Thursday, August 29, 2024 Carnival Cruise Line is canceling a cruise onboard the Carnival Vista due to propulsion issues with the 2017-built ship. The vessel needs to undergo repairs and won’t be able to sail from Port Canaveral on Sep. 7, 2024.
The ship previously had propulsion issues in 2019 leading to a unique out-of-the-water repair. Carnival said that their engineers have been working to address an issue that is limiting Carnival Vista’s cruising speed. Carnival is hopeful that the issue had been resolved with some recent work.
But they are not quite there and, unfortunately, they must remove the ship from service to complete some additional repairs. Sailing to the Southern Caribbean for eight nights, the canceled cruise was scheduled to make visits to Aruba, Curaçao, and Grand Turk. The company apologized for this unanticipated disruption to their vacation plans and are disappointed that they will not be able to deliver the cruise they had planned.
Affected guests will receive a full refund of the cruise fare, as well as any pre-purchased onboard services and shore excursions. Carnival is also extending a 100 percent future cruise credit (FCC) for passengers to use in a new booking with the company. The FCC must be redeemed by August 31, 2025 and can be used toward any departure currently open for sale.
Independent travelers who booked non-refundable air travel will also be eligible to receive reimbursement for their air change fees of up to $200 per person, with supporting documentation. Carnival Cruise Line previously planned to make repairs onboard the Carnival Vista ahead of the ship’s Aug. 18, 2024 sailing.
At the time, the company sent a statement to booked guests to confirm their cruise, saying that the ship would undergo maintenance to fix its recent propulsion issues before setting sail from Port Canaveral. To accommodate the repairs, the vessel departed from its homeport later than initially scheduled, at 3:30 AM..
