Economy

Carnival Splendor To Be Fixed In San Diego

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published November 11, 2010 at 9:01 AM PST

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

The Carnival cruise ship Splendor will remain in San Diego to be repaired.

Once all the passengers have disembarked, an army of engineers and investigators will descend on the ship to figure out what happened, and what to do next.

Carnival Cruises says rather than tow the vessel somewhere else, the company will get it fixed in San Diego. Until the investigation is complete, it is unclear whether the fix will take a few weeks or a few months.

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The ship, which was put into service just two years ago, was built in northern Italy. Parts may need to be imported.

Several ship building contractors in San Diego are well equipped to do the job, including General Dynamics Nassco, BEA and Continental Maritime.

A spokesman for Nassco says they stand ready to help, but so far they have not been asked.

Port district officials say the 1,000-foot-long vessel can remain in its current cruise ship berth on the Embarcadero for the next few days. But other cruise ships are due to dock there on November 20th. They would like the vessel moved as soon as possible.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.