2,200 passengers on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas have been sentto Baltimore on charter flights Tuesday afternoon after the ship caught fire.
The Associated Press reported that the fire began at 2:50 a.m. on Monday and was contained about two hours later. There have been no reports on what the cause was immediately and no incidences of inury were reported. A Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said on Tuesday to the AP that she had no updates on when repairs of the ship will take place and cruises through May 31 have been canceled due to the fire.
The ship was on its way to the Bahamas from Baltimore on Friday for a seven night cruise. The ship never lost power, even though the fire occurred, and was able to sail to a port in Freeport, Bahamas Monday afternoon.
"Photos show a substantial area of the stern burned on several decks of the ship the length of about three football fields. The U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board planned to investigate. NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss said the agency has sent one senior investigator to the Bahamas. No other details about the investigation were available Tuesday," reported the AP.
On board the ship Monday, the captain announced that passengers needed to go to their muster stations. The muster station was the ships casino and the crew quickly provided instructions once people were there.
"This encouraged calm amongst the passengers," said pasaenger Mark J. Ormesher to the AP." Passengers were required to remain at their stations for four hours, he said, and the captain "provided us as much information as we needed to stay safe."
Ormesher said that the air conditioner was shut off and bottled water was distributed to the passengers.
A statement on Royal Caribbean's website said that they were "deeply sorry for this unexpected development in our guests' vacation. We understand that this may have been a very stressful time for them. We appreciate their patience and cooperation in dealing with this unfortunate situation."
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