Passengers aboard Carnival cruise ship that caught fire return to Port Canaveral

Cruise line sends separate ship to bring passengers back to Florida

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – Passengers of a Carnival cruise ship that caught fire last week returned Monday to Port Canaveral on a different ship.

The Carnival Freedom was docked Thursday in Grand Turk when flames erupted from the smokestack, according to the cruise line.

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No one was injured in the fire, which caused heavy damage to the ship’s funnel.

The Carnival Conquest was sent to retrieve the passengers aboard Freedom, which was evacuated after the fire.

Matt Lupoli, Carnival Cruise Line’s senior manager of public relations, released a statement on Thursday.

“Carnival Freedom’s emergency response team quickly activated and extinguished a fire inside the ship’s funnel while the ship was in Grand Turk,” Lupoli said. “All guests and crew are safe, and the ship’s guests were cleared by local authorities to go ashore. We continue to assess the situation. Carnival Freedom left Port Canaveral on Monday on a five-day cruise.”

Pictures posted last week on Twitter show smoke and flames coming from the right fin of Freedom’s smokestack.

The ship was due to return to Port Canaveral on Saturday.

On Friday, Carnival said the May 28, June 2 and June 6 departures of the Carnival Freedom have been canceled.

After bringing passengers to Port Canaveral, Carnival Conquest will return to Miami and its departure will be delayed by one day to May 31, the cruise line said.

Carnival is giving passengers a $100 onboard credit, extending the beverage and Wi-Fi packages for those who bought them, and giving everyone a 50% future cruise credit. The company says it will also waive additional port parking fees and reimburse for independent air expenses up to $200 per person.


About the Author

Mark Lehman became a News 6 reporter in July 2014, but he's been a Central Florida journalist and part of the News 6 team for much longer. While most people are fast asleep in their bed, Mark starts his day overnight by searching for news on the streets of Central Florida.

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