Carnival Cruise Lines, a British-American owned cruise line with its headquarters in Florida, USA, has cancelled more cruises while it addresses problems with its vessel’s propulsion systems.
The 12 cancelled sailings that have just been announced include 10 that were scheduled for the Carnival Triumph, the ship that suffered an engine room fire that left it stranded in the Gulf of Mexico last month, and 2 that were scheduled to be the debut voyages of the Carnival Sunshine, the former Carnival Destiny that is being renamed following a USD155 million refit. The cancellation of voyages to Barcelona and Venice aboard the refurbished ship means that it will now not commence its service until May 5 this year.
The cancellation package on offer to disappointed Carnival Sunshine passengers includes a full refund, the reimbursement of any travel costs that are not refundable and a 25 percent discount on a future cruise.
The 10 latest cancellations to affect Carnival Triumph take its total of cancelled voyages to 22, with 12 having already been announced. A cancellation package similar to that offered to Carnival Sunshine’s passengers is also available to those that were to travel on the sister vessel.
Gerry Cahill, the company’s president and chief executive said, ‘The changes we are implementing are focused primarily on improvements to better support continued power and hotel services should unexpected issues arise.
‘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.’
A Carnival statement said, ‘The cruise line is making significant investments to enhance the level of operating redundancies and the scope of hotel services that can run on emergency power, and further improve each ship’s fire prevention, detection and suppression systems.
‘Given the necessary lead time to source needed materials and implement the enhancements, Carnival will extend the current out-of-service period for these two ships.’
