NASSAU – Carnival Cruise Line is canceling the two upcoming cruises onboard the Carnival Freedom after a fire incident onboard the ship.
Affected sailings include the March 25 and March 30 departures, which were set to visit the Bahamas after departing from Port Canaveral.
“The Carnival Freedom experienced a fire in the port side of the exhaust funnel on Saturday. Our onboard team acted quickly to contain and put out the fire,” the company said in a statement sent to booked guests.
“While we continue to investigate multiple eyewitness reports of a lightning strike, our technical team completed a thorough assessment during the ship’s visit to Freeport,” Carnival added.
“Regrettably, the damage is more than we first thought and will require an immediate repair to stabilize the funnel,” Carnival continued.
Following the fire Carnival Freedom returned to Port Canaveral to disembark guests and is now scheduled to visit a shipyard in Grand Bahama to begin the necessary repairs, the company added.
“We sincerely regret the impact to our embarking guests, as we know they have been looking forward to their spring break vacation,” Carnival said.
According to the statement, affected guests will receive a full refund, as well as a 100 percent future cruise credit.
Following the required repairs, the 2,974-guest ship is expected to resume service with a four-night cruise to the Bahamas on April 4, 2024.
The Carnival Freedom experienced a fire this Saturday afternoon while sailing in stormy weather in the Bahamas.
The incident was reported shortly after 3:00 p.m. local time while the ship was approximately 20 miles off the coast of the island of Eleuthera.
Unconfirmed eyewitness reports posted on social media claimed that the fire, which only affected part of the ship’s whale-tail funnel, was caused by a lightning strike.
After a visit to Freeport, the Carnival Freedom returned to Port Canaveral to disembark its guests on Monday morning.
SOURCE: Cruise Industry News