Carnival Splendor Resumes Service Following Fire Repairs.
After completing repairs in a San Francisco dry dock facility and successfully undergoing sea trials, the 3,006-passenger Carnival Splendor is now en route to its homeport of Long Beach, Calif., where it will resume its year-round schedule of seven-day Mexican Riviera cruises Feb. 20, 2011.
On this route, the ship departs the Long Beach Cruise Terminal every Sunday on week-long cruises to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, on Mexico's Pacific Coast.
Carnival Splendor suffered significant damage from a fire in the engine room last November that caused a power outage and left the ship adrift off the coast of Mexico. The cruise ship had to be towed to San Diego and then San Francisco where repairs were completed.
With the Carnival Splendor's resumption of service, combined with the Carnival Paradise's year-round three- and four-day Baja voyages, Carnival Cruise Lines will return to its normal passenger volume from Long Beach, carrying nearly 400,000 passengers a year.
"Carnival Cruise Lines continues to be the number one West Coast operator with two ships based in Long Beach year-round, as well as a ship operating seasonal itineraries from San Diego and Los Angeles. We have more year-round capacity dedicated to the West Coast than any other cruise line and we are committed to maintaining our leadership position in this important market," said Gerry Cahill, Carnival's president and CEO.
Cahill noted that the Carnival Splendor has been thoroughly inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard and Lloyd's Registry, a ship classification society, which monitored the repair process during dry docks in San Diego and San Francisco.
"We're obviously very pleased that the Carnival Splendor is returning to service and we're looking forward to welcoming our guests aboard this fantastic ship," Cahill said. "We would also like to thank our guests for their patience over the past few weeks, as well as our travel agent partners, the ports of San Diego and San Francisco and all of the government agencies, repair contractors and countless others who have provided invaluable assistance and support."