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Carnival's 'Ecstasy' back in port after brief power outage

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — The Carnival cruise ship Ecstasy is back in port after a brief power outage at sea.

The Ecstasy was on its way to Port Canaveral when a mechanical issue caused a 12-minute outage.

Carnival announced on Wednesday it's spending $300 million to upgrade its emergency power systems.

Two months ago, Carnival passengers were stranded in the Gulf of Mexico after an engine fire on the ship, Triumph.

The mechanical issue that caused the problem Thursday was fixed quickly and caused little disruption to passengers.

A passenger named Michael told WFTV, "The trip was still fun, just a little bump in the road."

Greg Stanfield, another passenger, said "I wasn't worried. I knew they'd get it back going. No big deal."

The Ecstasy was on the last leg of its five-day cruise to the Bahamas when the outage happened.

According to Carnival, the power went out at about 6 p.m.

All hotel services and propulsion were quickly restored, and the passengers were able to return to port.

Last month, the cruise line had to fly passengers aboard the Carnival Dream home after a generator issue stranded them in St. Maarten.

The Ecstasy's next voyage, a four-day cruise to the Bahamas, is expected to depart Thursday from the port as scheduled.

"One way or another, we're going to be happy!" passenger Terry Scheffsky said.

Carnival Cruise Lines CEO sent an email out to past guests Wednesday informing them of the upgrades coming to Carnival's fleet and thanking them for their loyalty.