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Passengers on board Carnival cruise ships and those preparing to embark on Carnival cruises on Feb. 9 are facing challenges after planned system maintenance on Feb. 8 didn’t go as the cruise line expected.
For some Carnival passengers, the technology issues further delayed cruises that were already delayed by one day due to unfavorable weather conditions in Baltimore and Norfolk, Va.
Carnival’s technology problems aren’t just delaying ship departures, however. Passengers are reporting issues with the Carnival HUB app and other systems, which are affecting their onboard experiences.
Although Carnival is working diligently to resolve its technology issues, the cruise line is facing continued difficulties that are impacting both passengers currently on board its ships and those setting sail on Feb. 9.
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Carnival Cruise Line dealing with fleetwide IT issues, system outages
As of the morning of Feb. 9, Carnival Cruise Line is continuing to experience IT issues that are impacting operations and the passenger experience on board ships across its fleet.
Although the issues are impacting systems used on board and during embarkation and debarkation operations, Carnival assures passengers that the issues are not affecting navigation and safety systems on board its ships.
“Carnival is experiencing some IT issues that occurred during planned maintenance, resulting in the delay of debarkation and embarkation of guests, as well as slowing down some other technology tools. Navigation and safety systems are working. We appreciate our guests’ patience and encourage embarking guests to watch their emails, text, and phone call messages for updates,” a message posted on Carnival.com states.
Related: Bahamas cruises impacted by rough winter weather
As Carnival passengers wait for updates from the cruise line on its IT issues, many are reaching out to the cruise line’s brand ambassador, John Heald, for more information via his popular Facebook page where he answers questions from passengers each day.
In addition to embarkation and debarkation delays, passengers writing to Heald on his Facebook page are reporting issues accessing the Carnival HUB app that’s used for the cruise activity schedule, restaurant reservations, messaging with others on board, and more.
With the HUB app down, passengers on board Carnival cruise ships are currently cruising “old school” style without all their cruise information available at their fingertips. And with onboard systems down, crew members must resort to manual processes to maintain service as well as to track passenger embarkation and debarkation.
Carnival brand ambassador addresses IT issues
As the cruise line continues to work to get all of its systems back online, Heald posted the following Facebook message about the IT issues on the morning of Feb. 9.
“With regard to the IT issues that so many of you have written about to me already this morning please know the following. [Carnival IT teams] are working very hard to get everything back working again as I know there are some things at the time of me writing this that are still to be corrected. 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 and I will keep you informed here as well. Thank you so much for your understanding.”
The system issues are causing delayed embarkation for at least one Carnival cruise departing on Feb. 9. In a separate post, Heald noted that check-in times for Carnival Glory’s embarkation at Port Canaveral, Fla. are being pushed back by two hours.
Related: Get to know your cruise ship crew members
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This story was originally published by TravelHost on Feb 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the Come Cruise With Me section. Add TravelHost as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
