A cruise ship was forced to divert off course to France after sailing into “adverse weather” near the Isle of Wight on Monday (6 January).
AIDA ship AIDAnova had departed Hamburg, Germany for Southampton as part of a seven day cruise on 4 January.
Instead, once reaching Cowes on the Isle of Wight, passengers skipped the Southampton stop and headed straight for Cherbourg, France, after encountering bad weather.
The cruise line said 68-knot (78mph) “wind gusts” were to blame for the port change due to “restricted tug availability”.
After circling off Bonchurch in the English Channel, the vessel turned around in the Solent.
According to its scheduled itinerary AIDAnova was due to dock in Southampton until 8.30pm on Monday evening before heading on to Cherbourg and Le Havre-Paris in France, Zeebrugge in Belgium, then back to Hamburg.
SEE Southampton, host of heritage tours on the city, wrote on Facebook: “Our Cruise Welcome Team was planning to meet the Aida this morning – however it only got as far as Cowes before turning round, and at 9am was ‘treading water’ in Sandown Bay! The snow forecast must have put them off!”
A spokesperson for AIDA said: “Due to adverse weather with wind gusts up to 68 knots and restricted tug availability we had to proceed to Cherbourg, the next port on AIDAnova’s itinerary.”
Elsewhere, a major cruise line recently cancelled cruise ship stops at a Mexican port following a travel advisory not to go to the city.
The US State Department recently revised advice for popular cruise destinations in Mexico, including a level 4 “do not travel” warning for Manzanillo on Colima’s Pacific Coast due to crime and kidnapping.
Miami-based cruise line Royal Caribbean has pulled out of port calls to Manzanillo, but Princess Cruises still features the city on itineraries departing in February and September 2025.
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