The Los Angeles Times has a few pretty amusing anecdotes and even links to video of a song that passengers made up, set to the tune of Gilligan’s Island.
The ship lost power about 40 miles off the coast on the first day of a seven-day cruise along the Mexican Riviera and had to be towed to San Diego by three tugboats. The US Military assisted with supplies and an escort.
The article also touches on reports that Carnival denies that passengers were being fed SPAM after an engine fire knocked out the ship’s power and refrigerators. The assumption probably came from all of the US Navy photos of huge SPAM packages being flown onto the deck, but Carnival says they weren’t necessary and were just a precaution. Our songwriter friend above sings about cheese sandwiches. Still, lovers of SPAM – there is such a thing? – took offense to the cruise line’s tone and this story just continues to get weirder and weirder.
We’re just thankful that everyone has made it back ok.
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9:20am | A 952-foot cruise ship that left port from Long Beach over the weekend is being towed by tugboats and accompanied by the military after a fire in the engine room cut off power and set the floating hotel adrift. The ship was about 200 miles south of San Diego and more than 40 miles from shore at the time and could not power itself.
Today, the Carnival Splendor and its thousands of guests and crew are slowly inching back toward San Diego, though they may be re-routed to Ensenada if the process is too lengthy. The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy have flown in bottled water and Spam for passengers to eat, since the ship is without electricity, air conditioning or hot water. The Navy diverted the USS Ronald Reagan from a training exercise, packed it with 35 pallets of supplies and is ferrying helicopters back and forth to deliver goods to the Splendor. Helicopters have already made more than fifteen round trips from the carrier to the cruise ship.
No one was injured in the accident but three passengers have been treated for panic attacks. The cruise was scheduled for a seven-day trip around the Mexican Riviera, but the fire occurred on the first day. Carnival is refunding all passengers and offering vouchers for future cruises. The company may have to dry dock the ship and cancel scheduled cruises if the damage is extensive enough, which would prove very costly to the cruise line giant.
Photos below courtesy U.S. Navy
