Mechanical woes hit two more Carnival cruise ships

Disabled Carnival Triumph cruise ship docked in Mobile, Ala. / CBS

Carnival Cruise Lines says two more of its ships had mechanical problems Thursday. One cruise was cut short and the second had one land stop canceled.

This, after an engine fire last month crippled the Carnival Triumph, leaving 4,200 people stranded for five days without working toilets or power.

In a statement late Thursday, the world's largest cruise line said the Carnival Legend was experiencing a technical issue with one of the ship's Azipod units, which affects the vessel's sailing speed.

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Carnival reports the ship's safety systems and hotel services are all functioning normally.

The vessel made its scheduled call Thursday in Mahogany Bay, Roatan, in addition to visiting Cozumel and Costa Maya earlier in the week, Carnival says.

Because of the lower sailing speed, Carnival says, Friday's visit to Grand Cayman has been cancelled and the ship will proceed to its homeport of Tampa, Fla., where it's expected to arrive Sunday as scheduled.

Carnival says guests on the current voyage will receive a $100 per person credit and a full refund on pre-purchased shore excursions for Grand Cayman. Guests will also get a 50 percent off a future Carnival cruise.

The Carnival Legend is on the last leg of a 7-day Caribbean cruise that departed Tampa March 10.

Passengers from the cruise ship Carnival Dream headed to the airport Thursday instead of sailing home after an on-board generator problem halted their trip.

The Dream was in St. Maarten on the final stop of a Caribbean cruise when the crew announced it would not be sailing home to Port Canaveral, Fla., because of a mechanical issue with a diesel generator, passengers said.

Carnival Cruise Lines said the Dream had a "technical issue" with its backup emergency diesel generator that was discovered during a test Wednesday. A company statement said that the ship did not lose power but that there were periodic interruptions to elevators and restrooms.

Carnival said all systems were functioning normally Thursday, but the company decided to get the passengers home by air.

Passengers strolling about the Dutch Caribbean town of Philipsburg told The Associated Press that the power and water were out for 10-20 minutes, contradicting media reports of longer outages and unsanitary conditions.

"We have toilets. We have water. It's no different than a regular day at sea," Tasha Larson, 31, from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said after disembarking with her boyfriend to spend the day in St. Maarten.

"The toilet problem lingered a little bit ... but we had no backups to speak of," says Kris Anderson, an anchor for CBS Memphis, Tenn. Affiliate WREG, a passenger on the ship.

Passengers Mary and Terry Washington of Tampa, Florida, said they were grateful because the malfunction gave them an additional day to spend in St. Maarten. "The plumbing is fine. The food is fine. Everything is fine," Mary Washington said.

Another passenger, Tammie Knapper of Hedgesville, West Virginia, said she also preferred another day in St. Maarten to the risk that the ship could encounter problems as sea. "It's better that we are here than in the middle of the ocean," she said.

St. Maarten offered to assist with police escorts for moving passengers to the airport.

"We would not want them to encounter any delay, discomfort or setback," said Deputy Prime Minister William Marlin, who visited the ship Thursday.

The Dream was on a seven-day cruise of the Caribbean with 3,646 passengers. The ship's March 16 voyage from Port Canaveral has been canceled.

[prosoloact]

Don't take too much to heart, what

Gerry Cahill of Carnival claims that

they're doing to improve problems.

Cahill is a casino accountant, whom

was appointed CEO of carnival, after

the prev. CEO stepped down. Cahill

is the king of financial corner-

cutting, as with any accountant

appointed in his position. As a 'rare' american employee, I

recently worked for the company for

8 years, and after being fired with

no notice(They could'nt even pick up

a phone and notify me,)I saw massive

cost-cutting in every area

imaginable, including safety. Dont'

let this company's phony sympathies,

and Cahill's 'Gosh darn it, I just

want to make things right' attitude

fool you. These people are ruthless,

wreckless liars to loyal employees

and passengers. The 'bottom line' is their ONLY concern, period.

[MrLiterally]

They need to make bigger porthole windows, big enough to hang your butt out of, in case this kind of thing happens.

[bigdaddysilky]

It is no wonder that the ship Legend has problems. They abused that ship for 12 hours trying to reach the Triumph when it was dead. The cruise that we were on shuttled supplies to e disabled Triumph. They tried to get there so fast the entire ship was shuddering the whole time.

[oldoc44]

It's supposed to be one big hookup party on these cruises but what all these passengers don't know is that the few laws and regs are all in favor of the cruiselines and you have almost no recourse for mess ups and accidents! This outfit is just being a bunch of money hungry hogs and letting the chips fall wherever; poor maintenance and oversight, etc.

[magnumdr]

Who in the heck would even want to go on a ship this big. It holds so many passengers it would be like going to a big city and waiting to do something. These ships should be made to carry less passengers so you don't feel like you are trapped with all kinds of people you don't even know. Not my idea of having a good time!

[tsigili]

It has become obvious, that Carnival Cruises has become a company with serious, serious problems.

[BludApfel]

What do you expect from a company called Carnival?

If Carnival had been in charge of Titanic they would have denied the sinking and just issued a press release stating that "all passengers were comfortable and just enjoying a dip in the pool."

[baileycccc]

If you want to be nickel and dime to death take a Carnival Cruise. But somehow the money doesn't make it to maintenance???????

[fredisreallydead]

how about parking them and working on them for a while?

[Backstopp]

They use to do a one week WET dock each year, then a two week Dry dock second year and on, but now just dry dock for 10 - 12 days every two or push it out to three years.

[Backstopp]

You are correct, the low cost workers have been working on these ships for the last 5 years or more, now its coming around to bite them, they take the low bid, fly the non skilled anyone in from the Eastern block, One guy working on the electric system in dry dock was paid $8.00 / hrs and drank more Vodka than most the crew. They pass them off as crew so they can get through immigration, list them as warranty tech's, so they they allowed to fly in to the USA. More to come wait for the BIG one..

[todaypost]

fact or hearsaid?

[Backstopp]

Fact, worked as a contractor on the ships for over 10 years.