Carnival Cruise Line experienced massive IT system failures over the weekend and into Monday morning, causing embarkation delays and onboard service disruptions across multiple ships.
Ships Affected and Departure Delays
At least seven Carnival ships remained in port well past scheduled departure times Sunday evening.
With many ships still docked late into Sunday night, included Carnival Celebration, Carnival Pride, Carnival Sunshine, Carnival Venezia, Carnival Spirit, Carnival Liberty, and Carnival Panorama.
Carnival Celebration, scheduled to depart PortMiami at 3:30 PM for a seven-night Caribbean cruise, didn’t leave until approximately 1:00 AM, more than eight hours late.
Carnival Panorama and Carnival Glory passengers received emails notifying them of two-hour delays to check-in appointments, with the cruise line targeting 4:30 PM to have all passengers aboard.
Onboard System Failures
Passengers aboard affected ships reported extensive technical problems to our tip line.
A passenger on Carnival Jubilee, which docked in Cozumel on February 9, said the ship’s tech system remained down, preventing cabin charges.
Only cash transactions were accepted in the casino, and crew members were unable to log in for shifts.
The outage disabled prepurchased packages including OnDemand movies and shut down gaming systems in youth clubs.
Passengers on Carnival Sunshine reported pen-and-paper boarding and Sail and Sign card outages. The Carnival HUB app was not functioning across multiple ships, preventing access to shore excursions and activity schedules.
Carnival’s Response
Carnival posted a statement on its website acknowledging IT issues during planned maintenance that resulted in delayed debarkation and embarkation. The company emphasized navigation and safety systems remained operational throughout.
In a statement to Cruise Radio, Carnival said many impacted systems have been restored. “The debarkation and embarkation processes took longer than usual on Sunday, and we expect similar delays today for those ships on a homeport turnaround,” the company said. “While Sunday departures from homeport were delayed, all ships are now at sea and sailing their itineraries.”
Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald posted messages on Facebook notifying passengers of the delays, including for Carnival Glory on Monday.
The cruise line has not yet released details about compensation for affected passengers.
Pattern of Technical Issues
This incident follows a similar IT failure in December 2025, when Carnival Firenze was stuck in Long Beach for more than 21 hours due to connectivity issues.
That outage also affected the HUB app and guest services computers, forcing dining venues to hand-write tickets.
Carnival has not disclosed what caused either incident.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
