Carnival didn’t waste any time implementing the first phase of the fleetwide review announced last week. The 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. Today’s announcement focused on Carnival Triumph and Carnival Sunshine.
Carnival Triumph recently made headlines after a fire in the aft engine room disabled the liner at sea for several days. After the fire, Carnival canceled the next 10 sailings for the liner.
Today, Carnival extended the cancellations for 10 additional cruises. Guests impacted will receive a full refund, reimbursement for non-refundable transportation costs and a 25 percent discount on a future four- to five-day cruise. Carnival Triumph will return to service on June 3, 2013.
Carnival Sunshine is currently in the middle of an intensive, multi-week dry-dock to complete a comprehensive full-ship makeover at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy. Following the cancellation of two European cruises, the ship will enter service on May 5, 2013.Guests on those sailings will receive a full refund, reimbursement for any non-refundable travel costs and a 25 percent discount on a future cruise.
By extending these dry docks, Carnival is allowing time for the implementation of the enhanced operating redundancies and other measures.
Carnival apologized to all affected guests. “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 also added, “I would like to provide continued assurances that all of our vessels have fully effective safety systems, equipment and training in place.”
Carnival Triumph operates year-round four- and five-day Mexico cruises from Galveston, Texas. After the summer season in Europe, the Carnival Sunshine will offer year-round seven-day cruises from New Orleans, Louisiana.
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