Carnival Triumph returns to duty!
Carnival Triumph returns to duty!
The Carnival Triumph has successfully undergone repair-work following its ill-fated engine failure and subsequent problems in Alabama, and is now ready to return to active duty.
Extensive work was required to address damage caused by the engine room fire that left 3,143 passengers and more than 1,000 crew stranded for five days without power in February.
Originally, this work had been scheduled to take place at the BAE Shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. However, the ship ran into further problems here, undergoing extensive exterior damage after a freak storm caused the vessel to break free of its moorings and drift into a dredger.
Following these various setbacks, the Triumph was moved to Grand Bahama Shipyard in May, where it could finally undergo the repairs that were required.
As well as being fixed up, the vessel has also been equipped with new emergency power capabilities to avoid a repeat of the February incident, when Carnival came under severe pressure from the cruise industry press after passengers stranded on the ship were left without running water.
It has also been fitted with improved fire safety technology and new operating redundancies that were developed as part of the $300 million (£190 million) fleet-wide review that Carnival carried out after the Triumph incident.
According to Seatrade-Insider, Carnival also took the opportunity while the ship was out of action to give it a bit of a makeover as well, with enhanced dining and bar venues, including a new Guy's Burger Joint, BlueIguana Cantina, Alchemy Bar and EA Sports Bar.
Upon returning to Galveston in Texas today, the Triumph will now resume its schedule of cruises to Cozumel and Progreso in the Caribbean.
But while the ship may look as good as new, it appears that passengers have not yet forgiven and forgotten. In fact, a recent poll of US adults by Harris Interactive indicated that people are less trusting of major cruise lines than they were before the Triumph incident. Unsurprisingly, faith in Carnival Cruises appears to have been shaken the most.
How do you feel about the state of the industry and its major players following the Triumph debacle?
Nisha at Sea
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