CNN reporting another Carnival Ship having trouble (The Dream)

[Boytjie]

That may not make a difference with a charter flight.

 

Now matter how you fly into the country, the customs and immigration procedures would surely be the same.

[ducklite]

We are sailing on the Dream on the 23rd, well I think we are! I hope 9 days is enough to sort out the issues and get back to Port Canaveral. I'm not too worried at this point. I guess if our cruise is cancelled then we will spend the week in Orlando, not a good as a cruise but still fun.

 

That's primo tourist season in Orlando and many hotels are already booked solid. I would make a reservation that gives you until 6:00 pm the day of arrival to cancel right now, just in case.

[ParrotHeadCruiser1]

Would you eat at the Olive Garden?

 

No..nor Outback...nor Bahama Breeze...I'd hit up P.F. Chang's!

[TerReuv]

Would you eat at the Olive Garden?

 

Exactly! Or Bahama Breeze. Both of these and Red Lobster are Darden owned restaurants.

 

Seems to me that Carnival was being smart not sailing with a back-up generator not working. Better to be safe. They found the problem during a regular maintenance check it was stated. Oh wait, they don't do those do they??? :)

[maldenmusic]

It is showing up on my internet homepage.

[flapr]

I thought they went down for a short time and came back, though I can't find numbers to back me up there. Either way, I can't imagine this being good for the industry as a whole. Two incidents in this short a time will scare away passengers. CCL will be hurt worse, but I can definitely see first time passengers being scared away from all cruise lines (except the smaller lines, as you said)).

 

For the most part, these incidents will tend to shy-away first time cruisers not only from booking CCL, but from booking their first cruise -- this impacts the entire industry and curtails growth. Seasoned cruisers may avoid CCL for now, but will continue to sail other lines . . .

[boaterette]

I think it is just like when the warranty expires on your car it starts to break down. Maybe they need to look at getting an extended warranty. :D

[ducklite]

Would you eat at the Olive Garden?

 

Ish. No.

 

Darden has some great restaurants but Olive Garden is not one of them.

[madthumper]

I wish I could be at Maho Beach the next couple of days to watch these extra planes fly in and out. Should be good for some great fence riding. :) I'm booked on the Dream in July and I am not cancelling. It failed during a test which is what tests are for. That is why they do it in port and not at sea in case there is a failure. Think that maybe they should change their test schedule to do the test while its docked at its home port instead of in the middle of a cruise.

[Georgie562]

Who is Garry Cahill?

A.K.A. Garry Cheaphill

[flapr]

Charter flights are not exempt from customs rules, and they're no longer on a close loop cruise. They'd be required to have passports, and CCL is going to have to work that out before they can fly those people home.

 

Another good reason for folks to bite the bullet and get their US passports before their next cruise . . .

[ducklite]

Why? They are on a charter flight and are not required for close loop cruises.

 

Why do people with passports bring this up each time? It's a non issue?

 

They aren't coming back to the same port, therefore they are not on a closed loop cruise. They are coming back onto US soil in Orlando, not Port Canaveral. big difference.

[Topo Gigio]

Airlines don't have spare airplanes hanging around anymore than cruise lines do.

 

A number of years ago we were stranded in London for over 12 hours while they replaced an engine on a 747. The time to fix the engine was only 2 or 3 hours but they had to take the plane up an fly it for so many hours before they could put passengers on it. When we left they had the broken engine attached to one of the wings. That's how they got it back to the US. When I asked about it - because it kind of freaked me out, the flight attendant assured me that they did it all the time. I expressed skepticism :rolleyes: and she asked if I would like it if they left my luggage behind and flew it home in the luggage compartment. I said - fine with me, sounds safer, you can send my luggage later.

 

Another time we were flying to Bermuda, and the luggage cart guy ran into the engine and put a dent in it. I think they had half the airline exes and FAA guys standing there looking at it - lots of suits. I figured they were showing porn flicks or something in there. Suits walk a few feet away and conference. Guy in blue coveralls rides up. Looks at the engine. Goes over to his truck, takes out a piece of metal, forms it around the dent, puts some pop rivets in it, then calls the suits over. Suits approve. Flight Engineer approves and the make the boarding call. Took about an hour or two for all this to happen. Anyone who wasn't looking out the window - as I was. Had no clue. Technical difficulties. They put a bandaid on it and we took off.

 

They did serve us coffee, Danish and juice - this was in the olden days :D

 

Off topic! Sorry but very strange story about the broken engine attached to one of the wings, because that would take the plane considerably out of balance with all consequences and I have been an aviation freak looong before I became a cruise freak...I have seen 3 engines attached to a wing but purely for testing purposes.

[LTS1960]

That's primo tourist season in Orlando and many hotels are already booked solid. I would make a reservation that gives you until 6:00 pm the day of arrival to cancel right now, just in case.

 

I already looked and there are private condos for rent. I usually use Homeaway.com or VRCBO.com. They always have rentals. If that does not work, we have friends in the area.

I'm not sweating it right now, just going with the flow.

[halos]

For the very first time ever, I got news from a TA before seeing it here first.

She called because I am trying to organize group cruises (on anothe rline) and she said, "Remember when we were talking about Carnival the other day?? Well, they've had another incident."

 

I was like, "What??"

 

I actually was more shocked that I didn't see it myself first. So, I came right here to verify it. I knew if what she said was true, I'd see it here.

 

I'm not at all happy about this. NCL sales are through the roof, the rates will go up and they don't have that many ships to handle all this new business that CCL is throwing at them.

[ParrotHeadCruiser1]

So, reading through the posts...it seems that Carnival did not make the decision to halt sailing because of the back up generator problem, but that it would have been illegal to do so per Caribbean/US law??

 

Could someone clarify....I hint a touch of spin by CCL if that is the case....

[jimbo5544]

Can't find numbers, but a quick google search gave me these, among others:

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/12/2894843/cruise-industry-still-in-troubled.html

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2012/02/costa_concordia_disaster_crash.html

http://travel.usatoday.com/alliance/cruises/shipcriticblog/post/2012/02/Cruise-Bookings-Decline-Following-Costa-Concordia-Disaster/619151/1

The first one says just the opposite. The other two are snapshots as to what happened following the event (poor choice of words but you my meaning). Yet to see a Carnival ship sail less than full occupancy.

[vols_159]

Ish. No.

 

Darden has some great restaurants but Olive Garden is not one of them.

 

Disagree love olive garden

[stewpapa]

Fool me once shame on you

Fool me twice shame on me

I finally get it. Carnival has problems.

[babyd24]

I hope more cancel. Smaller lines on the Lido deck.

 

 

I like your way of thinking! We are booked to leave on the Dream April 6th and if Carnival has it back up and running, I'll be on it!! :D

[gfh77665]

This is Cruise "Critic", not Cruise "You're only allowed to say nice things, and defend your Cruise Line to the Last". Carnival has had problems lately. That's something that nobody can deny. They've had problems that no other cruise line is having. That's also something that's undeniable. What's up to you is how you react to those problems.

 

I have come to realize (at least) this particular forum is not "Cruise Critic" where a wide variety of views are welcome, in actuality its "The Carnival Propaganda Site".

 

Its where Carnival is perfect in every way, Carnival never, ever has any problems, no delays, no fires, no human sewage running down the walls. Its where the media and passengers are mean and lying if they ever tell about any problem that happens, and the customers are greed no-goods if they expect refunds.

 

Yes, The Magnificent Carnival Cruise Line is perfect in every...single...way, and WOE to anyone here who openly disputes that in any respect. You will get promptly folded, spindled, and mutilated by the planted cheerleaders here.

 

Who needs a live Calypso band anyway? "How Great Thou Art" should wail homage to the Magnificent Carnival Cruise Line on cruises, 24/7.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/14/power-outages-overflowing-toilets-reportedly-plague-another-carnival-cruise/

[LTS1960]

They aren't coming back to the same port, therefore they are not on a closed loop cruise. They are coming back onto US soil in Orlando, not Port Canaveral. big difference.

huh?.. Orlando is Port Canaveral lol. Orlando is land locked but is the closest big city/ airport so it is referred to as being Port Canaveral/Orlando.

[shellster1]

After convincing my overly-proptective husband that we will be just fine on Carnival, we were.

I travelled with my 5 year old and my disabled mother. We had the time of our lives! I don't think you're "rolling the dice" with Carnival. I'll cruise again. (My favorite line is NCL though.)

I feel so bad for these passengers....St. Maarten is my favorite port, and to be RIGHT THERE, and not be able to get off the ship would be complete misery.

We recently went to the western Caribbean...Roatan is my favorite stop there. Tabyana Beach is amazing. Try to stay positive everyone! Carnival is fun, and The Dream is a relatively new ship. They'll have it back up with no problems.

-Michelle:)

[ccruisequeen]

http://www.carnival.com/Core/FAQ.aspx?faq=update

Carnival's update

 

 

TopCarnival Dream - Technical Problems

Update on Carnival Dream

March 14, 2013- 10.45am

The Carnival Dream has a technical issue with the ship’s backup emergency diesel generator which our engineering team is currently working on. Yesterday, during regularly scheduled testing of the ship’s emergency diesel generator, a malfunction occurred. At no time did the ship lose power and the ship’s propulsion systems and primary power source was not impacted. The ship is at dock in St. Maarten. All guests are safe and comfortable. There were periodic interruptions to elevators and restroom services for a few hours last night. However, all hotel systems are functioning normally and have been functional since approximately 12.30am.

While personnel continue to work on the technical issue we are making arrangements to fly all guests home via private charter flights and scheduled flights from St. Maarten. Guests on the current voyage will receive a refund equivalent to three days of the voyage and 50 percent off a future cruise.

We are also cancelling the ship's next voyage which is scheduled to depart on Saturday, March 16. Guests scheduled to sail on this cruise will receive a full refund and 25 percent off a future seven-day cruise. Guests who re-book will have their current rate protected on the future sailing.

Additionally, any non-refundable transportation related expenses will be reimbursed.

Yesterday was a scheduled port of call visit to St. Maarten. Guests were able to spend the full day in port and have the option of continuing to do so until their scheduled return home. All of the ship's activities and facilities are fully operational.

We are very sorry for this disruption to our guests' vacation plans and extend our sincere apologies. We look forward to welcoming them back on another Carnival cruise.

The Carnival Dream was on the last leg of a seven-day cruise and was docked in St. Maarten when the technical problem arose. The ship is based in Port Canaveral, Fla.

[chengkp75]

Off topic! Sorry but very strange story about the broken engine attached to one of the wings, because that would take the plane considerably out of balance with all consequences and I have been an aviation freak looong before I became a cruise freak...I have seen 3 engines attached to a wing but purely for testing purposes.

 

Actually, I've seen that a few times myself. The 747 had a special hard point on the wing for transporting spare engines. Looks wierd, and someone always spots it and rings for the flight attendant.