15-Yr Anniversary (March 23rd): Fire on Star Princess

[drumline13]

Hi everyone,

 

Today is the 15-yr anniversary of the Star Princess fire. I can't believe how quickly this time has flown by. I hope this posts finds all my March 2006 Star Princess cruise mates doing well!

 

I dug up my post from March 2006, which I posted a few days after returning home from the fire cruise (see below).  I believe these posts get deleted after 10 years or so, so I am reposting this so that it doesn't get lost any time soon!

 

 

My original post from March 2006 follows:

 

Hi all,

 

My fiance and I were on the Star Princess when it caught fire on Thursday morning. I would like to share my experience with this message board (this was our first cruise). This may get a little long, but I don't want to miss anything...

 

 

THE EXPERIENCE:

 

We were located on the Aloha Deck (deck 12) in the 200 section of the opposite side of the ship from the fire.

 

At a little after 3am on Thursday morning (March 23rd, 2006), I was woken by the sound of the fire/emergency alarm. My fiance, who was already up at the time, yelled, "What the hell is going on?", and I ran out to the balcony to see if the alarm was sounding on the other floors, and sure enough, it was.

 

So, I opened the door to the hall, and I immediately saw two uniformed crew members running by at full speed. At this moment, we knew that something was up, so we threw on some clothes, grabbed our life vests and valuables, and headed out the door. We had practiced the "emergency drill" on Sunday, so we knew that we should head down to our 7th floor muster station (Muster Station A: Princess Theater).

 

We headed to the nearby stairwell and began our descent. When we reached the 11th floor, we saw someone come through the closed fire door on the port side of the ship, and when the door opened, a floor-to-ceiling THICK BLACK cloud of smoke came pouring out and down the hall, and this confirmed that there was already a bad fire blazing.

 

As we headed down to our muster station, we noticed that crew members were ALREADY STATIONED on all the floors at the stairwells to guide passengers down. These crew members were as nervous as we were (thought they did not show it), but they made it very clear that their number one priority was to protect the passengers. The speed at which these crew members reached their assigned "posts" was phenomenal. I will comment more on the amazing crew later...

 

When we reached the 7th floor, we filled the Princess Theater with approximately 800-1000 other people (just an estimate). The crew members in the theater helped seat the passengers, and immediately, Donna (Williams, I believe), our incredible muster station leader, spoke over the speaker system to help keep passengers calm.

 

As we sat in the theater, we listened to the many updated messages by the captain regarding the state/location of the fire. We were also able to hear the announcements that were made telling the various fire-fighting crew members which floors/rooms to which they should report. As passengers, we were very pleased that the captain, who was always very calm, kept us updated on what was happening above. We did feel a little uneasy when the captain announced that the lifeboats were being lowered as a precautionary measure, but the calmness of his voice kept us all in-check. The captain also announced that the ship was being slowed down and spun around so that the directional wind would blow the flames away from the ship.

 

At somewhere around 5am, the captain announced that the fire was finally put out, and the theater filled with applause and cheers from the passengers! The ship was spun back around, and we continued the trip to Jamaica. Donna performed a multi-hour roll-call in our muster station, and crew members retrieved medications and water for those passengers in need (one note: more water should have been made available, as the amount of water brought in for THAT many passengers was minimal. The A/C was shut down to keep the smoke from passing through the ship's vents, so the theater was very warm.). Other crew members retrieved fans for the theater, and others excorted passengers to the restrooms.

 

At around 10am, the captain announced that my half of the ship could return to our rooms, and he also announced that breakfast was going to be served. To our amazement, while we all sat in the muster stations, the dining staff was hard at work to make breakfast available for ALL passengers at the time we were released from the muster station. This was another sign that Princess values their passengers above all else...

 

Our room was, luckily, not affected by the fires. We did not even smell smoke in our room, so it was very obvious that the emergency fire doors kept the fire/smoke contained on the port side of the ship.

 

When we turned on the TV in our room, we immediately heard that CNN was broadcasting the news about the ship, so we phoned home (yes, the cell phone worked from Montego Bay) to alert our families. We ate breakfast, and after a few hours, we were allowed to leave the ship to tour Jamaica. That night, at 8:30pm, we ate dinner at Sabatini's (the Italian specialty restaurant for which we had made reservations when we first boarded the ship), and the waitstaff, who had all been up with us since 3am, were still top-notch in ALL aspects of their service. Amazing.

 

 

THE FLIGHTS HOME:

 

At 6am on Friday morning, the captain announced that flight arrangements were being made for all passengers who were still on the ship (we were told on Thursday afternoon that this was the plan; 550 passengers had already been sent to hotels in Ocho Rios). We were told to leave the ship by 7:30am for a 10am chartered Delta flight out of Jamaica to Atlanta, GA. We arrived at the airport at 8:30am, and after an hour, 68 of us were told that our flight was full (how did THIS happen??...I don't believe it was Princess's fault.....I believe Delta allowed people on the flight who had arrived that morning from the Ocho Rios hotels, etc.), and we were instead placed on the 4:45pm flight (which did not leave till 7:45pm), so we spent 11 hours waiting to get out of there! As a positive note, Princess ordered two tour busses to take the 68 of us to Margaritaville for a complimentary lunch while we waited for our flight. When we reached Atlanta, Delta gave us hotel/food vouchers for the night, and we stayed there overnight until our flight (which I had to book by calling Delta at midnight) the next morning. There were Princess/Delta representatives in the airport when we arrived from Jamaica, and they told us where to pick up our luggages and catch the shuttles to the hotels. Overall, the flight experience was more of a pain than anything, but after arriving home 27 hours after our first flight was supposed to have left Jamaica, we realized that things could have been much worse.

 

 

THE CREW MEMBERS:

 

We would not hesitate to take another cruise because we know how rare something like this is. In all honesty, when we take our 2nd cruise, we will again take Princess. Why? It's simple: the crew members. When Princess says: "The safety of our customers is our number 1 priority", they truly mean it.

 

The crew members were OUTSTANDING before and after the fire. As I said before, within minutes, if not seconds, after the alarm sounded, crew members were stationed at the stairwells guiding passengers to the muster stations. The crew in the muster stations was phenomenal; they remained calm and responded EXACTLY as they had during the drill on Sunday. I don't know how ALL crew members kept their cool during the whole incident, but they somehow did. Donna, our muster station leader, was phenomenal: she kept everyone in good spirits, and the highlight came when she called an 8-year-old boy up on stage and lead everyone in singing "Happy Birthday" to him. The waitstaff that served us breakfast and dinner was also amazing; though they were as tired as we were, you would have never known it. There were entertainers that performed that evening to keep the passengers in good-spirits (the previously unscheduled hypnotist agreed to perform a "last minute" show at 10:30pm). The captain was calm and informative during the whole ordeal. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: Many, many, MANY THANKS go to the crew members who put out the fire. Though I do not know any of their names, my fiance and I would like to thank them for being the bravest individuals on the ship as they had to go toward the fire as the rest of us were fleeing it.

 

Thanks to the 5-star performance of every crew member we saw, we will definitely book our 2nd cruise with Princess. Princess knows how to make all of their passengers feel safe, and it's clear that their passengers are their number 1 priority.

 

 

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE BETTER:

 

1. More water should be readily available near the muster stations. During the fire, the A/C was shut down, and the muster stations became very warm. I would like to see more water brought in for the passengers, especially the elderly, etc. Some water was brought in by crew members, but I think there should have been more brought in. I am sure Princess realizes this and will adjust accordingly. We heard that at least one of the muster stations was provided with coffee, but I believe that all stations should have been provided with enough water.

 

2. Our hearts go out to the crew members who had the unfortunate job of sitting near the fire doors (post fire) on the burned side of the ship to prevent passengers from entering the unsafe areas. These crew members had to sit on chairs near blaring fire alarms (some of the alarms remained on for many hours after the fire) and had to breathe in the HORRIBLE smell of burnt plastic, etc., for HOURS (hopefully they rotated). We only saw 2 of these crew members (out of the 5 or so that we saw) with protective breathing masks on. ALL of these crew members should have had masks, earplugs, etc., so as to protect themselves. This should be a top priority for Princess: PLEASE make sure to have masks, earplugs, etc. available to all crew members who are given such jobs as these men/women. The health of these crew members should NOT be overlooked, and I am sure that all passengers would agree.

 

 

WHAT PRINCESS IS DOING FOR US:

 

All passengers are going to be given a full refund for the cruise, air, related expenses, packages, and government fees. In addition, 25% of the fare we payed for this trip can be applied as a credit for another cruise through 2007. Our flights home were also fully payed.

 

 

SPECULATION ABOUT THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE:

 

My fiance and I have heard numerous rumors about what caused the fire. Some claim it was a cigarette, others say it was caused by kids, but we don't want to speculate. However, we do have a different theory based on what we have heard from a couple other passengers, but I don't want to share it on here until I have mentioned it first to Princess.

 

 

SUMMARY:

 

I hope I was able to accurately describe our experiences during the fire, and I hope I was able to show how incredible/professional all of the Princess employees were. We will definitely book another Princess cruise thanks to the handling of this situation by all crew members on the ship.

 

 

(Our prayers go out to the family and friends of the passenger who passed away from a heart attack during the ordeal.)

[ontheweb]

Thanks for that narrative of your experience.

 

We sailed the Star Princess the following year out of Copenhagen for our 30th anniversary. IIRC, we had already booked that cruise when the fire happened. Naturally we were made nervous when we heard that the ship we had booked for a very special cruise had a fire.

 

It is interesting in light of some of the conversations about the new muster drill to think what might have been different if there had not been a traditional muster drill. (Think of the Costa Concordia.) I think it is a very telling comment you made about the crew being exactly like they were at the muster drill. We as passengers tend to forget how important these drills are for the crew to be able to carry out their duties properly in an emergency.

[4hunters]

Amazing story!  Thanks for sharing it with us!

[waltd]

[waltd]

It makes you wonder if they drop the current muster drill for watching the muster drill on TV using the honor system how many people will watch and know what to do if something like this happens again. 

[mtnesterz]

Thank you for posting. Your post is lengthy, but having experienced a fire on a cruise ship ourselves, (not the Star) cruisers should consider there is a potential for frightful experiences at sea.  You smell fire, you look out at nothing but undrinkable water to the horizon and miles of water below you. Terrifying!

We've had disruptions on cruises three times, all caused by teens getting hold of booze. In the Star's case, thought to be cigarettes, but teens.