Another Carnival cruise halted by equipment failure

PHILIPSBURG, ST. MAARTEN Passengers from the Carnival Dream were heading to the airport Thursday instead of sailing home after an onboard generator problem halted their trip in the latest maintenance headache for the world's largest cruise line.

The Dream was in St. Maarten on the final stop of seven-day Caribbean cruise when the crew announced that they would not be sailing home to Port Canaveral, Florida, because of a mechanical issue with a diesel generator, passengers said.

Several passengers told The Associated Press that power and water were out for about 10-20 minutes on Wednesday evening, contradicting media reports of longer outages and unsanitary conditions.

"We have toilets. We have water. It's no different than a regular day at sea," said 31-year-old Tasha Larson of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after disembarking with her boyfriend to spend the day in St. Maarten.

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Passengers Mary and Terry Washington of Tampa, Florida, said the generator malfunction gave them an additional day to spend in St. Maarten. "The plumbing is fine. The food is fine. Everything is fine," Mary Washington said.

Carnival Cruise Lines said the ship encountered a technical issue with its backup emergency diesel generator during the scheduled port and that they would make arrangements for the 3,646 passengers aboard the stranded ship Dream to fly home.

The Dream's March 16 voyage from Port Canaveral has been canceled.

An engine fire crippled the Carnival Triumph in February, leaving 4,200 stranded for five days without working toilets or power.