Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival cruises can be fun and relaxing but also come with risks to both passengers and crew members. Any ship out at sea is vulnerable to bad weather and rough waters, but cruise ships come with additional risks. With so many people packed on board, illness and assaults are not uncommon, and when a ship experiences a mechanical failure, the stakes are high.

About Carnival Cruise

Carnival is not just the largest cruise company in the world; it is the world’s biggest leisure travel company of any type. The Carnival lineup brands include:

• Carnival
• Princess
• Fathom
• Costa
• Cunard
• P&O
• Aida
• Seabourn
• Holland America

The entire fleet consists of 101 ships, and these cruise ships visit over 700 ports worldwide each year.

The number of passengers traveling with Carnival cruise ships each year is around eleven million, which represents about half of all cruise-goers.

Responsible for the safety and entertainment of these passengers are 120,000 employees. Carnival is also in the top half of the Forbes 500 list and, in 2015, brought in over $15 billion in revenue. It has headquarters in both the U.S. and the U.K., with many other offices in locations around the world.

Carnival Cruise Lines History

Carnival Cruise Lines was started in 1972 by Ted Arison, who is considered by many to be a pioneer in the cruise industry. It didn’t take more than a decade for Carnival to become one of the biggest cruise operators in the world. Over the years, the company has continued to grow, primarily through acquisitions of other cruise companies and brands.

Some notable acquisitions have included Holland America and Seabourn, which gave Carnival a portion of the luxury cruising segment. In 1997, Carnival acquired Costa, the Italian cruise company that was Europe’s most popular cruise brand. It also added history to the lineup by purchasing Cunard, the company that built the world’s biggest ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2.

The most recent addition to Carnival’s rich history is the Fathom brand. Following the company’s history of innovation in the industry, Fathom will be unlike any other cruise line. It offers passengers the chance to go on an exciting vacation while also participating in volunteer opportunities and working with locals in areas throughout the world.

Carnival Cruise Ships and Operations

The Carnival fleet is big in the cruising industry, with multiple brands serving different segments and locations with individually-branded ships.

• The Aida fleet is based in Germany, while Costa is in Italy. Both serve European passengers and offer cruises in the Mediterranean, North Sea, and other European locations.
• Cunard is one of the older brands, with just three ships in its fleet. It is a high-profile luxury brand.
• Seabourn is also a luxury brand with routes all over the world.
• Holland America, Carnival, and Princess have the largest fleets of ships and serve the most customers on trips.

Carnival Cruise Accidents

Cruising is fun and exciting for most people and the workers aboard the ships; it is a job and a way to earn a living out at sea. However, both passengers and crew take risks when they travel on a cruise ship.

Any ship out at sea could capsize, sink, collide with something, be boarded by pirates, have mechanical failures, or catch on fire. These and other incidents can cause accidents that harm and even kill passengers and workers.

Costa Concordia Grounding

Carnival cruise ships have experienced many of these accidents, in which sometimes no one was hurt, but unfortunately, crew or passengers were hurt or killed. One of the most terrible of all Carnival accidents was the grounding of the Costa Concordia.

The cruise ship ran aground on the coast of Italy due to an error on the part of the captain. He infamously abandoned the ship before ensuring everyone else was safe. As a result, 32 people drowned, and 64 were injured. It took years to remove the partially submerged ship.

Triumph Fire

Another Carnival incident that made waves in the news occurred in 2013 aboard the Carnival Triumph. The ship was off the coast of Mexico when it experienced an engine fire. The fire itself did not hurt anyone and was quickly put out.

However, it did cause a power outage and loss of propulsion. Passengers and crew were stuck aboard the Triumph for over a week with no power and sewage backing up in the toilets.

Seaborn Spirits Pirate Attack

Carnival’s small luxury brand, Seabourn, experienced a terrifying incident in 2005 while off the coast of Somalia. The Seabourn Spirits was attacked by pirates who fired on the ship.

Fortunately, the captain was able to change course. The ship arrived in the Seychelles without injuries to the crew or passengers but with damage to the ship from machine guns and grenade launchers.

Carnival Ecstasy Worker Fatality

More recently, a horrible accident occurred onboard the Carnival Ecstasy.  An electrician was performing routine maintenance on an elevator on the ship. He had disabled the safety system to do the work. The electrician was standing on top of an elevator that started moving upwards. He was crushed to death.

Not only did the worker lose his life so tragically, but passengers witnessed the incident and were understandably traumatized. The death was ruled an accident, and although the worker had followed procedure, the accident happened, and the elevator moved when it should not have.

Holland America Crew Fatalities

In 2024, two crew members on the Holland America ship Nieuw Amsterdam died in an incident on board. The ship was docked at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas at the time. The crew members, a third engineer and a wiper, died in an accidental steam release.

Carnival Magic Pier Collision

The Carnival Magic cruise ship suffered significant damage after colliding with a pier in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, in early 2024. The incident occurred during high winds that blew off a pier fender, which is used to prevent collisions and resulting damage. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident.

Cruise Accidents and Rights to Compensation

These incidents are terrible and numerous. Because of the number of people affected, accidents are more noteworthy on cruise ships than on other types of ships.

When something goes wrong on a cruise ship, such as the grounding of the Costa Concordia, thousands of people are at risk of being injured or killed. Illness can spread rapidly through a crowded ship, and a fire or pirate attack can cause panic and harm.

Passengers have a right to expect a safe environment when going on a cruise. They can sue the cruise line when something goes wrong, resulting in injury, illness, or death.

Workers on cruise ships share part of the responsibility for keeping passengers safe but are also entitled to a safe working environment. When crew members are hurt in a workplace accident, they also have a right to seek compensation from the responsible maritime company.

You are covered under maritime law if you work on cruise ships and experience one of these terrible accidents. You can call on these laws to help you seek compensation from your employer. Money after an accident can help you get back on your feet, but consult a cruise ship lawyer before making any moves.