Guests sailing aboard this weekend's Utopia of the Seas cruise get more time on the ship than planned.
Due to the incoming cold front, the ship will arrive back at Port Canaveral, Florida, later than scheduled, as confirmed by Scott Sanders of Disney Cruise Line Blog.
Utopia was initially supposed to arrive for disembarkation at 6:00 a.m. Upon boarding the ship, however, current passengers were told to expect a delayed arrival time of 2:00 p.m.
Guests were given the option to disembark, though they had to decide by 3:00 p.m. Moreover, according to the cruise line's weather policy, no compensation will be provided for those who stay on the ship.
"On Sunday evening, there is going to be a cold front passing through this region here in Port Canaveral, and behind it will be some very high wind[s], higher winds than what is safer to bring the ship into the port of Canaveral," the Captain said over the public address system.
They will continue to monitor the system, warning passengers that further changes may be necessary since the weather does not always follow the predicted forecast.
"Your safety and the safety of the ship is the number one priority that I have on board here," he added.
There are no other confirmed changes to the Dec. 12 sailing of Utopia of the Seas. As it stands, the Oasis Class ship is still scheduled to call at Nassau on Saturday and Perfect Day at CocoCay on Sunday.
The National Data Buoy System issued a warning about this weekend's weather, saying that a cold front is expected to push through the Atlantic coastal waters from Flagler Beach to Jupiter Inlet on Sunday evening and night.
Conditions will be relatively calm on Sunday before deteriorating later in the day, with northwest winds of 20 to 25 knots expected. Seas will build from 4 to occasional heights of 11 feet after midnight.
Strong winds and high seas will persist on Monday, though dangerous conditions are expected to subside throughout the day.
For example, northeast winds of 25 to 30 knots will decrease to 15 to 20 knots in the afternoon. Still, the intracoastal waters will stay rough.
An email was also sent to impacted passengers on the Dec. 15 voyage
"Along with our Chief Meteorologist Craig Setzer, we are closely monitoring the approach of a strong cold front Sunday night into Port Canaveral. This system will bring high winds that will make our scheduled arrival into the port challenging," it reads.
"With safety in mind, the ship is expected to be delayed in returning to the port by approximately six (6) hours, but the situation remains fluid. We’ll continue to monitor the forecast in case anything changes."
Royal Caribbean will send a follow-up by Sunday at 6:00 p.m. EST with updated arrival times.
Additionally, the email states that, because of Monday's late departure, the ship has to swap its scheduled visit to Nassau on Tuesday with a sea day:
"The good news is we’ll still have a chance to visit Nassau on Thursday with updated call times. Not to worry, you’ll still have the same amount of time in port to enjoy everything this beautiful destination has to offer!"
Any pre-paid excursions booked through Royal Caribbean for Nassau will be automatically rescheduled, and those that cannot will be canceled and refunded to guests' SeaPass account to be used as onboard credit.
The visit to Perfect Day at CocoCay on Wednesday, Dec. 17, remains unchanged.
