Cruiser fire in Bahamas

Passengers were mustered to assembly points for several hours while the fire was put out – but all 2224 guests and 796 crew were safe and accounted for.

All guests onboard the vessel were due to be flown back to the cruisers starting destination Baltimore in Maryland today.

Royal Caribbean International said in a statement that it will provide each guest with a full refund of the cruise fare and it will be providing each guest with a future cruise certificate which matches the value of the voyage.

The company said it “is deeply sorry for this unexpected development in our guests’ vacation. We understand that this may have been a very stressful time for them. And we also know that it has significantly impacted their vacation experience. We appreciate their patience and cooperation in dealing with this unfortunate situation.”

Grandeur of the Seas was on a seven night sailing that departed Baltimore, Maryland, on 24 May, and had included port calls to Port Canaveral, Florida; CocoCay and Nassau and The Bahamas.

The ship has sustained enough damage for Royal Caribbean to cancel the vessel’s next voyage – the ship was due to set sail again on Friday.

This is the third major fire onboard a cruiser in a little over a year, although the industry says that these incidents are few and far between.

David Peikin, Cruise Lines International Association, said to The Motorship: “Incidents such as Sunday’s are uncommon in the cruise industry and extensive, robust regulatory measures are in place for the cruise industry to ensure passenger and crew safety in the unlikely event a fire occurs.”

In February of this year a Carnival Cruises ship was disabled by an engine fire in the Gulf of Mexico. Back in March 2012 another Royal Caribbean cruiser was forced to cancel a trip when a fire broke out as it left the Philippines bound for Malaysia.