A voyage on the Carnival Triumph has ended less than triumphantly, with the cruise ship waiting to be towed to port after a fire in the engine room left it drifting in the Gulf of Mexico.
The fire broke out Sunday morning as the Triumph -- with 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew members on board -- was sailing about 150 miles off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Carnival Cruise Lines said in a statement.
The flames were put out without any injuries to passengers or crew, but the incident left the ship without propulsion and operating on emergency generator power. Efforts were under way to make conditions less miserable for the passengers.
?Currently, public and cabin toilets are operational in certain sections of the ship, power has been restored to a limited number of elevators, and some power in the Lido dining area is providing for hot coffee and limited hot food service,? Carnival said.
?Guests have been supplied with food and refreshments throughout yesterday and this morning and the ship has supplies on board to last until the vessel returns to port.?
Some passengers have started to grumble about the new realities on board, with one man telling CruiseCritic.com that his wife reported standing in line for more than two hours to get hamburgers and salad.
Two tugboats are en route to the ship and will tow it to Progreso, Mexico, the closest port to the Carnival Triumph?s current location. The ship is expected to arrive there late Wednesday and passengers will be flown back to the U.S. on chartered planes, Carnival said.
Another one of the company?s ships, the Carnival Elation, was dispatched to the scene and has been delivering ?additional food and beverage provisions? to the Triumph. The company's Carnival Legend ship will also help out Monday afternoon. Additionally, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Vigorous is also on site, communicating with the ship and on standby in case it needs any assistance.
"We don?t really anticipate them needing any help," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Richard Brahm, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard, adding that there doesn't appear to be any danger to anyone on board the Triumph.
"Nothing bad has happened to the ship ... we?ll follow them all the way in and that will pretty much end it for the Coast Guard."
The ship left Galveston, Texas, on Thursday, and was scheduled to return on Monday. Passengers will receive a full refund and a future cruise credit, Carnival said.
The ship?s next two voyages, scheduled to depart Monday and Saturday, have been canceled. Passengers scheduled to sail on either of those voyages will receive a full refund and a discount on a future cruise.
The incident comes more than two years after another Carnival ship, the Splendor, was crippled at sea by a fire in the engine room.
But the current mishap is "a little bit less complicated" because the Triumph is much closer to shore than the Splendor was at the time of its accident, said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief of CruiseCritic.com.
The fact that two Carnival ships have had such similar problems gave her pause, but it didn't make her question the cruise line, she added.
"It?s just unfortunate," Brown said. "Carnival is known for taking safety, security and maintenance very, very seriously ... certainly, ships have mechanical issues."
The incident likely will not put people off from booking a cruise,Brown said,noting that things can go wrong on vacation, whether someone is at sea or on land.
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/fire-leaves-carnival-cruise-ship-adrift-gulf-mexico-1B8325828
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