Carnival cruise ship floats in Gulf of Mexico
Carnival cruise ship floats in Gulf of Mexico after engine fire, will be towed
By Esprit Smith and Greg Botelho, CNN
updated 6:49 AM EST, Mon February 11, 2013
(CNN) -- A Carnival cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico with more than 4,200 passengers and crew will be towed to port after a weekend engine fire left it dead in the water, a cruise line official said.
A cutter is expected to arrive on the scene Monday morning to assist, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The Carnival Triumph was in waters off the Yucatan Peninsula, heading back to Galveston, Texas, when the fire occurred Sunday morning, said Astevia Gonzalez from the Carnival Cruises family support team. The ship's automatic fire extinguishing system kicked in and soon contained the blaze, and no injuries were reported.
The fire still left the ship with 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew members without propulsion, drifting about 140 miles off the Mexican coast, the cruise line said in a statement.
"The ship's technical crew has determined the vessel will need to be towed to port," Carnival said around 7:30 p.m. ET Sunday. "A tugboat is en route to the ship's location and will tow the vessel to Progreso, Mexico, which is the closest port."
According to Gonzalez, the ship is expected to arrive in port Wednesday.
snip
Read more here:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/11/travel/cruise-ship-fire/index.html?hpt=hp_t4This is freaky as East Texas and I nearly took this cruise last week.
We chose, instead, a 7 day cruise with Carnival and arrived home safe and sound yesterday morning.
Our first cruise last May on was the good ship Triumph. She is a beautiful ship with a wonderful crew.