Grand Princess on Fire

[etoile]

I assume this pertains to Princess's Grand Princess and not some other Grand Princess...
From Here: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead9.html

Another cruise ship on fire
published: Tuesday | April 1, 2008
Devon Evans, Gleaner Writer
RUNAWAY BAY, St Ann:
There was what appeared to be a fire on board the cruise ship The Grand Princess, off the coast of Runaway Bay, St Ann, yesterday afternoon.
Residents in the area reported that shortly after 4:20 p.m., they saw the cruise ship come to a halt and thick black smoke billowing from the vessel. This drew the attention of scores of other residents who raised an alarm that the ship was on fire.
The incident happened shortly after The Grand Princess left the Ocho Rios port as part of its regular fortnightly itinerary with reportedly more than 1,500 passengers and crew on-board. The vessel was heading in a westerly direction. On reaching an area off the coast of Salem, Runaway Bay, the vessel came to a halt for about 25 minutes.
Covered in smoke
Some eyewitnesses said at one stage almost the entire vessel was covered in smoke. After the smoke died down the ship appeared to be turning back towards the Ocho Rios area. It then changed course and headed in a northerly direction and after sailing some miles off the coast it again came to a halt and was docked at that location up to press time last night.
The Navigator of the Seas, which also visited Ocho Rios yesterday, was heading westerly yesterday afternoon and stopped briefly near the Grand Princess before continuing on its way. A small vessel which looked like a coastguard boat was in the area close to The Grand Princess for a long while before heading out to sea.

[A Sixth?]

Virtually no one else is reporting a "fire" other than the Gleaner.

In fact the Jamaican Observer is contradicting the Gleaners report.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/..._SHIP_FIRE.asp

It is April 1st..... could this be a Fools Day prank of the worst taste?

[custompcsys]

Nothing about this on MSNBC or the Clinton News Network (CNN). I would hope no one would think this was funny as an April Fool joke

[brucory]

Hope all are ok....

This would be terrifying....

Anyone on board who can update the site?

[sidari]

It is April 1st..... could this be a Fools Day prank of the worst taste?

have to 2nd that....

i am sure if it is true someone from CC will know about it and will have it on the boards direct from the ship.

[dforeigner]

Hopefullly no one hid during the muster drill.

[spongerob]

If it's not on Fox, it's not news.

[flhokie]

Originally Posted by A Sixth?

Virtually no one else is reporting a "fire" other than the Gleaner.

In fact the Jamaican Observer is contradicting the Gleaners report.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/..._SHIP_FIRE.asp

It is April 1st..... could this be a Fools Day prank of the worst taste?

If that's what this ends up being it is definitely in bad taste!!!!!!! I'm scheduled to get married at sea on the Grand on Sunday--needless to say it has caused panic.

[dewats784]

Looking at ********** it shows the Grand in port at Grand Cayman. Thnk this would have hit all the news programs if it were true!

[Jaxsonbrownie]

I found this article at Maritime Matters:


GRAND Smoke?
April 1: Reports have been filtering in about an alleged fire on board GRAND PRINCESS off Jamaica's Runaway Bay. Witnesses were reported seeing the ship come to a halt and thick black smoke issuing from the vessel shortly after GRAND PRINCESS sailed from Ocho Rios port. The ship remained stationary off the coast at nightfall. A little later we got this from the Jamaica Observer: "Later, however, personnel from the JDF Coast Guard reported that there was no fire on board the ship. "There was no fire," the coast guard spokesman said. "The captain said they were checking some minor problems in the engine room and that let off some thick, dark smoke but there was no fire," the spokesman said.

[TheNYPlateMan]

USA Today's cruise log has a post on it:

<quote>
| 17m ago from USA TODAY

Xlarge News outlets in Jamaica this morning are reporting that a fire broke out late Monday on the 2,600-passenger Grand Princess as it sailed away from the island. But the seriousness of the incident -- and even whether it really was a fire -- remains a question.

The Jamaica Gleaner says residents of the Runaway Bay area saw thick black smoke billowing from the vessel shortly after it left Ocho Rios, one of its regular stops. The ship came to a halt for about 25 minutes, the paper says, and "eyewitnesses said at one stage almost the entire vessel was covered in smoke."

The Gleaner says that after the smoke died down the ship appeared to be turning back towards the Ocho Rios area, but then changed course and headed in a northerly direction. "After sailing some miles off the coast it again came to a halt and was docked at that location up to press time last night."

Another Jamaica newspaper, the Jamaica Observer, quotes a pier official who talked with the ship as saying the smoke was the result of an oven fire. But the paper also quotes a spokesperson for the Jamaican Coast Guard who says the ship told them it wasn't a fire.

"The captain said they were checking some minor problems in the engine room, and that let off some thick, dark smoke," the Coast Guard spokesperson told the paper. "But there was no fire."

What really happened? We've placed a call to Princess Cruises. Stay tuned.
</quote>

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/blog.aspx

[TorontoTL]

The Grand's webcam is fine and shows it sailing to Grand Cayman. I hope this is an April Fool's Joke.

[A Sixth?]

Originally Posted by TorontoTL

The Grand's webcam is fine and shows it sailing to Grand Cayman. I hope this is an April Fool's Joke.

The plot does thicken then! (a little)

The Grand schedule shows that she's supposed to be in Grand Cayman by 07:00, that's 08:00 EST.... It's 09:00 and I just checked and she's STILL on her way?

Maybe they are having some sort of issue.....

[Murphey]

Originally Posted by flhokie

If that's what this ends up being it is definitely in bad taste!!!!!!! I'm scheduled to get married at sea on the Grand on Sunday--needless to say it has caused panic.

We'll be on board her too! Congrats on your upcoming wedding! When I first saw this thread, I thought...Uh Oh......glad to hear it's much ado about nothing!

[editor@cruisecritic]

It IS April Fool's Day (and we've already got one "release" from a cruise line with pseudo news and we opted not to publish). And y'all are right, if it's a joke it's in appallingly bad taste.

We've had our UK correspondent contact Princess in Southampton (they're working there versus the U.S. headquarters, which is three hours behind eastern time). She said when she called and talked to a p.r. person there -- "the reaction was the p.r. went into a panic when I said 'fire'. She hadn't heard of it."

Now let's be realistic: cruise ships do have fires (most of which you never hear about, like a small flare up in the kitchen, or boiler room). So there might have been something and it could have been put out quickly.

Just hang tight.... And I second the request: if anyone's on board, please fill us in (have to think if people were on board and there was a serious fire, and they were still onboard, unless the Internet was down, they'd be posting away).

And in the spirit of fun -- there's a little bit of April Fool's that can have some whimsy to it -- do check out our daily poll on the homepage. www.cruisecritic.com.

Best,

Carolyn

Carolyn Spencer Brown
Editor in Chief
Cruise Critic

[JPRLHR]

Latest...

Princess Cruises says the smoke seen billowing from the 2,600-passenger Grand Princess late Monday was the result of an unexpected breakdown of one of the ship's engines, not a fire.

News outlets in Jamaica this morning reported that a fire broke out on the ship as it sailed away from the island. But Princess spokeswoman Julie Benson says nothing ever was burning on the ship.

"Upon departure from Ocho Rios yesterday, one of Grand Princess' engines suddenly stopped, emitting a large amount of smoke into the engine spaces," Benson says. "There was no fire, and the safety of the ship and our passengers was never compromised."

Benson says the breakdown of the engine did affect the ship's speed, causing it to arrive about two hours late this morning at its next port of call, Grand Cayman. She says the line expects the problem with the engine to be fixed before the ship departs Grand Cayman this afternoon.

The Jamaica Gleaner reported this morning that residents of the Runaway Bay area of the island saw thick black smoke billowing from the Grand Princess shortly after it left Ocho Rios, one of its regular stops. The ship came to a halt for about 25 minutes, the paper says, and "eyewitnesses said at one stage almost the entire vessel was covered in smoke."

The Gleaner says that after the smoke died down the ship appeared to be turning back towards the Ocho Rios area, but then changed course and headed in a northerly direction. "After sailing some miles off the coast it again came to a halt and was docked at that location up to press time last night."

Another Jamaica newspaper, the Jamaica Observer, quoted a pier official who talked with the ship as saying the smoke was the result of an oven fire. But the paper also quoted a spokesperson for the Jamaican Coast Guard who says the ship told them it wasn't a fire.

[Princess Chatterer]

Here's a summary of the three press reports so far:

***********************************inde...pic,192.0.html

[georgiavol]

Originally Posted by Murphey

We'll be on board her too! Congrats on your upcoming wedding! When I first saw this thread, I thought...Uh Oh......glad to hear it's much ado about nothing!

You and me both! I about had a cow when I first read this post!

[A Sixth?]

I see she's at Grand Cayman and at anchor. I may stand corrected, but the Grand was LATE getting there.

[lovinbuzz]

Originally Posted by spongerob

If it's not on Fox, it's not propoganda.

Fixed