At Noon today, the captain got on the intercom and told us that we may have noticed that the ship was traveling faster than usual. He said that they were running full in order to make Halifax tonight for a medical evacuation. He said that he would update us later on what would happen at that time.
Around 4:45 p.m., the captain got back on the intercom to inform us that we would be getting to Halifax waters around 8:00 p.m. and dock by 9:00 p.m. By the time they do the medical evacuation and go through all the paperwork, the ship would not be ready to leave the dock until around midnight.
The captain said that very few venues would be able to reopen for very long after that so the decision was made to remain docked at Halifax overnight. The casino will be closed as will all the stores on board while in port. The ship will not be cleared until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow for us to disembark on our excursions.
And then the captain dropped the bigger announcement that will affect all of us. He said that the company is watching a fast-developing storm system that will sweep the Eastern seaboard in what is called a classic nor’easter. The system is predicted to travel down through New York through the weekend. With nor’easters, the seas can get very rough and they are trying to determine how long our St. John, New Brunswick stay will be. He said that a decision will be made in the next couple of days and communicated to us at that time.
The captain didn’t say the following, this is all me, so bear that in mind. In the past when these systems develop, cruise lines sometimes make home port early or sometimes extend a cruise by sailing into open waters until the system wears itself down. If the weather is bad enough to affect the coast, flights in/out of the New York area Saturday may not happen. I could end up rebooking my return flight home until next week and staying at a hotel in Newark for a few days until everything settles. More to come when Royal makes its decisions for our safety.