Carnival Freedom Fire Destroys Funnel, Results in Multiple Cancellations
by Dori Saltzman
An early morning fire destroyed half the funnel on Carnival Freedom; photo by kbnovak.
A fire onboard Carnival Freedom Thursday morning in Grand Turk left half the ship’s iconic funnel completely destroyed. No injuries were reported and passengers were released to go about their day in port, but the current sailing has been canceled, as have at least two other cruises.
According to a spokesperson for the cruise line, “Carnival Freedom’s emergency response team quickly activated and extinguished a fire inside the ship’s funnel while the ship was in Grand Turk.. All guests and crew are safe, and all other ship, hotel, and guest services, along with safety equipment are fully functioning.”
News of the fire quickly spread across the Internet, with passengers onboard reporting that they were called to their muster stations where they had to put on life jackets.
According to Carnival, while the majority of Carnival Freedom’s guests went ashore in Grand Turk afterwards, a technical team completed an initial assessment of the funnel and related features.
Based on their assessment, the current and subsequent sailing (May 28) of Carnival Freedom have been canceled. Additionally, the May 27 sailing of Carnival Conquest has been canceled. That ship will be deployed to Grand Turk to transport Freedom guests back to Port Canaveral.
“Carnival Conquest will arrive to Grand Turk on Saturday, May 28 and guests aboard Carnival Freedom will transfer to Carnival Conquest for the voyage back to Port Canaveral, arriving on Monday, May 30.”
From Port Canaveral, Carnival Conquest will return to Miami, where its May 30 departure will be delayed by one day, with guests embarking on May 31.
Once guests are off Carnival Freedom, the ship will proceed to Freeport for a repair to the funnel.
Guests booked on the impacted sailings on Carnival Conquest and Carnival Freedom voyages have been notified of these changes.
“Carnival apologized to all those guests who are impacted and offered special thanks to the crew who handled the situation on the ship effectively and according to safety protocols,” the line said.
