The flagship of Carnival’s Vista-class vessels has been delayed by maintenance issues for the third time this month.
Carnival Vista, which is in the middle of operating an 8-night eastern Caribbean sailing, has notified guests of tweaks to the itinerary due to technical difficulties that are impacting cruising speed.
The news comes after the voyage set off with a delayed start due to repairs for related issues – which were supposed to have been fixed prior to heading back out to sea.
“We have been working hard to address an issue that was impacting the ship’s cruising speed. We were hopeful that the issue was resolved but we’re not quite there,” read a letter to guests from the ship’s captain, Francesco Florentino.
While the 3,934-passengers vessel will still visit all the ports of call on the itinerary, guests may not get as much time to explore the destinations as they were expecting.
“We are working on a new plan to make some additional repairs. We will be able to keep the remaining ports of call on our itinerary but will make some modest adjustments to our time in port to allow us to return to Port Canaveral in good time,” continued Captain Florentino’s memo.
The round-trip sailing, which embarked from Port Canaveral, Florida, on August 24, 2024, has already called on Puerto Plata / Amber Cove, Dominican Republic.
The impacted ports of call are San Juan, Puerto Rico; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; and St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.
Instead of staying in San Juan from 10:30 a.m. local time until 6:30 p.m., the 133,596-gross ton vessel won’t arrive until 1:30 p.m. – but will depart an hour later at 7:30 p.m.
Similarly, the ship will dock in St. Maarten one hour later than planned – at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. – when it arrives the following day.
The final call of the cruise, which is at St. Thomas, will have an on-time arrival, but will see the ship leave an hour early to make it back to the ship’s homeport to disembark as planned on September 1, 2024.
As a show of good faith, the 27-ship cruise line is giving guests a $50 credit per stateroom to use onboard and will automatically adjust shore excursions that were booked directly through Carnival.
Engine Issues Cause Trouble for Carnival Vista
The technical difficulties that the 8-year-old cruise ship has been experiencing are not isolated to her current sailing.
Indeed, the issues manifested at the end of her August 4th sailing, only to then wreak havoc on the subsequent 8-night Southern Caribbean voyage that embarked from Orlando, Florida, on August 10, 2024.
The cruise line worked to address the malfunctioning engines on embarkation day – and began sending out texts advising guests of a revised itinerary as they boarded the ship.
“The ship is experiencing an issue that is affecting its maximum cruising speed. Our engineers are working on a repair plan,” the text notification read at the time. “While we will be able to sail, it is necessary for us to revise our itinerary.”
The original itinerary called for visits to Aruba, Curacao, and Grand Turk, but due to the limitations in cruising speed, the ship instead called on Nassau, Bahamas; Princess Cays, Freeport; and Half Moon Cay, the cruise line’s private island destination in the Bahamas.
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The 2016-launched cruise ship returned to Port Canaveral on August 24, 2024 – where it was determined that the current sailing would go ahead as planned, following a minimal delay to allow crews to repair the ship’s propulsion system while in port.
“To accommodate our repair plan, the ship will be arriving very early Sunday morning, August 18, to Port Canaveral (approximately 3:30 AM) to allow for a full day of work with our engineers and technical experts. We are also planning a later departure that evening to maximize the workday,” Carnival informed impacted passengers.
Because the 2016-launched ship would be fixed and the first day of the sailing was meant to be a sea day, the delayed embarkation was not supposed to impact any of the ports of call. Of course, the continuing technical difficulties necessitated another change of plans.
It’s unclear when the issue will finally be fixed and what impact it will have on subsequent sailings, with the next – a 6-night eastern Caribbean itinerary – scheduled to embark on September 1, 2024.
Carnival Vista will continue homeporting at the Orlando-based port, from where she will alternate between 6-8 night southern and eastern Caribbean itineraries out of Port Canaveral through the next year and well into 2026.
