Embarkation for Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas will be handled a bit differently than expected on Thursday, March 13, 2025.
This is because the Vision-class flagship will be delayed in her return to her homeport – the Port of Baltimore – which also pushes back disembarkation for the up to 2,514 guests onboard for her current 12-night Caribbean sailing.
Of course, the new guests – who are embarking on an 8-night sailing to the Bahamas – cannot board the cruise ship until previous passengers have disembarked, so this delay dominoes into their planned departure as well.
“Due to a delay in our previous sailing, Vision of the Seas will be arriving to the pier later than originally planned, and the terminal will be closed until 4:00 p.m. We kindly ask that you arrive according to the new adjusted arrival windows,” Royal Caribbean wrote to future guests.
The embarkation process was originally supposed to begin at 11:00 a.m., with the 78,491-gross ton ship supposed to set sail from Baltimore at 3:00 p.m. EST. But now, the cruise terminal won’t even open until an hour after the voyage was supposed to begin.
Arrival windows – which guests select during online pre-check-in – have been pushed back by five hours. This means that if your arrival window was originally 11:00 a.m., it has been pushed to 4:00 p.m., and so forth.
All guests must be checked-in and onboard by 7:30 p.m. at the absolute latest, with the Royal Caribbean ship likely eyeing a new departure time of around 9:00 p.m. – as policy dictates guests must be on the ship 90 minutes prior to setting sail.
Luckily, there have no indications that any of the ports of call will be cancelled or rescheduled as a result of the delay – with the visits to Bimini Islands, Bahamas; Nassau, Bahamas; and Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private island in the Bahamas; still on the schedule as planned.
What Caused the Delay?
Especially if you’ll be on Vision of the Seas’ next voyage, you’ll likely be wondering what caused the delay and if it could happen again.
According to current passengers, the culprit was severe weather in the Carolinas – which the 1998-launched vessel must sail past to reach Baltimore, Maryland.
Per the National Weather Service (NOAA), eastern North Carolina has been under a hazardous weather outlook due to expected strong wind gusts and “strong to marginally severe thunderstorms.”
The passengers said the captain made the decision to reroute the ship to avoid the worst of the weather, and still hit some choppy seas.
“Had to take a route closer to east to avoid storm off Carolinas,” one current guest shared.
“On here now and we had to go off course to avoid a storm. And hit some pretty choppy waters,” another passenger confirmed.
As of the evening of March 12, 2025, cruise tracking data showed Vision of the Seas‘ position as between Beaufort, North Carolina, and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
She was sailing toward Baltimore at speeds of 17.1 knots per hour – which equates to about 19.7 miles per hour.
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Meanwhile, another severe storm is expected to kick off in the Central United States on Friday, March 14, 2024, and reach the US East Coast on or around Sunday, March 16, 2025.
Guests onboard Vision of the Seas should have no cause for concern though, as the ship will be far away from any inclement weather in the Bahamas and is not scheduled to return to Baltimore until the storm has passed.
