Engine Room Fire on the Carnival Legend

Engine Room Fire on the Carnival Legend
By Jim Walker on September 22, 2019 https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2019/09/articles/fires/engine-room-fire-on...

A fire broke out on the morning of Friday, September 20, 2019 on the Carnival Legend while the cruise ship was sailing into Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, according to Crew Center. The popular cruise related website stated that the master of the ship made an announcement around 7:15 a.m. for firefighting teams to respond to the engine room 5 vertical stack 2.

A cruise passenger mentioned the fire to Carnival’s head cruise director and brand ambassador John Heald:

Melissa Stalley Bennett
on Friday

Hi John, we are currently enjoying our Journeys cruise on the Legend. This morning we were awoken by an announcement to call for some team to the a section of the ship. Shortly after there was another asking all crew to report to their staging areas. We started to be concerned as to what may be happening so early in the morning and why the announcements were in the rooms. Shortly after the captain came on to inform the guests that there was a fire in one of the engine rooms and they were working to contain it and extinguish it and that he would keep us updated. After some time, he came back on and announced it had been extinguished and all guests and crew were safe. I am writing to you to let you know how amazing and calm the crew were in dealing with this. There was no disruption to our cruise or itineraries. I just want you to know how grateful we are to the entire Legend crew and their professionalism. They went back about their day to make sure we had fun, enjoyed the beautiful Glacier Bay and made sure we had full tummies. This just proved why we love cruising Carnival!>

Notwithstanding the positive spin on the report, there is no such thing as a “small fire” on a cruise ship. All fires present an obvious danger to the passengers and crew.

The deadly Star Princess in 2006 started from a smoldering towel on a passenger balcony caused by a cigarette.

The best known engine room fires involved Carnival ships, the Carnival Splendor in 2010 and the Carnival Triumph (a/k/a the infamous “poop cruise”) in 2013. The engine room fires disabled both cruise ships which had to be towed back to the U.S.

The last engine room fire involving a Carnival cruise ship involved the Carnival Sensation in February of this year. Carnival, which inevitably calls fires on its ships “small” and “quickly extinguished,” denied that a fire even occured. It claimed that this was just a “smokeless event,” notwithstanding accounts from passengers, including a news produer, that the fire created smoke “so thick you could not see.” Read Smoke But No Fire on the Carnival Sensation?

There have been other instances where cruise passengers reported that a fire occurred during a cruise which Carnival denied, including a fire reported on the Carnival Pride in 2015. I call this the “smoke but no fire” excuse. Carnival tried to convince the passengers after a fire broke out on the Carnival Splendor in 2000 that what they smelled was just a “flameless fire.” You can hear “there’s-smoke-but-no-flames-or-fire” characterization on this announcement recorded on this YouTube video of the Splendor fire which disabled the ship.

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Update: Carnival released the following statement:

“Friday while in Alaska, Carnival Legend experienced a small fire in the engine room that was quickly extinguished by the fire suppression system and the ship’s team. Guests and crew were not affected. The incident did not impact the ship’s itinerary and it is continuing on its 9-day cruise as scheduled. Carnival Legend departed Vancouver on Tuesday, Sept. 17.”