Carnival Panorama accidents and incidents

November 2023Propulsion / Power Loss

Due to propulsion system/machinery issues, CCL canceled four Mexican Riviera cruises on Carnival Panorama. Of the four voyages (roundtrips from homeport Los Angeles/Long Beach, California USA) were scheduled to depart on Nov 11, Nov 18, Nov 26, and Dec 2.

The canceled voyages' call ports were all in Mexico - Baja California (Cabo San Lucas, La Paz, Ensenada), Sinaloa (Mazatlan) and Jalisco (Puerto Vallarta).

• (Nov 11 and Dec 2) 7-day to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas
• (Nov 18) 8-day to Cabo San Lucas, La Paz, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta
• (Nov 26) 6-day to Cabo San Lucas, and Ensenada

According to CCL's cancellation notice, the ship was experiencing an issue affecting its maximum speed, and to conduct the urgent drydock repairs it had to be removed from service.

All affected bookings were fully refunded (100% of the cruise fare to the original form of payment) including pre-purchased shore excursions and amenities/services (also FunShop purchases) which were automatically refunded to the original payment form.

As compensation, all bookings additionally received FCC/Future Cruise Credits - 100% (bookings for Nov 11th and Nov 18th) and 50% (bookings for Nov 26th and Dec 2nd). The FFCs (to be redeemed by November 30, 2024) were valid on any departure open for sale.

CCL also provided reimbursement allowance (up to US$200 per person) for non-refundable travel expenses, including flight change fees.

On November 17th, CCL canceled two more voyages with departures in December (Dec 9th and Dec 16th) both with scheduled visits to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas.

To fix the issue, Carnival Panorama entered drydock at Vigor Shipyard (Portland Oregon) on December 2nd. Curiously, due to Columbia River's air draft/bridge restrictions (in Portland OR), before the drydocking, the ship remained in Victoria BC Canada (November 21-26) where most of its funnel/smokestack was removed. The funnel section was reinstalled in Victoria BC on December 12-14.

Carnival Panorama resumed service on December 23rd, leaving from LA.

01 June 2023Propulsion / Power Loss

On June 1, 2023, CCL emailed all booked passengers on the voyage departing June 3rd out of Long Beach (California USA) that due to a technical issue impacting the vessel's max speed, the arrival in Long Beach (June 3) and the embarkation will be delayed by at least half an hour.

The accident occurred at the end of the 5-day "Mexican Riviera Cruise" (itinerary May 27 - June 3, roundtrip from Los Angeles/Long Beach CA) with call ports Puerto Vallarta (May 30), Mazatlan (May 31) and Cabo San Lucas (June 1). The port stay in Cabo (6:30 am - 2:30 pm) was shortened and the ship left at 2 pm for making more time for the return to homeport.

28 April 2023Coast Guard Medevacs

At ~7 pm California time (~2 am UTC) on April 28, 2023, a 47-year-old female passenger (experiencing a severe illness/rapidly deteriorating) was airlifted by a Coast Guard helicopter crew (approx 100 mi/160 km south of San Diego) and flown to USCG Sector San Diego, from where was ambulanced to Scripps Memorial Hospital in serious condition.

The medevac occurred during the 7-day "Mexican Riviera Cruise" (itinerary April 22-29, roundtrip from Los Angeles California) visiting Mexico's Puerto Vallarta (Apr 25), Mazatlan (Apr 26) and Cabo San Lucas (Apr 27).

Curiously, the CG aircrew from San Diego conducted two more cruise medevacs in a 24-hour period (from Carnival Spirit and Majestic Princess) recording a total of 7.2 hours of flight time.

21 March 2023Crew / Passenger Deaths

On March 21, 2023, when the liner arrived in call port Puerto Vallarta (Mexico), a male crew was disembarked and hospitalized in an intensive care unit. On March 27, the Indonesian man (Gede Arimbawa) was pronounced dead. He was employed on the ship as a Galley Attendant and was serving his third contract with Carnival Cruise Line.

The incident occurred during the 7-day "Mexican Riviera Cruise" (itinerary Mar 18-25, roundtrip from Los Angeles, California USA) visiting Mexico's ports Puerto Vallarta (Mar 21/ports stay 9 am - 9 pm), Mazatlan (Mar 22) and Cabo San Lucas (Mar 23).

29 December 2022Propulsion / Power Loss

On December 29, 2022, the ship was forced to alter the current holiday itinerary (made a call port schedule change) due to propulsion issues affecting the max cruising speed.

On Dec 28th, Carnival Panorama's Master (Captain Carlo Queirolo) explained in a letter provided to all passengers that the ship is experiencing an issue impacting its cruising speed and that his tech crew is working to complete the necessary repairs.

In order to be able to return to homeport Long Beach/Los Angeles on schedule and to be ready for the next voyage (departure Dec 31st), the liner departed Cabo San Lucas (Mexico) 5 hours earlier than scheduled - at 2 pm instead of 7 pm.

The accident occurred during the 7-day "Mexican Riviera Christmas Cruise" (itinerary Dec 24-31, roundtrip from Long Beach California) with call ports Puerto Vallarta (Dec 27), Mazatlan (Dec 28) and Cabo San Lucas (Dec 29, port stay 10 am - 2 pm).

25 August 2021Propulsion / Power Loss

On August 25, 2021, while en route from Puerto Vallarta to Mazatlan, the ship experienced "an issue impacting the maximum cruising speed" - as stated in Captain Luca Lazzarino's letter addressing Carnival Panorama passengers.

As result, the return back to homeport (LA/Long Beach) on Aug 28th was rescheduled from 9 AM to 10:30 AM. Due to the propulsion issue, the itinerary was modified by changing the port stay in Cabo San Lucas (from 10 AM-7 PM to 6 AM-2 PM). All pre-purchased thru CCL shore excursions were adjusted accordingly. All pre-purchased thru CCL flights (Fly2Fun air packages) were adjusted or fully refunded. Independently booked flights were reimbursed with up to USD 200 per person (for airline change fees).

As result of the accident, the itinerary's port sequence was changed - originally was planned as Cabo (Aug 23), Mazatlan (Aug 24), Vallarta (Aug 25).

The ship operated a 7-day Mexican Riviera itinerary (the first ex-California voyage in 17 months/since the Coronavirus crisis) departing from homeport Long Beach (on August 21) and visiting in Mexico Puerto Vallarta (Jalisco/Aug 24-25 overnight), Mazatlan (Sinaloa/Aug 25) and Cabo San Lucas (Baja California/Aug 26).

According to an anonymous passenger, the ship ended the voyage with several COVID cases. Some passengers were (allegedly) medevaced/disembarked in Mexican ports accompanied by the ship's medical staff.

April 2020Other Incidents

(crew repatriation) On April 18, 2020, CCL-Carnival Cruise Line announced a plan to use 5 CCL ships (Breeze, Fantasy, Glory, Magic, Panorama) to repatriate shipboard staff-crew. From one ship to another were transferred crew for grouping them by home countries/regions. Reportedly, the complex logistics included transferring (via tender boats) and grouping people from 60+ different countries.

On April 18, Carnival Panorama (carrying the fleet's all Filipino and Indonesian crew) departed Port Long Beach CA on a Transpacific crossing to Southeast Asia, arriving in Manila (Philippines) on May 11. The plan included Panorama to remain in The Philippines until CCL's cruising operations resume or to return back to the USA and wait until June 27 (when CCL's schedule begins).

In April 22-25, off Eastern Florida's cost (near Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale) were grouped 3 CCL liners (Breeze, Glory, Magic) planned to depart on April 26. Carnival Glory repatriated crew from countries in Latin America, Caribbean and northern South America. Carnival Breeze (via Transatlantic crossing) repatriated crew from Western Europe (UK, France, Portugal, Spain), Africa (circumnavigation) and Central Asia. Carnival Magic (via Transatlantic crossing) repatriated crew from Europe - UK (Southampton, arrival May 1), Mediterranean (Spain, France, Italy), Adriatic (Croatia) and also Eastern Europeans (Bulgarians, Macedonians, Romanians) disembarked in Turkey (Izmir).

On April 25, Carnival Fantasy departed from Mobile (Alabama USA) to repatriate crew from South American countries.

On April 29, CCL expanded the fleetwide crew repatriation plan by adding more liners (a total of 18) to meet up, exchange and repatriate thousands of shipboard staff-crew back to their home countries. These liners left their current anchorages (or homeport docks) and met at a rendezvous location in The Bahamas (between Bimini Islands and Great Harbour Cay). Via tender boats, the ships exchanged crews, who were all grouped by country/region on a total of 9 CCL ships. Via these nine "crew cruises" were repatriated 10,000+ healthy crew.

Prior to pausing operations (on March 13), CCL's fleet (27 ships) had ~29,000 shipboard crew. Via international charter flights were repatriated 16,000+. When these massive crew repatriations were completed, CCL's fleet was crewed by only ~3,000 (essential personnel) needed for safe operational manning.

07 March 2020Other Incidents

(Coronavirus issues) On March 7, 2020, after berthing in homeport Long Beach (Los Angeles CA), the passenger disembarkation was delayed by 3+ hours due to fears of Coronavirus. City officials twitted that a Carnival Panorama cruise passenger had been ambulanced by a Long Beach Fire Department team to a local hospital and was being tested for COVID-19 (Coronavirus).

The vessel docked at Long Beach Terminal but the USA's CDC decided to suspend passenger debarkation until the patient could be evaluated. Passengers on the blocked ship were not quarantined (isolated in their staterooms) and were allowed to use the onboard venues (including bars and the casino).

The ship just ended a 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise (itinerary February 29 - March 7) roundtrip from Long Beach California to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta.