Cruises Canceled After Carnival Fire

Carnival Cruise Lines canceled two Caribbean voyages of the Celebration as the ship underwent repairs following a Jan. 12 fire that left it adrift off Jamaica for several hours. No injuries were reported among the 1,585 passengers and 667 crew, who were midway into a seven-day cruise out of New Orleans. The fire was in an auxiliary generator. Power was restored after about six hours, according to a Carnival spokeswoman, Jennifer de la Cruz, and the ship sailed to Montego Bay, Jamaica, where passengers were flown back to New Orleans. Carnival offered full refunds, as well as a free seven-day cruise in the future. Passengers scheduled to sail on the canceled Jan. 16 and Jan. 23 voyages will be offered full refunds and 50% off a future Carnival cruise.

The Celebration fire was the third involving a Carnival “Fun Ship” in 17 months. In July 1998, about 50 crew members suffered smoke inhalation on the Ecstasy off Miami when a fire started near a laundry room. Last September, Carnival’s Tropicale was left drifting in the Gulf of Mexico after an engine fire.

“Carnival has been in operation for 27 years, and we have carried some 14 million people and operated nearly 10,000 cruises,” de la Cruz said. “While we are very concerned about these incidents, there have been very few within the context of how many cruises we’ve operated.”