Carnival Flying Guests Home After Ship Engine Fire In St. Thomas

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Carnival Liberty had embarked on a seven-day Caribbean trip when an engine fire disabled the ship early into its journey. Now the cruise line is refunding all their guests and flying them home.

The ship had departed San Juan on Sunday with 3,346 guests and 1,150 crew on board. But when they reached St. Thomas on Monday, an engine fire forced the Liberty to stay docked.

Carnival is giving all guests a full refund of their cruise as well as a 50 percent discount on a future cruise. This is in addition to a $150 per person credit that has already been applied to guests' shipboard accounts.

Given the limited availability of commercial flights, guests will primarily be transported via chartered aircraft back home from St. Thomas.

There were no injuries to guests or crew as a result of the fire which was extinguished.

The ship is expected to return to its homeport of San Juan later this week.