Carnival Cruise Line has announced the cancellation of the next two sailings on the Carnival Freedom due to a recent fire incident aboard the vessel.
The impacted cruises were scheduled for March 25 and March 30, with plans to travel from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas.
The company released a statement to guests explaining, “The Carnival Freedom experienced a fire in the port side of the exhaust funnel on Saturday. Our onboard team acted quickly to contain and put out the fire.”
Carnival is also investigating reports suggesting the fire could have been triggered by a lightning strike during the ship’s stay in Freeport. The technical team’s inspection revealed that the damage is more extensive than initially assessed, necessitating urgent repairs, particularly to the funnel area.
As a result, the Carnival Freedom has returned to Port Canaveral to offload passengers and is set to undergo repairs at a Grand Bahama shipyard.
Carnival expressed regret over the inconvenience to guests looking forward to their spring break travels, assuring that affected passengers will be fully refunded and offered a 100 percent future cruise credit.
Post-repairs, the 2,974 passenger capacity vessel, is slated to return to service on April 4, 2024, with a four-night Bahamas cruise.
The incident occurred this past Saturday afternoon amid stormy conditions near the Bahamas, around 20 miles from Eleuthera Island. Social media reports, yet to be confirmed, suggest a lightning strike might have ignited the fire, affecting the ship’s distinctive whale-tail funnel. Following the incident, the ship made its way to Freeport before heading back to Port Canaveral, where guests were disembarked on Monday.