NEW ORLEANS – A Carnival cruise out of New Orleans is dealing with some flooding issues on board.
The Carnival Dream, which left New Orleans earlier this week and is in Cozumel, Mexico, according to a log, apparently had a water line break onboard.
Several passengers posted images of flooded halls, with some people saying that up to 50 staterooms have taken on water.
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Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts said his parents are on the ship but that they are fine and plan to stay on board. Roberts said Carnival was making arrangements at some ports to accommodate passengers who want to leave before the ship is scheduled to return.
Most of the ship is not affected, so those people are expected to stay on board.
John Heald, a brand ambassador for Carnival, posted on his Facebook page that “On Thursday, May 3 at about 6 p.m., there was a water line break on Carnival Dream that impacted guests in approximately 50 staterooms.”
He posted a video Friday that showed a hallway of the ship apparently much drier than the day before. He credited the crew for quick work in handling the situation.
Heald said that passengers who were affected would receive a total refund, a 50 percent credit on a future cruise and the option to disembark immediately if they wish to return home.The ship is due back in New Orleans on Sunday morning.
According to a statement provided by Carnival, the incident did not impact the cruise's schedule and the cruise line has offered impacted guests a full refund.
The full statement is below:
The Carnival Dream has continued on its 7-day Caribbean cruise uninterrupted after the water line break on Thursday evening, May 3. It will return to its homeport of New Orleans as scheduled on Sunday morning. The water main break had no effect on the safe operation of the ship. The safety and security of our guests and crew is our top priority.
Both our crew and our guests have been amazing during this voyage. The water line break occurred at 6:00 p.m. and in six hours, our crew had replaced hall and stateroom carpeting, dried out other sections of carpeting that were damp but did not need to be replaced, and restored the 50 staterooms so that all guests could sleep in their beds that evening. There were a handful of guests that chose to sleep elsewhere that first night and we moved mattresses to the spa for them.
We never want our guests to experience anything other than a perfect vacation, so we sincerely regret that we inconvenienced nearly 100 guests. We provided a full refund and a future cruise credit as a goodwill gesture. We offered to fly the impacted guests home at our expense if they wanted to disembark early and only two of the nearly 100 guests that received our offer chose to do so. Most of the guests on board were not even aware of the incident until the last 24 hours as word circulated and our passengers heard from friends and family who saw media reports. Needless to say, the tremendous positive attitude of our guests and crew is proof of why we are America’s favorite cruise line.