Early this morning a fire broke out on Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas. Guests and crew were sent to their muster stations and life boats were prepared to be deployed if necessary. Thankfully, that proved to be unnecessary. Here’s what we know according to Royal Caribbean’s  public relations Twitter account, @RoyalCaribPR.

  • There was a fire aboard Grandeur of the Seas.
  • The Captain ordered guests to their muster stations.
  • The fire was extinguished.
  • Critical functions like power, propulsion, and communications continued uninterrupted.
  • The ship diverted to Freeport from its planned destination of CocoCay.
  • All guests and crew are accounted for.
  • The ship will spend today in Freeport. Guests have been allowed ashore while the ship is being evaluated.
  • @RoyalCaribPR tweeted this photo of the fire and smoke damage.

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I have been and continue to be a fan of cruise vacations, and especially a fan of Royal Caribbean International. This is an important reminder that bad things can happen anywhere, anytime. It is also a good reminder of the importance of safety drills and following safety instructions. Likely or not, you may need to use the information shared in these drills someday. The same can be said for the safety demonstrations aboard airliners as well. Now we will wait and see what the investigators discover as a cause of the fire. Hopefully, lessons will be learned to prevent a future occurrence.