The troubled Carnival Triumph cruise ship is back in service after February's disaster that left the ship adrift in the Gulf of Mexico. The returned to its home port in Galveston, Texas and departed for a four-day cruise to Mexico on Thursday.
After an engine fire disabled the ship, leaving it stranded in the Gulf with more than 4,200 passengers who were subject to horrendous conditions such as power outages, overflowing toilets and food shortages, the ship is finally back in business, CNN reports.
After undergoing $115 million in repairs, the Carnival Triumph now has new emergency power capabilities and additional fire safety technology. It also has never "operating redundancies" to keep to ship moving and the lights on. The ship left for a four-day voyage to Cozumel, Mexico, at 4 p.m. CT on Thursday with 3,350 passengers. Passengers are forgiving the cruise line for the February mishap.
"The cruises I've been on with them, I loved it," passenger Karl Hoehn told CNN affiliate KTRK. "My family loved it, so I'll give them another chance."
February's incident made headlines as passengers were on board for eight days before tugboats were finally able to get them back to a port in Mobile, Alabama. Passengers kept the public updated about the conditions on bard through phone calls emails and social media sites.
After that particular incident, Carnival decided to launch a comprehensive review of its 24 ships. The $300 million project includes a major re-wiring of engine rooms, the addition of backup power generators and new fire safety equipment.
Every ship now has a second emergency backup electricity generator that will support the ship and keep systems running like toilets, elevators and food service equipment in the even of the main source of power being knocked out.
The incident on the Carnival Triumph wasn't the only engine room fire incident. In November 2012, a fire crippled the propulsion system of the Carnival Splendor and knocked out most of its power while it was off the Pacific coast of Mexico.
Several incidents also occurred after the Triumph incident on Carnival ships. In March, the Carnival Elation had to be escorted by tugboats due to a steering system malfunction. A few days after that, the Carnival Dream lost power and the toilets stopped working at is was in St. Maarten.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
