Independence of the Seas now putting into Port Everglades unscheduled. Anybody know what's up?

[CruiseMrB]

According to cruisemapper, Independence of the Seas left Coco Cay and started to head back to Port Canaveral instead of continuing on to Nassau. At a point in the journey back to Port Canaveral, they diverted to Port Everglades. At the time of writing portmapper has them just outside the port.

 

Anybody know why?

[robmtx]

9 minutes ago, CruiseMrB said:

According to cruisemapper, Independence of the Seas left Coco Cay and started to head back to Port Canaveral instead of continuing on to Nassau. At a point in the journey back to Port Canaveral, they diverted to Port Everglades. At the time of writing portmapper has them just outside the port.

 

Anybody know why?

That would probably be a medical emergency. Still moving at 10knots toward the port.

[Jimbo]

https://www.portevergladeswebcam.com/

[CruiseMrB]

Looks like it is stopped some distance away from the entrance to the port. That could make sense with medical because it would be faster to transfer the patient to a smaller boat that could navigate the port at speed rather than dock a cruise ship that takes tons of time and effort.

Edited October 12, 2022 by CruiseMrB

[robmtx]

She came to a stop so they may be off-loading someone to a smaller boat and won't come into port. I got my popcorn ready!

 

This would still let them cruise to Nassau for an on time arrival tomorrow.

[CruiseMrB]

1 minute ago, robmtx said:

She came to a stop so they may be off-loading someone to a smaller boat and won't come into port. I got my popcorn ready!

 

This would still let them cruise to Nassau for an on time arrival tomorrow.

I was thinking that, too. They easily could make Nassau as planned, because today is considered a sea day according to original itinerary.

[CruiseMrB]

Sidenote: Not a big fan of the sea day between Coco Cay and Nassau. Very slow crawl.

[CruiseMrB]

Underway, opposite direction.

Edited October 12, 2022 by CruiseMrB

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, CruiseMrB said:

Looks like it is stopped some distance away from the entrance to the port. That could make sense with medical because it would be faster to transfer the patient to a smaller boat that could navigate the port at speed rather than dock a cruise ship that takes tons of time and effort.

While it may be faster, unless the patient is ambulatory, and the seas outside the port are mirror calm, docking the ship is safer for the passenger, and probably presents less risk to the medical condition.

[cured]

If a medical emergency, why take the extra time to sail right on past Miami?  The port looked rather empty on the webcam. Or even go to the much closer Bahamas and airlift to the US?  I will be interested in hearing from those on board what really happened. Picked up more crew or supplies?

[orville99]

2 hours ago, cured said:

If a medical emergency, why take the extra time to sail right on past Miami?  The port looked rather empty on the webcam. Or even go to the much closer Bahamas and airlift to the US?  I will be interested in hearing from those on board what really happened. Picked up more crew or supplies?

From coco cay FLL is the closest port. Same thing happened to us on Mariner at the end of August. Met the CG offshore of FLL at 5:30 AM to offload for a medical emergency. 

Edited October 12, 2022 by orville99

[cindyscruise]

If it is a medical emergency, I wish the person and their family well.