Carnival Cruise Line wants to set the record straight about its tilting ship.
The Carnival Sunshine left Port Canaveral on Sunday, Oct. 28, for a five-day trip to the Caribbean but hit a bump along the way. Out of nowhere, the ship started tilting and passengers started panicking.
“On Sunday evening, Carnival Sunshine experienced a technical issue which caused the ship to list for approximately one minute,” Carnival explained in a statement to Yahoo Lifestyle.
This is the inside of the Carnival Sunshine cruise ship on Sunday evening. @CarnivalCruise says the ship listed (tilted or leaned) because of a technical issue just hours after leaving @PortCanaveral.
— Clay LePard (@ClayLePard) 31 October 2018
(H/t to David Crews for the pictures) pic.twitter.com/usSaQsZBzG
Videos and photos taken by passengers show the inside of the ship as it tilted to one side.
“I didn’t think anything of it, since it’s not uncommon for ships to rock back and forth. But it didn’t rock back. It kept leaning,” passenger David Crews told local Orlando, Fla., station WKRG. “Plates and silverware started sliding off the tables. Then the tables themselves started to slide. Glasses and plates started to fall and shatter. At this point, it was pure chaos. Screams. Cries. Panic.”
Another passenger described it as the “scariest experience.” According to guests, water started seeping into the ship. “We were actually at the table where the window broke and the water came in,” a passenger recalled to local Orlando news station WFTV. She said they were sitting down for dinner around 8:15 or 8:45 p.m. when “next thing we know, the whole boat tilted … we were literally hanging on for our lives, dangling … it was really like a scene from the Titanic.”
Passengers described seeing glasses, plates, and bottles flying past them. “[We went] down to our room and got our life jackets and literally carried them around the rest of the night … that’s how scared we were, every time you felt the boat move you were like, oh, crap, is it happening again?” another upset guest told WFTV.
Passenger Kyla Williams told the local news station that she was falling out of her seat. Other guests took to Twitter to express their concerns. One woman explained that she hurt her back when the ship listed and wasn’t able to partake in any excursions the next day because of the pain. A representative for the cruise line confirmed that there were “some minor injuries.”
While the shift left guests shaken, the cruise line promised there was never anything to fear. “There was never any issue with the safe operation of the ship and our officers quickly intervened to correct the situation,” the statement reads.
The day after the incident, guests received a note from the captain explaining what happened. “We have identified that an electrical switchboard malfunction impacted the use of the fin stabilizers,” it read. “It’s important to note that fin stabilizers are not a safety feature; they are deployed solely for guest comfort to minimize any potential ship motion while at sea. There was never any issue with the safe operation of the ship, and our officers quickly intervened to correct the situation.”
The line also offered each guest a $50 credit.
“Following the incident, evening events resumed for our guests and the ship proceeded on its Caribbean cruise as scheduled,” the company told Yahoo Lifestyle. Carnival provided photos that show the ship fully functioning once it balanced out. “The ship remains fully operational and will sail as scheduled on Friday, Nov. 2. We remain confident of the safety of the ship as we are committed to the safety of our guests and crew.”
A Carnival cruise had passengers in a panic when the ship tilted, but the company promises all passengers are safe and provided photos of the cruise fully functioning after the quick incident
However, not everyone was convinced, and many decided to disembark after the incident. “There were more than 3,000 passengers on board, and we had a small number of guests who requested to be disembarked and to return home when the ship reached Amber Cove on Tuesday, consistent with our Great Vacation Guarantee. We honored all requests,” Carnival told Yahoo Lifestyle.
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