A mom says Royal Caribbean switched her cruise to Canada at the port, then turned her family away because her baby was suddenly too young

Royal Caribbean changed the itinerary of a cruise, and Maria (mariaaudhd) was one of the passengers caught up in it. For the New York resident, the bigger problem was how the cruise line handled it. In a post with over a million views that was uploaded to YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, she said that “There was terrible communication, everyone was pushed along and staff was rude.”

The video started with a shot of Maria struggling and tearful at a port in New Jersey, before it cuts to her home where she told her viewers, “It’s taken me two days to be able to talk about this.” She told her viewers that the first clip was a meltdown after the “cruise line changed our itinerary not once but twice in a matter of two minutes.” She said that they were heading out for a trip intended to celebrate her husband’s 32nd birthday, which they had planned for months.

Maria said that as they were walking into the port, employees were handing out papers that identified a trip change from the Caribbean to Canada. Maria noted that all they had packed for was the heat, not the cold, and they were pushed to the scanner while she tried to process what was happening. She said that the staff kept “yelling” about an email sent out at 10 PM the night before.

Things escalated at the check-in desk

Maria told her viewers that she hadn’t received an email, and when she tried to bring it up, the staff at the check-in desk just said, “Oh well, we’re not doing anything about this.” Then another staff member asked the age of her infant daughter. Maria said that when she told them her daughter was 8 months old, they were told that they could not board because “she’s under a year old and it will be three international sea days.”

“That’s when I had a meltdown,” Maria said, noting that she was overwhelmed by all the changing information. She said that she wasn’t the only person affected, claiming that hundreds of families had the same issue because the “original cruise itinerary allowed babies on this cruise that were older than six months old.”

Royal Caribbean’s policy states that infants must be at least 6 months old on the first day of the cruise, but any cruise with three or more consecutive days at sea requires infants to be at least 12 months old. Guests traveling with an infant who doesn’t meet the policy will be denied boarding, and no refund or other compensation is owed. The cruise line also stated that it can change its schedule for various reasons, including weather, without prior notice and is not liable for loss or required to provide compensation. Royal Caribbean has previously rebooked an overbooked passenger onto Icon of the Seas when his original ship was full.

Maria said the sudden change should have come with multiple emails, clear instructions about children, and options. She said she chose Royal Caribbean because she believed it was autism-friendly and child-friendly, but saw none of that at the port. Not all of her viewers agreed with her frustration.

One Instagrammer suggested that travelers should anticipate such shifts, noting that itinerary changes for weather or medical reasons are standard. Another commenter told Maria to talk to a therapist to learn “coping mechanisms” so that she won’t “point fingers at people who went to work knowing it would be a total s**** show.” Others, however, were sympathetic.

One YouTuber said that, autism aside, “that was beyond rude and unacceptable.” A TikToker argued that the late email was a problem because the cruise line encourages “people to get to town the night BEFORE their cruise leaves,” meaning many travelers would already be away from home when it arrived. Another TikToker noted, “Changing ports is one thing, changing climates is another.”

Cruise Critic reported that Royal Caribbean rerouted two ships to Canada because of bad weather in less than two weeks, diverting Oasis of the Seas to Halifax on Oct. 18 and sending its Oct. 24 Independence of the Seas sailing to Saint John, New Brunswick, instead of Bermuda. Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify Royal Caribbean’s side of the story, as this account originates solely from Maria’s social posts.