Cruise ship heading for Bahamas redirected to Nova Scotia, rerouting 5,000 passengers

Well, this looks like a typical cruise. You got your beaches, warm weather, and that was the plan for thousands of passengers from New York who intended to go to the Bahamas, but bad weather in the Caribbean sent them to Halifax instead. Our Brett Ruskin met up with some of those passengers, and Brett, not quite what they had in mind when they booked. Oh, are you one of those passengers? You know, David, remind me to bother you the next time that you're enjoying the beach. But I guess we could talk about this because this luxurious Halifax Beach, just as good as a Bahamas Beach, right? You're wearing a jacket. It's a shtick, okay? I'm just trying to... This is what 5,000 passengers are kind of telling themselves. That this is just as good here in Nova Scotia as it would be in Nassau, where they were supposed to be going. given very little notice about a change of itinerary for their cruise adventure and the ship arrived late last night. I was able to catch up with a few passengers as they disembarked. Take a look. We were supposed to be in the Bahamas. No, no joys. Dan and Barb Cruz spelled C-R-U-Z have been on this cruise ship for the past two days. They plan to leave New York and head south But with bad weather in the Caribbean, the ship diverted north instead. I wasn't planning on bringing a sweater. Or hats and earmuffs. Same story for friends Jackie and Rose from Baltimore. I have on four layers. And I had to buy this sweatshirt for 80 bucks. Oasis of the Seas has been here twice before and is the biggest cruise ship that's ever visited Halifax. And most passengers didn't know that much about Nova Scotia. What did you know about Halifax before this? Nothing. I know that it was cold. What did you know about Halifax before this? Did you guys know anything? Nothing. Not a clue. Not very much. Some didn't even know each other. How does everyone know everyone? We don't know each other. With this change of plans, it was a much different type of sailing. Getting on the ship is usually like a party. It was very somber. Everyone's just quiet, walking on, like, okay, let's do this, I guess. And like most cruise ships, when they approach shore, there's less to do on board. And the casino's closed, the shops are closed. How far is the casino from here? Visitors had lots of questions like that for me. You tell us what's going on. We were headed to the lower part of the boat. And it is the official dish of Halifax, donair, D-O-N-A-I-R. But some were very familiar with the area. I was born in Cape Breton Island in Waterford, and we live in Hamilton now. My God, it's nice to be home. And with a mix of passengers on board, you'd think that not everyone might see eye to eye. Is there any tension about U.S., Canada on the ship? No. No. You sure? I'm singing, oh, Canada. We're sorry that things have been tense politically. On behalf of the United States of America, you're sorry. Yes. Thank you. God bless America and Canada. Now, David, I'm not going to be the one to say that we've solved Canada-U.S. tensions. But, you know, a couple of days on a cruise ship with the drinks package couldn't hurt, for sure. Open bar might be solving some of those frictions. Look, I listened to you say they had very little notice, but I also noticed they're not wearing shorts. So they have to have some idea, right? So depending on what people's itinerary was, they were given a notice the day before. That was the earliest that anyone was told. And so lots of folks were on the cruise ship, are still on the cruise ship just down the waterfront from here, with a suitcase full of swimsuits and t-shirts and had to go last minute shopping to get a sweatshirt. People were buying, as you saw, the sweatshirts on the cruise ship. some people who kind of live near the cruise port were able to uh repack last minute but i spoke with some folks who drove eight hours and were just stuck with t-shirts and had to again buy those overpriced sweatshirts aboard the ship so uh it is going to be interesting to see what the day unfolds how the day unfolds for them a lot of folks going to Peggy's Cove a lot of folks going on different tours of Citadel Hill and uh i should check back in to see if those people that i suggested the donair to actually uh filled up on a donair late last night well if they did they didn't need to hit the buffet on the ship let's just let's just leave it there because a donair is a is a treat it's filling it's filling it's a treat and to be used very infrequently yes sparingly that's maybe don't eat the whole thing all right brett um good luck uh i imagine you've got a bunch of passengers in your house as well right now so back to them and feed them yeah Thank you. Thanks a lot.