Guests on board Carnival Cruise Line Carnival Vista on Sunday, August 18, 2024, are relieved to learn that their six-day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean will go ahead as planned following repairs to the ship’s propulsion system.
Booked guests were informed of the schedule for their cruise on Thursday, August 15, which includes a slight change to the embarkation day and a scheduled later departure than usual.
“This week, our technical teams on board and ashore have been working to resolve an issue that is limiting Carnival Vista’s cruising speed. Otherwise, there is no impact on ship operations,” is explained in the notification email.
“To implement our repair plan, the ship will arrive at Port Canaveral very early (approximately 3:30 a.m.) on Sunday morning, August 18, to allow our engineers and technical experts a full day of work. We are also planning a later evening departure to maximize the work day, but since we are at sea on Monday, this will not impact our arrival time in Half Moon Cay on Tuesday, August 20.”
The exact departure time was not specified in the email and will likely depend on how quickly repairs can be completed on Sunday, but the ship will set sail as soon as possible.
Guests are advised to keep their original arrival times at the cruise terminal on Sunday, even though the ship will depart later that evening. However, certain onboard venues, including the casino and retail stores, will not be able to reopen until the ship reaches international waters.
However, the 1,450 international team members on board are sure to plan additional activities and entertainment for the first night. All other ship amenities, including the Punchliner Comedy Club, Serenity Deck, SportSquare ropes course, water slides and more, will operate as usual.
Carnival Vista At the very end of the voyage on August 4, a technical problem occurred that affected the maximum speed, resulting in a slight delay in the ship’s return to Port Canaveral.
However, the next cruise was dramatically affected. The planned 8-day cruise to the southern Caribbean to Aruba, Curacao and Grand Turk had to be will allow a Bahamas itinerary instead of repairs.
This made guests on the next cruise – departing August 18 – understandably nervous about whether their cruise might be changed or cancelled altogether if more extensive repairs were required. Thankfully, that will not be the case.
The upcoming itinerary includes not only the Private island Half Moon Caybut also a visit to Grand Turk on Wednesday, August 21st, followed by Amber Cove on Thursday, August 22nd. At this time, no changes to the overall itinerary are planned.
The port visits will be followed by another full day at sea as the ship returns to Port Canaveral for disembarkation on Saturday, August 24.
Of course, the guests boarding the ship are happy about this news, as are the guests who have booked for the next cruises in the coming weeks.
The 133,596 gross ton Carnival Vista is homeported year-round in Port Canaveral and offers a selection of 6- and 8-day cruises to the Caribbean, including eastern and southern itineraries that are popular options for both new and experienced cruisers.
Depending on the cruise duration and departure date, Carnival Vista visits top destinations such as San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Grand Turk, Aruba, Curacao and more.
From August 2025, the ship will also be one of the first to upcoming Celebration KeyCarnival Cruise Line’s new private destination under construction on Grand Bahama Island.
A story full of difficulties
Unfortunately, this is not the first time Carnival Vista has experienced propulsion difficulties. The ship had an unexpected emergency stay in dry dock in 2019 due to similar difficulties and also had propulsion problems in 2016 and most recently in 2022.
Also read: What’s going on with Carnival’s Vista-class ships?
This repeated history of problems – always with the propulsion system – has made guests familiar with the ship nervous about planning upcoming cruises where such difficulties may recur. Although the exact details of the breakdowns have not been released, it can be unsettling that the same critical system is always affected.
Hopefully this time the problems will be minor and the extended embarkation day will ensure thorough repairs so that Carnival Vista can safely cruise at her usual speed of 18 knots.
