With Carnival Vista currently out of service for propulsion-related repairs, guests booked on her next voyage are understandably concerned about whether or not their cruise will set sail as planned.

In fact, hundreds of guests have asked Carnival Cruise Line’s Brand Ambassador, John Heald, about the upcoming cruise, planned to depart from Port Canaveral on Sunday, September 15.

“Answering the hundred plus people who wrote to me yesterday here is a note from our Chief Communications Officer Chris and his team,” Heald responded to the multiple inquiries.

“Our engineers are now hard at work to resolve the issue that is limiting Carnival Vista’s cruising speed. The team is making good progress with the work and I have no reason to think that the ship will not be back in service for its September 15 voyage.”

While this is not necessarily a firm confirmation that the ship will set sail as planned, all is looking good for the repairs to be complete and Carnival Vista to enjoy her planned 6-night Eastern Caribbean cruise to Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, and Amber Cove.

Guest reactions are mixed, with some travelers eager to set sail while others are more pessimistic that the repairs will either be completed on time or will be effective enough to deter any future difficulties.

“Hopefully the latest repair to one our favorite ships, Vista, will fix it for good! Poor ship has been plagued with propulsion issues.”

“Thank you for the update on the Vista! We sail on her Sept 21 so have our fingers crossed that she is all good then!”

At this time, there are no expected itinerary changes for the next cruise, and the ship should be able to make all the ports of call as scheduled.

The repair work to Carnival Vista is being completed at Port Canaveral, and the ship is visible on the port’s live webcam as it pans across the full port area. The ship is docked at Cruise Terminal 6 at the north end of the port in the west turning basin as the work is underway.

A History of Propulsion Problems With Carnival Vista

The 133,596-gross-ton Carnival Vista first developed her current propulsion difficulties in early August. While different adjustments appeared to fix the problem, continued disruptions were noted as the ship was not able to maintain her top speed as planned through several cruises.

Because Carnival Vista‘s onboard engineers were unable to fully resolve the technical problems, the ship’s September 7, 2024 departure was subsequently cancelled to permit more extensive repairs.

This is not the first time the ship, which joined the Carnival fleet as the lead in her class in May 2016, has experienced propulsion issues.

Read Also: What Is Wrong With Carnival’s Vista Class Ships?

In fact, her very first propulsion difficulties surfaced just months after the ship’s maiden voyage in November 2016. In June 2019, this was followed with more extensive propulsion problems that led to three cancelled cruises and an unscheduled dry dock repair.

In May 2022, Carnival Vista once again experienced propulsion problems, resulting in several altered itineraries.

Carnival Cruise Line has not elaborated whether or not the recurrent problems are the same issue or different technical difficulties each time, though the result is often the same – altered itineraries with shortened or cancelled ports of call, and some cancelled cruises.

Hopefully, the reassurance about the upcoming September 15, 2024 departure will ease guests’ minds and prove accurate for the ship’s return to service sailing full speed ahead.

Throughout the beginning of September, Carnival has been rolling out waves of itinerary changes to future sailings – and the cruise line has just announced more revisions for two additional ships: Carnival Vista and Carnival Sunrise. 

While cruise lines make tweaks all the time to account for reasons like scheduling, maintenance needs across the fleet, and port congestion, it’s interesting that a lot of the newly released changes eliminate visits to Half Moon Cay, the cruise line’s private island destination in the Bahamas. 

However, this may be due to construction going on at the island to add a new pier that will be capable of accommodating the cruise line’s mega-ships, such as Carnival Jubilee, which launched in 2023 with a capacity of 6,630 passengers. 

It’s unclear when the new pier will be completed, but it’s expected to be done in time for Carnival’s massive Excel-Class ships – including Carnival Jubilee, Mardi Gras, and Carnival Celebration – to begin sailing to the exclusive island paradise in 2026 and 2027. 

Currently, Carnival and its sister brands can only access the port using smaller tender ships, which ferry guests from their cruise ship to the shore in around 20 minutes, because the water isn’t deep enough for cruise ships. 

Carnival’s Latest Itinerary Changes 

The earliest sailing to be impacted will be operated by Carnival Vista and is due to set sail from Port Canaveral (Orlando), Florida, on January 5, 2025. 

The 6-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary called for stops at Half Moon Cay, Puerto Plata / Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; and Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos. However, the visit to Half Moon Cay has been swapped out with a day in Nassau, Bahamas. 

The Vista-class vessel will also see changes to its itineraries to sailings embarking on February 16, 2025, March 30, 2025, and February 7, 2026. The first two are 6-night Eastern Caribbean sailings, while the final of the three is an 8-night voyage to the same region. 

But, while the cruise length might vary, all three itineraries are replacing their scheduled call on Half Moon Cay with a visit to Princess Cays, the private island destination that is operated by Princess Cruises. 

But since Princess is a Carnival-owned brand, Carnival cruise ships can still visit the exclusive destination.  Carnival Sunrise will also be skipping some of her planned calls on Half Moon Cay.

The 2,754-guest vessel is supposed to embark on a round trip sailing to Half Moon Cay, and Celebration Key, the cruise line’s second private island destination, on January 15, 2025. However, the 4-night voyage will see Half Moon Cay be replaced by Princess Cays.

On a similar note, an earlier (but identical) 4-night sailing, which will embark from Miami, Florida, on January 15, 2025, will still call on Half Moon Cay, but on a different day than initially planned. 

Conversely, completely going against the pattern, the Sunshine-class ship will be replacing a call on Princess Cays with a visit to Half Moon Cay.

This change impacts a 5-night Eastern Caribbean sailing – which will also call on Grand Turk and Celebration Key – that will set sail from Miami on September 1, 2025. 

The final two changes to Carnival Sunrise’s itineraries aren’t specifically related to replacing private island experiences – deviating from the other changes in this round of revisions.

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

The 101,509-gross ton vessel’s 5-night Eastern Caribbean sailing, which embarks on February 8, 2025, will actually replace Nassau, the intended first port call of the voyage, with Freeport, Bahamas. 

Later in the year, the 5-night sailing embarking on September 29, 2025, will still call on all the ports on the itinerary, but in the reverse order. The ports in question include Celebration Key, Half Moon Cay, and Grand Turk.

Popular Carnival Cruise Director Lee Mason is being promoted to Fleet Cruise Director, where he will bring his years of experience, incomparable energy, and bright personality to the next level of leadership for Carnival Cruise Line.

Since the departure of Chris Williams from the team in early August, there has been speculation about which of the cruise line’s popular and charismatic cruise directors might take his place as a new Fleet Cruise Director.

Now, Lee Mason has surprised his more than 65,000 social media followers with the news.

“It’s official! I can finally announce that I will be joining the team of Fleet Cruise Directors,” he said, sharing a new short biography for his promotion.

It is not uncommon for Carnival cruise directors to share their cruise-related news – what ships they will serve on, special itineraries, new events onboard, etc. – via social media, as they can have tremendous followings of fans who have enjoyed sailing with them over the years.

Mason has been with Carnival Cruise Line since November 2016, and in those years has served on a number of ships in the fleet, including Carnival Valor, Carnival Spirit, Carnival Miracle, Carnival Glory, and Mardi Gras.

He was the inaugural flagship cruise director when Carnival Celebration first debuted, and has since become the cruise director “Italian Style” for Carnival Venezia.

While Mason does not share exactly when he will assume his new duties as Fleet Cruise Director, he is still listed as Carnival Venezia‘s cruise director for the duration of his current onboard contract, from August 31, 2024 through January 26, 2025.

It is possible those contract dates will change as Carnival Cruise Line shifts vessel assignments among other cruise directors, and new cruise directors join the roster to lead different ships. Such changes are not uncommon at all levels and positions of cruise ship employment.

Mason’s news has been met with great enthusiasm from Carnival cruisers who have had the privilege of sailing with him and enjoying his energy and ebullience.

“I’ve been on many cruises but only one on Carnival cruise line on the Celebration and [Lee Mason] certainly made the trip. Congratulations Lee well deserved!”

“Congratulations [Lee]. You are certainly deserving of this. We really enjoyed having you as our CD and now you can help/mentor others to reach the high level you established.”

“It was just a matter of time! Huge congrats!”

Similarly, other Carnival Cruise Line cruise directors and entertainment staff have chimed in with their own congratulations and well wishes for Mason in his new role.

“Congratulations mate! Makes me so happy after all our conversations and so glad to see it happening! You will be amazing and so deserved!” said Marty Pitts, currently the cruise director aboard Carnival Luminosa.

Read Also: What is it Really Like to Be a Cruise Director on Embarkation Day?

Other entertainers and onboard performers have also offered a wide range of congratulations for the newly-minted Fleet Cruise Director.

During his years with Carnival Cruise Line, Mason has been recognized several times for his spectacular performance and commitment to being the very best cruise director.

In 2023, he was chosen as Carnival Cruise Line’s Cruise Director of the Year as well as Ambassador of the Year for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a long-time charitable partner of the cruise line.

Even Mason’s coworkers have recognized his excellence, as he received the Carnival Cruise Director Peer Choice Award in 2019.

This writer can personally attest to Mason’s fantastic attitude and the sheer joy he brings to every cruise, having had the pleasure to sail with him aboard Carnival Celebration in June 2024. Congratulations, Lee, on a promotion well-deserved!

Fleet Director Position Growing

The Fleet Cruise Director position is still fairly new at Carnival Cruise Line, with Mike Pack becoming the first to fill the role in early 2022. Mason also joins Chris “Donkey” Salazar (March 2023) and Erin Weigand (February 2024) in the role at this time.

Carnival Cruise Line has not offered details as to whether or not additional cruise directors will be promoted to the overall fleet position. That does seem likely, however, as the cruise line’s fleet continues to grow with new Excel-class ships, the addition of the P&O Cruises Australia ships, and an even larger class of ships already being planned.

Fleet Cruise Directors help train new cruise directors, develop new onboard programming and events, serve in ceremonial capacities with new ship inaugurations and shoreside events, and complete other duties as needed to promote Carnival Cruise Line.

With so many so-called “influencers” filming clips, interviews, demonstrations, and more in all types of public places, it is inevitable that videos would be made onboard cruise ships.

Not all travelers appreciate such filming, however, and Carnival Cruise Line has addressed the issue and sought feedback from loyal guests.

A passenger recently aboard the 128,251-gross-ton Carnival Dream brought the issue to the attention of John Heald, Carnival Cruise Line’s Brand Ambassador.

“I am a Instagram fitness influencer. Last week I was on the Dream making a video on the jogging track,” the guest explained. “I ran past some people who got angry because they were on film. They demanded in a very aggressive way that I delete my video.”

The guest goes on to note that the irate passengers quoted the “Statute of Limitations” as support for their desire to not be filmed. It should be noted, however, that such statutes have nothing to do with filming in public places.

Rather, a statute of limitations determines how long after the commission of a crime it is still legal to pursue charges. That being beside the point, the guest continued to inquire about filming onboard.

“I was not advised or asked to sign a wavier or consent form before I cruised. Who is right here?” they asked.

In our era of doorbell cameras, body cams, security cameras, social media, and more, there is very little expectation of privacy in public spaces. Heald did respond as thoroughly as possible for both sides of the issue, however.

“I think the respectful thing to do would have been for the Miss Influencer to say, OK, I will delete it if you do not want to be in it. However, on the other side of that she was filming in a public place so…” he replied via his Facebook page.

Many guests offered their own opinions on filming on cruise ships and how they would feel about being in an influencer’s video.

“I think the polite thing would be for this person to avoid all people when making their videos.”

“It’s a public place and as long as she wasn’t focusing on the other people or recording them for longer than it takes to run past them, then there’s not much they can do about it. Honestly, we are probably all in the background thousands of photos and we aren’t even aware.”

“As a prior law enforcement/911 dispatcher, we used to get calls about people mad that they were being filmed in public. People were always upset to learn that there isn’t a law against being filmed in public.”

“It does feel like a huge invasion of my privacy but not much I can do about it. I also really hate their entitled attitudes expecting to have right of way simply because they are filming.”

Ultimately, every guest onboard a Carnival cruise ship – whether they consider themselves an influencer or not – is able to take photos and film in public places as much as they wish. It is always best to be respectful of others, but there are no rules against such filming.

Carnival Cruise Line’s Official Media Stance

When any cruise guest books a sailing with Carnival Cruise Line, they agree to the terms and conditions of the Cruise Ticket Contract. This does cover photos, videos, and recordings, both by the cruise line as well as by other guests.

Section 16 of the contract discusses Carnival Cruise Line’s use of the guest’s likeness with respect to the cruise line’s use as follows:

“Each Guest grants Carnival … the exclusive right to include photographic, video and other visual portrayals of Guest in any medium of any nature whatsoever for any purpose including without limitation trade, advertising, sales, publicity or otherwise, without compensation to Guest.”

This means that Carnival Cruise Line may use onboard photos and video for commercials, advertisements, press releases, and other materials.

Other guests, however, do not have the same liberties onboard. According to Section 17 of the contract:

“Guest hereby expressly agrees that he/she will not utilize any tape recording, video, or photograph(s) of himself/herself, any other Guest, crew, or third party on board the Vessel, or depicting the Vessel, its design, equipment, or any part thereof whatsoever, for any commercial purpose or in any media broadcast, or for any other non-private use, without the express written consent of Carnival.”

This means that Carnival cruisers should not be recording themselves, the ship, or any other guest on board for any commercial intent, including “influencing” for profit. If travelers get financial compensation for their video work, it could be considered a violation of this contract clause and subject to penalties.

Furthermore, the contract also states:

“For the privacy of our guests and crew, Guest expressly agrees not to record or video interactions with other guests or crew without their express permission.”

This means that no influencer should be deliberately recording others onboard the ship unless those passengers have granted permission to do so.

Still, in this day of so many video recordings and photos absolutely everywhere, such clauses could be difficult to legally interpret and accurately enforce. It is best if every cruise passenger, “influencer” or not, takes care not to include anyone in their videos or photos who prefers to be kept out of the picture.

Part of the joy of sailing to new and exotic destinations is to experience new parts of the world that are different from home. However, travelers need to keep in mind that different cultures and societies may have their own unique set of rules and customs that may impact their vacation.

One unidentified cruise passenger learned this the hard way after he was told to return to his ship in Nassau, Bahamas, for attempting to wear camouflage in the port. 

Many Bahamas cruise ports, including Nassau, Barbados, St. Lucia, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Tobago, have strict rules prohibiting civilians from wearing military-style clothing – including camouflage – in the ports. This rule is also enforced among visitors. 

It’s important to follow this policy because wearing camouflage could cause concerns among locals or law enforcement, who become confused. 

At best, this could lead to an uncomfortable encounter with local authorities and at worst result in pentalties. In Barbados, for example, the maximum punishment is a fine of $2,000, one year of imprisonment, or both.

The angry cruise passenger wrote to Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald to complain, but likely didn’t get the sympathy he was hoping for – largely because there was nothing the cruise line could really do about this situation. 

“Having just replied to a gentleman [about] his “anger” about being told to return to the ship in Nassau, Bahamas, I felt it best to remind everybody that there are some places that absolutely do not allow camouflage clothing, military style camouflage clothing, to be worn there,” Heald posted on Facebook.

“These are the island’s rules and we have absolutely no control over them,” reinforced the brand ambassador. 

As a rule of thumb, it’s always a good idea to do some research on the destinations you’ll be visiting to make sure you pack the appropriate attire to be respectful of the local culture’s laws and costumes. 

Just to name another example, many cultures – from the mosques in the Middle East to Italy’s Vatican – ask visitors to dress modestly as a sign of respect in order to enter their sacred holy spaces. This generally means that both men and women need to cover their knees, chest, shoulders, and upper arms. 

Another Bahamas Cruise Port Cracks Down

While camouflage is permitted in Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos, the island has other rules in place that guests will need to follow. 

This gentleman’s frustrating Nassau encounter occurred just about a month after Carnival and the island of Grand Turk teamed up to establish new public access guidelines for cruise passengers. 

The purpose of the new policies is to keep cruise guests and locals safe while also promoting a family-friendly atmosphere and supporting local businesses – with the guidelines taking effect just a few weeks ago on August 15, 2024.

The first rule is a wardrobe change of sorts, in that it requires all cruisers passing through the Grand Turk Cruise Center to wear an identification badge, which will be provided free of charge. Anyone who is missing a badge will be asked to leave the terminal and risks being referred to law enforcement. 

This rule is meant to prevent overcrowding in the cruise terminal, which is essential with the island receiving record growth in air and cruise arrivals in the first half of the year. However, it also protects tourists from solicitors with nefarious intentions.

Read Also: Grand Turk Cruise Port: Pier, Facilities and What’s Nearby

Speaking of which, the new rules forbid visitors from doing business activities within the port area, except with approved tour operators and licensed retailers with proper authorization. This is meant to prevent high pressure sales situations and peddling. 

Furthermore, cruisers are not allowed to interfere with the work of the approved tour operators or port employees, nor are any nuisance activities permitted, including but not limited to obstructing walkways or using abusive, offensive, or threatening language. 

And of course, illegal activities, including displays of violence and drug dealing, are expressly forbidden – and will get offenders in serious trouble with both local law enforcement and the cruise line.