Just a month after passengers endured unsanitary conditions aboard a disabled Carnival cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico, another vessel from the same cruise line is stuck in port in the Carribbean island of Saint Maarten.
After a day aboard the disabled ship, the Port Canaveral-based Carnival Dream, passengers are being allowed to disembark and fly back to the U.S.
The U.S. Coast Guard says, the ship lost power to its backup generator, which propels the ship, at around 5 p.m. Wednesday. The ship still had interior power and running water, although a passenger named Carolyn, who asked that we not use her last name, said, elevators and the automatic door to her handicapped-accessible room were not working all night.
“Today was hotter than sin because the air conditioning wasn’t working. But fortunately we have a cabin room and, from housekeeping, we did get a fan, and my daughter tied open the doors so we could get a cross ventilation," she said.
Carolyn said, although Carnival is flying passengers back to the U.S., she is in a wheelchair and has a no-fly order from her doctor. As of late Thursday, she did not know how she would be getting back to Florida.