The Carnival Freedom will head to a shipyard in the Bahamas for repairs following a fire in its funnel on 26MAY while in port in Turks & Caicos.
Meanwhile, another Carnival ship is on its way to pick up guests this weekend, and return them to Port Canaveral.
A number of guests and observers in port posted images and videos to social media of the dramatic smoke emitting from the ship's funnels, as crew could be seen tackling the blaze.
— Chester4x4 (@Chester4x4) May 26, 2022
Here is the statement issued by Carnival Cruise Line on Friday 27MAY about the incident and its response:
“On Thursday morning while in port at Grand Turk, Carnival Freedom's emergency response team quickly activated and extinguished a fire inside the ship’s funnel. All guests and crew are safe, and all other ship, hotel, and guest services, along with safety equipment are fully functioning.
While the majority of Carnival Freedom’s guests went ashore in Grand Turk today, Carnival’s technical team completed an initial assessment of the funnel and related features, and the shoreside team completed a plan to get our guests back to Port Canaveral.
There are 2504 guests and 972 crew on board. Carnival Conquest’s next cruise, departing May 27 from Miami has been cancelled and 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.
Carnival Conquest will then return to Miami, and her May 30 departure will be shortened by one day, with guests embarking on May 31.
Once guests are transferred from Carnival Freedom, the ship will proceed to Freeport for a repair to the funnel. The May 28 departure of Carnival Freedom from Port Canaveral has been cancelled.
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.”
