40yearcruiser

I'm surprised they are keeping the name Luminosa. It just doesn't seem to fit Carnival. Is changing a ship's name that expensive? Anyway, we're glad to see they are sending another ship to Australia. We were booked on the Spirit for next year before it was pulled from that area. Hopefully Carnival will release new itineraries for Luminosa soon.

Lyannea, thanks for posting the great photos of the Conquest coming to your rescue. So glad it is going to get all of you safely back home. I'm sure you'll never forget this cruise. Relax and enjoy your sea day!

I returned to Port Canaveral this morning on the Mardi Gras. I was traveling with my granddaughter in a balcony cabin on the starboard side of the ship. My grandson and some friends were on the Freedom so we were on our balcony in Grand Turk to watch their ship come in. As it was approaching the dock I commented that there was an unusually large amount of black smoke coming out one side of the stack. As the ship docked we were waving to the Freedom passengers who were out on their balconies very close to us on the other side of the dock. Suddenly we were horrified to see flames erupting from the starboard side of the whaletail. Everyone on the Mardi Gras who were on the balconies facing the Freedom started screaming that their ship was on fire. My granddaughter quickly texted her brother on the Freedom to tell him they were on fire. He was having breakfast in the buffet and at first didn't believe her but when she convinced him it was real he rushed out to see what was happening. We were in constant communication with him until the fire was extinguished, which took about an hour. As the fire spread and debris was falling we were asked to stay off our balconies but we kept a close watch on what was happening. Very frightening time but we are so thankful that the crew were able to control the fire before the whole stack came down, which we were afraid would happen. Once the fire was out we got off the ship and met up with my grandson and friends briefly, but they had prebooked an all-day excursion which went ahead as planned. We talked with several other passengers from the Freedom that were able to transfer to the Mardi Gras because they had a disability or didn't have enough medication with them to wait for the Conquest to get them back to Florida. They said it was chaos on the ship once the word got around that the ship was on fire. Our grandson and his friends stayed in Grand Turk and are now on the Conquest. They are in their 20s and weren't at all upset to get to spend a couple more days on the island. We'll get the full story from him when he gets back home on Monday. I'm certainly no expert, but from seeing the extent of visible damage I expect the Freedom will be repaired and return to service in a month or less. Sorry for those of you who have had your cruises canceled because of this. We have had it happen to us and know the scramble to make alternative plans at the last minute. Good luck with finding a solution and I hope you find a fun way to spend your vacation.

We were on the Elation a couple weeks ago. The ship interior was in good condition for an older ship. I'm not fond of the layout of the public areas on that ship. The atrium had some nice music, but there was no place to sit (except at the small bar) on any of the decks around it to enjoy the music. Other music venues also seemed to be poorly planned. As a plus it has the largest library I've seen on a ship in years. I haven't been on Ecstasy so don't know if it has the same layout. Unfortunately, on our last sea day on the way back to Jacksonville we had very high winds and rough seas and bounced around like a cork. Many passengers were seasick and the pool (only one on this ship) was drained. For what we paid we aren't complaining, but it definitely is not the same experience you get on a larger ship.