A Carnival cruise ship listed heavily to its side while en route to Eastern Caribbean, causing a minute of panic for the passengers. The incident was reported a few hours after the ‘Carnival Sunshine’ left the Port Canaveral in Florida, on Sunday evening.
The tilt of the 273-meter ship caused significant damage on the high seas, as photos released through social media depict the inside of the ship with plates, bottles, silverware, glassware and even tables crashing to the floor. In the meantime, passengers of the Carnival Sunshine described the situation as “pure chaos”.
I didn’t think anything of it, since it’s not uncommon for ships to rock back and forth. But it didn’t rock back. It kept leaning. Plates and silverware started sliding off the tables. Then the tables themselves started to slide. Glasses and plates started to fall and shatter. At this point, it was pure chaos. Screams. Cries. Panic,
…passenger David Crews, of Long Island, was quoted as saying by News 6.
In a statement to The Post, the company apologized for the incident, claiming technical issues and noting that ‘there was never any issue with the safe operation of the ship’ and the ship officers quickly intervened to correct the situation. The Captain of the ship informed that the list was due to a faulty “fin stabiliser”.
The ship remains fully operational and will sail as scheduled on Friday, Nov. 2. We remain confident of the safety of the ship as we are committed to the safety of our guests and crew.
The ship remained “fully operational” and continued its journey, but some passengers disembarked and opted to fly home early when the ship docked in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday.
The ship is expected to return to Port Canaveral on Friday, 2 November.
