When it comes to delays, Carnival Liberty has just been hit with a double whammy as she nears the end of her current 7-night Eastern Caribbean voyage.
The Conquest-class vessel will be delayed in its return to New Orleans, Louisiana, after diverting to disembark an ailing guest and then developing propulsion issues soon after.
While the ship was initially supposed to dock at 8 a.m. local time on the morning of December 1, 2024, she is now expected to arrive sometime in the afternoon.
The 2,974-guest ship originally called on Key West, Florida, as the first stop of the sailing on November 26. But due to a medical emergency onboard, the vessel circled back on November 29 to allow an ailing passenger to receive urgent treatment from a local hospital.
“As you know, last night, Friday, November 29, we had to deviate course to Key West to disembark a guest who needed urgent medical care ashore,” reads a letter from Carnival Liberty Captain Arik Mazzi.
The distance between Key West and New Orleans is only a few hundred nautical miles – which a cruise ship can easily sail in a day, especially as November 30 was already a planned sea day.
However, the 110,00-gross ton ship also developed propulsion issues after the diversion – which has caused a significant slow down.
“In addition, the ship has developed an issue that is impacting our sailing speed. Combined, these matters are affecting our timely return to New Orleans tomorrow, Sunday, December 1,” continued Captain Mazzi’s letter.
While the Captain was unable to provide an accurate arrival time just yet, he assured current guests that Carnival’s engineers were already hard at work to address the issue and that he would follow up with updates on progress and timing on the evening of November 30.
It’s unclear if Carnival will be offering any compensation for the delay, but the major cruise lines will often automatically reschedule airfare booked through the cruise line or reimburse change fees for travel that is directly impacted by the delay.
The other two calls on the itinerary – which were on Freeport and Nassau, Bahamas – took place on November 27 and November 28, before the medical evacuation and propulsion issues occurred.
Will the Next Sailing be Impacted?
As is the usual practice among the major cruise lines, Carnival Liberty was supposed to disembark her current passengers in the morning and be ready to embark on a new sailing the same evening.
In this case, the next sailing is a 14-night, round-trip cruise through the Panama Canal – calling on destinations like Oranjestad, Aruba; Willemstad, Curacao; Cartagena, Colombia; Colon, Panama; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; and Cozumel, Mexico.
The 2005-launched ship was supposed to set sail at 5:00 p.m. local time, but her departure will almost certainly be pushed back by several hours at least due to the delay.
Depending on the length of the delay once in port, it’s also possible that some port calls could be skipped or rearranged.
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It’s important to note that this is assuming that the engineering team will be able to resolve the unspecified propulsion issues in time for the next sailing to go ahead – although the onboard engineering team is already collaborating with engineers on land to make the fix.
But depending on the nature of the issue, there’s always a chance that Carnival Liberty will need to remain in port for longer than expected – or even cancel bookings in order to make repairs.
For example, Carnival Vista had to cancel a sailing for emergency repairs in September – and then suffered more propulsion-related delays in October.
More recently, Princess Cruises – which is owned by Carnival – had to cancel three sailings in a row for Regal Princess due to ongoing power problems.
That said, Carnival Liberty isn’t known for engine or propulsion problems and has remained up to date on routine maintenance through scheduled dry dock visits.
She was most recently in dry dock in 2021 – during which time she received a new livery – and is scheduled to return for standard maintenance and inspections in Summer 2025.
