Carnival cruise ship arrives safely in Jamaica after fire
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The cruise ship Celebration
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January 12, 2000
Web posted at: 5:06 p.m. EST (2206 GMT)
MIAMI (CNN) -- Carnival Cruise Lines cut short a seven-day voyage on one of
its cruise ships after a fire in one of the ship's auxiliary generators. None
of the more than 2,000 passengers and crew aboard the Celebration was hurt.
A second cruise planned for next week on the same ship was canceled.
The fire started around midnight Tuesday and was extinguished quickly by
automated firefighting equipment. The passengers were told to remain where they
were and were not required to put on life vests.
The ship was adrift for several hours before electrical and propulsion
power were restored. Celebration then proceeded toward Montego Bay, Jamaica,
and arrived Wednesday afternoon.
The cruise company said arrangements were being made to provide guests
with hotel accommodations and flight arrangements back to New Orleans, the
ship's point of embarkation. The guests also will receive a full refund and a
free seven-day Carnival cruise.
Celebration embarked on the cruise Sunday in New Orleans with 1,586
passengers and 667 crew. Stops were planned at Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and
Cozumel, Mexico.
Carnival has canceled Celebration's planned January 16 departure from New
Orleans. Guests on that cruise will receive a full refund and a 50 percent
discount on a future Carnival cruise, the company said.
Company spokesman Tim Gallagher said there is "no common thread" with a
fire on Carnival's Ecstasy cruise ship in July 1998. A welding spark in a ship
laundry room cut short the Ecstasy's two-day cruise to Key West, Florida. Of 3,475
passengers and crew on that trip, 54 people were treated for smoke inhalation.
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