On Sept. 11, 2025, my father died. I spent a lot of time in the days that followed crying and staring off into space. My state of mind alternated between sadness, disbelief and anger, as I searched for a sign from Dad that he was OK.
Eventually, in retrospect, I found what I was looking for. Six days before Dad died, my mother called to tell me he was in the hospital. She didn’t think he was going to make it. The news sent shivers through my body, partly because of the timing of Mom’s phone call.
Just a few hours earlier, my husband and I had booked a 12-day Caribbean cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line leaving from Manhattan on Sept. 29. The first four stops were Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Saint Lucia. The final two stops were St. Maarten and St. Thomas, the Caribbean Islands where my father and I were born, respectively.
At the time of booking, I mostly wanted to share part of my West Indian heritage with my husband. When Dad died, I considered canceling the trip altogether. I was grieving hard, and I wasn’t sure I could handle all the reminders of where I came from. Eventually, though, I had an epiphany: Maybe this was the sign I was looking for.
Perhaps the universe led me to book the cruise on the very day I found out my father was in the hospital because the universe knew what was coming and the trip would give me a beautiful way to say goodbye. It would allow me to pay my respects to the man who had played a big role in bringing me into the world by spending time in the place where he entered the world.
At 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, Norwegian Cruise Line, along with Hurricane Humberto and Tropical Storm Imelda, shattered my dream of a spiritual reunion with Dad. After we arrived at Manhattan Cruise Terminal and checked our luggage, we saw a small notice that said due to the storms, our itinerary had changed completely. Instead of sailing down to the Caribbean for a week of fun in the sun, we’d be headed north to Boston and then to Maine, followed by three days the following week docked in Bermuda, where the storms were due to strike any day.
What? In the days leading up to the cruise, Norwegian had sent multiple daily reminders to check in, to upgrade, to book excursions, but not a single one telling us about the itinerary change (which they must have known was coming before the last minute). They didn’t even bother to warn us that instead of spending our vacation in 70- and 80-degree summer-like weather, we might possibly be spending the first half of it shivering up north in 40- and 50-degree autumn weather and should pack accordingly. I mean, who brings sweaters and jackets to go the Virgin Islands in early October?
Norwegian’s idea of compensation was to offer a 20%
Bad Weather and Norwegian Cruise Line Ruined My Caribbean Trip to Honor My Late Dad
