Carnival Dream’s glitch was no nightmare
‘Stranded’ passengers say they enjoyed unplanned extra day in St. Maarten
Several weeks ago, when the Carnival Triumph had its problems with a fire, the cruise line took some heat — and deservedly so.
However, last week’s incident with another Carnival ship, the Dream, was not similar in any way to the Triumph incident. The Dream was in St. Maarten tied to the dock when Carnival decided to stay there because a backup generator failed to work after testing.
Cruise Critic member Zen88, who was on board, weighed in via email: “All is great. Having the best vacation ever. Enjoying all of the free beverages and fun. News is a total lie. Really awesome place to be stranded! People are great.”
Cruise Critic reporter Andrea Bennett, who was in St. Maarten covering the story, added that debarked passengers said Carnival also offered free Wi-Fi and phone use, plus free watertaxi tickets.
A local St. Maarten paper, the Daily Herald, reported: “Carnival Dream passengers Mary and Terry Washington of Tampa, Florida, said they had no complaints about anything on the ship and were very happy to have an extra day in St. Maarten to enjoy the beautiful island: ‘We’re having a free vacation,’ Mary said.”
In the same report, another couple, Tasha Larsson and Hunter Fritz, criticized CNN reports of poop in cabins and elsewhere, which they said were “completely not true.” (Carnival did admit that one public toilet failed.)
As I noted in my column on the Triumph fire, with the success of cruising comes microscopic scrutiny — and it appears Carnival recognized the need for transparency in this case.
In another incident, the Carnival Legend had to skip a port last week due to one engine being off-line. But the ship returned to Tampa, its home port, earlier than expected.
Cruise news you can use
It’s no surprise that Norwegian offered kids 17 and under a “kids sail free” deal this past week. After all, Norwegian is a family line so families make up a big part of its business. What is surprising is that adultoriented cruise line Crystal Cruises is offering a similar deal. While Crystal has done this on a few cruises in the past, this time they are offering it on more than 17 different cruises. You have until April 30 to book one. Get more information from your cruise travel agent or at Crystalcruises.com.
Phil’ s P ick
This Celebrity Equinox cruise puts you right in the middle of Venice’s historic Festa Del Redentore (Redentore Festival), which dates back to 1577 and celebrates the city surviving a terrible plague, the same reason for which the construction of Palladio’s Redentore (Redeemer) Church was commissioned.
The Equinox will be there for two nights during the festival. The 12-day return trip will start July 16 in Barcelona and visit other cities such as Villefranche-sur-Mer, Kotor (Montenegro), Rome, Florence and Malta. Starting price is $1,799. See Celebritycruises.com or call an experienced cruise travel agent for more.