A third Carnival Cruise Lines ship has been hit by propulsion trouble.
Carnival Legend was forced to cancel a call to Grand Cayman on Friday due to a “technical issue” with one of the ship’s Azipod units affecting the vessel’s speed.
The ship was due to return to its homeport of Tampa yesterday (Sunday). Carnival said the vessel’s safety systems and hotel services were all functioning normally.
Passengers on Carnival Legend – which is to be deployed to operate cruises from Dover this summer – are being offered $100 credit, refunds on pre-booked excursions in Grand Cayman and 50% off a future cruise.
The 2,124-passenger ship was on the last leg of a seven-day Caribbean cruise.
The latest incident follows the line having to fly passengers home from St Maarten last week due to a fault with a back-up emergency generator on Carnival Dream.
This came a month after passengers were stranded on board Carnival Triumph in the Gulf of Mexico after it lost power.
Additionally, Carnival admitted that Carnival Elation had experienced a “minor technical issue” with the steering function of one of its two redundant Azipod propulsion units
The ship was continuing to operate its normal scheduled itineraries and it was due back in port today (Monday) for repairs ahead of its next cruise this afternoon.
Carnival said: “We would like to sincerely apologise to our guests for the disruption to their vacation plans as a result of these occurrences.
“The cause of each one is unrelated although we take each of them very seriously. As always, the safety of our guests and crew is our foremost priority.
“Carnival Cruise Lines carries some 4.5 million passengers a year and operates thousands of cruises without incident.
“Our historical safety record is outstanding. We have comprehensive maintenance programs in place that meet or exceed all regulatory standards and requirements.”
The line added: “We are committed to learning from any incident that may occur on one of our vessels to apply lessons learned and prevent future occurrences.
“We are presently conducting a comprehensive fleet-wide review that encompasses multiple operational areas, systems and training.
“We have assembled an expert team from across the company, as well as a variety of outside experts to complete the assessment.”
An announcement is expected this week on the initial steps of an implementation programme based on the results of the review.
“In the meantime, we are confident that we will continue to provide our guests with a safe, fun and memorable vacation experience and look forward to welcoming them on board.”