Fire Breaks out Aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Carrying 2,000 Passengers

A huge fire broke out on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship last night forcing the two thousand passengers to abandon abandon their rooms on board and prepare to get into life boats.

The Grandeur of the Seas was forced to retu to port this moing after the rear of the ship caught fire sending smoke into several hallways and keeping several passengers in assembly stations for over four hours.

Monday afteoon Royal Caribbean made the startling announcement that that they were reversing a prior decision and cancelling the Grandeur of the Seas cruise when it was determined it could no longer safely take passengers to the Bahamas, its intended destination.

The fire broke out on deck 3 and was quickly extinguished but the damage caused Royal Caribbean to cancel the cruise bound for the Bahamas

According to several passenger accounts nobody was seriously injured but the fire did cause smoke and flooding

Photos of the ship emerged on social media showing that the entire rear of the ship was charred and destroyed.

Royal Caribbean announced that the 2,224 passengers would be receiving a full refund and a gift certificate fromthe company.

The Twitter account for their public relations department announced they were in the process of scheduling passengers on flights to Baltimore.

Firefighter Brian Goss (who was a passenger on the ship) told WOOD-TV that some of the cabins did experience flooding and that the hallways smelled of smoke for most of the moing.

He actually praised the efforts of the company, and said they were working tirelessly on the unfurling situation.

'Up all night in emergency mode and now serving food and drinks with smiling faces and no sleep.'

Adam Goldstein, president & CEO or Royal Caribbean and Anders Aasen, AVP of Technical Services survey the fire damage

Royal Caribbean has said they are in the process of arranging flights for the 2,224 guests currently aboard the ship

An announcement from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship that passengers needed to go their muster stations roused Mark J. Ormesher from his stateroom on the Grandeur of the Seas early Monday. A fire had broken out.

Ormesher said in an email to The Associated Press that immediately after the captain's announcement, his room attendant knocked on the door and told him and his girlfriend to grab their flotation devices, saying: 'This was not a drill.'

The native of England, who lives in Manassas, Va., Ormesher said he and his girlfriend smelled acrid smoke as they went to their muster station, the ship's casino. He said the crew quickly provided instruction.

A provided by Royal Caribbean shows the fire-damaged exterior on the Grandeur of the Seas cruise ship

'This encouraged calm amongst the passengers,' he said. Passengers were required to remain at their stations for four hours, he said, and the captain 'provided us as much information as we needed to stay safe.'

Royal Caribbean said that the fire that began at 2:50 a.m. was extinguished about two hours later with no injuries reported.

Ormesher, 25, and on his first cruise, said the air conditioner had been shut off, and as the hours passed and the ship got hot, bottled water was passed around. The crew and passengers remained calm, and helped those who needed it. Crying babies were given formula and held while their parents used the bathrooms.

The ship had sailed from Baltimore on Friday and arrived in Freeport, Bahamas, Monday afteoon.

In Freeport, passenger Andrea Sanders of Washington, D.C., said she slept on the deck with hundreds of other passengers as smoke billowed out of the ste of the ship. 'I was terrified with it being my first cruise,' Sanders told The Freeport News as she ate lunch in port.

Royal Caribbean said all 2,224 guests and 796 crew were safe and accounted for.

Caival Corp. also had trouble with fire aboard ship earlier this year.

The 900-foot Triumph was disabled during a February cruise by an engine room fire in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving thousands of passengers to endure cold food, unsanitary conditions and power outages while the ship was towed to Mobile, Ala. It remained there for repairs until early May when it headed back to sea under its own power.

Royal Caribbean said all 2,224 guests and 796 crew were safe and accounted for

On the Granduer, after passengers were allowed to leave their stations, Ormesher said he saw water on the outside of deck 5 and in the hallways. The mooring lines were destroyed he said; crew members brought new lines from storage.

The damage at the rear of the ship 'looks bad,' Ormesher said; bued out equipment was visible.

Ormesher posted about the fire on Facebook and gave details of the evacuation and aftermath in emails to the AP.

Ormesher says he got off the ship to spend some time in Freeport. He has not decided whether to continue on the cruise. 'I've been having a good time on the ship and am in no hurry to leave,' he said.

A tweet sent from the NTSB shows they are investigating the situation

Magnus Alnebeck, general manager of the Pelican Bay Hotel, said they were asked to hold rooms for passengers, although it was not yet clear how many would stay there.

The ship will stay docked in Freeport oveight. Royal Caribbean said in a statement on its website that most public areas and staterooms are safe and power, propulsion and communications systems functioned without interruption.

Royal Caribbean Inteational president and CEO Adam Goldstein met with passengers in Freeport.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in a tweet that it will join the U.S. Coast Guard in investigating the fire.