Cruise ship carrying more than 3,000 people suddenly lost power and drifted for 3 hours at sea

(Dan Tri) - Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Constellation, fully loaded with passengers, suddenly lost all power while traveling in the Ionian Sea, about 40km from the city of Crotone (Southern Italy).

The incident occurred on August 2, when the ship was on an 11-night journey to explore the Mediterranean. At that time, the cruise ship was carrying more than 2,100 passengers and about 1,000 sailors, expected to spend the whole day at sea before docking at the port of Messina (Sicily, Italy).

However, the entire electrical system on the ship suddenly stopped working for about 3 hours, causing the lights, air conditioning, toilets and kitchen to all be paralyzed.

According to Cruise Hive (a cruise information site), after the power outage, the Celebrity Constellation cruise ship's speed dropped to only 1-2 nautical miles/hour (1 nautical mile equals 1,852km), much lower than the normal cruising speed of 24 nautical miles/hour, and drifted for nearly 3 hours.

The Celebrity Constellation cruise ship can accommodate more than 3,000 people (Photo: New York Post).

With the outside temperature approaching 27 degrees Celsius, the air conditioning stopped working, making the space inside the ship quickly become stuffy. When the kitchen could not operate, guests had to switch to cold dinner.

Despite the inconvenience, many passengers said the crew remained professional and kept passengers informed about the situation on board, reassuring them. The ship’s emergency generator system operated as designed, maintaining minimum functions such as emergency lighting, fire detection, and communications.

A representative of Royal Caribbean Group - the parent company of Celebrity Cruises - confirmed to USA Today that the incident stemmed from a "technical issue", but did not disclose the specific cause or repair process.

The ship’s engineering team worked with support on land to restore the electrical system. After about two hours, power was partially restored, but it took some time for the ship to regain full mobility.

The cruise ship's journey departed from Ravenna (Italy) on July 28 and ended in Civitavecchia (Rome, Italy) on August 8.

The ship lost all power while drifting on the ocean (Photo: New York Post).

Power outages at sea are not uncommon and can be caused by a variety of reasons, including electrical failures, engine room problems or software errors, experts say.

Some passengers compared the incident to the Carnival Triumph in 2013 - an incident featured in the Netflix documentary Trainwreck: Poop Cruise - but insisted the experience on the Celebrity Constellation this time was not as severe.

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