Carnival Cruise Lines made arrangements for passengers aboard the stranded ship Dream to fly home after the cruise ship reported equipment problems while docked in St. Maarten on the last leg of a Caribbean cruise.
A month after another Carnival cruise ship was stranded for five days in the Gulf of Mexico, the United States Coast Guard said the Carnival Dream cruise ship had an emergency equipment situation that kept the ship from traveling.
The cruise ship, which has a capacity of 3,646 passengers and 1,367 crew members, was docked at Phillipsburg in St. Maarten.
Petty Officer Jon-Paul Rios of the U.S. Coast Guard said the Dream still had power and sewage facilities, but the ship remained moored while technicians fixed an emergency diesel generator that affects propulsion.
Since the ship lacks propulsion, it was not able to head to its next port of call. The ship was scheduled to leave from Phillipsburg around 5 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday.
Carnival posted this message to their Facebook page, commenting on the incident:
The Carnival Dream has a technical issue which our engineering team is currently working on. The ship is at dock in St. Maarten. At no time did the ship lose power but there were periodic interruptions to elevators and toilets for a few hours last night. However at this time all hotel systems are functioning normally and have been functional since approximately 12.30am. The ship has full power but is still at dock while personnel continue to work on the technical issue. The Carnival Dream was on a seven-day cruise and is based in Port Canaveral, Fla.
Previously, the U.S. Coast Guard said the ship had lost power. Later updates clarified that the power issues were related to the "periodic interruptions" referred to by Carnival in their statement.
This incident comes after another Carnival cruise ship, the Triumph, was towed back to Alabama after losing power in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.
A fire aboard that ship left the passengers and crew with no air conditioning, scarce food, and unsanitary conditions.
Photo Credit: Carnival