Carnival Mega-Ship Getting a Late Start

Carnival Cruise Lines’ 102,000-ton Triumph, touted as the first “mega-ship” to be home-ported in New York City, flunked its sea trial and won’t make a July 14 charity event or its first two cruises, July 19 and July 23. The maiden voyage is now scheduled for July 27.

Although skipping two voyages doesn’t sound so bad, in this age of humongous vessels it means displacing more than 6,000 passengers, according to Carnival spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz. The ship, holding up to 3,473 guests, is the second largest in the world, next to Princess Cruises’ Grand Princess, she added. Passengers are being offered a full refund plus a 50% discount off a future cruise.

The company said bearings on a shaft that runs between the Triumph’s propulsion motor and propeller overheated during a sea trial off Italy’s Fincantieri shipyard; bearings for both propeller shafts were replaced as a precaution. Although Fincantieri has produced a number of late ships for other lines during the recent building frenzy, the Triumph was the first Carnival ship to be late out of the dock since the early 1990s, De la Cruz said. It will make four- and five-day trips from New York to the Canadian coast through mid-October, and then switch to the Caribbean.