A fire in the exhaust funnel of the Carnival Freedom this weekend has disrupted a cruise for the second time in less than two years — and will mean that the Florida-based ship's next two sailings are canceled.
Damage to the funnel will require the cancellation of Carnival's next two cruises out of Port Canaveral, which were scheduled to depart Monday and Friday.
There were about 3,700 passengers onboard the ship when the fire occured. And the two upcoming sailings, which were canceled, likely would have had a similar passenger count amid the busy Spring Break season.
Carnival initially had said it expected no changes in its upcoming cruises, but on Sunday afternoon said the cancellations would be required.
"Regrettably, the damage is more than we first thought, and will require an immediate repair to stabilize the funnel, resulting in the cancellation of the March 25 and March 29 cruises from Port Canaveral," according to a statement issued by Matt Lupoli, Carnival Cruise Line's senior manager of public relations. "The funnel has been stabilized for the ship’s return to Port Canaveral overnight to disembark guests, and then it will go to the Freeport shipyard on Monday afternoon to begin the required repairs."
Carnival said it made the decision after "our technical team completed a thorough assessment" during the ship’s visit Sunday to Freeport in the Bahamas.
In the statement, Carnival said: "We sincerely regret the impact to our embarking guests, as we know they have been looking forward to their spring break vacation. We are providing all guests on both canceled cruises a full refund and a 100% future cruise credit, so they can come back and enjoy a future cruise with us. We also greatly appreciate the terrific guests who are currently sailing with us, for their outstanding cooperation and support."
In a Facebook post, Carnival's widely followed brand ambassador, John Heald, conceded that many people who booked one of the canceled cruises are "feeling very disappointed," and he apologized for the turn of events.
But, Heald added that he wanted to assure affected passengers that, "when you rebook, using your full refund and your 100% future cruise credit, that the crew will be standing by to give you all the fun you deserve."
More than 500 people responded to the post, with many saying they thought Carnival was generous with the compensation offer. But some people who said they were on the cruise that experienced the fire said they thought Carnival should have done more for the people who were on the ship.
Carnival said the fire was confined to the funnel area. The cruise line said there are no reports of injuries to passengers. Two firefighting crew members were treated for minor smoke inhalation.
Carnival said that, at about 3:15 p.m. Saturday, the Carnival Freedom reported a fire on the port side of the ship’s exhaust funnel.The ship was 20 miles off Eleuthera Island, Bahamas, heading to Freeport after a canceled call to the Carnival private island of Princess Cays due to adverse weather.
"The ship’s fire response team was quickly activated, and the ship’s captain also turned the vessel towards the heavy rain in the area to maximize the efforts to put out the flames," an earlier Carnival statement said. "Eyewitnesses reported the possibility of a lightning strike, and that is being investigated, but cannot yet be confirmed."
By 5:20 p.m. Saturday, the fire was extinguished.
How safe are cruise stops?Travel advisories are only one marker for destinations
Carnival said the ship's captain made multiple announcements to passengers and crew, and advised all but essential safety personnel to stay away from balconies and all open decks.
The port-side portion of the funnel had fallen onto Deck 10, and the firefighting response put out any flames.
The U.S. Coast Guard has been notified of the fire, and Carnival activated its incident response team to support the ship’s crew.
Carnival said there were no other operational issues with the ship’s systems, and the ship, which was on a four-night cruise, was visiting Freeport on Sunday.
A cruise ship funnel generally serves as a smokestack to lift emissions abovethe deck, thusaway from passengers and crew.
On Saturday evening, "Carnival Freedom guests enjoyed the Elegant Night dinner as planned, and, with the exception of the open decks, all areas of the ship are fully functioning," Carnival said in its statement.
The Carnival Freedom's next voyage was scheduled to depart from Port Canaveral on Monday afternoon on a five-night Eastern Caribbean cruise. That cruise had port-of-call stops scheduled at Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic and at Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
But that sailing and a Friday sailing both have been canceled. Friday's five-night sailing also was scheduled to stop at those two ports of call, but in reverse order.
In May 2022, a fire broke out in the funnel area of the Carnival Freedom while it was docked in Grand Turk. Carnival then canceled three scheduled sailings of the Carnival Freedom out of Port Canaveral because of the need to repair the ship's fire damage at a shipyard in Grand Bahama.
More recently, in October 2023, the Carnival Freedom debuted a new iconic winged funnel after returning from a 16-day dry-dock refurbishment in Cadiz, Spain.
Dave Berman is business editor atFLORIDA TODAY.Contact Berman atdberman@floridatoday.com.
