Splendor looking splendid again

After weeks of repair work, cruise ship Carnival Splendor – crippled by an engine room fire in November – has left its repair dock in San Francisco. Final tests of its new generator and fire prevention systems will be carried out this week, ready for it to return to action, carrying passengers on a cruise from Long Beach to the Mexican Riviera, on Sunday.
Back on board is senior cruise director John Heald, who did so much to keep 3,500 passengers calm during the days immediately following the fire, when the ship was adrift without power and while it was under tow to San Diego.
About half the crew on the ship were also aboard during the crisis – the remainder are now on leave – and John reports in his latest blog: “There is a special camaraderie between the crew who were here during the fire and I expect there always will be.”
Repair work has involved the replacement of a huge diesel generator – flown to California in the world’s biggest cargo plane, an Antonov An-25 (above), and installed through a hole cut in the side of the ship (below). Engineers have also replaced 200 miles of cabling.
Furniture, fittings and acres of carpets which deteriorated during weeks without air-conditioning have also been ripped out and replaced, and John says the two-year-old ship is now almost like new again.
“Some of the busiest people are Linda the housekeeping manager and her team who are now slowly getting the cabins prepared for guests once again as well as deep cleaning all the public lounges. Everything, I mean everything, is covered in plastic sheeting. Chairs, carpet, fixtures, decking, glass doors, stairwells, cabin stewards. This covering will only come off the day before we arrive into Long Beach.
In amongst his report on the preparations to return Splendor to service, John finds time to pay tribute to cruise writer Steve Read, who died last week. And if you turn to John’s blog, I urge you to read right to the end.