Carnival Cruise Lines says yet another one of its ships has experienced problems -- the third this year -- and the ship had to cancel a planned stop and head home instead.

Late Thursday the company said its cruise liner Legend had experienced problems that affected its sailing speed. As a result, a planned stop at Grand Cayman Islands was cancelled and the ship was returning to Tampa, Fla.

The ship is scheduled to arrive in port on Sunday at the conclusion of the seven-day cruise, The Tampa Bay Times reported.

Passengers will receive:

  • A $100 credit;
  • Refunds on pre-purchased shore excursions;
  • Half-off on a future cruise.

It's just the latest round of bad news for Carnival Cruise Lines.

On Thursday the company announced another ship, the Carnival Dream, had experienced problems with an on-board generator while sitting in port at St. Maarten, and passengers were being flown home.

The company denied reports of widespread toilet malfunctions, saying on its website the "alleged toilet system issues" were limited to one public restroom that was shut down for cleaning after an overflow, and one toilet in a guest cabin that required cleaning.

"Aside from that there have been no reports of issues on board with overflowing toilets or sewage. The toilet system had periodic interruptions yesterday evening and was fully restored at approximately 12:30 a.m. this morning," the company said.

Dream passengers were being offered a refund equivalent to the cost of three days on the cruise, and a 50 per cent discount on a future booking.

Carnival has been under the microscope since last month, when more than 4,000 people on board the Carnival Triumph spent five days in the Gulf of Mexico without power or working toilets after an engine room fire. The ship was towed to Mobile, Alabama.

Ross Klein, a cruise industry expert and professor at Memorial University in Newfoundland, said Carnival is desperate to restore its reputation as a trustworthy cruise company.

"Certainly it's going to have a negative impact on the company's image," Klein told CTV's Canada AM. "I've seen, on the discussion forums, people saying 'I'll never go on a Carnival ship' or 'I made a mistake going on a Carnival ship.’ So I think it's definitely going to have a negative impact on the corporate bottom line."

He said Carnival has revealed few details about the two recent incidents, and appears intent on trying to control the flow of information.

The full story won't likely emerge until passengers from both the Legend and Dream are back on home soil and can speak freely about their experience.

"The industry generally doesn't like bad news stories so they'll do everything they can to keep this quiet," he said.

Cruise passengers sign a contract before they board a ship, agreeing to allow the company to change the cruise itinerary when necessary and without notice, Klein said.

As a result, passengers have little legal recourse in the event that a trip is cut short or planned stops are cancelled.

"I think the company thinks they're being fair because they're giving a (partial) refund but I think the reality is people go on a week's vacation and that's precious time and the cruise line isn't recognizing people are losing the vacation time and the vacation experience," he said.

Ross said technical troubles are a common occurrence in the cruise line industry. Between 2000 and 2011 approximately 100 ships went adrift or had technical issues, he said.