Overnight, the Legend became the second Carnival cruise ship to be crippled in the Caribbean in as many days.
The cruise line blames a mechanical problem, which affected the sailing speed. The issue forced the cancellation of a stop at Grand Cayman Islands. It happened on the last leg of a seven-day Caribbean cruise that left Tampa on Sunday. Now, the captain is charting a course for Florida and the vessel is expected to arrive Sunday as scheduled.
The company released a statement saying the Legend's safety systems and hotel services are all functioning normally. Carnival says all guests on the Legend will receive a $100 credit, a full refund on pre-purchased shore excursions for Grand Cayman and a 50 percent discount on a future Carnival cruise.
Meantime, the Carnival Dream has been stranded in St. Maarten since Wednesday because of a generator failure.
The company announced Thursday that passengers would be flown home. In a statement released Friday, Carnival said its guests have the option of returning to Orlando, where the voyage began, or returning home. The company is also offering discounts on a future cruise.
Passengers say they were stuck on board the ship for hours with conflicting reports about the power being turned off. Carnival said in a statement that there were periodic interruptions to elevators and restroom services for a few hours Wednesday night, but all facilities were fully operational and have been since about 12:30 a.m. Thursday.
The Carnival Inspiration docked in Long Beach Friday morning after a smooth trip to Mexico. Passengers said they met with the cruise director to talk about the mishaps on the other two ships.
"I don't think it's all that scary. That was their deal, and this is our deal and I felt pretty safe behind this one actually. Nothing too scary," said Inspiration passenger Brian Cameron, who said crew members took time to make sure all the passengers were aware of the ship's safety features and procedures.
A month ago, passengers on the Carnival Triumph spent five days in the Gulf of Mexico without power or working toilets.
Since December, seven Carnival cruises have been delayed, shortened or aborted because of propulsion problems - on four separate ships.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
