Fire breaks out aboard Royal Caribbean cruise shiphttp://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/oXh_6AJBHy_uEbdrklkymA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9Mjg-/http://l.yimg.com/os/152/2012/04/21/ima ... 162613.png (http://www.ap.org/)By KASEY JONES | Associated Press – 4 hrs ago

BALTIMORE (AP) — A fire that broke out aboard a Royal Caribbean ship Monday did enough damage that the rest of the cruise was canceled and the company said the more than 2,200 passengers will be flown from the Bahamas back to Baltimore where the trip began.

The fire that began at 2:50 a.m. Monday was extinguished about two hours later with no injuries reported. A cause wasn't immediately known. The Grandeur of the Seas, which left Baltimore on Friday, never lost power and was able to sail into port in Freeport, Bahamas, Monday afternoon. It had been planned to be a seven-night cruise.

Royal Caribbean said on its website and through social media that executives met with passengers in port and that the cruise line is arranging flights for all 2,224 guests on Tuesday. It said passengers will receive a full refund of their fare and a certificate for a future cruise.

Aboard ship early Monday, the captain announced that passengers needed to go to their muster stations, rousing Mark J. Ormesher from his stateroom. Ormesher said in an email to The Associated Press that immediately after the announcement, his room attendant knocked on the door and told him and his girlfriend to grab their flotation devices. The attendant said it wasn't a drill.

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

"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."

Ormesher, who is 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 distributed. 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.

In Freeport, Bahamas, passenger Andrea Sanders of Washington, D.C., said she slept on the deck with hundreds of other passengers as smoke billowed out of the stern 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 guests and 796 crew were safe and accounted for. Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said in an email that the company was arranging 11 different charter flights for passengers. Photos show a substantial area of the stern burned on several decks of the ship the length of about three football fields.

The company in a statement on its website said it is "deeply sorry for this unexpected development in our guests' vacation. We understand that this may have been a very stressful time for them. We appreciate their patience and cooperation in dealing with this unfortunate situation."

Carnival 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 .

On the Grandeur, 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; burned out equipment was visible.

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

The ship will stay docked in Freeport at least overnight. The National Transportation Safety Board said in a tweet that it will join the U.S. Coast Guard in investigating the fire.

Martinez said in a news release that a cruise set aboard the Grandeur of the Seas for May 31 has been canceled so the ship can be repaired.

You think?

Is is just me or has this been going on with cruise ships for some time now, it seems like every month or so another one breaks down, catches fire, runs aground, and so on.

So the question is - how would you like to take a cruise? They are safe, the ideal vacation and NOTHING CAN GO WRONG, GO WRONG, GO WRONG, GO WRONG.

River

Cruise ships have been having a bad streak lately.

Lots of cruise ships with equipment failures and viral outbreaks.

Almost all cruise ships are operated and owned by one company no matter what name is on the tickets. The cruise line sets the specs for the ship and therein is the fault. The attitude of the owners is to provide a "deluxe hotel" experience at minimum cost, in some cases this means having the propulsion machinery and generators in the same space with no isolated back up generator or separate electric service for ship's service and for propulsion (diesel electric is common). The usual precautions for safety that I would expect are not available. The same attitude toward design applies throughout the vessel. --FLO--

I hear they're building a Titanic II, a replica ship?

Anyone wanna have a MOM cruise on that bad puppy?!

Yep!

Here it is:

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/02/26/ ... l-in-2016/ NEW YORK – What could possibly go wrong?

An Australian billionaire is getting ready to build a new version of the Titanic that could set sail in late 2016.

Clive Palmer unveiled blueprints for the famously doomed ship's namesake Tuesday at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York. He said construction is scheduled to start soon in China.

Palmer said 40,000 people have expressed interest in tickets for the maiden voyage, taking the original course from Southampton, England, to New York. He said people are inspired by his quest to replicate one of the most famous vessels in history.

"We all live on this planet, we all breathe the same air and, of course, the Titanic is about the things we've got in common," he said. "It links three continents."

The original Titanic was the world's largest and most luxurious ocean liner when it hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank on April 15, 1912. Only 700 people of the more than 2,200 on board survived the most famous maritime disaster in history, partly because there were not enough lifeboats to carry everyone.

Palmer said an unknown when the original ship sailed -- climate change -- may play into a positive for the new ship's fate.

"One of the benefits of global warming is there hasn't been as many icebergs in the North Atlantic these days," Palmer said.

Passengers on board the replica will dress in the fashion of that period and eat dishes from the original menu, in dining rooms copied from the ill-fated predecessor.

Joining Palmer on Tuesday was Helen Benziger, the great granddaughter of Titanic survivor Margaret "Molly" Brown. Benziger, who agreed to serve on the advisory board for the Titanic II, said her great grandmother, who died in 1932, would have loved to see the Titanic rebuilt and complete the journey it never got to finish.

In what some may consider a temptation of fate for a remake of a notoriously "unsinkable" ship that sank, a representative of the Finnish designer of the Titanic II said it will be the "safest cruise ship in the world."

Markku Kanerva, director of sales for marine design company Deltamarin said that while the vessel is modeled after the legendary liner -- the diesel-powered ship will even have four decorative smoke stacks mimicking the coal-powered originals -- it will meet modern navigation and safety requirements.

In addition, plans call for a new "safety deck" featuring state-of-the-art lifeboats, safety chutes and slides. The new ship will also have amenities unknown a century ago, like air conditioning.

Palmer, who is funding construction of the ship himself, built his fortune in real estate and coal. Australia's BRW magazine estimated his net worth last year at $4 billion, although Forbes puts it at $895 million.

"I want to spend the money I've got before I die," he said. "You might as well spend it, not leave it to the kids to spend, there will be enough left for them anyway."

I wonder how many square feet and cubic feet there was to a passenger

on the Titanic as opposed to today's floating "hotels".

When I look as today's ocean liners I think they would make great prison ships.

I would never pay to be on one.

Moi

I wonder if they are going to make replica icebergs to go with it?

One can only hope.

River

It's sailing the same course as the original. The passage from Southhampton to New York City.

I think that's called tempting fate...

jemagirl (imported) wrote: Wed May 29, 2013 4:48 pm I wonder if they are going to

have a ceremony when they reach the spot the original sank? Recite "Full Fathom Five they Father Lies" or something. The 23rd psalm -- "Yea though I float through the valley of icebergs I will fear no desperate sinking feeling..."

In my twisted mind I hope they do build this ship and that it sinks in about the same place, a fitting end to stupid.