Carnival to Fly Dream Passengers Home; Another Cruise Ship Falters - East Idaho News
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Carnival to Fly Dream Passengers Home; Another Cruise Ship Falters

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GETTY 31413 CarnivalDream?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1363337707733Amy Sussman/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Passengers on board the Carnival Dream, stalled at the dock in St. Maarten with a mechanical problem, will be flown home rather than completing the remainder of their cruise back to Florida.

“Since it is unclear when the Carnival Dream will be departing St. Maarten, it only makes sense that we fly guests home and we are in the process of arranging both charter and commercial flights for guests to be flown to Orlando or their final destinations,” Carnival spokesperson Vance Gulliksen said in an email to ABC News.

The ship suffered from a malfunction to its backup generator on Wednesday during regularly scheduled testing, Carnival said.  The cruise line, which is still repairing the Carnival Triumph after a fire in its generator room stranded thousands of passengers at sea last month, disputed reports of widespread power outages and overflowing toilets on the Dream.

Gulliksen said only one public restroom was taken offline for toilet overflow and there was “a total of one request for cleaning of a guest cabin bathroom.  Aside from that there have been no reports of issues on board with overflowing toilets or sewage.”

“All guests are safe and comfortable,” the cruise line said in a statement Thursday.  “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 12:30 a.m.”

The 130,000-ton Carnival Dream, which was on a seven-day cruise and is based in Port Canaveral, Fla, remains docked in the Caribbean island where it made a scheduled port call on Wednesday.  The ship, launched in 2009, is among the largest in the Carnival fleet.

Guests on board will receive a refund equivalent to three days of the voyage and 50 percent off a future cruise.  The next cruise, scheduled for March 16, is cancelled.  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.  Non-refundable transportation related expenses will be reimbursed.

Meanwhile, in a related development, Carnival revealed late Thursday that its cruise ship Legend is also having mechanical problems and will skip its visit to Grand Cayman on Friday and head straight to its homeport of Tampa, Fla., with the planned arrival this Sunday.

One of the Legend’s Azipod units that affects sailing speed is not working properly, although the boat’s safety systems and hotel services are all functioning normally.

Grand Cayman was supposed to have been the last stop for Legend during a seven-day Caribbean cruise that began in Tampa.

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