Some cruise ship passengers visiting Saint John on Monday were surprised to be warned not to sample the wares in the port city.

The Royal Princess handed out a newsletter to its 650 passengers cautioning them not to drink city water and to be careful what they ate.

Passenger Carl White of Arizona said Monday’s newsletter offered puzzling advice, considering they were visiting a Canadian port.

"Be sure in Saint [John], you don’t drink the water, and be careful about the food," White said the newsletter told passengers.

"It was nothing more than that, but it was in the newsletter that we had gotten for today."

Passengers were advised to drink only bottled water.

Passenger Walt Flory, who lives in California, not far from the United States border with Mexico, was also bemused by the advice contained in the daily port of call newsletter.

"In Tijuana, you don’t drink the water. You’ll get the runs, I guess, if I can use that loosely. So, it did strike me as odd that in Canada, this is the first place that we’ve seen that show up in the letter,” Flory said.

The warning mystified restaurant owners in Saint John.

Billy Grant, who owns Billy’s Seafood Company, said business was down and maybe the newsletter scared off some customers.

"We haven’t seen anybody, so that must be affecting, if they’re getting a report like that on the ship … they’re going to stay on the ship. I mean, it’s going to happen," he said.

Princess Cruise Lines officials said it was an administrative error that such a warning was contained in the newsletter for Saint John. Warnings are occasionally issued when the ship is visiting certain exotic ports, like in South America, officials said.

There were two other cruise ships visiting Saint John Monday. More than 80 cruise ships have docked in the port city this year, and they generate about $19 million in economic spin-off for local businesses.