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MIAMI — Passengers aboard a seven-day Carnival cruise to the western Caribbean could be forgiven if they felt they were trapped in a scene from a “Titanic” sequel.
Video and photographic footage from a Thursday flood on the Carnival Dream, caused by a break in the ship’s fire suppression system, shows gallons of water gushing out of pipes like a bath faucet turned on. The rushing water filled hallways with roiling pools, and spurted out of walls.
“I literally thought this was a scene from ‘Titanic,’ ” a Facebook user posted on a passenger’s thread that displayed images of water gushing all over the hallway of Deck 9.
Passenger Marla DeAnn Haase’s post with the video and images on Facebook is the one that especially caught social media’s attention. In a big way. More than 10,000 people shared her first post, stamped 6:33 p.m. on May 3. Her video of water pouring from the ceiling and walls has had more than 1.3 million views.
“Um….FB folks…..this is a rare moment of internet connection ….we are flooding on a cruise, we heard the violins and the silverware all came crashing down. What in the world….say a prayer for is [sic] all.”
A response: “What in the Titanic?”
Another: “I cannot fathom how scary this had to be. Hoping you all are safe and will get full refunds!”
To that end, Carnival Cruise Line said passengers who were impacted by the water line break will receive a full refund, along with a 50 percent credit toward a future cruise and had the option to fly home on Friday, ABC News reported.
According to Carnival, a break in the ship’s fire suppression system led to the water flooding 50 staterooms on the cruise, which departed from New Orleans on April 29 and is due to arrive home Sunday morning. Based on its itinerary, the ship was headed to Cozumel after departing Belize at the time of the break.
Two hours after her first post, DeAnn Haase shared a video of Carnival crew members trying to gather up water from the hallway in buckets and bins, assembly-line style. Many of them are seen smiling when they realize they are being filmed. “Progress,” DeAnn Haase captioned her video.
“Our onboard teams began cleanup immediately related to this clean water from a fire suppression system,” a Carnival rep told Fox News.
Carnival issued a statement that read: “We appreciate our guests’ understanding and sincerely apologize. We also thank our crew members for their quick action and hard work.”
The cruise line shared several photos of the hallway as cleanup crews restored the corridors close to their pre-flood appearance.
The Carnival Dream first launched in 2008 and carries about 3,500 passengers.
For DeAnn Haase, her sea adventure wasn’t quite over after she was relocated to the ship’s spa with her family members to sleep on yoga mats. Her brother-in-law Mark Haase’s CPAP machine caught on fire. Allegedly, “the transformer was submerged in water too long.”
DeAnn Haase shared that post, too, with its image of what appears to be a scorched carpet, at 11:21 p.m., about five hours after her first “say a prayer for us all” post.
(MIAMI HERALD)
