Another Carnival Ship Gets Delayed by Propulsion Issues

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Carnival Vista has been making headlines recently for ongoing propulsion issues and apparently Carnival Dream felt left out. 

Carnival Dream, which is currently nearing the end of a 14-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary, experienced a technical difficulty impacting her speed while in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, on October 27, 2024. 

As a result, the ship remained in port much longer than planned to give the engineering team time to try to fix the issue. 

The Dream-class vessel was supposed to depart at 4 p.m. local time, but according to reports from guests currently onboard, the ship stayed in the port until the early morning hours on October 28 – delaying the port call on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, scheduled for the same day.ย 

The 3,646-guest vessel was due to arrive in St. Croix at 7 a.m., but didnโ€™t reach the tropical destination until the early afternoon. 

โ€œThank you for your patience last night. Iโ€™m sorry to share that the ship is still experiencing an issue that is limiting its speed,โ€ Ship Captain Zvonko Anic wrote to guests in a letter delivered on the morning of October 28. 

โ€œWe will be docking in St. Croix at 12:30 PM. While we are there, our engineers will continue the work, but they may need some extra time to complete the repairs,โ€ continued the letter. 

Passengers were then asked to return to the vessel by 7 p.m. that evening, when the ship was originally supposed to set sail again at 4 p.m. 

In a lucky turn of events, the extra time needed to complete the repairs gave guests more time to explore the port – which should have helped make up for the delayed arrival. 

Back to Business as Usual for Carnival Dream

Luckily, the unspecified propulsion issues are already fixed – with no expected impact to the remainder of the current sailing or to the subsequent voyage. 

โ€œCarnival Dream informed Fleet Operations that technical issues have been resolved. No impact to next port of call,โ€ Andrea Leigh Arnold Miller, a respected travel advisor and influencer, shared. 

Per cruise tracking data updated on the evening of October 28, the 130,000-gross ton ship is already on its way to its final port call on Ocho Rios, Jamaica, which is scheduled for October 30. 

She is also expected to disembark on time and as planned in Galveston, Texas, on November 2, 2024. As of the time of writing, she is sailing at speeds of approximately 22 knots, which is pretty average for modern cruise ships.

Carnival Dream Cruise Ship
Carnival Dream Cruise Ship (Photo Credit: venuswix)

Read Also: What to Expect When You Go on a Carnival Cruise

That said, some are wondering if the issue onboard Carnival Dream is really resolved – with many pointing to the recurring propulsion issues that have plagued Carnival Vista throughout 2024 and wondering if the problem is actually fleet-wide.

In the past year, Carnival Vista has experienced both delays and cancellations due to propulsion issues – with the issue recurring even after the cruise line announced that earlier repairs were successful. 

โ€œItโ€™s time for Carnival to spend some of their enormous profits and upgrade/fix many of their ships,โ€ one cruiser wrote on Facebook. 

โ€œThey’ll put a bandaid on and set sail, that’s what they’ve done with several struggling ships lately. I just got off Vista a few weeks ago and they had propulsion issues which caused us to have delays,โ€ another person added. 

That said, itโ€™s a bit unfair to compare both Carnival ships – as Carnival Vista and Carnival Dream have different engines, are different classes, and Carnival Dream is about seven years older

As these ships are in service 24/7 year-round, sometimes things simply go wrong – but that is why the cruise lines always make sure to keep skilled staff on standby to provide a quick and effective fix. 

Without knowing the specific issue and solution, itโ€™s hard to say if the issue truly is resolved – but the expert engineers onboard know what they are doing and safety is always the top priority for all crew members.

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Catie Kovelman
Catie Kovelman
Catie is an award-winning journalist and researcher. By day, she helps market new movies and TV shows as a senior research manager. But by night, she loves writing cruise news. In addition to Cruise Hive, Catie has contributed to a variety of newspapers, magazines, and other online publications, such as The Plaid Horse, Unwritten, YourTango, Fangirl Nation Magazine, Chapman Magazine, the Orange County Register, and Voice of OC.

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