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Carnival Corp., which is engaged in damage control with Congress and the public, is making common-sense improvements that it should have made long ago. That being said, it appears as though these improvements could go a long way toward avoiding an encore of Carnival Triumph-like fiascos.
The Carnival Triumph has been out of service for two months, but when it returns passengers can expect it to have a second emergency diesel generator as a safeguard to avoid the lack of routine guest services that plagued the ship during its previous, infamous sailing.
In outlining the scope of more than $300 million in improvements for Carnival Cruise Lines’ 24 ships, CEO Gerry Cahill conceded in a video (see below) that the Carnival Triumph didn’t have ample emergency hotel services and redundancies during its February 7 sailing, and that in the future a planned second generator would provide increased capacity for elevators, toilets, hot meals and communications.
Carnival also plans to increase the redundancy of its engine rooms, and to enhance fire prevention and detection equipment fleetwide.
The U.S. Coast Guard found that a leak in a fuel oil return line caused the February 10 engine room fire that disabled the the Carnival Triumph’s power and propulsion capabilities, taking away any semblance of routine guest services onboard the ship.
But, the $300 million figure for improvements that’s been so much in the press today is only allocated for the Carnival Cruise Lines brand — about one fourth of the Carnival Corp. fleet — and thus is only part of the story. Actually, Carnival Corp. estimates it will have to spend an additional $300 million to $400 million to make similar improvements to the fleet operated by its other brands, including Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, P&O Cruises, Cunard, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, and Iberocruceros.
Earlier this week, Carnival officials agreed to reimburse the U.S. Treasury Department for the Carnival Triumph rescue, as well as for federal government assistance related to the 2010 Carnival Splendor escapade.
Note date has been given yet for the Carnival Triumph, which is undergoing repairs in Alabama.
In this video below, Carnival officials describe the remedial steps they are taking fleetwide to enhance safety.
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Tags: carnival
Photo credit: The Carnival Triumph cruise ship is towed towards the port of Mobile. Reuters