For roughly two
hours on Saturday, August 2, the Celebrity Constellation was without power and adrift
in the Ionian Sea about 25 miles southeast of Crotone, Italy. The vessel, which
was in the midst of an 11-night cruise from Ravenna to Rome, had been scheduled
for a sea day before its next stop in Messina, Sicily.
Although power was
partially restored after a couple of hours, the ship continued to drift for a
bit longer, moving at only one or two knots—far below its top cruising speed of
24 knots.
Passengers on board
the ship took to social media and cruise message boards to describe the
experience. According to several accounts, the ship temporarily had no
lighting, no air conditioning and non-functioning toilets. Guests were
reportedly served only cold meals for dinner during the outage.
“One hour in and it’s
HOT,” one guest wrote at the time, noting how quickly things became
uncomfortable inside the ship. With outside temperatures hovering around 80
degrees Fahrenheit, the lack of air conditioning, and therefore air circulation,
would have made interior areas very stuffy.
Some comparisons
were even drawn to the infamous so-called “poop cruise” that occurred aboard Carnival
Triumph in 2013, which was recently the subject of a Netflix documentary. However,
that incident involved a much more serious power outage, which lasted days and
led to an almost unlivable situation on board. Although Celebrity
Constellation’s issues were far shorter in duration and not as severe, the
disruption was still jarring for passengers.
According to Cruise
Hive’s report, Celebrity Cruises has not yet officially stated what
triggered the outage. Engine room fires and electrical problems are common
culprits in situations like these, though other mechanical failures can also
lead to a full loss of power.
Cruise ships like
the Celebrity Constellation are designed to handle emergencies and are equipped
with systems to communicate with both land-based authorities and the cruise
line’s headquarters. Engineering teams onboard would have responded quickly to
assess the situation and begin repairs to restore power and ensure the ship
could safely continue its journey.
The Celebrity
Constellation, one of Celebrity Cruises’ older ships, belonging to its Millennium
class, was first launched in 2002. The vessel weighs in at about 90,940 gross
tons and carries more than 2,100 guests along with 1,000 crew members.
As of now,
operations have resumed and Celebrity Constellation has continued
on its itinerary, although there has been no official word on whether the ship actually
arrived in Messina on August 3, as originally scheduled. However, tracking
website CruiseMapper shows the vessel currently en route to Naples, the next
stop on its itinerary.
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