Carnival Liberty guests to be flown home from St Thomas

Carnival Liberty in Miami

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 — Carnival Cruise is to fly more than 3,300 passengers home from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, after an engine room fire incident involving the cruise ship Carnival Liberty (see earlier story).

The Panamanian registered Carnival Liberty is a 952 ft Conquest-class cruise ship delivered by Fincantieri’s Monfalcone, Italy, shipyard in 2005

Plans had been to bring the ship back at a reduced speed to its home port of San Juan, Puerto Rico, once the U,S. Coast Guard and flag state approved and fly passengers home from there, but at 11.30 p.m. last night the cruise line issued the following statement:

The Carnival Liberty continues to remain in St. Thomas following an engine fire that occurred on Monday, Sept. 7, while the ship was docked there during a scheduled port of call visit. All guests will now be flown home from St. Thomas. Given the limited availability of commercial flights, guests will primarily be transported via chartered aircraft.

All guests are being provided with a full refund of their cruise as well as a 50 percent discount on a future cruise. This is in addition to a $150 per person credit that has already been applied to guests’ shipboard accounts.

There were no injuries to guests or crew as a result of the fire which was extinguished by the ship’s automated suppression system. All hotel services including air conditioning, elevators, toilets, galleys, etc. are fully functional and the ship’s normal array of activities, entertainment, dining options and programming are being offered.

The ship is expected to return to its homeport of San Juan later this week.

We apologize to our guests for this unexpected disruption to their vacation and the inconvenience they are experiencing.

Carnival Liberty departed San Juan on Sunday for a seven-day Caribbean cruise with 3,346 guests and 1,150 crew on board.