Two weeks after the funnel fire accident on CCL-Carnival Cruise Line's ship Carnival Freedom, CCL confirmed that the vessel resumed operations on June 11, with regular itineraries from homeport Port Canaveral.
No passengers or crew members were injured in the fire, which was quickly extinguished but caused damage to a portion of the vessel's funnel.
Pictures and drone footage released by Carnival showed the cruise ship repaired at Grand Bahama Shipyard in Freeport Bahamas. Carnival Freedom sailed directly to the shipyard after all passengers were transferred to Carnival Conquest for the voyage back home to Port Canaveral/Orlando (Florida USA). Freedom was docked at Grand Bahama for less than 2 weeks and departed on Monday, June 13, for Florida.
The 2007-built ship featured a signature red, white, and blue funnel, just like all of the line's modern ships. Protruding from the funnel's main body were 2 wings giving the funnel its shape referred to as the "whale tail," which is similar to the famed 1962-built ocean liner France.
After the fire on Carnival's Freedom, one of the pair of wings was destroyed.
To expedite the return of the cruise ship to service, Carnival Cruise Line working with Grand Bahama, removed the wings from Freedom's funnel and placed a new grill work along the top. The engines' exhausts were repositioned, and grill work along the rear of the funnel was repaired and repainted. However, the cruise ship returned to service without her signature "whale tail."
CCL said that the funnel would be restored when the liner undergoes its next scheduled drydock refurbishment, reportedly in 2024. Freedom is currently sailing without Carnival's new hull livery with red lines and a blue section at the bow and the brand name on the hull's sides.
CCL said it was investigating the cause of the fire.