A Carnival Cruise Lines ship with 5,600 passengers and crew was stuck at a Caribbean port with equipment trouble on Thursday, a month after another Carnival vessel was disabled by a fire that trapped thousands of passengers at sea for days.
MIAMI – A month after a Carnival cruise ship was stranded for five days in the Gulf of Mexico, another one of its cruise ships is reporting equipment problems in the Caribbean. Passengers are being forced to stay on the Carnival Dream despite reports of filthy conditions on board.
Carnival Cruise Lines said Thursday it would pay to fly Carnival Dream passengers home because the ship was stuck at port in St. Maarten with a malfunctioning backup generator. Carnival will fly guests either to Orlando or their hometown, spokesperson Vance Gulliksen told NBC News. It is also giving guests a refund for three days of travel and offering half off a future cruise, he said.
Gulliksen confirmed one public restroom was taken offline because of toilet overflowing and there was one request for cleaning a guest cabin bathroom. “Aside from that there have no reports of issues on board with overflowing toilets or sewage,” he said. “All hotel systems are functioning normally and have been functional since approximately 12.30 a.m.”
The Dream never lost power, but suffered “periodic interruptions to elevators and restroom services for a few hours last night” said Carnival spokesperson Lanie Morgenstern. “The ship has full power but is still at dock while personnel continue to work on the technical issue.”
The ship was scheduled to leave port on Thursday and was due back at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Saturday.
Passengers strolling about the Dutch Caribbean town of Philipsburg told The Associated Press that the power and water were out for 10-20 minutes, contradicting media reports of longer outages and unsanitary conditions.
Carnival canceled the ship’s March 16 voyage and refunding those guests’ tickets in full. Those travelers will also receive 25 percent off a future cruise and be able to purchase tickets at the same current rate. “We are very sorry for this disruption to our guests’ vacation plans and extend our sincere apologies,” said Vance Gulliksen. “We look forward to welcoming them back on another Carnival cruise.”
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