On Grandeur now..

[Great Stone Face]

Royal Caribbean PR ‏@RoyalCaribPR

We will provide an update regarding future sailings on #GrandeuroftheSeas as soon as the information is available

 

Royal Caribbean PR ‏@RoyalCaribPR

Guests on #GrandeuroftheSeas’ sailing will receive a full refund of the cruise fare as well as a future cruise certificate

 

@RoyalCaribbean is currently arranging flights for all guests onboard #GrandeuroftheSeas to return to Baltimore, Maryland tomorrow.

 

Royal Caribbean PR ‏@RoyalCaribPR@RoyalCaribbean has assessed the damage onboard #GrandeuroftheSeas and made the decision to cancel the rest of this voyage.

 

 

[Daghis]

Is your husband still on the ship? You must be so worried!

He was when we last "spoke" (texting back and forth). I know he's doing okay, at least as well as can be expected under the circumstances, so I'm not (too) worried.

[emeraldcity]

Hi guys : ) I'm back and full of Kalik! We have to drink off the ship due to prt regulation. Anyway...I know you have see the pics and the compensation package is generous. Flying home tomm...not sure what time. I'm thinking OCMD for the rest of my 15th wedding anniversary? Sad but it could have been much much worse. Ran into Sonny...a few times over the cruise...thinking of roasting weinies off his melted aft balcony : ). Sorry for all of those that will share in our interrupted vacation sadness on cruises to come. We are having a buffet on the pool deck since we can't use the MDR.

 

Thank you for the update. DD and I figured the MDR was out of commission. We haven't unpacked yet, and we're searching for an alternative cruise. We're just waiting to get the official cancellation communication from RCI.

 

Thank you for your concerns about us future cruisers, but we've been much more worried about you and the current cruisers. I hope you got some sleep today.

[wingatesl]

Hi guys : ) I'm back and full of Kalik! We have to drink off the ship due to prt regulation. Anyway...I know you have see the pics and the compensation package is generous. Flying home tomm...not sure what time. I'm thinking OCMD for the rest of my 15th wedding anniversary? Sad but it could have been much much worse. Ran into Sonny...a few times over the cruise...thinking of roasting weinies off his melted aft balcony : ). Sorry for all of those that will share in our interrupted vacation sadness on cruises to come. We are having a buffet on the pool deck since we can't use the MDR.

 

Glad to hear they are taking care of you guys. Have they said anything about your stay in Baltimore?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Matzoh Ball]

Thanks to Poet, for the helpful information. I am not sure why others get so defensive, with regard to Royal Caribbean. I have sailed on RCI, several times, and have been very satisfied. However, if I am sailing with family members, at any age, I would want them to be with ME, in the event of an emergency. I do trust RCI crew, and have great experiences with them, but would prefer to entrust my families safety to myself, not anyone else.

[Brandonclan]

Hi guys : ) I'm back and full of Kalik! We have to drink off the ship due to prt regulation. Anyway...I know you have see the pics and the compensation package is generous. Flying home tomm...not sure what time. I'm thinking OCMD for the rest of my 15th wedding anniversary? Sad but it could have been much much worse. Ran into Sonny...a few times over the cruise...thinking of roasting weinies off his melted aft balcony : ). Sorry for all of those that will share in our interrupted vacation sadness on cruises to come. We are having a buffet on the pool deck since we can't use the MDR.

 

Very happy that everyone is O.K. Looks like you are making the best of a bad situation. Thank you for your live posts from the ship!

[chengkp75]

There is (what appears) some warped steel on the exterior deck(5?) closer to the side in this photo. It looks like it was a pretty hot fire. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BLSoB7mCAAAsA6s.jpg:large

 

 

 

They are handling it pretty well. RCI was much more fortunate though in that the fire wasn't in the engine room or crippled the ships ability to move.

 

People are really jumping the gun with smokers. For this to happen (especially from a pax) every circumstance had to fall in place. I've never seen any smoker on a cruise ship flick a still burning butt. We've all seen the trashy habit of people flicking them out of cars, but I get the impression people tend to be more responsible about it on a cruise.

 

I do like to speculate though. If I had to guess, I'd say electrical short or welding fire that set something highly combustible ablaze. I wonder if the mooring rope motor shorted and went up.

 

While I've said that I don't believe a cigarette caused this, both passengers and crew tossing lit butts overboard is a very common occurrence.

 

I really doubt that the seat of the fire was the mooring deck, as you would really need an accelerant to get mooring lines to ignite. As I posted earlier, the bosun store, laundry, or crew galley are more likely. The mooring winches, even if electric, would not have gone up in smoke in the middle of the night, as they are shut down when not docking/undocking. Some of the winches are hydraulic driven, with a motor and pump in a separate location, so this would be even more unlikely.

 

We used to use a training video at NCL that showed a "typical" ship cabin mock-up where a candle was placed on a couch. Within 15 minutes, the temperature in the cabin was 600*C, and the atmosphere in the cabin flashed over. NCL had a similar fire to this video on one of their ships in a crew cabin, and the entire cabin was destroyed, but the adjoining cabins only had smoke and water damage.

[Ocean Boy]

Thanks to Poet, for the helpful information. I am not sure why others get so defensive, with regard to Royal Caribbean. I have sailed on RCI, several times, and have been very satisfied. However, if I am sailing with family members, at any age, I would want them to be with ME, in the event of an emergency. I do trust RCI crew, and have great experiences with them, but would prefer to entrust my families safety to myself, not anyone else.

 

I don't think that people are getting defensive. She raised a great point that we should all be aware of. However, the system works a certain way and those that have issues with it have to learn how to work with it as it isn't going to change in order to accommodate any of our individual needs.

[Matzoh Ball]

I agree. I will confirm that our two cabins are on the same muster station. I think that it is only normal to want to be with your family, if something like this were to happen.

[SRQSally]

Why were the passengers on Grandeur passing out, etc? Were the

seas rough or because they were frightened?

 

Glad everyone is safe. Is the first fire on RC?

[cruzette]

Why were the passengers on Grandeur passing out, etc? Were the

seas rough or because they were frightened?

 

Glad everyone is safe. Is the first fire on RC?

one press release said ONE person passed out because of a blood pressure issue. press release also said seas were calm.

[wingatesl]

I don't think that people are getting defensive. She raised a great point that we should all be aware of. However, the system works a certain way and those that have issues with it have to learn how to work with it as it isn't going to change in order to accommodate any of our individual needs.

 

Said far better than I could have. Thank you!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Matzoh Ball]

Once again, I agree with Poet. Is it unreasonable to ask RCI to put two adjoining cabins on the same muster station? I say NO! If cabins are booked together and adjoining, they should be on the same station, every time. RCI will book two minors in an adjoining cabin. What would happen in that situation? I am amazed at people who would show more loyalty to a cruise line, that takes our money, than show loyalty to passengers that make their family a priority! Incredible!

[Living in MD]

In the event of a fire on a ship, are the elevators disabled? I'm supposed to take my elderly mother on a cruise in 2014. She's all worked up over the news about the Grandeur, she can't take stairs. I told her RCI would have to have a procedure for the handicapped.

 

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk HD

[wingatesl]

Why were the passengers on Grandeur passing out, etc? Were the

seas rough or because they were frightened?

 

Glad everyone is safe. Is the first fire on RC?

 

There are tons of fires on ships. I would be willing to bet that there are double digits per year. This serious? I think princess was the last one.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[jflanders06]

How long do you think it will be to repair the grandeur?

[chengkp75]

Why were the passengers on Grandeur passing out, etc? Were the

seas rough or because they were frightened?

 

Glad everyone is safe. Is the first fire on RC?

 

While I don't have definite statistics, I'm fairly confident that this is not the first fire on RC. Many fires onboard are dealt with by the crew in such a manner that the General Alarm is not sounded. I was Staff Chief Engineer on cruise ships, and as such my emergency duty was to be the "on scene" commander for all fire and emergency teams. The Captain would normally ask my opinion as to whether or not the situation required sounding the General Alarm and having the passeners muster.

 

I don't know if this is common knowledge, given the wide variance of cruising experience here, but the "code" announcements made are usually shipboard emergencies, and the crew mobilizes to deal with it..

[wingatesl]

Once again, I agree with Poet. Is it unreasonable to ask RCI to put two adjoining cabins on the same muster station? I say NO! If cabins are booked together and adjoining, they should be on the same station, every time. RCI will book two minors in an adjoining cabin. What would happen in that situation? I am amazed at people who would show more loyalty to a cruise line, that takes our money, than show loyalty to passengers that make their family a priority! Incredible!

 

It is not about loyalty, it is about the facts. Does it suck? Absolutely. Should they do better? Absolutely. Is it their responsibility? NO.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Ocean Boy]

How long do you think it will be to repair the grandeur?

 

No one even knows the extent of the damage so any answer to your question is pure speculation.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Hi guys : ) I'm back and full of Kalik! We have to drink off the ship due to prt regulation. Anyway...I know you have see the pics and the compensation package is generous. Flying home tomm...not sure what time. I'm thinking OCMD for the rest of my 15th wedding anniversary? Sad but it could have been much much worse. Ran into Sonny...a few times over the cruise...thinking of roasting weinies off his melted aft balcony : ). Sorry for all of those that will share in our interrupted vacation sadness on cruises to come. We are having a buffet on the pool deck since we can't use the MDR.

 

Sorry about your 15th wedding anniversary cruise ending up in sad terms.

Have a safe flight home and hope you can do some kind of a celebration once you are home.

[skipop]

Spoke to the Wife who was on board and she pretty much confirmed all the above. It was a pain to stand in Muster for that long, but passengers were good for the most part and crew did a great job. She said it was pretty nerve wracking to watch the lifeboats be readied. On a humerous (ironic?) note, she said at dinner last night (or the night before), the music group in the dining room played the Celine Dion song from Titantic and everyone at her table was looking at each other in humerous disbelief they would play that song. So, I blame the music group, not a mythical smoker.

 

As for the future cruise "certificate" offered as part compensation, are those equal to the value of full cruise or could RCl just be giving a $100 certificate in addition to the refund?

[BeachChik]

Once again, I agree with Poet. Is it unreasonable to ask RCI to put two adjoining cabins on the same muster station? I say NO! If cabins are booked together and adjoining, they should be on the same station, every time. RCI will book two minors in an adjoining cabin. What would happen in that situation? I am amazed at people who would show more loyalty to a cruise line, that takes our money, than show loyalty to passengers that make their family a priority! Incredible!

 

I don't think it has anything to do with loyalty to the cruise line. It comes down to what is a reasonable request and what is not. Asking them to change around muster stations to accommodate people with multiple cabins is not going to happen. And I doubt if you called their customer service they would be able to provide this information.

[skittl1321]

There are tons of fires on ships. I would be willing to bet that there are double digits per year. This serious? I think princess was the last one.

 

 

Wouldn't Triumph have been the last one?

 

In the event of a fire on a ship, are the elevators disabled? I'm supposed to take my elderly mother on a cruise in 2014. She's all worked up over the news about the Grandeur, she can't take stairs. I told her RCI would have to have a procedure for the handicapped.

 

They'll definitely have a procedure in place. Not the same thing, but I worked at a three story school, and we had specific teachers assigned to go to stairwells and CARRY wheelchairs down the stairs. Motorized wheelchairs were left and we carried the people (one was an adult- another teacher), manual wheelchairs were carried with people in them. Cruise ships know they have to deal with people with mobility issues, and safety of passengers is top concern. It must be really stressful on a cruise ship though, with only few exceptions (bathroom breaks?) a school knows where the people in wheel chairs will be at certain times. However, while getting to the muster station ASAP is paramount, there hasn't been an emergency at sea that had a 'only minutes' sort of urgency to it in recent memory.

[chengkp75]

In the event of a fire on a ship, are the elevators disabled? I'm supposed to take my elderly mother on a cruise in 2014. She's all worked up over the news about the Grandeur, she can't take stairs. I told her RCI would have to have a procedure for the handicapped.

 

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk HD

 

Yes, the elevators will be disabled, but usually only within the vertical fire zone where the alarm originated. In order to prevent "chimney effect", the elevator is programmed to move to the middle most deck (6 to 8) and stop there to act as a fire block.

 

Normally, the elevators in other zones will not be disabled, but the crew will normally direct passengers not to use them, as loss of power could trap people. Your best bet will be to go to Guest Services upon boarding, and let them know of your mother's situation. They will assign extra crew to ensure that she is out of her cabin, and will most likely respond with a wheelchair to either get her to an elevator or they will wheel her down the stairs. They will also let you know of any "special needs" muster location, usually indoors, and with seating available for those that need it.

[Cru1s1ng2009]

In the event of a fire on a ship, are the elevators disabled? I'm supposed to take my elderly mother on a cruise in 2014. She's all worked up over the news about the Grandeur, she can't take stairs. I told her RCI would have to have a procedure for the handicapped.

 

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk HD

No worries my dear. My DD is a full time wheelchair user and they have many plans in place to get them safely downstairs, on the life boat etc. I have seen them simulate an evacuation of a disabled person up the stairs and to the life boat. It was great to watch them do this, as it made her feel safe that if an emergency happened, she would be fine. We just happened to be getting off the elevator when they were performing this and spoke with the official in charge. It was awesome!