Julian Bray writes: Having just partially recovered from the glare of an extended media spotlight over the crippled Cruise ship Carnival Triumph, when it lost power, with some three thousand passengers and crew on board, and had to be towed back to port, the world largest cruise-ship operator is gearing up for another damaging trial by media.
Reports of power failure and vacuum aspirated toilets on board belching raw sewage along corridors is the news emanating via social media concerning the Carnival Dream cruise ship earlier today Thursday, but currently docked in the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, some 24 hours after it was originally timetabled to depart.
In a statement to ABC news, carnival were putting a brave face on it: "The Carnival Dream has a technical issue which our engineering team is currently working on. The ship is docked in St. Maarten," said spokesman Vance Gulliksen. "At no time did the ship lose power, but there were periodic interruptions to elevators and toilets for a few hours last night. However at this time all hotel systems are functioning normally. The ship has full power but is still at dock while personnel continue to work on the technical issue."
A U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman Sabrina Laberdesque quoted on wire service Associated Press claimed that Carnival Dream's captain, notified the agency of possible trouble with the ship's propulsion system.
The Carnival Dream (130,000 tonnes) was on a seven-day cruise rotation and is based in Port Canaveral, Florida. It was scheduled to call at Nassau, Bahamas; St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands and Phillipsburg, St.Maarten before returning to Port Canaveral.
The next Carnival Dream departure scheduled for March 16. The ship, launched in 2009, is among the larger vessels in the Carnival fleet, and accommodates 3,652 passengers and serviced by 1,369 crew
JULIAN BRAY, Media, Aviation, & Travel Expert. Broadcaster & Journalist NUJ EQUITY UK Tel: 01733 345581 (isdn link on application)
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