Tugs Reach Drifting Cruise Ship

By Terry Green
Nov 10 2010

A tug boat has finally reached the Carnival Splendor, a disabled cruise ship, today and is heading back to San Diego.

A fire in the engine room of the ship set off a chain of events that led to the ship drifting hopelessly out to sea. The 3000 passengers on board certainly did not have this in mind when they set out for a nice Mexican Rivera voyage.

There were no injuries reported when the ships engine room caught fire. However, the fire knocked out power to the entire ship. The emergency power was relegated to the working toilets and hot water.

Since losing power the ship ran out of food. A nearby battleship, the USS Ronald Reagan, was deployed to help the ship. They have been delivering thousands of pounds of food to the ship. However the food is not what you would expect on board a pricey cruise. The passengers have been subsiding on canned Spam, Pop Tarts and crab meat, dropped from Naval Helicopters.

The entire cruise has been a disaster but Carnival has been commended for their response. They have agreed to give full refunds to all passengers as well as offering them vouchers for a future cruise.

The ramifications of the incident will go much deeper. The cruise industry has been suffering since the financial crisis hit and this is proving costly for Carnival. If the damage to the ship is extensive then it may have to be dry docked, a practice which could run into the millions of dollars.