Carnival Liberty Evacuation

[Cindy]

Sorry to hear the cruise has been cancelled, but it sounds like Carnival is taking good care of the passengers and providing very reasonable accommodations and compensation.

 

Whom are you asking to respond to this? Carnival may or may not monitor these boards (probably not) so are you really asking passengers currently stranded on this cruise to be directing questions to the ship staff regarding your upcoming???? Really?

 

I think you need to get on the phone to your PVP or your Travel Agent and explain your situation and request they contact you ASAP if there are changes. Unsure what you can do about it considering airline tix are non-refundable however but you're worried about the pre-cruise hotel charge so okay.

 

I think you may have misunderstood my post. First of all, there are a few others who are scheduled to be on the 9/20 Liberty sailing, same as us, monitoring this thread. One hopefully fellow passenger would like to know if our sailing will be affected ASAP so they can make alternate plans. I'm not looking for any of them to respond but just informing them that a definite answer about our sailing may not be from the op this afternoon.

 

"I've been following this thread, as mentioned before, because we're scheduled to sail on Liberty on 9/20. It is possible that when pauleydm and other current passengers on this current Liberty sailing get an update this afternoon, the update may be specific to how their cruise will proceed in the future but they may not be given information on the status of sailings following the current cruise." The op of this thread said that they will be getting an update on the status of how their cruise (the current Liberty cruise) will proceed in the future sometime after they have to be back on board by 4PM today. I do not expect the op or any of the current Liberty passengers to get status on any upcoming Liberty cruise. So those of us scheduled on Liberty on an upcoming cruise may NOT have a definite answer this afternoon and I'm not expecting one. I am also NOT expecting the op or any of the current passengers to be directing questions to Carnival staff about our sailing.

 

"I'm sure that Carnival is monitoring the situation closely." I did not say that Carnival is monitoring these boards closely, I said "situation", meaning the situation with Liberty herself. If I meant cc boards, I'd have said "cc boards". I do not expect Carnival to be monitoring the Cruise Critic boards. So please don't put words into my mouth. If the current situation with Liberty will affect any of the future cruises, I will be waiting to hear from Carnival...not the op or any other current Liberty passenger, not someone else on CC, but Carnival. I am curious, as most of the others are, to see how this will play out.

 

"We're booking hotel reservations in San Juan (believe that will have until the 17th to cancel w/out penalty if we do end up sailing) but we really can't do anything else at this point until we hear from Carnival or get some status on future sailings." As for the hotel and non refundable airline tickets, I'm not complaining or seeking advise on how to deal with non refundable airline tickets. All I'm saying is that we will be flying to San Juan as scheduled, whether Liberty sails on the 20th or not. We hope to sail on Liberty on the 20th, but if we don't, we will still have a very nice vacation. A week in Puerto Rico is not so bad. The hotel reservations are a backup plan, CYA, so to speak. I'd sure hate for our cruise to get cancelled and get down to San Juan and have everything booked up and no place to stay. We will have until September 17th to cancel the hotel reservations without penalty and I really expect to know by then if Liberty will sail as scheduled. I'm planning on it, but we need a backup plan. FYI, I'm also glad those airline tickets are non refundable. Knowing my DH, if those plane tickets were refundable and our sailing would be cancelled, we'd be going nowhere.

 

I think the people who are on the next couple sailings are wise to be formulating a Plan B. I have been booked on a cancelled Celebrity cruise, and because of Cruise Critic I had already explored my options and put a courtesy hold on a replacement cruise about 8 hours before Celebrity contacted any passengers. I'd rather "waste" time by working on it early than be shut out of everything because I waited.

[pamrose228]

What about airfare reimbursement, pauley?

[Live2Cruise67]

CARNIVAL LIBERTY STATEMENT

September 8, 2015 – 5pm EDT

The Carnival Liberty continues to remain in St. Thomas following an engine fire that occurred yesterday while the ship was docked there during a scheduled port of call visit. The ship’s command is presently awaiting permission from authorities to sail.

Once the vessel departs, it is scheduled to return to its homeport of San Juan. Guests will have the option of remaining on board through the rest of the week and exploring San Juan or disembarking and traveling home. If clearance to depart St. Thomas is not received by later this evening, the company will move forward with arrangements to fly all guests home from St. Thomas.

All guests are being provided with a full refund of their cruise as well as a 50 percent discount on a future cruise. This is in addition to a $150 per person credit that has already been applied to guests’ shipboard accounts.

There were no injuries to guests or crew as a result of the fire which was extinguished by the ship’s automated suppression system. All hotel services including air conditioning, elevators, toilets, galleys, etc. are fully functional and the ship's normal array of activities, entertainment, dining options and programming are being offered.

We apologize to our guests for this unexpected disruption to their vacation and the inconvenience they are experiencing.

Carnival Liberty departed San Juan on Sunday for a seven-day Caribbean cruise with 3,346 guests and 1,150 crew on board.

[Firefighterhoop]

to the OP. 1) Thanks again for the updates... I am hoping you are still able to have somewhat of a good time.

 

2) are you able to tell me if the engines are producing the power from the engine room, or is the Auxiliary Generator by the funnel (That they added a few years ago) running and powering it all.

[Tonka's Skipper]

I am not familiar with the emergency generator you mentioned, but I highly doubt that it could power the whole vessel to full hotel service.

 

THAT WOULD mean 1 or 2 mains were on the line or if the dock is so equipped, the vessel could be plugged in to shore power. This type of service is showing up in more and more ports.

 

 

AKK

[Maleeni]

I smell nothing but full refunds, or full credit toward a future cruise.

 

Maybe more, as there were some of the omnipresent posters on John Healds page, as well as the Carnival page, stating none of this was happening as it did. I took that for granted till coming back today to read here. I guess this is why some lists are and links are not working to there. They are gone.

 

As expected. Speculation over.

[train460]

Could they be pumping off waste water? I don't know why the OP called them fuel trucks (maybe they have "fuel" in big red letters on the side of the tanks or maybe he just saw tanker trucks). I thought they could not dump waste water and other wastes until they were a few miles offshore? That stuffs got to accumulate somewhere. Also may explain why they are transferring laundry, trying to conserve space in the onboard collection tanks.

 

If the deluge system went off in the engine room, guessing water and maybe foam, they will have to get it out, so maybe pump it into a tanker for disposal.

can't dump it into the water

my 02

Michael

[Jeepenfun]

You cant get the bends from breathing pure o2 on land. The bends is from surfacing too rapidly while diving, where the nitrogen in your system does not have a chance to naturally expand and be eliminated by the body.

Convulsions maybe, based on the physiology of the individual, and or seizures or myopia.

You don't suffocate right away either. It would take about over 3 minutes just to eliminate the o2 sats the body normal carries as a reserve before brain damage occurs.

 

You are mostly correct except prolonged exposure to high levels of oxygen also causes bends just differently then nitrogen expanding in your blood vessels. High amounts of oxygen cause excess fluid in the circulatory system which also causes bends.

 

Definition of Suffocation taken directly from the online dictionary;

the stoppage of breathing; called also asphyxiation. If it is complete (no air at all reaches the lungs), the lack of oxygen and excess of carbon dioxide in the blood will cause almost immediate loss of consciousness. Though the heart continues to beat briefly, death will follow in a matter of minutes unless emergency measures are taken to get breathing started again.

 

Like I said in my post. take a breath of high concentration of CO2, you just suffocated. the air the definition is describing is normal air that we breath. lungs are now full of CO2. Like i said in post, heart now pumps this oxygen depleted blood or CO2 blood through the body. brain lasts about 3 minutes and then begins to die. When you pass out or loose consciousness in this space filled with CO2, your not getting up and walking away. if someone is with you they also will most likely pass out trying to save you as its human nature or reaction to run and try to see why your co-worker or friend passed out.

 

We wear air monitors on us while in a confined space like a under ground tunnel or drainage system. that thing goes off, they tell you hold what breath you have at that instant in your lungs and GET OUT!

 

 

This is all information and training I received directly from OSHA.

[pauleydm]

Erika M from guest logistics at the Miami office is speaking with me. She is confident that we will sail to San Juan tonight. The reason that the laundry is being washed on the Glory is because the laundry room is next to the engine room that caught fire. The Carnival Liberty has 5 engines, 1 engine was affected by the fire and another one is not being used due to the proximity of the engine that caught fire. Fuel was, in fact being off loaded to balance the ship and to remove the fuel from the area where the fire occurred.

[martinchem]

I hope most will leave the gratuities in place if they stay on through Sunday as I'm sure the crew is performing to their usual excellent standards, perhaps even higher.

[Georgie562]

CARNIVAL LIBERTY STATEMENT

September 8, 2015 – 5pm EDT

The Carnival Liberty continues to remain in St. Thomas following an engine fire that occurred yesterday while the ship was docked there during a scheduled port of call visit. The ship’s command is presently awaiting permission from authorities to sail.

Once the vessel departs, it is scheduled to return to its homeport of San Juan. Guests will have the option of remaining on board through the rest of the week and exploring San Juan or disembarking and traveling home. If clearance to depart St. Thomas is not received by later this evening, the company will move forward with arrangements to fly all guests home from St. Thomas.

All guests are being provided with a full refund of their cruise as well as a 50 percent discount on a future cruise. This is in addition to a $150 per person credit that has already been applied to guests’ shipboard accounts.

There were no injuries to guests or crew as a result of the fire which was extinguished by the ship’s automated suppression system. All hotel services including air conditioning, elevators, toilets, galleys, etc. are fully functional and the ship's normal array of activities, entertainment, dining options and programming are being offered.

We apologize to our guests for this unexpected disruption to their vacation and the inconvenience they are experiencing.

Carnival Liberty departed San Juan on Sunday for a seven-day Caribbean cruise with 3,346 guests and 1,150 crew on board.

 

 

Pretty darn generous if you ask me :cool:

No one was hurt, everyone is still on vacation and not at work . Its a win win but the complainers and whiners will always be that . :p

[cruiser fanatic]

I hope most will leave the gratuities in place if they stay on through Sunday as I'm sure the crew is performing to their usual excellent standards, perhaps even higher.

 

I would raise my gratuities to help them out.

[hvsteve1]

I've been reading through this to find out what happened and how it was handled. As to the ongoing discussion of passports, when we renewed ours this year we paid extra for a passport card. This is the size of our drivers license and easy to stick in a wallet or pocket so we have legal identification while on foreign shores. While not accepted for foreign travel outside North America, Caribbean, etc., it is an ID card issued by the Department of State and is probably much more acceptable than a photocopy of the big passport.

[Theredofshaw]

I hope most will leave the gratuities in place if they stay on through Sunday as I'm sure the crew is performing to their usual excellent standards, perhaps even higher.

 

Was thinking the same thing...hate to see crew punished when it appears they are going above and beyond in this situation.

[cruisexlife]

Here is the update...we will return to San Juan once clearance is granted. Guests are welcome to stay on the ship in San Juan until Sunday. All guests will receive a full refund of the cruise, all pre paid shore excursions and gratuities will also be refunded. Guests will also receive 50% off a future 2 to 7 day cruise. If we do not receive clearance from the coast guard by 9:00 pm, Carnival will arrange travel from St Thomas to our homes.

 

I am so sorry your vacation had to end this way. Thanks for the consistent updates on the situation. I hope all things go well, and that you take a chance with this itinerary in the future. Best of luck!

[lupster1]

I hope most will leave the gratuities in place if they stay on through Sunday as I'm sure the crew is performing to their usual excellent standards, perhaps even higher.

 

They have insurance to cover their tips in these instances. At least that's what we were told on the Splendor fire cruise in 2010.

[nybumpkin]

Y.

 

Like I said in my post. take a breath of high concentration of CO2, you just suffocated. the air the definition is describing is normal air that we breath. lungs are now full of CO2. Like i said in post, heart now pumps this oxygen depleted blood or CO2 blood through the body. brain lasts about 3 minutes and then begins to die. When you pass out or loose consciousness in this space filled with CO2, your not getting up and walking away. if someone is with you they also will most likely pass out trying to save you as its human nature or reaction to run and try to see why your co-worker or friend passed out.

 

We wear air monitors on us while in a confined space like a under ground tunnel or drainage system. that thing goes off, they tell you hold what breath you have at that instant in your lungs and GET OUT!

Oldest son holds a USCG engineer license and is assistant chief engineer on a Navy destroyer. Yes, if they deploy the CO2 in the engine room and a crew member did not evacuate, he/she will die. Training on use of CO2 is taken very seriously.

 

OP, I've been reading along the past two days and really appreciate the time you've been taking to update folks on what is happening. I hope you're able to enjoy the ship a while longer.

[Maleeni]

I hope most will leave the gratuities in place if they stay on through Sunday as I'm sure the crew is performing to their usual excellent standards, perhaps even higher.

 

No need to worry about that. The entire service crew will be converted to a salary crew, just like the Triumph. Anyone furloughed would be covered by insurance. Just like they won't get stiffed should the next cruise be cancelled.

Edited September 8, 2015 by Maleeni

[Live2Cruise67]

 

 

Pretty darn generous if you ask me :cool:

No one was hurt, everyone is still on vacation and not at work . Its a win win but the complainers and whiners will always be that . :p

 

I agree 100%! I'm sure there are some that are disappointed, and I would be too, but would get over it quickly as I can think of worse things than being stuck in St. Thomas for free for a few days!

[camper49]

Wow. Jackpot. I know some people will understandably be upset for missing out on ports but personally I'd take this deal in a heartbeat.

 

We need a like button!

[pauleydm]

This will be my one post that will have some emotion attached. Since the announcement was made, there are many upset guests. The line to Guest Relations is very long. We have additional guest services staff from the Glory onboard and a second guest relations desk has been set up on deck 5. I personally feel that Carnival has gone above and beyond considering the situation. The full refund and 50% off a future cruise, not forgetting the OBC already received, has been more than generous. We will definitely sail Carnival again.

[newBell11]

I too am sailing on October 11th. I want to say thank you to you for creating this thread and keeping everyone updated with a clear head. It is refreshing to see someone just report the facts in this day and age.

 

We appreciate all of your information and hope you can make the most of your time in San Juan!

[CCLCruiser4321]

That's great to hear.

[CruisersNC]

Pauleydm you have done an awesome job of keeping us informed! Thank You!!

[DaytonCruiser]

Thanks for the update

 

 

It's not surprising that many are upset, this is the most port intensive cruise carnival offers and many probably had great tours that they were looking forward to enjoying.

 

 

Sorry you won't get to visit all the planned post on this cruise. Are you staying on board until Sunday?

 

so much to see and do in San Juan

I would look into maybe going to Culebra or Vieques..... driving up to see the Arecibo Observatory

or

checking out Luquillo Beach

Edited September 8, 2015 by DaytonCruiser