Passengers on other ships began posting photos and videos after 8 a.m. Carnival released a statement at 8:45 a.m. saying the ship’s emergency response team “quickly activated and extinguished a fire.” The Miami-based operator said everyone on board — 2,504 guests and 972 crew — was safe. Passengers were allowed to leave the ship to spend the day in Grand Turk.
The cause of the fire was not clear and the cruise line did not say how much damage was caused.
But Carnival said in a statement Thursday afternoon that “all other ship, hotel and guest services, along with safety equipment are fully operational.” After an initial assessment of the damage, the company said the vessel will go to Freeport, Bahamas, for repairs.
The fire and its aftermath were a far cry from the infamous 2013 fire on the Carnival Triumph, which started in the engine room while the ship was at sea. In that case, the ship lost power and drifted. It became known as the “poop cruise” because of the waste disposal problems that result when a ship with thousands of people on board loses power.
Carnival Freedom’s next sailing, scheduled for Saturday from Port Canaveral, has been canceled. Passengers will remain on board while a sister ship, Carnival Conquest, heads to Grand Turk from Miami to pick up passengers and return them to Port Canaveral on Monday. The next trip for that ship, scheduled to depart on Friday, has also been cancelled. The other Conquest voyage, which was meant to leave Miami on Monday, will instead depart on Tuesday.
“Carnival apologized to all those guests who were affected and offered a special thank you to the crew who handled the situation on the ship effectively and according to safety protocols,” the company said in a statement.
The situation of Freedom’s passengers is reminiscent of the experience guests had on the Norwegian getaway in March. In that incident, the ship crashed and the passengers ended up being sent home in sometimes chaotic circumstances several days later. Many who were stuck on the ground waiting for flights saw the ship leave without them.
