The cruise ship Carnival Liberty, which is homeported in Galveston, Texas, is experiencing a technical issue which is affecting the ship’s maximum cruising speed. The issue is only affecting the ship’s speed and all other systems are operating normally. The ship is capable of operating cruises at reduced maximum speeds while Carnival’s technical team, together with outside experts, continues to work to fully resolve the problem.
In light of the above, the remainder of Carnival Liberty’s cruises through the month of November will have modified itineraries (detailed below). Following these voyages, the ship will go into a previously scheduled drydock then reposition to Port Canaveral, Florida to operate cruises from that port beginning December 15.
This change is being made since Carnival Valor is better suited to operate at the higher speeds required for the four and five-day Mexico itineraries from Galveston while Carnival Liberty is well equipped to handle shorter duration cruises from Central Florida.
Built only one year apart, Carnival Valor and Carnival Liberty are sister ships with similar accommodations, public venues and Fun Ship 2.0 features including Guy’s Burger Joint, BlueIguana Cantina, the RedFrog Rum Bar and BlueIguana Tequila Bar.
Carnival Liberty’s modified cruises from Galveston for the balance of November are as follows:
- 14 CRUISE - The Nov. 14 five-day departure will include an overnight call in Cozumel (the call at Progreso has been cancelled). The ship’s arrival back into Galveston on Nov. 19 will be delayed until later in the day. Guests sailing on this voyage will receive a $50 per person credit to their shipboard accounts and a 25 percent discount on a future Carnival cruise. Guests also have the option of cancelling and receiving a full refund.
- 19 CRUISE: The Nov. 19 seven-day cruise will include stops in Cozumel and Costa Maya (the calls in Falmouth, Jamaica and Grand Cayman have been cancelled). The ship’s departure time will be 10:00pm for this cruise. Guests sailing on this voyage will receive a $50 per person credit to their shipboard accounts and a 25 percent discount on a future Carnival cruise. Guests also have the option of cancelling and receiving a full refund.
- 26 CRUISE - The Nov. 26 five-day departure will include an overnight call in Cozumel (the call at Progreso has been cancelled). The ship’s arrival back into Galveston on Dec. 1 will be delayed until later in the day. Guests sailing on this voyage will receive a $50 per person credit to their shipboard accounts and a 25 percent discount on a future Carnival cruise. Guests also have the option of cancelling and receiving a full refund.
In addition, one Carnival Valor voyage, the four-day cruise from Port Canaveral departing Dec. 11, will need to be shortened to allow sufficient time for the ship to transit to Galveston:
- The scheduled December 11 four-day cruise from Port Canaveral on Carnival Valor will be shortened to a three-day cruise departing on December 11. The cruise will visit Freeport and Nassau which were the scheduled ports on the four-day cruise. Guests sailing on this voyage will receive a one day pro-rated refund of cruise fare and a $25 per person credit to their shipboard account. Guests also have the option of cancelling and receiving a full refund.
For guests on Carnival Liberty being transferred to Carnival Valor and vice versa, the cruise line will automatically transfer the reservations. Affected sailings are now temporarily closed in the system as the reservations team prepares to make the necessary changes. This work is expected to be completed by the end of November at which point new confirmations will be sent to all guests and they will again be able to access their reservations. Fly2Fun flights, transfers and other vacation components such as dining choices, pre-paid gratuities, shore excursions, Fun Shop items and Spa reservations will be maintained as originally booked.
We sincerely apologize to our guests for this disruption to their vacation plans.