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Carnival Splendor Power Loss Likely Caused by Crew Member Error

Dennis Schaal photo
Dennis Schaal

Photo Credit: Carnival Cruise Line's string of incidents dates back to the Carnival Splendor breakdown off the Mexican Riviera in late 2010. Here passengers hurry to transportation after the ship limped into San Diego Harbor.  Orange County Register/MCT / Paul Rodriguez

Skift Take

Carnival needs its new CEO to step up and get involved right away. The cruise line needs to take responsibility for its seeming lack of crew-member preparedness and whether there may be links to this and the low, low wages it pays.

A withering U.S. Coast Guard investigative report on the 2010 Carnival Splendor fire concluded that the fire likely would have been contained without the total loss of power had it not been for the error of a crew member. On November 8, 2010, at 6 a.m. local time, on the second day of a sailing from Long Beach, California, to the Mexican Riviera, the number five diesel generator on the Carnival Splendor suffered a mechanical error. That led to the ejection of "engine components, lube oil and fuel," causing a fire between the number five and six generators, and this ignited overhead cables, the report says. The Coast Guard found that a bridge watchstander reset a fire alarm panel on the bridge, and that delayed the activation of the Hi-Fog fire protection system until 15 minutes after the fire began. "This was a critical error which allowed the fire to

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