Just over two weeks ago, social media went into a frenzy with stunning images of a fire aboard Carnival Freedom.
The ship, which was docked in Grand Turk alongside Carnival’s Mardi Gras, had its funnel erupt in flame. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the fire was able to be put out relatively quickly. In the aftermath, however, the damage looked extensive.
Of course, the most immediate question was how to get the 2,500 passengers on the ship at the time back home to Port Canaveral. Carnival opted to cancel a cruise on a sister-ship, Carnival Conquest, and then sail it to Grand Turk where it picked up passengers and took them back to Florida.
From there, Carnival Freedom went to Freeport in The Bahamas for repairs. And while the damage looked like it might take a lengthy time to repair, Carnival announced that the “technical repair” is complete and the ship will return to service from Port Canaveral this weekend. The first cruise will be a five-day trip to Nassau, Princess Cays, and back to Grand Turk.
However, it seems the repaired funnel might look a little different than Carnival fans are used to seeing. The iconic red, white, and blue paint job is there, but the “wings” on the well-known funnel are not seen in images and video that Carnival released.
You can see the funnel in relation to the ship itself in the drone footage that Carnival posted:
No matter if the funnel looks like the rest of the fleet or not, it’s likely that Carnival and passengers will be happy that the ship is already back in service just weeks after a dramatic fire that looked like it could have meant Freedom being out of service for much longer.
