Cruise, Carnival Triumph | featured news

Carnival Corp. on Wednesday announced it will implement a $700 million-plan to upgrade its fleet and avoid incidents like the the disabling of the Carnival Triumph. The Carnival Cruise Lines overhaul --which is expected to cost $300 million--will include significant enhancements to emergency power capabilities, new fire safety technology and improved operating procedures, the company said in a release. The parent company, Carnival Corp, also will be making improvements to other ships in its line, including Princess, Holland America, Seabourn and Cunard. Overall enhancements company-wide could be as much as $700 million, said the company.

Carnival Corp. (CCL) is offering a Caribbean cruise for as little as $38 a night, less than a stay at Motel 6, after an engine fire on the Triumph stranded passengers at sea for several days. A four-night trip on Carnival’s Imagination, leaving Miami on April 22, costs $149 a person, including meals and some beverages, according to the cruise company’s website yesterday. The lowest nightly rate at the budget-priced Motel 6 chain was $39.99, according to an online ad.

Cruise Week editor in chief Mike Driscoll tells USA TODAY that the Carnival Dream incident "seems to be a technical issue that happens all the time on land ... at hotels" and is getting so much attention only because it happened a month after a fire on the Carnival Triumph. "But it's bad news for the cruise industry," he says, with the Dream and Triumph out of service at least temporarily and it might "cement in (some people's) minds a fear about cruises."

A Coast Guard official said Monday that the cause of the engine-room fire on the Carnival cruise ship Triumph was a leak in a fuel oil return line.

The crippled Carnival Triumph cruise ship — described as a "nightmare" of filth — finally docked in Mobile, Ala., Thursday night, but officials said it would still be hours before all the passengers would be able to get off.