Carnival Liberty

300px Carnival Liberty at Miami on December 21, 2013
History
Name:	Carnival Liberty
Owner:	Carnival Corporation & plc
Operator:	Carnival Cruise Lines
Port of registry:	Panama City, Panama
Builder:	Fincantieri Monfalcone, Italy
Cost:	US $500 million
Sponsored by:	Mira Sorvino
Christened:	July 19, 2005
Maiden voyage:	July 20, 2005
In service:	July 2005–present
Identification:	Call sign: HPYE IMO number: 9278181 MMSI number: 371083000
Status:	In service
Notes:
General characteristics
Class & type:	Conquest-class cruise ship
Tonnage:	110,000 GT
Length:
Beam:
Draft:
Decks:	13 decks
Installed power:	2 diesel-electric propellers (63,400kW each)
Speed:	22.5 knots (41.7 km/h; 25.9 mph)
Capacity:	2,974 passengers
Crew:	1,160
Notes:	post-Panamax

Carnival Liberty is a Conquest-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. Built by Fincantieri at its Monfalcone shipyard in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, she was christened by actress Mira Sorvino in Civitavecchia, Italy, on July 19, 2005. Carnival Liberty was the first ship to feature Carnival's Seaside Theater—a 12-foot (3.7 m) high by 22-foot (6.7 m) wide LED screen. Located by the midship pool on the Lido deck, it is used to show movies, sporting events, concerts and other ship programming.

In fall 2011, the ship was the first vessel in the Carnival fleet to receive an extensive overhaul, a $500 million USD renovation called the Fun Ship 2.0 initiative, that added "signature" dining venues (including a Guy Fieri hamburger joint), bars and entertainment options. A dozen more Carnival ships will receive this refit in the next few years.

Destinations

Current sailings

Carnival Liberty currently operates from San Juan, Puerto Rico for 7 day cruises to the Southern Caribbean.

Future deployments

In March, 2016, Liberty will reposition to Galveston, Texas to take the place of the Carnival Triumph offering four and five day cruises to Mexico.

Incidents

Norovirus outbreak

On November 3, 2006, Carnival Liberty departed Rome, Italy, to Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades). During the 16-day transatlantic voyage, over 700 people contracted the contagious norovirus illness. On the morning hours of November 15, Carnival Cruise Lines announced it would shorten the next cruise by two days for an extensive cleaning. Originally, the next cruise was scheduled to depart on November 19 for a six-day cruise. The November 19 cruise was rescheduled to depart Fort Lauderdale on November 21 for a four-day cruise using new ports-of-call. Safety measures were also enacted on a few of the future cruises to prevent further contamination. These safety measures included fully suspending self-service on the buffet lines. When the first cruise after the outbreak ended on November 25, fewer than 60 passengers were reported to have contracted the norovirus.

Sudden list to port

On January 8, 2012 in the morning in calm seas, the Carnival Liberty suddenly listed (tilted) to port (the left) in a motion that caused many dishes and glasses to fall to the floor and break in the restaurants, and significant amounts of water sloshed out of the pools onto the decks, resulting in some panic by passengers. Shortly after this happened, the cruise director came over the ship's public address system and acknowledged that an incident had occurred, and that they were investigating the cause. Neither the guests nor the crew were informed what the cause of the listing was, but it seemed as if the ship had veered suddenly off course and quickly righted.

Cuban Refugee Rescue

On the August 22, 2014 sailing, the Carnival Liberty was forced by the storm system that would become Hurricane Cristobal to use a rerouted itinerary (St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Grand Turk Island) along a course that would take it close to Cuba. On August 23, a distress signal was received and a small, makeshift styrofoam raft was observed near the ship. The Liberty reversed course and proceeded to pull 11 Cuban Refugees from the raft who had requested rescue in the worsening sea conditions. Hundreds of passengers observed the rescue, conducted off the port side. The raft was abandoned in the water as the ship continued on its modified course toward St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, scheduled for arrival on the 25th. The U.S. Coast Guard later ordered a rendezvous where the refugees were offloaded onto a Coast Guard cutter for transfer back to Cuba overnight on the 23rd and 24th. Cruise Director Cory Rodgers later stated during a Question and Answer session with passengers that the event was the most unusual in his career at Carnival.

File:Carnival Liberty Cuban Refugees.JPG

Cuban refugees rescued by the ship

Engine Room Fire in St Thomas

On September 7, 2015, Carnival Cruise Lines confirmed in a statement that the U.S. Coast Guard had been called to provide assistance to the ship due to an engine room fire. The incident occurred while the ship was alongside in St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. The ship was evacuated and no passengers or crew were reported injured. All hotel services on the ship including air conditioning, elevators, toilets and galleys were fully functional and the ship's normal array of activities including entertainment and dining proceeded as normal after passengers were allowed to re-board on the evening of September 7.

External links

• Official website
• Carnival Liberty ship location in Google Maps