Carnival Has Apparently Actually Commenced a Wholesale Refitting of Its Older Ships With Back-Up Generators

There's been additional evidence that Carnival Cruises is taking serious and expensive steps to refit its older ships with back-up electrical generators.  But because the first ship to have that makeover has a totally new name, the fact that it is one of the elderly vessels has been obscured from public view.

     It was announced this week that the Carnival Sunshine (a name never before seen in cruising) would not embark on a risky trans-Atlantic sailing to the Mediterranean, but would stay in drydock for several weeks to have this additional safety equipment installed.  That announcement made it look like the newer ships in the Carnival fleet were in need of redundancy safeguards.

     The fact is that the Carnival Sunshine is not a new ship, but one that was launched in 1996--seventeen years ago--as the "Carnival Destiny".  It was undoubtedly a ship with only one set of electrical generators.  And although it had already been in drydock for various cosmetic improvements that would see it emerge as the "Carnival Sunshine", the Destiny was undoubtedly designed in the former--and now discredited--fashion as far as safety features were concerned.

     Carnival has now realized, apparently, that it is too risky to send such a ship on a trans-Atlantic sailing.  Suppose it lost electrical power in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?

     So there you have it.  Faced with the possibility that another tragedy (like the four that Carnival has encountered in the last three years) would have a devastating impact on the willingness of the public to hazard a cruise on a Carnival ship, Carnival has cancelled the immediate trans-Atlantic crossing of the Sunshine (née Destiny) in order to bring it into the modern world of safety.

     In a blog of several days ago, I said it was "ironic" that Carnival may now become the safest cruiseship line, because of the grave problems it has recently had.  We are still only hearing a total silence on the subject from other cruiselines.  Is Royal Caribbean outfitting its older ships with a second set of generators?  No one, as far a I know, is aware of what it is doing.  How about MSC cruises?  Though their fleet is relatively modern, does it possess redundancy in terms of generating electrical power?  Not a word, apparently, from them.  How about Celebrity Cruises, a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean?  Though several of its ships are very new, and thus presumably have back-up generators, how about the older vessels of Celebrity Cruises?  Don't they owe us a statement?

     I believe passengers about to sail aboard Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and MSC ships should be told what those lines are planning, in terms of a shutdown of electrical power while the ship is afloat.  Meanwhile, until they open up, it appears that a Carnival cruise may be the safe way to go.