aboard the ship.
Dorian Bowers and Vanessa Perrineau were looking forward to the 26-degree weather, sunshine and pink sand beaches Bermuda had to offer when they learned the ship would instead divert to the much colder Saint John.
“I love Canada, I used to come up here all the time when I was kid, to the thousand Islands, or camping near Ontario, so I’m used to it, [but] I wanted something warm,” she said. “We just got over the cold in New York.”
Like many other passengers, Bowers and Perrineau are trying to make the best of their vacation.
Bowers and Perrineau’s first stop in Saint John was the City Market, and Bowers said they were excited to continue exploring the city and pick up some maple syrup and maple cookies.
For other passengers, the diversion not only changed their vacation plans, but also their honeymoon destination.
Eric Bates and his wife, Mariam Sultan, from Baltimore, Md., had initially planned to celebrate their honeymoon in sunny Bermuda when they received notification Friday afternoon that the ship would instead divert to Saint John.
“That’s a little serendipitous,” said Bates.
He explained they had originally planned to take a bus to New York City on Friday and spend the weekend there, but at the last minute decided to change their departure time to Saturday morning.
“Around 4 o’clock on Friday we received the email saying ‘ahoy sailor, we are swapping that out,’ and so we had time to pack,” he said. “It could’ve been much worse in the sense that we would’ve had to invest in cold weather gear in New York City.”
Bates said he and Sultan have enjoyed their time in Saint John so far. The couple went on a trolley tour, visiting the Bay of Fundy and the Reversing Falls, and were also looking forward to stopping by Tim Hortons.
“I think it’s just wonderful that you can just have such a historic port city. There’s just a lot to look at [and] a lot of wonderful history to learn,” he said.
The Valiant Lady stayed in Saint John for one day and departed Thursday at 4 a.m.
