Carnival Cruise Ship Delays Departure After Loss of Power Just Miles from Port

Carnival Sunshine is currently on a 6-day sailing out of Norfolk, Virginia that was supposed to leave port Sunday afternoon.

But on the way back to Norfolk after an 8-day cruise, the 3,000-passenger ship started experiencing some trouble.

As the ship approached Chesapeake Bay, the vessel lost propulsion and the lights went out, just a few miles from the Bridge-Tunnel complex.

A Late Wake-Up Call

According to a user on Reddit who was on the ship, the power failure hit around 1:55 AM, cutting off propulsion and some other systems on board.

While most passengers might have slept through it, the Captain and Cruise Director made a ship-wide announcement at 2:20 AM to make sure everyone knew what was going on.

This move surprised some but was probably just a safety precaution.

One passenger noted that for many, the only sign of trouble (other than the announcement) was the silence when the AC fans stopped:

“Most people never would’ve known the power went out… 5 minutes after he announced that the AC fans kicked back on.”

Safety First

Even though the outage only lasted a few minutes, the crew responded quickly. Passengers reported that crews were at every elevator within 15 minutes to make sure no one was trapped.

It should also be noted that atrium elevators were kept running on emergency power.

The Coast Guard Steps In

The ship’s engineers restored power by 2:45 AM, but the U.S. Coast Guard wasn’t taking any chances.

According to some passengers, they denied the ship entry into the bay until tugboats arrived to escort her.  The ship was under its own power by then, but the tugboats were on standby just in case.

“Can’t blame VA either [for denying access]! Much better safe than sorry,” one comment stated.

Despite the technical hiccup and the lack of Wi-Fi (which forced some cruisers to rely on expensive satellite roaming), the mood on board remained fairly positive.

Even though power was restored some non-essential systems on the ship were not fully operational.

Passengers praised the crew for their hard work and running everything smoothly throughout the incident.

Delay and Likely Itinerary Change

Since Carnival Sunshine was not able to dock in Norfolk until 11:30AM, Carnival sent out a notice for the upcoming guests that there would be a slight delay.

The notice stated that because the ship was sailing later than originally planned “it is likely that our voyage plan will be impacted. Carnival Sunshine’s Captain, Antonio Gargiulo, and our Fleet Operations Center are reviewing the alternatives and will have an update for you later this evening.”

Carnival Sunshine ended up departing around 6:00PM on Sunday.

Lunch on the House for Incoming Guests

Since the ship was delayed in returning to port, guests on the upcoming cruise were also delayed and were either stuck in the terminal or were waiting in the city. 

To help make up for this inconvenience, Carnival gave these guests $25 of onboard credit to cover lunch while they waited to board.

Carnival Sunshine is scheduled to return to Norfolk on March 7, 2026.  There have been no statements regarding what may have caused the temporary power outage, and according to ship tracking data with Cruisemapper, the vessel is currently traveling at 18 knots as it heads south.