Fire on Carnival Splendor

John Heald's blog

[ 11-08-2010: Message edited by: Tom Burke ]

Sadly it seems they can't restart her and she is going to have to be towed back Thankfully no-one was injured and it wasn't any worse.

As Pam says, Carnival Splendor is to be towed back to Ensenada. Passengers are to be reimbursed the cost of their cruise, their transportation costs, and will receive a free future cruise.

With normal toilets a bucket of water solves the 'problem'. I suppose there is no easy way around a vaccuum system?

A bonus having a balcony when there is no air-con, bit stiffling in an outside with no openable windows/portholes.

Ah, no interent - wonderful.

Has to be said a lot better than Celebrity's handling on the Century breakdown.

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Originally posted by mike sa:
Free future cruise, full refund plus transport expenses. No doubt free drinks etc until they get where they are going.

Has to be said a lot better than Celebrity's handling on the Century breakdown.

Kudos to Carnival.

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Originally posted by Ernst:

It might be better than other cruise lines are handling such a situation but is a free future cruise really an appropriate compensation for an event that might traumatize some people in a way that they never want to step aboard a ship again?

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Traumatize? Goodness. It's not like the ship hit an ice berg on a trans-atlantic in the middle of nowhere.

So they drift. They are a few miles of the coast. They get towed back to port (though having to stay in Ensenada may traumatize them).

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Originally posted by FL_Cruiser64:

Traumatize? Goodness. It's not like the ship hit an ice berg on a trans-atlantic in the middle of nowhere.

So they drift. They are a few miles of the coast. They get towed back to port (though having to stay in Ensenada may traumatize them).

They get lots of credits and refunds. It's cruising. Things happen.

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Yes, 'things happen' and no, they did not hit an iceberg but they had a fire aboard and the ship is still without any power.

It might not even be anyone's fault but generally it is a good idea to be generous in such a situation.

According to some of the news sources the only injuries were passengers who suffered severe panic attacks. I'm sure they can't wait to get back on another ship. Something like a fire while in the middle of nowhere like that is a traumatizing experience for people who do not know all of the background dealings of these situations. Think about what the children must be thinking right now, something like this could have a major impact on them for the rest of their lives.

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Originally posted by DEIx15x8:
[...]The free cruise is an apology gift (and a please do not sue gift) and not really something they have to do but i think they should do be offering a free cruise or a $ amount.

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I hope that this is what actually has been offered by Carnival (giving passengers the option to decided between a refund and a 'free' cruise).

[ 11-09-2010: Message edited by: Ernst ]

Free Spam: now THAT'S funny.

-Russ

[ 11-09-2010: Message edited by: linerguy ]

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Originally posted by Ernst:

Yes, 'things happen' and no, they did not hit an iceberg but they had a fire aboard and the ship is still without any power.

It might not even be anyone's fault but generally it is a good idea to be generous in such a situation.

Most of us who post here might like the idea of a free cruise but for many it is actually cynical to offer a cruise as compensation after having a bad experience with a cruise (this of course would also apply to other kinds of vacation or products).

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I hope you noted my smiley faces at the end of the post.

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Originally posted by Grant:
I'm beginning to think that this blaze has caused very significant damage to the electrics onboard. There are certain amount of redundancies between the two engine rooms, and while reports have the fire in only one of them, it begs the question as to how there could be damage enough in the other to prevent some systems from operating. While propulsion takes a great deal of energy, perhaps 3 gen sets operating, I would have thought that the basics such as toilets, refrigeration for perishables, and air movement would take much less, perhaps just 1 or two gen sets. The airlifting of food and water suggests that all food supplies are spoiled, and the desalination plants down as well. Hope we hear the true extent of damage once the vessel reachs a shipyard, for what will obviously be a lengthy repair.

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Originally posted by Tom Burke:
OK, here's a question for all those with knowledge of the relevant US laws.

I gather that this cruise started from Long Beach, and when the fire occurred Carnival Splendor had not yet reached its first port of call in Mexico. Carnival are now saying that given the ship's position, the tugs' capabilities, etc, they are going to try to tow her back to San Diego. If this happens, she will therefore have done a voyage from one US port to another, without calling at a foreign port. What would be the position in US law after such a voyage?

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Originally posted by Ernst:

This is an emergency. Do you seriously think that these rules are of any relevance in such a case?

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