More Problems Aboard Carnival Cruise Ships

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="The Carnival Dream docked in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, in December 2010." height="476" src="http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/03/15/ap100105029316-d03bd2de32f32f7d88a916a688fe1033499409dc-s40.jpg" width="640" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 1.5;">For the past month, management at Carnival Cruise Lines has been in a nearly constant state of damage control.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><br /><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.6pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 80.25pt; margin-top: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For the past month, management at Carnival Cruise Lines has been in a nearly constant state of damage control.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; margin: 0cm 80.25pt 15.6pt 0cm; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the past week alone, three of the cruise line's giant floating playgrounds have experienced embarrassing malfunctions that have at least inconvenienced, if not angered, many passengers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; margin: 0cm 80.25pt 15.6pt 0cm; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here's the latest status report: On Saturday, Carnival Elation had to be escorted by tug because of a problem in its steering system. Since Wednesday, Carnival Dream has experienced power interruptions at the island of St. Maarten, stranding more than 4,000 passengers. And now, Carnival Legend is limping home to Tampa at reduced speed because of an issue with one of its propulsion units.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; margin: 0cm 80.25pt 0.0001pt 0cm; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All this, of course, follows by barely a month the so-called "<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/02/13/171905480/carnival-apologizes-for-triumph-conditions-cancels-14-upcoming-cruises" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">cruise from hell" aboard the Carnival Triumph</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>after an engine room fire left the vessel adrift in the Gulf of Mexico with 4,200 passengers aboard.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; margin: 0cm 80.25pt 15.6pt 0cm; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Christopher Muller of Boston University's School of Hospitality tells CNN that the latest wave of issues at Carnival appear to be a management problem.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; margin: 0cm 80.25pt 15.6pt 0cm; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"They are doing something wrong with preventative maintenance," he says. "Carnival has so many working ships that to say the fleet is in distress is maybe a little bit broad, but clearly something is not right."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; margin: 0cm 80.25pt 15.6pt 0cm; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Carnival has blamed the problems aboard the Carnival Dream, docked in St. Maarten, on a malfunction that occurred in the ship's emergency diesel generator during a routine safety test.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; margin: 0cm 80.25pt 0.0001pt 0cm; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"At no time did the ship lose power, and the ship's propulsion systems and primary power sources were not impacted,"<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.carnival.com/Core/FAQ.aspx?faq=update#q-1370045" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Carnival said on its website.</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>"However, for a period of time last night, there were interruptions to the elevators and restroom services. Toilets and elevators are currently working, and have been since about 12:30 a.m."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; margin: 0cm 80.25pt 0.0001pt 0cm; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On Friday, the cruise company announced that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/morning_call/2013/03/carnival-dream-passengers-flying-to.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">12 commercial planes would take the Carnival Dream's 4,363 passengers back to Orlando</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>— the closest major airport.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Carnival Legend's problems, though at sea not in port, appear to be more in the way of an inconvenience. One of the</span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #111111;"></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; margin: 0cm 80.25pt 0.0001pt 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">ship's two<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.abb.com/cawp/db0003db002698/b4c6f2757969bba6c12571f100410217.aspx" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Azipods</span></a>, a directional propulsion unit, was experiencing an unspecified<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.clickorlando.com/news/Carnival-Legend-experiencing-technical-issue/-/1637132/19325528/-/b2ju0sz/-/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">"technical issue"</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>that has forced the ship to reduce its speed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; margin: 0cm 80.25pt 0.0001pt 0cm; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Even before the latest problems,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/02/15/172108211/as-cruise-industry-grows-so-have-its-problems" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">questions have been raised</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>about the cruise industry in general and specifically Carnival, the largest line in the industry.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; margin: 0cm 80.25pt 0.0001pt 0cm; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">Update at 11 a.m. ET: Carnival Lowers Earnings Forecast:</span></strong><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; margin: 0cm 80.25pt 0.0001pt 0cm; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Carnival's share price is down 2.3 percent and the company says it expects net revenue yields to be flat this year, versus an earlier forecast that they would rise 1 percent to 2 percent,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/15/carnival-results-idUSL1N0C73CD20130315" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Reuters reports.</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; margin: 0cm 80.25pt 15.6pt 0cm; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The cruise line cites weakness in Europe and pricing promotions. But as the news agency notes: "Carnival, which operates lines including Holland America, Costa and its namesake line, is grappling with a series of recent headline-grabbing mishaps involving its ships that have dented demand for its vacations."</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.6rem;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.3em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 107px; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px 15px; position: static; vertical-align: baseline; width: 690px;"><br /></div></div>

Carnival Cruise More Problems Aboard Carnival Cruise Ships

For the past month, management at Carnival Cruise Lines has been in a nearly constant state of damage control. For the past month, managemen...

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