Smoke aboard Carnival cruise ship causes panic among passengers

Company denies there was ever fire

MIAMI – Troy McCarty was one of the nearly 3,000 passengers nearing the end of their western Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Sensation when reports of a fire caused a panic early Monday.

"The fire alarms didn't go off at all, and I didn't see any crew members," McCarty said. "My sister-in-law was beating on our door a little after 3 this morning, saying, 'Get out! There's a fire!'"

Photos snapped by McCarty show crew members wearing fire gear and passengers evacuated to the main deck. 

"You couldn't even see in front of you 6 (feet) when you exited the room, and it was hard to breathe," McCarty said.

It was the second major incident aboard the same journey. Just the day before, the ship skipped a planned stop in Mexico so the U.S. Coast Guard could airlift a sick worker to a hospital.

"We've never had it like this before," McCarty said. "I mean, there was always a little something, but not like this."

Carnival Cruise Line apologized to the upset passengers, but the company denied there had been a fire on board. The company said smoke was coming from a housekeeping storage area when first responders arrived, and that there was no fire.

But McCarty, an avid cruiser, isn't buying that statement.

"Where there's smoke, there's fire," he said.


About the Author:

Terrell Forney joined Local 10 News in October 2005 as a general assignment reporter. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, but a desire to escape the harsh winters of the north brought him to South Florida.