12 Cruises Canceled by Carnival to Repair its Ships

At least a dozen cruises have been canceled by Carnival so the cruise line can repair and update the fire-fighting and power systems aboard a coupe of their vessels.

These repairs and updates will take place on 2 ships: the Carnival Triumph and the Carnival Sunshine (previously known as the Carnival Destiny).    The Carnival Triumph which was stranded for 5 days at sea after an engine room fire knocked out it’s power systems, and the Carnival Sunshine which is undergoing a previously scheduled overhaul, are both in repair yards undergoing the overhauls which have been extended.

The repair time for these ships has been extended due to a longer lead time for the needed materials.  The Triumph is expected to return to service by June 3rd, 2013, with an additional 10 cruises being canceled because of this extension.   This extension is going to affect about 30,000 cruisers.

But Carnival is taking care of these cruisers with a full refund, a reimbursement for non-refundable transportation costs, and a 25% off discount on any future 4-5 day cruise.

“We sincerely regret canceling these cruises and disrupting our guests’ vacation plans,” said Gerry Cahill, Carnival Cruise Lines’ president and CEO.  “We are fully committed to applying the recommendations stemming from our fleetwide review and to make whatever investments are needed despite the difficult decision to impact people’s vacations.”

Cahill continued, “Our team of experts has worked virtually around the clock to determine the best set of solutions and rapidly develop an effective implementation plan for both of these ships. Moving forward, we will have the ability to source materials and schedule improvements much more expediently, thus minimizing the scheduling impact on other vessels.

“I would like to provide continued assurances that all of our vessels have fully effective safety systems, equipment and training in place.  Additionally, our ships receive regular inspections from the United States Coast Guard and other regulatory authorities. The changes we are implementing are focused primarily on improvements to better support continued power and hotel services should unexpected issues arise. In addition, we are applying new learnings and making enhancements in the area of fire suppression and extinguishing.  Going forward, the review will focus on the balance of our fleet.  While this process will take time, it is our highest priority and has the full support and resources of Carnival Cruise Lines and Carnival Corporation,” Cahill said.

Although the Sunshine and Triumph are the only ships currently being repaired with these upgrades, Carnival is looking at implementing some of these changes fleetwide as a comprehensive review of the safety of their ships.