Carnival Apologizes After IT Issues Disrupt Sailings

Carnival Cruise Line has issued an apology following a series of IT problems that recently impacted several of its ships operating in North America.

As we previously reported, the technical issues caused departure delays on multiple vessels on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2026.

“I need to give an apology to those who were affected,” said Carnival’s Brand Ambassador John Heald in a video message, explaining that the disruptions occurred during scheduled maintenance, leading to longer-than-expected debarkation and embarkation processes for guests.

“It affected navigation and safety systems, so we couldn’t do anything or have the ships leaving until everything was back working again.”

Heald noted that Carnival sent text messages and voicemail updates to impacted guests and, in some cases, had to manually account for passengers leaving the ships. To confirm successful disembarkation, the company collected guests’ cabin keys, a process that contributed to extended wait times for both those departing and those boarding.

“For embarking guests, I know that by now, you are all cocooned in a symphony of fun from our wonderful crew members,” Heald said, while thanking guests for their patience and understanding.

He also confirmed that Carnival’s HUB App was affected as part of the broader IT outage. According to Heald, Carnival’s technical teams were still “working very hard to get everything back working again,” adding that “some things were still to be corrected” as of Monday morning.

“I can tell you that the ships will keep you informed directly, and for those people joining ships today, I promise if there are any changes or anything we need to let you know about, that Chris and his communications team will do so in the usual way,” he said.