Following a late return to Port Canaveral that required a delay to her next embarkation, Carnival Vista appears to have been successfully repaired and has left on her next sailing, albeit nearly 12 hours later than initially scheduled.
The ship remained at Port Canaveral for most of Sunday evening, but finally departed on her 6-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary at approximately 4:30 a.m. on Monday morning, October 14. The original itinerary called for a 4 p.m. departure on Sunday, October 13.
The delay comes after the ship had reported propulsion difficulties that delayed her return to Port Canaveral for several hours at the end of her last cruise. Even while at sea, the onboard engineering team was working on repairs.
Guests looking forward to the next cruise were advised of the delayed embarkation and asked to move their cruise terminal arrival appointments to two hours later to accommodate debarkation and avoid crowding.
Now on her next sailing, passengers will be relieved that there should be no changes to the ship’s itinerary, which includes visits to Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, and Amber Cove.
“There will be no impact, zero impact on your itinerary,” Carnival Cruise Line’s Brand Ambassador, John Heald, confirmed in response to inquiries from a guest onboard. “All is good … now you’re on your way and I wish you nothing but happy, happy days.”
Fortunately, Monday was already planned as a day at sea, which gives Carnival Vista time to make up for the 12-hour departure delay. Satellite tracking data currently shows the vessel moving at 16 knots – just below her top speed of 18 knots – en route to Half Moon Cay.
While the current arrival time for the ship to reach the private island destination is calculated at 10:15 a.m. rather than 7 a.m. as originally scheduled, that calculation is based only on Carnival Vista‘s current speed. If the ship increases speed later in the day or overnight, that time will also be adjusted.
It is not unusual for cruise ships to sail slower than top speed during sea days in order to reduce high winds on deck. This will be more comfortable for guests to enjoy pools, outdoor games, outdoor dining venues, and other on-deck activities on these fun days.
Will the Ship Stay Sailing Smoothly?
Guests onboard the 133,596-gross-ton ship may be understandably concerned about whether or not the overnight repairs to Carnival Vista have been successful and the ship will sail full speed ahead during their entire cruise.
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The ship has a troubled history of propulsion problems, and in fact, her current difficulties seem to have extended over the past several months.
Intermittent propulsion and speed problems were reported across several summer sailings, resulting in slight delays to ports of call. These were not initially considered noteworthy, as such delays are frequent for many ships and can be caused by many different factors.
In late August, however, Carnival Vista‘s problems grew more severe, eventually resulting in the full cancellation of the ship’s September 7, 2024 departure to remove the ship from service for emergency repairs.
This permitted more detailed, specialist work on the ship’s full propulsion system, and was considered successful when the September 15 departure set sail full speed ahead.
To have very similar problems recur less than a month after the ship returned to service is concerning indeed, and reflects the ship’s ongoing history of such difficulties.
While Carnival Vista only joined the Fun Ship fleet in May 2016, the vessel developed her first propulsion problems in November 2016, followed by similar problems in June 2019, May 2022, and now the fall of 2024.
Propulsion difficulties have plagued most of Carnival Cruise Line’s Vista class ships, but to be clear, the vessel’s safety, navigation, hotel, restaurant, and entertainment operations have always remained fully functional with no compromise in guest safety at any time.
