A mechanical issue delayed the start of Utopia of the Seas on Monday.
One of the largest cruise ships in the world, Utopia was originally scheduled to depart at 3pm, but an announcement quickly warned guests that it would be delayed.
Guests onboard the ship posted updates on social media as the delays began to mount.
Utopia of the Seas was scheduled to sail from Port Canaveral, and offer a 4-night cruise to Perfect Day at CocoCay and Nassau, Bahamas.
Utopia of the Seas launched in 2024 and is 225,282 gross tons. It has 2,834 staterooms and can accommodate 5,668 passengers at double occupancy.
While the ship was able to depart eventually, there's been an update to its schedule
The Captain announced a maintenance issue
Initially, the delayed departure was supposed to only be a few hours, with a revised departure time of 6pm.
"We are on it too and the [Captain] just announced ongoing issue," one person wrote on Facebook.
Another person added, "They made an announcement that they had a delay with maintenance and it would be a 2 hour delay before departure."
But the hours started ticking away.
Utopia of the Seas remained safely docked in Port Canaveral until the undisclosed issue was resolved.
The ship eventually was able to depart Port Canaveral sometime in the early morning, between 3 and 5am. Different cruisers reported varying times that the ship finally left.
A revised itinerary
The good news is Utopia of the Seas had very little distance to travel in order to make its ports of call in The Bahamas.
According to passengers onboard, the new itinerary was to have a sea day on Tuesday, followed by Nassau on Wednesday, and Perfect Day at CocoCay on Thursday.
The original plan was for Utopia to be at CocoCay on Tuesday.
Royal Caribbean changed plans for Wonder of the Seas too
According to Cruise Fever, Wonder of the Seas also changed its plans as a result of Utopia's change.
Wonder is a similar size ship as Utopia and sailing a similar itinerary from Miami.
Read more: Utopia of the Seas vs. Wonder of the Seas
Royal Caribbean also changed Wonder's plan to visit CocoCay on Thursday instead of Tuesday.
Why did they change Wonder's plans too? It's likely to keep all the pre-booked tours and rentals in place without having to cancel and rebook everything.
Typically when a cruise ship changes plans, any pre-booked excursions have to be cancelled and refunds issued. But by keeping the same ships in port at Royal Caribbean's private island on a day in which no other ships were scheduled to visit, it allows for them to keep everything booked.
What happens onboard when a ship is delayed?
Unlike an airplane, a cruise ship with maintenance issues can still operate normally for guests.
Royal Caribbean keeps nearly all of its venues open and its activity schedule executing as planned.
There are bars, restaurants and shows to enjoy even while the ship remains docked in port. Guests would likely not notice much of a difference other than the ship not moving.
The two areas of the ship that cannot legally be open while a cruise ship remains in port are its casino and onboard shops.
Cruise lines have an agreement with the countries they visit to usually keep both of those venues closed while in port, as not to compete with the local options.
Once the ship departs and is sufficiently far away from land, then the casino and shops can open.
