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Carnival Cruise Lines will spend more than $300 million dollars to upgrade its ships to prevent a repeat of what happened on the Carnival Triumph.
The fleet-wide overhaul at the world's largest cruise operator will include a significant enhancement of emergency power capabilities on all 24 Carnival vessels as well as changes that will add more redundancy to operating systems, the line announced today.
The upgrades also will bring new fire safety technology to ships, the line says.
"The actions by Carnival Cruise Lines will expand the availability of hotel services for the comfort of its guests in the rare instance of a shipboard event that involves the loss of main power," Carnival president and CEO Gerry Cahill said in a statement accompanying the announcement. "In addition, the plan will reinforce key shipboard operating systems to further prevent a potential loss of primary power."
The announcement comes two months after an engine room fire knocked out the Carnival Triumph's main power as it was sailing in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving the 2,758-passenger ship dead in the water. The vessel's emergency power system kicked in but was inadequate to provide passengers with basic services including working toilets, elevators, air conditioning and lighting in many areas. Passengers described horrible conditions as the ship was towed to Mobile, Ala., and the much-publicized incident has dealt a significant blow to the line's reputation.
Carnival says the improvement plan is a result of an operational review begun immediately after the Feb. 10 fire and overseen by its parent company, Carnival Corp. The parent company also will be making changes to some ships at its other brands, which include Princess, Holland America, Seabourn and Cunard, according to today's announcement. In all, the price tag for improvements company-wide could approach $700 million. In a short interview with USA TODAY to discuss the changes, Cahill stressed that the company's ships are safe as they are now.
"It is not a safety issue. Carnival always will operate ships that are entirely safe," Cahill says, noting that fire suppression systems on the Carnival Triumph worked as expected, the fire was quickly extinguished and no one was injured during the incident. Instead, the overhaul is about making sure passengers never have to experience the uncomfortable conditions that they experienced on the Carnival Triumph, he says.
"What happened (on the Carnival Triumph) was it wasn't a great experience for our guests because the ship had to be towed back," Cahill says. "Most of what you're seeing here today is making sure that we don't lose propulsion power (on a ship) in the future," and in the case that power is lost, passenger comfort isn't compromised.
Carnival says it already has begun rapid implementation of the improvements. An initial increase in emergency generator power on all of its ships will be completed over the next several months. The company is adding an additional emergency generator to every vessel that will provide for the operation of all toilets in cabins and public areas; fresh water; and elevators in the event of a loss of main power. The work is being done as the ships are underway, and is not affecting ship schedules.
Carnival also will install a second, permanent back-up power system on each of its ships to provide for additional services including expanded cooking facilities, cold food storage and Internet communications if main power is lost. Changes to fire systems on ships will include replacing existing water mist fire suppression systems on ships with a newer model.
Cahill says the most complex and expensive part of the overhaul will be modifying engine-related electrical components on some ships to make it less likely that they will lose propulsion or primary power after an incident. Some of the work on electrical components can be done while the ships are in service, but other work will have to be done in dry docks, he says. The work will differ from ship to ship, but all 24 vessels in the Carnival fleet will be touched in some way, Cahill adds.
"We're trying to get to a certain standard across all 24 ships in all areas, whether you're talking about fire safety or redundancy of the engine room," Cahill says. "There are different classes of ships (in the Carnival fleet), and they were all built at different times, (so) the amount of work we will have to do on different ships will vary."
Carnival today also announced it would form a Safety and Reliability Review Board made up of outside experts to provide recommendations to the company.
The fleet-wide overhaul at the world's largest cruise operator will include a significant enhancement of emergency power capabilities on all 24 Carnival vessels as well as changes that will add more redundancy to operating systems, the line announced today.
The upgrades also will bring new fire safety technology to ships, the line says.
"The actions by Carnival Cruise Lines will expand the availability of hotel services for the comfort of its guests in the rare instance of a shipboard event that involves the loss of main power," Carnival president and CEO Gerry Cahill said in a statement accompanying the announcement. "In addition, the plan will reinforce key shipboard operating systems to further prevent a potential loss of primary power."
The announcement comes two months after an engine room fire knocked out the Carnival Triumph's main power as it was sailing in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving the 2,758-passenger ship dead in the water. The vessel's emergency power system kicked in but was inadequate to provide passengers with basic services including working toilets, elevators, air conditioning and lighting in many areas. Passengers described horrible conditions as the ship was towed to Mobile, Ala., and the much-publicized incident has dealt a significant blow to the line's reputation.
Carnival says the improvement plan is a result of an operational review begun immediately after the Feb. 10 fire and overseen by its parent company, Carnival Corp. The parent company also will be making changes to some ships at its other brands, which include Princess, Holland America, Seabourn and Cunard, according to today's announcement. In all, the price tag for improvements company-wide could approach $700 million. In a short interview with USA TODAY to discuss the changes, Cahill stressed that the company's ships are safe as they are now.
"It is not a safety issue. Carnival always will operate ships that are entirely safe," Cahill says, noting that fire suppression systems on the Carnival Triumph worked as expected, the fire was quickly extinguished and no one was injured during the incident. Instead, the overhaul is about making sure passengers never have to experience the uncomfortable conditions that they experienced on the Carnival Triumph, he says.
"What happened (on the Carnival Triumph) was it wasn't a great experience for our guests because the ship had to be towed back," Cahill says. "Most of what you're seeing here today is making sure that we don't lose propulsion power (on a ship) in the future," and in the case that power is lost, passenger comfort isn't compromised.
Carnival says it already has begun rapid implementation of the improvements. An initial increase in emergency generator power on all of its ships will be completed over the next several months. The company is adding an additional emergency generator to every vessel that will provide for the operation of all toilets in cabins and public areas; fresh water; and elevators in the event of a loss of main power. The work is being done as the ships are underway, and is not affecting ship schedules.
Carnival also will install a second, permanent back-up power system on each of its ships to provide for additional services including expanded cooking facilities, cold food storage and Internet communications if main power is lost. Changes to fire systems on ships will include replacing existing water mist fire suppression systems on ships with a newer model.
Cahill says the most complex and expensive part of the overhaul will be modifying engine-related electrical components on some ships to make it less likely that they will lose propulsion or primary power after an incident. Some of the work on electrical components can be done while the ships are in service, but other work will have to be done in dry docks, he says. The work will differ from ship to ship, but all 24 vessels in the Carnival fleet will be touched in some way, Cahill adds.
"We're trying to get to a certain standard across all 24 ships in all areas, whether you're talking about fire safety or redundancy of the engine room," Cahill says. "There are different classes of ships (in the Carnival fleet), and they were all built at different times, (so) the amount of work we will have to do on different ships will vary."
Carnival today also announced it would form a Safety and Reliability Review Board made up of outside experts to provide recommendations to the company.
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