Cruises cancelled after ship fire
Royal Caribbean has cancelled sailings following a fire on board Grandeur of the Seas.
More than 2,200 guests on board the ship had to go through the emergency drill in the early hours of Monday morning when the fire broke out on a mooring deck.
They were woken just before 3am and were ordered to put on life jackets and go to their muster stations.
Reports in the US media said passengers were terrified as smoke bellowed out while they tried to sleep on deck.
The fire was put out two hours later and nobody was hurt or injured.
The ship, bound for CocoCay in the Bahamas, was diverted to Freeport where it stayed overnight to be evaluated.
The cruise line’s management later went on board to inspect the damage and to meet with guests.
After assessing the damage, the cruise line decided to cancel the rest of the cruise and cancel the next sailing which was due to leave on Friday (May 31).
Passengers affected will receive full refunds plus a 50% future cruise certificate.
The US Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board are to carry out a joint investigation to find the cause of the fire.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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