fire on star

[Host CJSKIDS]

I am leaving this thread as it is "for now" BUT if a couple of you don't take you insinuating posts and debate to e-mail I will take them to the cleaners if you get my drift.... It's obviously a shouting match that's gone on pre-Caroline maybe??/ But it's time to go to email with it since it's getting personal.

thanks in advance for your cooperation

 

Thank you Caroline. I for one hope that the nasty comments and fighting ends. I didn't start the thread to have people insult each or doubt what any of the cruisers on the ship have said.

 

Unless you had one of the staterooms I think it's very hard to fathom what the damage looks like. There is nothing like seeing the area where you were just sleeping now be a burned black shell with a large gaping hole and no balcony left. It's a sobering sight and one that is hard to imagine. Those on the other side were very lucky that they didn't actually see the fire, I truly wish i was one of them. We probably shouldn't have been brought back as it's an imagine that I keep seeing. I thank God that no one else was killed and that God was looking over my shoulder. We all have our own stories and experiences and perspective on the fire and how things were handled. It will be interesting to hear from others who woke up to their balconies being ablaze and who lost everything. They may just say that things afterwards weren't handle as well either. All I can say is that the fireman on that ship are angels and should be commended. They saved many a life I'm sure. I also feel that the passengers on the ship should be commended as well. There was no pushing or shoving and no arguements. What could have been a nasty situation was handled very well by everyone on board and for that I am thankful.

[jennew]

I was on the Star in January and our room on the Aloha is one of the burned rooms. Our children were across the hall, I have not heard any reports about the inside rooms.

 

I shudder to imagine what it was like for the passengers. I keep thinking about my children and how frightened my 6 year old would have been.

 

I am a little but annoyed at the posts that appear to blame passengers for their own discomfort. They should have thought to grab some food and water before they ran from their burning cabins?

 

In all fairness, Princess did contain the fire and many lives were saved. Could they improve in this area? YES, but thankfully they don't get many of these situations to practice in. I personally feel that the crew members could easily have obtained some quick ready-to-eat food for the guests. I would have have had a hard time comforting my small son in such a frightening situation. At the very least, I would not want him to be hungry,

[docksider21]

Has there been any word as to why the sprinkler system was not able

to contain to fire to the cabin of origin and the immediate adjacent ones?

 

Thanks

[kryos]

It's interesting that that rumor hasn't been picked up and spread around for speculation in the press and elsewhere as readily as the casually tossed cigarette. I guess we'll get the answer as to what really happened if Princess and other cruise lines change their smoking policies, or get serious with those who smuggle liquor.

I heard pretty much the same thing, by the way ... a 14-year-old kid was suspected of starting the fire. Of course, this is all speculation at this point ... but the question in my mind is that if this fire started at about 3:00 a.m. ... where in the heck was the kid's parents when the boy was happily engaged in his fire-starting activities? Maybe this is where the cruise lines need to take a hard line ... not with making life difficult for smokers. Kids running out of control on certain sailings ... and we've all read horror stories about them ... there's simply no excuse for that kind of thing. The way it should be ... kids get one, maybe two warnings. Then the crew/staff get the parents involved. Parents get one warning to control their kids and then it's everybody in the family off the ship at the next port.

 

That's my take on how out of control kids should be handled. Call me a b***h ... but that's just the way I feel about it.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[DeltaOne]

Hi Sunshine426,

4 of us ladies are to be sailing out April 23 on STAR, Aloha deck aft I think 608. Does it seem like they are repairing the ship right there?

Just a wild guess, but I'd plan on the Star being out of commission for at least one to two months. They need to replace the rooms and balconies, plumbing and wiring. Lots of work.

 

Someone on the ship posted saying the crew had been sent home. That alone says a lot.

[Cshell5]

Quote from previous post"""but the question in my mind is that if this fire started at about 3:00 a.m. ... where in the heck was the kid's parents when the boy was happily engaged in his fire-starting activities? Maybe this is where the cruise lines need to take a hard line ... not with making life difficult for smokers. Kids running out of control on certain sailings ... and we've all read horror stories about them ... there's simply no excuse for that kind of thing. The way it should be ... kids get one, maybe two warnings. Then the crew/staff get the parents involved. ""

 

O'My! Did Princess find out for sure is was an out of control kid engaging in fire starting activities???

[hbeard]

I am now safely home in northern california.

I was in the affected area, though in an inside cabin, so I did not see the sparks/embers that those on the outside saw.

 

Alarms sounded a bit after 3am and the evacuation to the muster stations went quite smoothly I thought, since we had done it in a drill on the first day of the cruise. The periodic updates from the cabin were given with a calm reassuring demeanor.

I felt he gave information that he could, without trying to speculate on things that were unverifiable.

 

It seems reasonable to assume that the fire spread along the outside of the ship so quickly largely due to the wind. Combining ship speed with wind could have easily been 30mph or more. Think about a house on fire with that kind of wind. The ship can't slow down all that quickly either. *this is speculation* but I think that the ship was turned to run with the wind to reduce the relative windspeed while the fire was faught.

 

After it was clear that it was safe, those in starboard rooms and port room #s in 200s and 600s were allowed to return to their cabins. 300s were asked to register in the Capri dining room (essentially filling out the Jamaica arrival forms) and were escorted then by a cabin steward to see what could be salvaged. After awhile, the 400s went, and finally the 500s. As has been reported, for many on the outside cabins, there was really nothing left. Heat so intense it melted TVs into blobs on the table. Some were able to retrieve documents and valuables from the closet safe. There was lots of water from the sprinklers and firefighters, and smoke smell very intense.

***A note on fire sprinklers in general. In ANY building, fire sprinklers do not turn on until there is INTENSE heat in the room (after anyone inside would be pretty much toast). Their intent is not to immediately put out a fire while people are in the room, but to help knock it down and keep it from spreading to adjacent areas. Sprinklers and fire doors, I think, performed their intended function.

As to the flammability of the rooms....that's a whole 'nother discussion. I would certainly like to see more fire-resistant materials being used in EVERY public building; not just on a ship. (Example: CA and NV have special requirements for fire resistance of all new mattresses sold)

When it was our turn, we were told not to expect much, as we squished down the sloppy wet mucky hallway on Caribe deck (10). Our door keycard still worked, and as we opened the door, it was pitch dark inside, but a small flashlight and feeling with our hands gave us the astonishing realization that everything was dry. No visible damage whatsoever. The only problem we have found is that our baggage and clothing is permeated with the strong smell of smoke and some soot, which may or may not come out. My wife and I suddenly burst into tears, feeling guilty for what we still had as we looked directly across the hall into the open door of a blackened room in which nothing was salvageable. Many of our friends were on this trip, and we know and have talked to those who lost nearly everything. Most kept saying that it was "just stuff" and were more sad about the irreplaceable items...(one woman had a bible that she has been writing in for the past 20 years...), pictures, etc.

After we hurriedly packed our things, we were escorted to the explorers lounge where tags were put on our bags, and we immediately exited the ship. Those with uninhabitable cabins were put on busses to be taken to hotels. We discovered, once on the bus, that it would be a 2.5 hour drive to our Ocho Rios hotel. Awful roads in Jamaica!

The hotel was a beautiful place—an “all inclusive” like a Sandals resort. Princess reps were there to help us at every step of the way, though it did take an additional 3.5 hours to get our luggage (it appears that it was with the last truck that came with some people not in the directly affected areas that still wished to disembark to a hotel)

On Friday AM, we stood in line in the morning (took us about an hour) to get arrangements for flying back. They chartered several Delta planes to take us. We rode the 2.5 hours back to Montego Bay Friday afternoon and took a 6:45pm flight to Atlanta. There were two 767s that left for Atlanta at roughly the same time. We were put up overnight in the Atlanta Airport Marriott, and caught a 9am flight to Oakland. We got home here about 1:30 Saturday (Pacific Time).

I can honestly say that from what I saw, the crew of the ship performed extraordinarily well. Many had just gone off duty at 2am, but kept doing their assigned emergency jobs for the duration. I didn't see any crew with their own food or water. I did, however, see passengers swipe the large water bottles that had been placed next to tables with paper cups. Even the woman that was our waitress each evening in the dining room (probably the most incredibly good waitress I’ve ever had in my life!), she was one that was dashing into rooms of more elderly and disabled passengers assisting them to safety, even dragging one person out from under the bed and carrying her to safety.

Many others braved the unstable, smoke-filled areas to try to retrieve important medications that people had left behind in the evacuation.

Remember, these are not full-time fire-fighters. They are cabin stewards, waiters and waitresses, cruise director staff, etc that are performing emergency jobs.

I can’t even begin to imagine the logistical nightmare it has been to arrange for hotels and flights home for everyone. They could have just flown everyone to Ft Lauderdale and let people sort their own flights home from there, but no, they just asked us were our final destination was, and on cellphones with airline reps worked out an itinerary individually for each passenger. Our "ticket" to get onto our flight out was just a hand-written note on a piece of notepad paper in Ocho Rios, immediately accepted at the Delta desk in Montego Bay. On our chartered flight, we had a hot meal (we overheard one flight attendant saying “I haven’t served hot meals for so long, I can’t remember exactly how to do it!”).

They are completely refunding everyone’s money for the trip, and are also giving a 25% discount on a future trip. They are also refunding everyone’s airfare no matter what airline was used for their original itinerary. At the hotel in Ocho Rios, they gave $100 credit for each person to purchase clothing and other needed items from the resort shops. They also allowed us to make any phone calls we wanted to back to the US on our room tab (at more than $3 per minute). They will also be compensating for loss of property in the ship staterooms when we give them a list of loss/damage.

A rep at the Montego Bay airport also told us that they will be trying to make all of the ship's photos available for passengers to download...giving back a few precious memories to those who had purchased them only to have them fried...and all photos in the gallery were offered up for free (still had friends on board that picked ours up). (I still don't know the details of how the downloadable pics will be made available)

There are 8 million people that take a cruise each year…and accidents like these are incredibly rare, but are well publicized like airplane crashes.

 

My wife and I would gladly get on board another Princess cruise next week, we were so impressed with the crew. I think that they performed admirably amid an incredibly tragic situation. Do all of the 1200 crew members fall into the "great job!" category? Of course not. There are a few bad apples on any tree, but by and large, I think it was a job very well done. While collecting our things, I saw cabin stewards bringing people to their more heavily damaged rooms. I witnessed true empathy from these gentlemen...they seemed to feel awful for the people they had been caring for. "Ricky," our steward, though he is not the one that escorted us, saw us as we were taking our things to the elevator..."Mr & Mrs B****, I'm SO sorry" he said to us, appearing to be on the verge of tears. As we talked with the one that did escort us, at about 4pm, we were able to pry out of him that he had been working continuously since 3am, without any food for himself. We offered some fruit rollups my wife had in her purse. He at first refused, but we finally convinced him to take it, and he acted so humbly grateful.

 

No, the Explorers Lounge was not a comfortable place to be. It was hot. But the leader of the muster station (who I think had been actively assisting in the wed-night tropical dance party late into the night) worked hard to keep everyone together for important announcements. Roll call did take a very long time...at times it seemed unnecessarily so...but pax kept wandering off and insisted on moving between muster stations. Even some of those that had asked for medication to be brought to them (at great risk to some of the crew that went into affected areas to try to retrieve it), weren't even present to pick it up when their cabin was called.

From my perspective, things would have run more smoothly at muster stations if pax would have followed directions. I guess you could lay some blame on the "guides" for not enforcing announcements that were made, but I could imagine that you would have ended up with enraged passengers that weren't allowed to do what they pleased...once it was clear that there was no emminant danger from wandering around the promanade.

The wait for food? Yes we were hungry. But Puh-Leeeze give me a break. A few hours without the lido deck won't harm anyone (those with special needs, like diabetics, were offered orange juice at our station).

 

Oh boy. I guess I really rambled on there. But I cannot stress enough the extent to which I saw Princess employees do their best in an awful situation...which, by most speculation so far, was likely caused by negligent passenger(s).

 

There's my 47 cents worth.

[captainron]

Hi Folks,

As I have said in a previous post, let's wait for the facts to come in. Carolyn you are right...it's getting personal.

When crew are faced with an emergency (such as fire) at sea, the first priority is to make every effort to evacuate passengers from the immediate and surrounding areas affected by the fire. Once that is done the focus of attention is on containing the fire to ensure that it does not jeopardize the safety of the passengers.

Concurrently as we have seen here, passengers are called to muster stations for a head count to ensure all pax are safe and sound.

Mary Poppinz,

Don't get me wrong. While I empathisize with your situation...you, I, we must all realize that the entire ship's company goes into a pre-determined emergency procedures mode in the event that the ship has to be abandoned. My point was that the priority at muster stations is to prepare and organize pax for a headcount and eventual "abandon ship" on the command of the ship's master. While the time involved may have seemed excessive (and living through the situation, it would certainly feel that way) the priorities are not the, if I can use the term politely, "Me" issues, rather the collective good of all passengers on the vessel and her crew.

 

I hope you will see the point I am trying to put across. Your point is well taken about a pack (small plastic waterproof bag) to carry with you in the event of evacuation, because they would not allow you a packsack in a lifeboat, as if 80 people in the boat all had packs that could mean the difference between 3 or 4 seats being taken up (space wise). Small pack for your pocket is great idea.

 

Hope you see my point, as I have been crew on a passenger vessel and in charge of a lifeboat. I didn't write this to make it up... I've seen all this before.

 

Ciao for now!!!

[wvernnr]

Lot's of speculations leading to conclusions – lots of pretty amusing, albeit quite nasty, anti-smoking stuff, and a bit on the con side too. So many black ansd white, good-guy/bad guy views about smoking.

 

There are two primary issues – safety and health/annoyance, and one ancillary - economics.

 

Facts:

 

In 2005, roughly 12 million people cruised. About 75% were Americans. About 25% of American's smoke - the Asian , European and South American numbers are higher, but we will go with the US number - that would be 3, million smoker/cruisers. Assume an average cruise of 7 days and an average per-capita consumption of 20 smokes a day on board - that would be 21,million cigs per year. The cruise industry grows about 6 per cent per year, so using regression we get 19.4 million for 2004 and 18 million for 2003. That's 58,000,000 butts in 1095 days. You would think it would happen a little more often?

 

There is a one fire, and the cause must be careless smoking! Let's round down to 50 million butts – one has twice as good a chance on winning a 25 million dollar power ball as seeing a fire start by a cigarette on a balcony or in a stateroom!

 

And, based on what I have seen on the board's, there must be hundreds of butts raining down on balconies every day, so why hasn’t it happened at least once before?

 

I am not saying that a butt did or did not cause the fire. Maybe it did…maybe not. We just don’t know yet. One fire is one too many, but let’s wait for the investigation. But with such amazing odds, even if it was caused by a cigarette, some other factor must have had an impact for such a huge fire and one spreading so rapidly

 

So, with respect to banning smoking for safety reasons, absent the findings of the Bermuda and US investigators, I think it's premature and a red herring.

 

With respect to health/annoyance…..I don’t think you can legislate against boorish behavior. If a smoker is not going to be sensitive to the legitimate concerns of other cruisers, that’s just bad behavior. And if he is stupid enough to throw butts overboard, he should be reprimanded and fined. But I do think the companies have done much to address this – no smoking on one side of the ship, in show-rooms, in dining rooms, etc. But they could do more – non-smoking rooms, decks, or even portions of decks. Strictly enforce the no-smoking areas. Alternate nights in the casino smoke/no smoke. Better ventalation.

 

But with respect to a total ban, one day there will be, at least on some ships. , But I think it is not likely to happen soon. First, look at the numbers again….no business is going to give up 25% of the market, and for cruise lines the number is probably actually greater, as I do not take into account the demographics of the business – cruisers tend to older – averaging 50 on some lines, and the older the market, the greater per cent of smokers. And Carnival, still with the youngest demos in the business, couldn’t make it with one ship.

 

In addition, the per-cent of the market at risk is most likely greater than 25%. First, there will be families with only one smoker – mom smokes, and Dad and the 3 kids don’t. Granny and Gramps do, but their married daughters and their families, each with 2 kids don’t. I won’t belabor the point, but a smoking ban doesn’t mean that the lines will just lose just the smokers to Disney Land, all –inclusives or other alternatives, which do accommodate smokers. They lose travelling companions, large gfroups and many others who do not smoke. That's a lot of revenue.

 

There is another factor – smokers are what marketers call “risk takers”. They drink more and gamble more. Big Profit centers for the industry. Delaware went smoke free several years ago. But when the revenue at the state-sponsored raceinos dropped by about 30 percent, they decided that it was ok to put slots “outside” the building in an enclosed area (sort of like tents), air condition and heat them, and allow smoking! And Las Vegas will be the LAST city in America to ban indoor smoking

 

I won’t even respond to those who say if “restaurants and airplanes can be smoke free, so can a cruise ship.” It is nuts to believe people who can adopt to an inconvenience of hours can do the same over a week or more.

 

I took my first cruise on the Queen of Bermuda (Furness Lines) in the early 60’s. I think smoking was mandatory then. took our Honeymoon in the early 70’s on the Statendam – sat with the ship’s doctor..who smoked during dinner and passed out cigars to enjoy with after dinner brandy and coffee. Sailed on the Doric mid-70’s…The maitre’d puffed on a cigar and the head waiter was a chain smoker. Have sailed 5 times with RCCL, 1 Celebrity and 1 Princess since ’96. More smoking restrictions have been imposed in the last 5 years than in the previous 30. I smoke and others in my family do. But only once did a fellow passenger complain about our cigarette… about 1 am in a bar – a cigar bar! He had at least one too many and couldn’t figure out why smoking was permitted! He was gently escorted out.

 

Final thought – whether it was crew, passengers or angels, whoever managed to get about 200 folks awake and out of harms way in the middle of the night did a hell of a job, and smokers and non-smokers alike should be thankful for that and all should be sympathetic towards those who have gone through the trauma of being onboard or suffer the disappointment of the disruption of highly anticipated travel arrangements made long ago!

[RHefley228]

Has there been any word as to why the sprinkler system was not able to contain to fire to the cabin of origin and the immediate adjacent ones? Thanks

 

My understanding of this is that it didn't start inside a cabin, but rather outside on one of the balconies, where there is no sprinkler system.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Okay' date=' since he’s accusing me of saying something offensive and condescending, I feel compelled to reply. Many of us aren’t saying it was a cigarette. We’re waiting to see if they can find the cause or even say they can’t. I certainly never said that. I was just pointing out maybe a bit too quickly yesterday (was going out the door at that point) that there would not be a problem with a cigarette on the Paradise. If Mr. Bill wants to think I’m calling all smokers "jerks", he’s just assuming. My husband and I would say to each other while on the cruise several times that the passengers were much more mellower than past cruises. It was noticable. We even were talking about the Paradise while looking at the damage done to the Star and he said it again, "If the Paradise was still non-smoking, we would have booked it in a minute when it came over here (to the West Coast, which is more convenient than the Caribbean)" and agreed with me, we wouldn’t have to worry about someone falling asleep in bed or on the balcony with a cigarette AND that the other passengers aboard that cruise were so pleasant to be around. Again, not a single jerk. I never said that every smoker is inconsiderate or a jerk. Next time, be careful not to accuse others of being offensive.

 

As for the Paradise, whenever it's mentioned in regard to the non-smoking status, many smokers will use that as an excuse that well, see it didn't work because of this or that. Carnival didn't try it out in other routes. Maybe it would have worked over here on the West Coast as there are many nonsmokings living here who would love a clean ship to gamble and drink on, and otherwise produce the secondary onboard revenue that was not being produced on its Caribbean run.

 

AS for those of us who are bringing up the smoking issue, it’s because we are concerned that a cigarette could start a fire. How many times have you listened to a news report about a house fire and the official word is that it was started by a cigarette? You’re not being honest if you disagree about that. And let’s not forget, we’re talking about an incident at sea. In a hotel or a house, it’s dangerous enough. But....[/quote']

 

Okay so now I have to quote myself but I think curly4dana needs to find my original post before spouting off. This is what she says:

 

you are saying that smokers are jerks??? i resent that and think that is a pretty broad statement to make about all smokers...

you know...i think reformed smokers are the biggest jerks...sorry, but if they once smoked and were able to quit most of them feel that gives them the right to dictate living rules to those of us that haven't quit. sorry, but people that have quit drinking, gambling and drugs don't feel they need to dictate anything...why do former smokers???? who died and left you all in charge???

that is so wrong...leave us alone and we'll leave you alone! please...

What I was saying in my first post was that we found our cruise on the Paradise to be very enjoyable due to it being a non-smoking ship. We also found the passengers to be mellow, nice people. No jerks. I didn't say "all smokers are jerks." I just think it's interesting that a couple of people here are making such a leap. But then as the quantity of smokers dwindle (either due to smoking-related deaths or ones finally quitting), the remaining ones seem to be getting more defensive. This is just my opinion, of course. I just think it's interesting that people feel the need to flame (no pun intended) when everyone is feeling deep emotions over what happened in So. America, near Jamaica, and near British Columbia.

And btw, I'm glad someone else mentioned they enjoyed their cruise on the Paradise. Somehow, I haven't seen anyone say they hated going on the non-smoking Paradise.

[Cruisin' Chick]

And another btw, I have never smoked (not even the funny smelling ones) so I'm not a former smoker. I'm not overweight either or a litterer.

[LadyRx]

Agreed...AJ was wonderful. He helped locate our 2 sons who were in a different muster station ( Vista lounge) to tell us they were fine. You must have been in our station. We were finally informed last night that we would have a 10am flight home on Delta airlines today. Hooray! So glad to be home! We are very exhausted and I will post more when I am rested and able to think clearly again. We were so very fortunate!! I hope everyone else arrived home safely, as well.

[loungelizard]

wvernnr ~ thank you for your outstanding post! ...it's a breath of fresh air

( cough, cough, hack, hack ) ;)

[Mr.Airport]

Mrs.Airport and myself were onboard the Star Princess when the fire at sea occurred. The professionalism displayed by this highly trained crew gave all passengers the sense that everything that could be done was done. There is too much speculation as to what was the cause of the fire. While we were still enroute to Montego Bay, a passenger was on the outside deck using her cell phone to call family and friends in the States. She already had the whole puzzle solved because she was there. The only problem was she didn't know the whole story.

 

I heard everything from terrorism to college kids free-basing drugs to an out of control teenager determined to commit suicide.

 

If you witnessed the concern displayed by the crew and Princess Cruises, you'd get a warm fuzzy and know that everything was done to protect the safety and health of every single passenger. We are looking forward to book our next cruise. These are professionals everyone should be proud and confident to sail with.

 

-gary

[barbemm]

If it was "unattended" then who was there to verify that? No one could see a "unattended" cigarette ??? If they did, then wasn't it attended?

 

roflmbo, you are absolutely correct, lol...some people are choosing this board to vent their disgust at smokers, rather than the purpose it was intended for and that is to send well wishes to the passengers on the ship...instead they use this as their soapbox forum..shame, they can't follow the rules, lol

[dobie]

hbeard, thank you so much for your in depth report of what you experienced. I am glad that it all worked out for you and you are safely home. I was encouraged to hear your comments about the crew and their actions. Mr Airport, sounds as tho you concur with hbeard. Thank you both so much for posting.

[Host CJSKIDS]

I am now safely home in northern california.

I was in the affected area, though in an inside cabin, so I did not see the sparks/embers that those on the outside saw.

 

Alarms sounded a bit after 3am and the evacuation to the muster stations went quite smoothly I thought, since we had done it in a drill on the first day of the cruise. The periodic updates from the cabin were given with a calm reassuring demeanor.

I felt he gave information that he could, without trying to speculate on things that were unverifiable.

 

It seems reasonable to assume that the fire spread along the outside of the ship so quickly largely due to the wind. Combining ship speed with wind could have easily been 30mph or more. Think about a house on fire with that kind of wind. The ship can't slow down all that quickly either. *this is speculation* but I think that the ship was turned to run with the wind to reduce the relative windspeed while the fire was faught.

 

After it was clear that it was safe, those in starboard rooms and port room #s in 200s and 600s were allowed to return to their cabins. 300s were asked to register in the Capri dining room (essentially filling out the Jamaica arrival forms) and were escorted then by a cabin steward to see what could be salvaged. After awhile, the 400s went, and finally the 500s. As has been reported, for many on the outside cabins, there was really nothing left. Heat so intense it melted TVs into blobs on the table. Some were able to retrieve documents and valuables from the closet safe. There was lots of water from the sprinklers and firefighters, and smoke smell very intense.

***A note on fire sprinklers in general. In ANY building, fire sprinklers do not turn on until there is INTENSE heat in the room (after anyone inside would be pretty much toast). Their intent is not to immediately put out a fire while people are in the room, but to help knock it down and keep it from spreading to adjacent areas. Sprinklers and fire doors, I think, performed their intended function.

As to the flammability of the rooms....that's a whole 'nother discussion. I would certainly like to see more fire-resistant materials being used in EVERY public building; not just on a ship. (Example: CA and NV have special requirements for fire resistance of all new mattresses sold)

When it was our turn, we were told not to expect much, as we squished down the sloppy wet mucky hallway on Caribe deck (10). Our door keycard still worked, and as we opened the door, it was pitch dark inside, but a small flashlight and feeling with our hands gave us the astonishing realization that everything was dry. No visible damage whatsoever. The only problem we have found is that our baggage and clothing is permeated with the strong smell of smoke and some soot, which may or may not come out. My wife and I suddenly burst into tears, feeling guilty for what we still had as we looked directly across the hall into the open door of a blackened room in which nothing was salvageable. Many of our friends were on this trip, and we know and have talked to those who lost nearly everything. Most kept saying that it was "just stuff" and were more sad about the irreplaceable items...(one woman had a bible that she has been writing in for the past 20 years...), pictures, etc.

After we hurriedly packed our things, we were escorted to the explorers lounge where tags were put on our bags, and we immediately exited the ship. Those with uninhabitable cabins were put on busses to be taken to hotels. We discovered, once on the bus, that it would be a 2.5 hour drive to our Ocho Rios hotel. Awful roads in Jamaica!

The hotel was a beautiful place—an “all inclusive” like a Sandals resort. Princess reps were there to help us at every step of the way, though it did take an additional 3.5 hours to get our luggage (it appears that it was with the last truck that came with some people not in the directly affected areas that still wished to disembark to a hotel)

On Friday AM, we stood in line in the morning (took us about an hour) to get arrangements for flying back. They chartered several Delta planes to take us. We rode the 2.5 hours back to Montego Bay Friday afternoon and took a 6:45pm flight to Atlanta. There were two 767s that left for Atlanta at roughly the same time. We were put up overnight in the Atlanta Airport Marriott, and caught a 9am flight to Oakland. We got home here about 1:30 Saturday (Pacific Time).

I can honestly say that from what I saw, the crew of the ship performed extraordinarily well. Many had just gone off duty at 2am, but kept doing their assigned emergency jobs for the duration. I didn't see any crew with their own food or water. I did, however, see passengers swipe the large water bottles that had been placed next to tables with paper cups. Even the woman that was our waitress each evening in the dining room (probably the most incredibly good waitress I’ve ever had in my life!), she was one that was dashing into rooms of more elderly and disabled passengers assisting them to safety, even dragging one person out from under the bed and carrying her to safety.

Many others braved the unstable, smoke-filled areas to try to retrieve important medications that people had left behind in the evacuation.

Remember, these are not full-time fire-fighters. They are cabin stewards, waiters and waitresses, cruise director staff, etc that are performing emergency jobs.

I can’t even begin to imagine the logistical nightmare it has been to arrange for hotels and flights home for everyone. They could have just flown everyone to Ft Lauderdale and let people sort their own flights home from there, but no, they just asked us were our final destination was, and on cellphones with airline reps worked out an itinerary individually for each passenger. Our "ticket" to get onto our flight out was just a hand-written note on a piece of notepad paper in Ocho Rios, immediately accepted at the Delta desk in Montego Bay. On our chartered flight, we had a hot meal (we overheard one flight attendant saying “I haven’t served hot meals for so long, I can’t remember exactly how to do it!”).

They are completely refunding everyone’s money for the trip, and are also giving a 25% discount on a future trip. They are also refunding everyone’s airfare no matter what airline was used for their original itinerary. At the hotel in Ocho Rios, they gave $100 credit for each person to purchase clothing and other needed items from the resort shops. They also allowed us to make any phone calls we wanted to back to the US on our room tab (at more than $3 per minute). They will also be compensating for loss of property in the ship staterooms when we give them a list of loss/damage.

A rep at the Montego Bay airport also told us that they will be trying to make all of the ship's photos available for passengers to download...giving back a few precious memories to those who had purchased them only to have them fried...and all photos in the gallery were offered up for free (still had friends on board that picked ours up). (I still don't know the details of how the downloadable pics will be made available)

There are 8 million people that take a cruise each year…and accidents like these are incredibly rare, but are well publicized like airplane crashes.

 

My wife and I would gladly get on board another Princess cruise next week, we were so impressed with the crew. I think that they performed admirably amid an incredibly tragic situation. Do all of the 1200 crew members fall into the "great job!" category? Of course not. There are a few bad apples on any tree, but by and large, I think it was a job very well done. While collecting our things, I saw cabin stewards bringing people to their more heavily damaged rooms. I witnessed true empathy from these gentlemen...they seemed to feel awful for the people they had been caring for. "Ricky," our steward, though he is not the one that escorted us, saw us as we were taking our things to the elevator..."Mr & Mrs B****, I'm SO sorry" he said to us, appearing to be on the verge of tears. As we talked with the one that did escort us, at about 4pm, we were able to pry out of him that he had been working continuously since 3am, without any food for himself. We offered some fruit rollups my wife had in her purse. He at first refused, but we finally convinced him to take it, and he acted so humbly grateful.

 

No, the Explorers Lounge was not a comfortable place to be. It was hot. But the leader of the muster station (who I think had been actively assisting in the wed-night tropical dance party late into the night) worked hard to keep everyone together for important announcements. Roll call did take a very long time...at times it seemed unnecessarily so...but pax kept wandering off and insisted on moving between muster stations. Even some of those that had asked for medication to be brought to them (at great risk to some of the crew that went into affected areas to try to retrieve it), weren't even present to pick it up when their cabin was called.

From my perspective, things would have run more smoothly at muster stations if pax would have followed directions. I guess you could lay some blame on the "guides" for not enforcing announcements that were made, but I could imagine that you would have ended up with enraged passengers that weren't allowed to do what they pleased...once it was clear that there was no emminant danger from wandering around the promanade.

The wait for food? Yes we were hungry. But Puh-Leeeze give me a break. A few hours without the lido deck won't harm anyone (those with special needs, like diabetics, were offered orange juice at our station).

 

Oh boy. I guess I really rambled on there. But I cannot stress enough the extent to which I saw Princess employees do their best in an awful situation...which, by most speculation so far, was likely caused by negligent passenger(s).

 

There's my 47 cents worth.

 

 

Please, I don't mean to come off sounding petty. I didn't care that I had anything to eat, I had a daughter who kept feeling like she was going to pass out. It's just my instinct as a mother I guess to get upset when I can't take care of my children and I was worried about them. I actually didn't eat anything until 5pm that evening prior to gettting off the ship, I was in too much shock to care about food.

 

I'm so glad that you got home safely and that your stuff survived. I hope that you can get the smell out as it's an awful smell and a horrible reminder.

[dobie]

cjskids, you did not sound petty at all!! I am happy that you are home and certainly hope that you recover from your respiratory illness soon....we are grateful that you took the time to post and tell us what happened. Obviously the muster stations were not all staffed the same. Thank you for all of your posts....

[dobie]

Tried to delete duplicate post, won't let me..

[suefalls]

Your point is well taken however, these ships are not American. Other countries do not look at smoking the way the

Americans do.

 

How do we Americans look at smoking? Yes, we know it is deadly. Yes, we know we don't want our children to become addicted as we have become. Do you not think other countries feel the same. Please quit the smoking angle and laying blame. Just be thankful for such a great outcome , out of so many people( my prayers to the family that lost a loved one!), such a low fatality, There is somthing more here than a cigarette! This looks like Oklahoma. This will play out that this is something else. Please lets just pray that this is just a wake up call for us all to be careful. I feel that regardless that some people were uncomfortable, that the crew on this ship were heroes. This happened in the middle of the night, and safeguards malfunctioned, and still, out of over 3,000 passengers and crew, there was 1 (so sorry to the family) fatality.

[Jeanie821]

Glad to hear you and yours made it home safe, hbeard. BTW - what part of northern CA do you hail from? I'm from Auburn/Placer County myself.

 

Everyone, I know it's hard to resist Monday-morning quarterbacking, but we need to keep in mind that the cause of the fire on the Star Princess still has not been officially determined. The only thing that's certain is that it's a horrible thing to have happened, especially for those who are cruising for the first time or who have waited a lifetime for a cruise, and that even with the best training, the crew had never actually had to put that training to a test. You can train for years for an emergency, but once put to the test, all of your knowledge will vanish. I'm sure that's what happened to at least some crew members, and they did their best under the circumstances.

 

My prayers are still with all those affected by this tragedy.

[hobbit81]

To hbeard & Mr.airport, thank you for your accounts of what happened and we're very glad that you both made it home well. It's reassuring to know that the crew is well prepared to take care of such crisis. Too bad some of the pax weren't all as serious about their roles (walking away from their Mustard stations, etc)

[suefalls]

Thank you for taking the time to write such a wonderful account of your experience. I feel that you, onboard, have maintained great courage and perspective. I hope everyone on the boards will follow your great example. Bless You, and again Thank you

[Snoozeman]

This looks like Oklahoma.

What does this mean?