Monday, May 30, 8:30 a.m. ET —
We are grateful to our guests for their support as our team worked this weekend to bring them back to Port Canaveral on Carnival Conquest, and we remain proud of our Carnival Freedom crew who handled the situation on the ship effectively and according to safety protocols.
Work to Carnival Freedom’s funnel began while the ship was still in Grand Turk and will continue at the Grand Bahama shipyard in Freeport. The ship’s May 28, June 2 and June 6 departures were cancelled so repairs could be made. The Carnival Freedom crew looks forward to welcoming guests back shortly.
PHOTO: Work to repair Carnival Freedom’s funnel began in Grand Turk and will continue in Freeport.
Friday, May 27, 3:30 p.m. ET —
On Thursday morning while in port at Grand Turk, Carnival Freedom's emergency response team quickly activated and extinguished a fire inside the ship’s funnel. All guests and crew are safe, and all other ship, hotel, and guest services, along with safety equipment are fully functioning.
While the majority of Carnival Freedom’s guests went ashore in Grand Turk today, Carnival’s technical team completed an initial assessment of the funnel and related features, and the shoreside team completed a plan to get our guests back to Port Canaveral.
There are 2504 guests and 972 crew on board. Carnival Conquest’s next cruise, departing May 27 from Miami has been cancelled and that ship will be deployed to Grand Turk to transport Freedom guests back to Port Canaveral. Carnival Conquest will arrive to Grand Turk on Saturday, May 28 and guests aboard Carnival Freedom will transfer to Carnival Conquest for the voyage back to Port Canaveral, arriving on Monday, May 30. Carnival Conquest will then return to Miami, and her May 30 departure will be shortened by one day, with guests embarking on May 31.
Once guests are transferred from Carnival Freedom, the ship will proceed to Freeport for a repair to the funnel. The May 28, June 2 and June 6 departures of Carnival Freedom from Port Canaveral have been cancelled. Guests booked on the impacted sailings on Carnival Conquest and Carnival Freedom voyages have been notified of these changes.
Carnival apologized to all those guests who are impacted and offered special thanks to the crew who handled the situation on the ship effectively and according to safety protocols.
Thursday, May 26, 10:15 a.m. ET —
PHOTO: Carnival Freedom guests are onshore at Grand Turk along with guests from Mardi Gras, as scheduled.
Thursday, May 26, 8:45 a.m. ET —
Carnival Freedom's emergency response team quickly activated and extinguished a fire inside the ship’s funnel while the ship was in Grand Turk.
All guests and crew are safe, and the ship’s guests were cleared by local authorities to go ashore.
We continue to assess the situation. Carnival Freedom left Port Canaveral on Monday on a five-day cruise.