Windy conditions have made it unsafe for Carnival Pride to make its scheduled call to Costa Maya, Mexico on Thursday, January 19, 2023, and instead, the ship will be spending the day at sea.

While this will understandably be disappointing to guests eager to explore the culturally-rich destination, safety is always the first priority for any cruise ship.

Costa Maya Cancelled for Carnival Pride

Carnival Pride is currently sailing a 6-night Western Caribbean itinerary roundtrip from Port of Tampa. The ship departed on Sunday, January 15, and has already called at Cozumel, Mexico and Belize City, Belize. Costa Maya was to have been the ship’s last port of call before a day at sea and the return to Tampa on Saturday, January 21.

Due to high winds, however, the Spirit-class vessel has been unable to safely dock, and will instead be spending Thursday at sea rather than at Costa Maya.

Carnival Pride was scheduled to dock at approximately 8 a.m. Winds in Costa Maya are steady at 9-10 miles per hour (14-16 kilometers per hour) from the south-southeast.

While the wind speed is not necessarily shocking, higher gusts could make the conditions much more severe and impede navigation as the ship approaches the dock. Furthermore, the direction of the winds could push the ship into the dock, potentially causing damage either to the vessel or the pier structure.

Safety is always the primary concern for cruise ships, including the overall safety of the vessel as well as the safety of guests and crew members.

Any shore tours booked through Carnival Cruise Line will automatically be refunded back to guests’ accounts. Onboard, the cruise ship’s Fun Squad and entertainment staff will be putting together additional activities, games, and contests for the unexpected day at sea, and the ship’s casino will be open as well.

Other Ships in Costa Maya

While Carnival Pride is unable to make the call to Costa Maya, Princess Cruises’ Sky Princess has safely docked as scheduled. The two ships, however, have significant size differences.

Carnival Pride weighs in at 88,500 gross tons, with 12 guest decks to welcome and entertain as many as 2,124 passengers at double occupancy, with 910 crew members.

Sky Princess, on the other hand, is a Royal-class ship and the largest in Princess Cruises’ fleet, weighing in at 145,281 gross tons with 19 guest decks. The ship can host 3,660 passengers at double occupancy, with a crew of 1,346 international team members.

Because Sky Princess is a much heavier ship, she will not be as affected by the current wind speeds in Costa Maya, and will be able to dock more safely. Sky Princess will be in Costa Maya today from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Other Weather Cancellations

Every cruise line, and every captain of an individual cruise ship, assesses safety conditions carefully when considering any itinerary adjustments. While it is always the intention to keep planned itineraries and port schedules intact, safety is paramount and will always be protected first.

It is not unusual for cruise ships to skip ports of call based on weather. Just recently, several vessels in The Bahamas altered itineraries due to widespread poor weather and high winds, causing missed days at Nassau and nearby private island destinations. Similar poor conditions have also caused changed itineraries in Australia and New Zealand in recent weeks.

Even something as simple as fog can cause delays when visibility is severely impeded, making it difficult for cruise ships to navigate into channels and harbors safely. This happened at the beginning of the month for three ships returning to Port of Tampa – Brilliance of the Seas, Celebrity Apex, and Norwegian Dawn, all of which were delayed approximately 10 hours due to heavy fog.

No further delays are expected for Carnival Pride, which should return to Port of Tampa on Saturday.

Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise company, announced an agreement with SpaceX’s Starlink to provide faster and more reliable Wi-Fi on its ships. The roll-out of Starlink will begin with the Carnival Cruise Line and AIDA Cruises ships. 

The company then plans to expand to several of the company’s other cruise brands, including Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises (Australia), Costa Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK), and Cunard.

Fast Internet Finally Comes to Carnival

After struggling to meet the demand for a significant amount of time, with several ships losing connection during cruises, the wait was for Carnival Corporation to follow Royal Caribbean and switch to Starlink. Today, January 18, the cruise company finally announced the two parties had signed a new agreement. 

Installation of the satellite connection packages started in December onboard the Carnival Cruise Line and AIDA Cruises ships and is expected to roll out further across all brands soon.

The agreement is part of Carnival Corporation’s ongoing plan to provide guests and crew across its cruise brands with the best available Wi-Fi experience at sea. In the last few years, the company has nearly tripled fleetwide bandwidth, yet WiFi problems seem to continue. In a time when the internet has become a basic necessity instead of a luxury, it was time that Carnival Corporation took action.

“For many of our guests, it has become more and more important to maintain the type of connectivity at sea that they’ve become accustomed to at home, and of course to share the unforgettable experiences of their cruise with friends and family,” said Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival Corporation. 

“We are in the business of delivering happiness, and Starlink makes it as easy as possible for our guests to share all their great moments and memories, giving them even more joy out of their cruise vacation.”

The move by Carnival Corporation is a massive step forward and one that will be welcomed with open arms by those sailing onboard one of the Carnival Cruise Line or other brands’ ships in 2023. 

Starlink’s Innovative Technology

Starlink is the leader in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite technology providing fast and more reliable Wi-Fi on a global scale. The added bandwidth will give the brands the capabilities and flexibility to introduce new guest services and features and help boost operational functions like onboard equipment monitoring and real-time communications between ship and shore teams.

“High-speed, low-latency broadband internet is critical in our modern age, and we’re excited to provide Carnival Cruise Line and AIDA’s guests an internet experience that makes their travel even more enjoyable,” said Jonathan Hofeller, vice president of Starlink sales for SpaceX.

“In even the most remote waters, guests onboard Carnival Corporation ships will be able to share real-time updates with friends and family.”

The performance of Starlink Maritime is predicted to surpass that of many traditional home internet service packages, with speeds ranging from 100-350 Mbps for downloads and 20-40 Mbps for uploads and low latency. This is a significant improvement over regular Starlink terminals, which typically provide download speeds of around 100 Mbps but can vary widely depending on the location and access to the signal. 

The Maritime connection is expected to be vastly superior to the land-based connections, mainly because the system uses a dual satellite connection. 

Guest and Crew Experience

The new agreement with Starlink is set to transform the guest and crew connectivity experience with faster internet and more capacity onboard ships. Guests can share photos and videos, stream movies and live sporting events and enjoy other content onboard with a reliable connection, such as, or better than, they would have at home.

Adding Starlink’s innovative technology to the company’s existing connectivity platform will also help the crew stay in touch with friends and loved ones.

“Importantly, adding Starlink’s innovative technology to the company’s existing connectivity platform will also help our amazing crew stay in touch with friends and loved ones,” Weinstein continued.

Carnival Corporation’s agreement with SpaceX’s Starlink is a significant step towards enhancing the guest and crew connectivity experience on its ships. Guests onboard the Carnival Cruise Line ships will soon notice the difference in speed onboard the ships as the cruise line brings the systems online.

More From Cruise Hive

• Carnival Cruise Line Has Good News for Guests That Use WiFi
• Investigation Points to Royal Caribbean After Canceled SpaceX Launch
• Norwegian Testing Starlink for All Three Cruise Lines
• Another Cruise Line Switches to Starlink Internet 

What and if Carnival Cruise Line will charge for using the new WiFi connectivity is unknown. Several companies have chosen to offer the service for free, as it is significantly less expensive than the older satellite systems. Elon Musk revealed his companies previously paid up to 150,000 dollars per month for a reliable internet connection. Starlink Maritime has a $10,000 installation price tag and a $5000 monthly fee.

Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Hurtigruten, and SeaDream Yacht Club were among the first to switch to Starlink Maritime Internet last year. The system was tested onboard the Norwegian Cruise Line cruise ship Norwegian Breakaway, and American Cruise Lines also announced the new system earlier this month. 

While different cruise lines are making adjustments to safety briefings as best suit their operational needs, Carnival Cruise Line remains committed to the e-muster safety briefing or virtual mustering.

While rumors have persisted that the cruise line may be returning to the more traditional in-person group muster, Carnival has confirmed that the new, updated drill remains in place.

E-Muster to Remain

In addressing online rumors about the return of in-person muster drills from February 1, 2023, Carnival Cruise Line brand ambassador John Heald has confirmed that Carnival will continue to e-muster and noted the success of the new drill in demonstrating real-world application of the safety procedures.

“The new way of doing the drill shows guests where to go in a real emergency and how to wear the life jacket,” Heald said. “In a real emergency that is what guests have to do and from there listen to the Captain, listen to the crew. Trust the captain, trust the crew.”

The e-muster drill was initially implemented as part of pandemic precautions to minimize crowding and promote social distancing. Rather than bringing all guests together in close quarters at muster stations to go over safety information, the e-muster drill has guests view safety videos either online or through the Carnival Hub app prior to setting sail.

Once on board, guests report to their muster station at their leisure, where their Sail and Sign cards are scanned to record their attendance. At that time, a crew member confirms that this is the guests’ muster station, and a life jacket demonstration is made if necessary. Young children will also be fitted with wristbands printed with their muster station.

The new drill takes just a few minutes, and if guests report to their muster station right away, might only take a few moments. The old drill, by comparison, could take 30-45 minutes, with delays if not all guests report to the proper station or if there are late arrivals to the cruise terminal.

Another component of the drill is sounding the ship’s horn in the emergency signal – seven short blasts and one long blast – which is still done just before sail away, so all guests hear the sequence. At that time, food and beverage operations shut down and there are no ongoing activities, as this is the safety drill for crew members.

“Safety is always the top of our list,” Heald said. “Your safety, the safety of the crew and ultimately the safety of the ship herself will always be most paramount.”

Encouraging Guests to Muster

Many Carnival guests report to their muster stations in the first few minutes of their cruise vacation, and crew members are on hand at the gangway to help direct guests to the proper station.

The new drill, however, does permit some flexibility in when guests choose to muster. Some guests prefer to enjoy lunch first, while others wait until they have been able to visit their staterooms – which are generally open at 1:30 p.m. – to drop off luggage, then they can proceed to their muster station unencumbered.

Because the safety drill is essential and all guests must participate and complete their mustering before the ship sets sail, Carnival Cruise Line takes several steps to encourage mustering.

First are the crew members at the gangway encouraging mustering as guests embark. The ship’s cruise director will also make periodic announcements to remind guests to muster. As the time for sail away approaches, the last few guests’ names may be called over the intercom for muster reminders.

The cruise line also has it set up that after ordering two drinks, guests’ Sail and Sign accounts are locked and they cannot order any additional beverages until after completing the muster drill.

These methods have largely proved effective, and the vast majority of Carnival guests muster successfully and appreciate the ease and efficiency of the e-muster.

Future Changes Possible?

While Heald does admit that he is “not in a position to never say never,” it seems unlikely that Carnival will revert to the old-style group mustering.

“I don’t know if it will ever change or not but what I can say is that we are not returning to the previous way of doing this next month or indeed, at all,” Heald clarified recently.

These rumors do occur regularly, and notably, every cruise line has to make the decisions and implement procedures that work best for their operations. Disney Cruise Line, for example, transitioned back to the more traditional group drill in November 2022, and other cruise lines may follow if that option works best for their crew and guests.

So long as guests continue to comply with safety procedures and those procedures are deemed effective by maritime authorities, Carnival’s e-muster is likely here to stay.