One of Celebrity Cruises' oldest ships was reportedly left drifting off the coast of Italy after suffering a major power outage over the weekend.
Celebrity Constellation was sailing past Italy on Saturday, Aug. 2, when the vessel lost power due to a "technical issue."
Consequently, the ship was left without electricity or air conditioning for nearly three hours, USA TODAY reported.
Royal Caribbean Group, Celebrity Cruises' parent company, didn't specify what caused the outage or what repairs were required.
Celebrity Constellation was sailing to Messina, Sicily, from Kotor, Montenegro, when it lost power. Cruise Hive reported that satellite tracking data showed the ship's speed dropped to as low as 1.1 mph during the incident, which was far below the speed necessary to reach Messina.
Messina was the 5th port of call on Celebrity Constellation's 11-night cruise from Ravenna, Italy, to Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy, concluding on Aug. 8.
Although the cruise ship was without power for hours, the vessel was close enough to Italy's coast so guests could use their cell signal.
"One hour in and it’s HOT," wrote one passenger on an r/celebritycruises Reddit thread, "[The outage] lasted almost three hours, 5:50 pm to 8:30 pm which was enough time for the bathrooms in public areas to nearly overflow."
"Heat was high inside and everyone was outdoors. Luckily power was restored by 8:30 PM just after the sun went down. A few passengers had a harder time than others, particularly those who depended on the elevators and were stuck in the dining room," they added.
Guests were also served cold food for dinner since the kitchens couldn't fully operate without power.
"No food, dinner is not being served only the cold food, bathrooms don’t flush, AC doesn’t work, lights are all out," NewUnderstanding7054 wrote on Reddit.
Another Celebrity ship suffered an unfortunate power outage last month
A reported electrical fire led to a "total blackout" onboard Celebrity Infinity in July, leaving the cruise ship stranded in Turkey. The blackout affected the air conditioning, elevators, onboard communication systems, and galleys.
Initally, passengers were told they'd hopefully depart Turkey on July 9, two days after the fire. However, the ship was stuck in Kusadasi until Friday, July 11.
As such, the remaining ports of call — Mykonos, Greece; Kavala, Greece; and Thessaloniki, Greece — were cancelled. Thankfully, Celebrity Infinity returned to Piraeus (Athens), Greece, as scheduled for disembarkation.
Read more: Fire disables cruise ship in the Mediterranean, leaving thousands of passengers stranded in Turkey
To compensate for the disrupted cruise itinerary, Celebrity provided guests with a 50% refund of their cruise fare as a refundable onboard credit and an additional 50% as a future cruise credit (FCC).
The cruise line also planned complimentary shore excursions in Turkey for guests to explore beyond Kusadasi and Ephesus.
Celebrity Constellation and Celebrity Infinity are two of Celebrity's oldest cruise ships
The two back-to-back incidents have raised questions about the reliability and maintenance of these aging cruise ships.
"Constellation and Infinity are brand-damaging [and] embarrassing at this point," wrote one person on Reddit.
Another added, "[Celebrity Constellation and Infinity] are shabby…as much as the cultists don’t want to hear it. It’s time to either retire, sell or completely refurbish them like they did Summit and Millennium. They are an embarrassment to the wonderful Celebrity brand."
"We were on [Constellation] in May. I completely agree. It was the worst Celebrity ship we’ve been on. After that cruise my husband said he’s done with Celebrity. It’s the first time we haven’t pre-booked our next cruise," someone else commented.
Elizabeth Wright
Elizabeth graduated from New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute with her M.A. in Journalism in May 2023. Growing up, she traveled frequently with her family and fell in love with cruising after sailing on the Oasis of the Seas during her freshman year of high school. Having sailed on over 30 cruises across different lines, including Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC, Margaritaville at Sea, and Princess, she loves sharing her insight and expertise on all things cruising!
