Thousands of cruise passengers are left furious after their vacation to The Bahamas is switched to BOSTON at the last minute due to bad storms

• Furious MSC Cruise customers slammed the operator after it cancelled their voyage to The Bahamas at the last minute  
• The cruise liner opted to reroute the journey to Boston and Canada due to severe tropical storms off the Florida coast  
• Customers said they initially thought it ‘was a joke’, and hit out at the company for ruining their vacations 

Thousands of cruise passengers have been left furious after their tropical trip to The Bahamas was canceled at the last minute due to bad storms – and instead rerouted it to freezing Boston and Canada. 

Tourists hoping for sunny skies and white sandy beaches were left bitterly disappointed as they prepared to board MSC Cruise’s 5,700-capacity Meraviglia ship on Saturday, with one passenger saying the stunned families ‘thought it was a joke.’

‘This guy helping us with our luggage said, ‘You’re going to Canada,” Girish Keswani told the Boston Globe. ‘We all laughed it off.’ 

MSC Cruises justified the move as it said the original course would have drifted directly into severe storms off the coast of Florida, while New England and Canada would ‘encounter fairer weather conditions.’ 

Thousands of customers expecting to set sail on MSC Cruises’ Meraviglia ship (pictured) were let down as their destination was suddenly changed from The Bahamas to Boston and Canada 

An email shared online purportedly shows MSC Cruises only informed customers the night before their trip, which cited severe weather including heavy rainfall at ports, and wind gusts of over 40 knots that could make docking unsafe

Some passengers discovered their luxury Carribean voyage was in ruins the evening before they left, with an image shared online appearing to show MSC Cruises emailed passengers that night. 

The company cited severe weather across Florida and the Bahamas including heavy rainfall at ports, and wind gusts of over 40 knots that could make docking unsafe. 

Passengers were presented with a new itinerary beginning in New York City, spending three days in Boston, a day in Portland, a day in St. John, Canada, one more day at sea before returning to the Big Apple. 

For disgruntled customers who may have wanted a refund instead of departing on the chilly trip, it appears the company only offered cash back ‘in the form of Future Cruise Credit.’ 

MSC Cruises did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by DailyMail.com.  

It is unclear how much the doomed trip cost, however the website stated that for the same original itinerary departing from December 23rd prices start at $579 per person. 

The sudden destination change unsurprisingly sparked fury, with the person who shared the change on Reddit claiming that ‘in my 30 years of cruising, almost 50 sailings, this has NEVER EVER happened.’ 

‘Not sure what to do. We have all of our holiday plans built around this cruise, lots of money, hotel bookings, airfare, etc,’ they continued, adding the change left them and their family ‘really upset.’ 

Another irate passenger took to TikTok to share her disappointment at how the cruise unfolded, claiming it was too cold to even get in the pool. 

Pointing the camera at ‘crazy’ children to decided to brave the elements and swim, she said it was ‘f****ng freezing’ and ‘cold cold.’ 

‘The wind is blowing and it is, like, officially cold,’ she added, estimating the cruise was sailing in only around 40-degree temperatures. 

One furious passenger took to social media to share her disappointment at the change to her vacation, which was unexpectedly colder than anticipated 

She shared a clip of children playing in the pool despite it only reaching around 40 degrees 

The Meraviglia ship is one of the largest cruise liners in operation along the East Coast this season, making headlines at ports it docks as people flock to see the 214-foot tall, 19-deck behemoth. 

Many customers had reportedly travelled from nations including India, Aruba and Canada, only to see cold water poured on their tropical vacation plans. 

The decision to reroute the cruise was even more unpopular after the East Coast was drenched in storms over the weekend. 

With the city was under a ‘damaging winds’ alert, furious passenger Connie C told the Boston Globe that the decision ruined her family’s much-anticipated vacation. 

‘I did not want to pay $5,000 [for my family] to come to Boston,’ she said, as the lives in Pennsylvania but said she regularly travels to Boston for work. 

‘This was supposed to be our Christmas vacation.’ 

Others took to social media to share their disappointment, with passenger Lelania Barton saying she was upset as she was ‘looking forward to warm weather!’ 

Just the day before, she excitedly shared that ‘vacation time has started!’, telling her friends: ‘Bahamas here I come!’ 

Another passenger, Bob Theriault, angrily shared that everyone would now be forced to ‘dump your swimsuit and shorts out and go buy a snowsuit!’ 

‘MSC you sure are trying to put yourself on the cruising naughty list,’ he added. 

The Meravliglia ship is one of the largest cruise liners in operation along the East Coast, with a capacity of over 5,700 people across its 214-feet length and 19-decks

While many reacted with fury, some opted to make the best of an unfortunate situation, with one customer saying ‘on many cruises you take a chance with the weather’ anyway. 

‘We plan on having a great time eating drinking, watching the shows and probably karaoke every night,’ said Lorraine Romer, who added that some of her family were looking into nightclubs for when they are in Boston. ‘

To conclude the trip on a positive note, she said she also planned to ‘get me a big old lobster roll that you can’t get anywhere in Pennsylvania.’ 

One person on a cruise in the Gulf of Mexico also responded to an angry Reddit post about the change to admit MSC customers may be happy they didn’t attempt the trip in the first place. 

‘I’m sitting on a drillship in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and if the seas there are as bad as what we’re getting right now, you’ll be glad you didn’t sail in these seas,’ they said. 

‘We’re currently getting 25ft waves and our rig is completely shut down … It wouldn’t be a fun vacation being sea sick 75 percent of the time.’ 

This also comes as several large cruise ships are reportedly stuck at sea off the coast of Florida as the severe storms in the area are making it difficult to dock. 

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