Friday: 10:17 am:The Carnival Liberty is safely berthed in her homeport of San Juan. She will be there until her scheduled departure Sunday afternoon.
That should just about do it from this quasi-Liveblog. Thank’s for following.
Thursday: 6:55 pm: The Carnival Liberty finally set sail this evening from St. Thomas and arrive in San Juan tomorrow morning. Roughly 1,500pax are still onboard and will accompany the vessel back to her homeport. Carnival has stated that the vessel was finally cleared to sail by the US Coast Guard. Lloyds has surveyed the engine room as well and signed off on it. Carnival is emphasizing once again that the cruise departing Sunday will not be affected in any way.
Thursday: 12:16 am: An unconfirmed source is telling me that the ship will set sail tonight or early tomorrow for San Juan to get ready for the next cruise. Passengers there weren’t flown home already can stay onboard the ship.
Thursday: 11:55 am:
All passengers are in the process of being flown home via San Juan. Carnival is stating that they ship is still undergoing repairs and are awaiting the U.S. Coast Guard to sign off on them. Her next cruise departing Sunday, September 13, is scheduled to operate as planned.
Wednesday 10:22 pm: Passengers have started leaving the ship via charter flights to San Juan. This will continue throughout Thursday and Friday with the last passengers scheduled to leave the ship Friday Afternoon.
Wednesday 7:00 pm: The Carnival Liberty continues to remain in St. Thomas following an engine fire that occurred on Monday, Sept. 7, while the ship was docked there during a scheduled port of call visit. All guests will now be flown home from St. Thomas. Given the limited availability of commercial flights, guests will primarily be transported via chartered aircraft.
5:00 pm:
via Carnival:
The Carnival Liberty continues to remain in St. Thomas following an engine fire that occurred yesterday while the ship was docked there during a scheduled port of call visit. The ship’s command is presently awaiting permission from authorities to sail.
Once the vessel departs, it is scheduled to return to its homeport of San Juan. Guests will have the option of remaining on board through the rest of the week and exploring San Juan or disembarking and traveling home. If clearance to depart St. Thomas is not received by later this evening, the company will move forward with arrangements to fly all guests home from St. Thomas.
All guests are being provided with a full refund of their cruise as well as a 50 percent discount on a future cruise. This is in addition to a $150 per person credit that has already been applied to guests’ shipboard accounts.
There were no injuries to guests or crew as a result of the fire which was extinguished by the ship’s automated suppression system. All hotel services including air conditioning, elevators, toilets, galleys, etc. are fully functional and the ship’s normal array of activities, entertainment, dining options and programming are being offered.
Tuesday 9:00 am: Carnival has decided to keep the ship in port one more day. She will sail at shortly after 4:30 pm LT. Pax will get a $150.00 on board credit.
Passengers onboard have confirmed seeing the main engines start up and shut down several times while the engine department tests the fixes they made overnight.
Tuesday 8:30 am: This morning, the Carnival Liberty remains alongside St. Thomas. All hotel services are up and running, as are all facilities onboard.
The Coast Guard, Lloyds, and Officials from Carnival are still surveying the engine room to determine if she’s fit to sail.
Last night, Passengers were allowed back on the ship, shortly after 8:00pm local time.
10:27 pm:
5:12 pm: Here’s a letter from the Captain of the ship to the guests:
4:56 pm:
#carnivallibertyfire Taxis lined up to take us to the local Marriott. #carnivalliberty A photo posted by @sindyross on
4:30 pm: In the below quote, “taking guests to a nearby hotel” makes it seem like it was quite serous. However in the same statement they say they plan on having guests back onboard later this evening so it seems like they are confident in having her seaworthy in no time.
4:22 pm: John Heald, Carnival’s Senior Cruise Director and Blogger, just posted:
I will have the latest news from Liberty very soon, the priority is looking after the guests on the pier which we are definitely doing. Stand by then for the news which I will share as soon as I am able.
The.Carnival Liberty crew and their shoreside colleagues are all working as a team to make sure everyone is looked after.
and:
The crew have been communicating continuously with the guests on the pier, here is the news we have shared with them.
Earlier today, while the Carnival Liberty was docked in St. Thomas, there was a fire in the ship’s engine room. There were no reported injuries to guests or crew. All guests are ashore in St. Thomas. The fire has been extinguished by the ship’s automated suppression system and crew have confirmed that the fire is out.
At this time we are in the process of taking guests to a nearby hotel for their comfort, as well as providing water and food pierside. We apologize to our guests for the inconvenience and we look forward to welcoming them back onboard later this evening.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined. Updates will be provided as additional information becomes available.
News is breaking that all passengers were evacuated off the Carnival Liberty while she is berthed in St. Thomas.
Carnival Cruise Lines released the following statement:
Earlier today, while the Carnival Liberty was docked in St. Thomas, there was a fire in the ship’s engine room. There were no reported injuries to guests or crew. All guests are ashore in St. Thomas. Crews are working to confirm the fire has been completely extinguished.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined. Updates will be provided as additional information becomes available.
Carnival Liberty is on the second day of a seven-day Caribbean cruise that departed San Juan yesterday.
Webcam images captured just now at 09/07/2015 20:06:31 UTC