Carnival Cruise Line Has No Plans To Add Lifeguards

In the past couple of months two ocean cruise lines—Norwegian and Royal Caribbean—added lifeguards to their pools for the first time; previously, lifeguards were only on duty on Disney Cruise Line ships.

But at CLIA Cruise360 last week, Carnival Cruise Line reaffirmed that it would not be adding lifeguards to its ships any time soon.

“We believe the responsibility for pool safety must be with the parents onboard and our employees,” said president Christine Duffy.

Carnival does have three attendants trained in pool safety, CPR and first aid at its waterworks full time. But the safest system has always been “vigilance and awareness.”

Norwegian president and CEO Andy Stuart reflected on that line’s decision during this week’s CLIA Cruise 360 conference in Fort Lauderdale. He said that Norwegian has been testing the use of pool monitors at family pools on its big ships since 2015, and adding lifeguards is just an additional layer of safety on decks.

Stuart made it clear that lifeguards aren’t meant to replace parental supervision, and that the best form of accident prevention onboard is, and always will be, careful parents. Lifeguards are just an “extra step” that Norwegian is taking to guarantee safety.