Carnival cruise ship catches fire in Grand Turk

Table Of Content

• Carnival Jubilee Officially Christened by Gwen Stefani (Plus, See Photos of the New Ship)
• Bill Maher Compares Nickelodeon To Neverland Ranch After Watching ‘Quiet on Set’
• Carnival Freedom's next two sailings canceled after funnel fire, second within 2 years
• Read Next: Park & Cruise Hotels for Every Port in America
• Carnival Cruise Ship Catches Fire During Visit to Turks and Caicos Islands
• crew members die on Holland America ship; fire breaks out on Carnival cruise

The Carnival Freedom was docked Thursday in Grand Turk when flames erupted from the smokestack, according to the cruise line. The vessel was on a five-day sailing from Port Canaveral that departed on May 23. At the time of the fire, the vessel was carrying about 2,500 passengers and 1,100 crew members, according to the cruise line.

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"We sincerely regret the impact to our embarking guests, as we know they have been looking forward to their spring break vacation." The Carnival Freedom left from Port Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday and was supposed to travel for several days through the Bahamas before returning Monday to Port Canaveral. It was not immediately clear how many passengers and crew were on board the Freedom when the fire erupted, but the cruise ship can accommodate 2,980 guests and 1,150 crew members at capacity.

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Photos and videos shared with FOX 35 and on social media showed flames spewing out of the left side of the ship's exhaust funnel, as dark smoke billowed into the air. Two firefighting crew members were treated for minor smoke inhalation. Carnival is giving passengers a $100 onboard credit, extending the beverage and Wi-Fi packages for those who bought them, and giving everyone a 50% future cruise credit. The company says it will also waive additional port parking fees and reimburse for independent air expenses up to $200 per person. A Carnival cruise ship that set sail from Port Canaveral in Florida caught fire on Thursday.

Carnival Freedom's next two sailings canceled after funnel fire, second within 2 years

"There was an accidental steam release in an engineering space on board Nieuw Amsterdam, which sadly resulted in the death of two crew members," the cruise line said. More recently, in October 2023, the Carnival Freedom debuted a new iconic winged funnel after returning from a 16-day dry-dock refurbishment in Cadiz, Spain. More than 500 people responded to the post, with many saying they thought Carnival was generous with the compensation offer. But some people who said they were on the cruise that experienced the fire said they thought Carnival should have done more for the people who were on the ship. Carnival Freedom departed from Port Canaveral in Florida on Monday for a five-day cruise, according to the company.

Fire Aboard Cruise Ship, Passengers Evacuate Cabins

The next Carnival Freedom cruise, scheduled for Saturday from Port Canaveral, has been canceled. Passengers will stay onboard while a sister ship, the Carnival Conquest, makes its way to Grand Turk from Miami to pick up passengers and bring them back to Port Canaveral on Monday. The next trip for that ship, scheduled to leave Friday, has also been canceled.

After the funnel was stabilized, the ship returned Monday morning to Port Canaveral and let guests off. It has a capacity for nearly 3,000 guests but the company did not specify how many were on the current trip. "The funnel has been stabilized for the ship’s return to Port Canaveral overnight to disembark guests, and then it will go to the Freeport shipyard on Monday afternoon to begin the required repairs."

That was tops for cruise ports worldwide, nearly twice the four million passengers seen the prior year and more than its previous record of 6.8 million passengers set in 2019. Passengers scheduled for those late-March cruises are being offered full refunds and credit that can be used for a future cruise, it said. "The damage is more than we first thought and will require an immediate repair to stabilize the funnel, resulting in the cancellation of the March 25 and March 29 cruises from Port Canaveral," Carnival Cruises said. The Nieuw Amsterdam returned Saturday to its home port of Fort Lauderdale, guests disembarked, and the vessel has embarked on a cruise with a stop in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, on Monday, Holland America said. Carnival said there were no other operational issues with the ship’s systems, and the ship, which was on a four-night cruise, was visiting Freeport on Sunday.

"The ship’s fire response team was quickly activated, and the ship’s captain also turned the vessel towards the heavy rain in the area to maximize the efforts to put out the flames," an earlier Carnival statement said. "Eyewitnesses reported the possibility of a lightning strike, and that is being investigated, but cannot yet be confirmed." "All guests and crew are safe, and the ship's guests were cleared by local authorities to go ashore," the statement said. Carnival’s onboard team put out the fire on Saturday, and on Sunday, it completed what it said was a thorough assessment of the ship during a visit to Freeport. That is when the crew realized that “the damage is more than we first thought and will require an immediate repair to stabilize the funnel,” said Lupoli.

Carnival Freedom returns to cruising within 2 weeks of funnel fire - WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando

Carnival Freedom returns to cruising within 2 weeks of funnel fire.

Posted: Thu, 04 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Plans were soon made to get all guests back to Port Canaveral in Florida, where they originally set sail from Monday for what was meant to be a 5-day cruise. But since Freedom won't be seaworthy in time for an already delayed departure, those arrangements required the cancellation of another Carnival cruise. The U.S. Coast Guard said the Carnival Freedom crew was able to extinguish the fire Saturday without their help. They were aware of the fire, though, and issued a Captain of the Port order to the cruise ship before it was scheduled to enter Port Canaveral, Florida, on Monday. It is not known if the next cruise, a 10-night roundtrip “Discover Vanuatu” sailing, will be impacted. That cruise is scheduled to call at ports in New Caledonia as well as Vanuatu.

All guests impacted by the changes in upcoming trips have been notified. Another ship, the Carnival Conquest, will travel from Miami to pick everyone up from Grand Turk on Saturday. Then it quickly left on its next tour that same evening, the company said. On Friday, the Nieuw Amsterdam operated by Holland America experienced what it says was an accidental steam release in an engineering space on board while at Half Moon Cay, The Bahamas. Carnival said it also continues to investigate multiple eyewitness reports of a lightning strike. The vessel was 20 miles off Eleuthera Island, Bahamas, and heading to Freeport following a canceled port stop at Princess Cay due to bad weather, the company said.

Friday's five-night sailing also was scheduled to stop at those two ports of call, but in reverse order. The Freedom passengers’ situation is reminiscent of the experience guests had on the Norwegian Escape in March. In that incident, the ship ran aground and passengers ended up being flown home under sometimes-chaotic circumstances days later. Many who were stuck on land awaiting flights watched the ship depart without them. "Carnival Conquest’s next cruise, departing May 27 from Miami has been cancelled and that ship will be deployed to Grand Turk to transport Freedom guests back to Port Canaveral," the company explained.

Video shows flames, heavy black smoke after Carnival Freedom exhaust funnel catches fire near Bahamas - NBC 6 South Florida

Video shows flames, heavy black smoke after Carnival Freedom exhaust funnel catches fire near Bahamas.

Posted: Mon, 25 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Passengers were transferred to Carnival Conquest for their return home, allowing Carnival Freedom to sail to Freeport, Bahamas, where it is now docked for repairs. The move necessitated the cancellation of Carnival Conquest's May 27 sailing, too. Two additional sailings have been canceled following a fire that caused structural damage to the funnel on Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Freedom on May 26.

The Conquest-class Carnival Freedom is in the midst of a 5-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary, having departed Port Canaveral on Monday, May 23. Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale and Port Canaveral are also booming. The latter was the world’s top cruise port one year before PortMiami took the honors. The ship, which has a capacity of around 2100 guests, is based at Port Everglades in the winter and in the summer between Vancouver and Whittier, Alaska. If the sight of a Carnival funnel on fire looks familiar, well, it is a bit of deja vu. The same exact ship had its funnel catch fire in 2022 while in Grand Turk.

While most people are fast asleep in their bed, Mark starts his day overnight by searching for news on the streets of Central Florida. After bringing passengers to Port Canaveral, Carnival Conquest will return to Miami and its departure will be delayed by one day to May 31, the cruise line said. The ship sailed to Freeport, Bahamas, after passengers disembarked; it is currently undergoing repairs there.

Emergency personnel will continue to assess the ship to determine the cause of the fire, as well as to ensure the safety of the vessel. The Conquest's next trip, scheduled to depart from Miami on Friday, has been canceled, as was the Freedom's next trip, scheduled to begin Saturday. The incidents come as the cruise industry is breaking records for number of passengers. Carnival subsequently canceled cruises on Carnival Freedom leaving Port Canaveral on March 25 and on March 29. "I mean, I looked out there and you're not supposed to see black smoke and fire shooting out of the tail end of the cruise." The port-side portion of the funnel had fallen onto Deck 10, and the firefighting response put out any flames.

Coincidentally, in 2022 while docked at Grand Turks, part of the ship's funnel also caught fire. That time, however, it was on the starboard side (the right side), according to photos shared with FOX 35 at the time. In a statement Sunday, Carnival Cruises acknowledged witness reports of a lightning strike or the sound of thunder before the fire erupted. The ship set sail out of Fort Lauderdale on March 16 for a seven-night trip. MIAMI — Two crew members died on board a Holland America cruise ship, and a fire broke out on a Carnival ship while both of the ships were in the Bahamas this weekend, officials said.