Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Suffers 'Rare' Power Outage, Forces Boat Back To Port

A cruise ship named “Celebrity Solstice” and owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises lost power at sea and had to sail back to Seattle port for a detailed inspection before it could resume the journey after five hours.

The ship was going on an Alaska cruise. Owen Torres, a spokesman for Royal Caribbean Cruises, said the ship had a complete power blackout for about 10 minutes.

The luxury cruise ship had 4,331 people on board. No injuries have been reported from power failure.

The incident reportedly took place at around 5.15 p.m. when the cruise ship was near to Kingston, Washington.

Alaska cruise

The ship had to dock at many Alaskan locations including Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway before stopping at Canada’s British Columbia.

Celebrity Solstice had to pick passengers going on a round-cruise trip from Seattle on a week-long journey.

The cruise ship was supposed to be back in Seattle on 26 July, according to the industry website, Crew-Center.com.

No update was available if the return to Seattle will be delayed by the cruise ship's new itinerary.

According to the industry website, the ship will have another inspection before it gets back to a new duty.

Peter McGraw, maritime media officer for the Seattle port, called the incident “very rare” and said he could not recall a similar incident as far as the Port of Seattle is concerned.

“I’ve only been doing this 10 years, but in the years that we’ve been handling cruise ships … there are some occasional minor incidents like this, but it’s pretty rare.”

The ship was summoned for detailed inspection

Celebrity Solstice, after departing from the cruise terminal had an engine misfire and a power surge snapping its power supply in the ship, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Trevor Lilburn.

“I do not see this very often as far as cruise ships go,” said Lilburn.

For safety reasons, the Coast Guard wanted the cruise ship back at the port for a thorough inspection, Lilburn said.

The ship was able to restart and returned to the port accompanied by a tug boat that guarded against any further power failure, the Coast Guard official added.

Back at the port by 8 p.m. and, the inspection team of Coast Guard and classification society inspectors worked on the ship. They gave the clearance to leave at 1 a.m. Saturday, Lilburn said.

No follow-up inspections have been suggested, he added.

“That was the inspection for the captain of the port to authorize their departure,” Lilburn said.

The spokesman updated on Monday that the ship is operating well.

Torres noted that it was out of excessive caution that a detailed inspection by the United States Coast Guard was planned to verify the ship’s operational safety.