Royal Caribbean’s Bermuda-to-Canada Swap Makes Its Cabin Credits Look Thin

A $300 credit for a balcony stateroom, not $300 per passenger. That is part of Royal Caribbean’s compensation for turning Independence of the Seas’ five-night Bermuda cruise into a sailing with an overnight in Saint John, New Brunswick.

I’d call that a modest allowance for a very different holiday. Avoiding dangerous weather is the right decision. Replacing Bermuda with Canada in late October still changes the trip far more than substituting one beach port for another.

The Freedom-class ship departs Cape Liberty, New Jersey, on October 24, 2026. Passengers were notified late on October 22, less than 48 hours before embarkation, that Bermuda was off the itinerary entirely. That left little time to replace warm-weather packing with clothes for considerably cooler conditions on the Bay of Fundy.

The forecast supports changing course

A National Weather Service gale warning covers mid-Atlantic waters between the U.S. coast and Bermuda following Post-Tropical Cyclone Josephine. The warning area extends from 60 to 250 nautical miles offshore, with seas forecast at 7 to 19 feet, along with scattered showers and thunderstorms.

Winds of 15 to 25 knots on Friday were forecast to strengthen to 25 to 35 knots on Saturday, reaching as high as 40 knots overnight and into Sunday.

Royal Caribbean told passengers its meteorology team had been monitoring the developing weather and that conditions would make it difficult to provide “a safe and comfortable journey to Bermuda.” There is nothing in that forecast that makes pressing ahead sound like a sensible option.

Independence of the Seas had been scheduled to dock at King’s Wharf in Bermuda’s Royal Naval Dockyard at 9 a.m. on Monday, October 26, and leave at 5 p.m. Tuesday. The replacement Saint John call runs from approximately 10:30 a.m. Monday until 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The revised schedule preserves an overnight port call. It does not preserve the kind of holiday passengers booked.

What passengers will receive

Royal Caribbean is providing refundable onboard credit of $150 per inside stateroom, $200 per ocean-view stateroom, $300 per balcony stateroom and $500 per suite. Each third or additional guest sharing a cabin adds another $50. All amounts are in U.S. dollars.

The refundable part is useful. Any balance left at the end of the cruise will be returned to the payment card linked to the guest’s onboard account.

Bermuda shore excursions booked through Royal Caribbean will be cancelled automatically, with payments credited to onboard accounts. Those refunds return money paid for activities passengers will no longer receive. They should be kept separate from any judgment about whether the compensation is adequate.

Oasis passengers received a different package

Oasis of the Seas left Cape Liberty on October 18 for a seven-night cruise originally scheduled to visit Port Canaveral, Perfect Day at CocoCay and Nassau. Deteriorating weather led the line to replace all three stops with Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Its Canadian call was initially scheduled from 6 p.m. on October 20 until 8 a.m. the following morning, with passengers advised they could not go ashore. Royal Caribbean subsequently extended departure to 6 p.m., allowing a day ashore.

Oasis passengers received $200 to $600 in onboard credit per guest, depending on accommodation, plus a future cruise credit equal to 50% of the fare paid.

That was a longer sailing with three scheduled ports removed, so the packages are not directly interchangeable. But the future cruise credit is a meaningful distinction. Independence passengers are also losing every planned destination visit, even though theirs involved just one port.

Vision of the Seas also substituted Saint John for Bermuda on its five-night October 17 departure from Baltimore. Last-minute arrangements meant passengers could not disembark during that Canadian call, an even more restrictive outcome.

I’d add a future cruise credit for Independence passengers, too. The weather makes the diversion necessary. Losing the destination that defines the entire sailing deserves more recognition than this per-cabin allowance provides.

See current Independence of the Seas fares and itineraries on Cruise Lookup.