Passenger Says Cruise Ship Had Prior Problems

A former passenger claims Carnival knew about troubles with its Triumph ship before it set sail and turned into a cruise catastrophe. Kylie Hastings of Norman says she was on the same ship and has proof it was having the same problems.

It was supposed to be a four day cruise for passengers on Carnival's Triumph. But it ended up being a much longer journey after the ship's engine room caught fire and caused the propulsion system to fail. Kylie Hastings says Carnival knew about that same problem weeks ago and she thinks this tragedy could have been prevented.

"My last vacation before I have a baby," said Kylie Hastings.

At 21-weeks pregnant, Kylie Hastings couldn't wait for her last ocean get-away before she gives birth.

"We thought we had planned for anything that could happen pretty much," said Kylie. 

A day before her cruise aboard the Carnival Triumph was set to leave, she got an email from Carnival saying, "Triumph experienced a technical problem with the ship's propulsion system."

"If something's wrong with the propulsion system, which is a part of the engine, you know, is that going to be okay for us to be on this ship that you're admitting is broken," asked Kylie.

Kylie's cruise did not have any serious problems, but she took pictures of maintenance crews working on the ship.

"What we were told is that they were fixing the sewage system," said Kyle.  "And it was on the Ledo deck, which is actually where all the food is served."

Just two weeks after Kylie's cruise docked, the same ship was stuck at sea.

"Being pregnant and going through what they're going through would have been horrible," said Kylie. "I couldn't imagine going through what they're going through right now."

According to Carnival's website, "An engine room fire early Sunday caused a loss of propulsion."

"It's quite frustrating to hear what some of the people are saying," said Jennifer Waldron of Big Sky Travel Source.

Big Sky Travel Source booked almost 30 clients on the cruise. Travel Consultant Jennifer Waldron says Carnival has cancelled future cruises on Triumph for a couple weeks.

"I think they're just trying to make a cushion and that's the reason why they're pushing clients to other ports and cancelling the actual Triumph for the next couple of sailings," said Waldron. 

But Kylie thinks this whole problem could have been prevented.

"If that happened during our cruise, they never should have put someone else on the ship," said Kylie.

Fox 25 reached out to Carnival to try to get a statement about the ship's prior problems, but we have not yet heard back. Passenger Says Cruise Ship Had Prior Problems

Posted: Friday, February 15 2013, 05:34 PM CST