Overflowing
toilets, no power, starving passengers and no running water – just
a couple of clips we’ve heard from the talking heads on the major
news networks over the past few days about Carnival Dream being stuck
in St. Maarten. Make no mistake, Carnival Dream being out of service
is a big inconvenience but false reporting just to over
sensationalize is poor journalism. Later on that day reports surfaced
about Carnival Legend and then Carnival Elation having technical
issues. While this did happen, none of these recent sailings
were a “Carnival cruise from hell.”
So
what is really going on?
Carnival
Dream. Carnival had permission from all necessary regulatory
authorities to depart from St. Maarten and sail to Port Canaveral
since last week. However, it was our decision not to sail with guests
on board without a functioning back-up emergency generator. Upon
arrival in Port Canaveral early next week, Carnival will install a
replacement emergency generator, followed by the appropriate
inspections and approvals to operate our next scheduled voyage on
Saturday, March 23rd.
The
ship’s power plant, propulsion and hotel systems were fully
operational. Aside from some periodic interruptions to restroom and
elevator service for a few hours Tuesday night, at no time have any
of the ship’s systems and services not been functional. One public
restroom was taken offline for cleaning Tuesday evening, but
otherwise there were no issues with sanitation functionality or
cleanliness on the vessel. Reports to the contrary are
completely false.
Passengers
were flown back to Orlando where they caught their flight home or
bussed to Port Canaveral to pick up their vehicle.
Carnival
Legend. Carnival Legend experienced a technical issue with the
ship’s propulsion system which is had a minor effect on the ship’s
maximum speed . The ship’s safety systems, steering and all hotel
services were functioning normally.
Carnival
Legend is expected to depart on schedule while technicians continue
to make progress on the repairs. The ship is expected to operate its
normal itinerary with the exception of one port – Grand Cayman –
which is being replaced by Costa Maya. Any guests wishing not
to proceed based on the change to one port of call have been given
the option of cancelling and receiving a full refund.
Carnival
Elation. At no time has the Carnival Elation been under tow or
required the assistance of a tug boat. The ship continues to
operate its normally scheduled itineraries. The ship is experiencing
a minor technical issue with the steering function of one of its two
redundant Azipod propulsion units and the tug that is trailing the
ship while it travels on the Mississippi River is purely a
precautionary measure. The ship is scheduled to return on time from
its current voyage on Monday. Repairs are expected to be fully
completed prior to the ship’s departure for its next cruise on
Monday afternoon.
Carnival
announced a fleet-wide four step plan last week at Cruise Shipping
Miami to cross check all engine and technical components.
