Saint Johners will have the chance to witness a cruise ship arriving in the city on Thursday.

MSC Meraviglia was forced to reschedule its planned Bahamas tour and will make stops along the East Coast.

“Last Friday, we got a call from MSC regarding the bad weather, and for passenger and vessel safety they decided to change the tour and go up north instead,” said Natalie Allaby, director of cruise excellence at Port Saint John.

“The ship left New York City on Saturday and travelled to Boston to stay for a couple of nights, then will travel to Portland before sailing to Saint John on Thursday, so very unplanned but we’re very thrilled.”

Allaby said Saint John has never had a cruise ship of this size arrive in port this late in the year.

“Normally the cruise ship would have about 5,000 passengers, but due to MSC diverting, the Bahamas trip passengers were able to cancel and switch dates, so we got word from the ship that around 3,000 passengers will be arriving in Saint John,” she said.

The Meraviglia will be in port from around 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday.