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.)

Just realized that my 6-yr-old post (or however old it is) is still getting some attention! Glad I could help a few people!

And, let me just say this....Michael Godard is a WONDERFUL person who does so much behind-the-scenes work to raise money to help children with cancer. The money he raises is amazing, and the time/compassion he gives to others is unbelievable. This information is not often publicized, so you may not be aware of this. If any of you follow Michael on facebook, you may have seen a Batman sketch that he shared on his page a little over 2 years ago. That sketch was for my niece. If you've seen it, then you already know what it was all about and why he created it. I can now proudly call Michael my friend, and I can tell you that the friendship and love he has provided for my family and me over the last few years is second to none...

We were on the Star in Jan 2006.

Though we heard of the fire later,

we never had any idea of how it transpired,

until you share again your previous post.

Thank you for sharing.

No problem! Glad to share...

I have that same paper!! The manager of the hotel we stayed Thursday night actually had it delivered to my room. Our hotel

..and to think I had to pay $.25 or so for mine! :)

I saved everything from that cruise...key cards, Princess Patters, notes from Princess left in the mailbox outside the room, etc!

Here's a photo of the Kingston, Jamaica newspaper I picked up at the airport the next morning (March 24th, 2006)...

My dd was adancer on board during that cruise. She spent the rest of the night and morning fetching medications from passenger cabins and dispensing water. My dw and I saw a news report about the fire and immediately got that cold feeling inside. We were trying to get in touch with her and not having any luck when she called and let us know that she was fine. When I read this review I had that same feeling for a second and then a feeling of pride for the way the crew (incuding my daughter ) handled themselves. Thank you for this post and your appreciation of the crew.

You're welcome! My family and friends had trouble contacting me, too....but that's because my cell phone was in my swim suit pocket when I jumped in the pool a day or two before the fire. Oops.

You should definitely be proud of how the crew (including your daughter) handled everything. Fetching medicines from the cabins HAD to be a miserable experience, and I'm sure your daughter, to this day, can describe the horrible smell she encountered as she went back to the passenger cabins. But, she did a great thing, as she was able to help many people...

...Here's something I didn't mention in this thread: My (now) wife and I got engaged on the Star Princess 2.5 days before the fire. I'll always have a story to tell!... :)

Thanks for sharing your post. I didn't know about this fire, and your remembrance comes just one week before I will sail on Star Princess for the first time. I'm one of those folks who tend to think of ships as living things, and it will make Star all the more interesting to know her history. I'm especially glad to read about the admirable performance of Star's crew. Apparently there is much more involved in fighting a fire at sea as compared with practices on land.

You're very welcome! Hope you have a great time on the ship....say hello to Aloha 259 for me! :) You're in great hands with the Princess crew!...

Hard to believe that it was 10 years ago.....

 

Every time I hear the alarm sound at Muster drill it brings me back to that night and I just can't wait for it to be over.....

Funny how we can still remember how we felt that night when we hear the muster alarm...

As a non-smoker, a maritime firefighter, but someone who is not offended by the smell of cigarette smoke, I really don't have too much heartache with smokers on their balconies, from a safety standpoint (since the amendments to SOLAS regarding balcony fire safety), only with the exception that it may bother their neighbors.

 

As for the cause of the Star Princess fire, here is the quote from the analysis section, under cause of fire;

 

"In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, it is considered that the most likely source of ignition was a discarded cigarette end." (highlight mine).

 

Given the intensity of the fire, it is not surprising that no evidence of the exact cause was found. While it very well could have been a cigarette (and there was no evidence that it was), and no one will ever know for sure, to trot this out every time a smoking on the balcony thread comes up is pretty trite.

 

It is a good reminder to passengers about the training the crew has, and the necessary good order that passengers need to show in emergency conditions to aid the crew.

Thanks for your input! You are absolutely correct about the need for things to be orderly, as the quick evacuation of passengers from the hallways/decks allowed the fire crews to get where they needed to be...

I haven't seen it but maybe 1 time since the ban. I'm not a smoker and a $250 fine each time would be enough to deter me from doing it.

 

P.S. I went over to Youtube and watched 2 videos of the fire. I agree smokers should watch the video.

I agree....once the video is viewed, it becomes much easier to understand just how big the fire was...and how much worse things could have been. It's amazing that they were able to put this out....while fighting it from inside the ship!

For anyone who wants to see a video of the fire and photos of the damage, just search "Star Princess fire" on YouTube.

Thanks for re-posting ur first hand account.....I agree was it really 10 years ago?...but I do remember, all to well....

You're welcome! Yes....10 years....time sure does fly...

Thank you op and SadieN for referral to this excellent post. I am so comforted with how well Princess did and continued good reports about Princess. I have had 6 cruises and one overnight ferry cruise total (over 36 years lol)...and stay on here to keep the dream alive and informed on what is up for my usual need to have last minute bookings. That and I LOVE travel and cruising. One of my very favorite cruises I hope to repeat soon is Princess. Princess and Hal, were both favorites, but neither were a full week. Service on all my cruises were a different level of good to excellent except for my last Carnival cruise...which was fair due to less staff in dining...and downgrade noticed of food on that trip..just before ship was moving to Australia..the Spirit 2012.

 

I remember this fire but did not study it as that one cruise was a heavenly Travel agent familiarization cruise and I was the lucky friend of TA...and way before the fact. So we also had extra spoiled perks of cocktail parties and free drinks and wine of premium quality the entire cruise and tours of some places on the ship...It was in a word HEAVEN. The shows and music too and we had a mini-suite to boot...fabulous rooms. Thank you so much for this reminder and post..my cruise was 2001 or 2 on the Star...oh the spa too..there was just so much..it was heaven. The dining was rotating with different staff of the ship and Princess Management...they made us feel like queens too. Thanks so much for this post. I think nothing makes or breaks a cruise more than the staff...you can be on a medium older ship and the staff makes it a 5 star experience. This happened for me on the Carnival Paradise in 2009..i.e.5 star service...making the trip as special as my Princess one with much less fancy as per the ship. Very impressive reminder OP, of what they do and did for you. And the relative safety and wonder of cruising. Thank you.

Thanks for your compliments! I'm happy to be able to share my story!...

Thank-you for re-posting this. I had read about this, but never saw a first hand account.

No problem! I'm happy that I was able to dig up my original post, as some of the smaller details of the whole incident had started to fade. One other person on this thread was on the Star during the fire, but I'm surprised I haven't seen more people yet...

if nothing else came of this the awful plastic furniture princess used to use is a goner! :d

lol!!

Wow! 10 years has passed since the fire on the star princess. I was also on that cruise with my family. I wrote a first person report as well. If you want you can search use mg my name for it. We have the MAIB report from the event. The conclusion was that it started with a cigarette smoldering in towels on a balcony. The plastic furniture and flooring ignited and fueled by wind spread quickly to other bAlconies. Since this event sprinklers have been added to Val the balconies and the floring and furniture have been changed.

Did your room get damaged? Hope all of you were ok! Do you remember what room and/or muster station you were in? I believe we were Aloha 259...

We leave the towels on the lounge chairs. They are nice to have on the chairs in many ways. Your skin doesn't stick to the plastic seats, your clothing doesn't get soot and dirt on them, it keeps the chairs dry. I haven't seen any "rules" that says otherwise nor do I care. We also hang our wet bathing suits on a hanger to dry out on our balcony. Carnival followed Princess on the "no smoking on balconies" because of many complaints from people smelling the smoke. We didn't cruise Carnival for a long time due to the cigarette smoke. Carnival listened and we came back to cruising on Carnival. Smokers are still livid that they can't smoke on their balcony.

 

Thank you OP for bringing the anniversary to the Star fire to light again. I know it was an horrifying experience. During every muster drill they pound the fire thing home, and I know the crew takes it very seriously.

You're welcome! And, I can second the fact that cigarette smoke smell can be extremely strong on the balcony...and blows back into any rooms that have their slider open...

Are you kidding me?? This is an unnecessary comment. Toweling didn't ignite itself. A cigarette likely did that and maybe it wasn't even due to toweling, perhaps it just smoldered on the floor matting and caught that on fire. It is the most likely assumption by trained fire investigators and NTSB that this file was a result of a burning cigarette butt thrown overboard.

 

This is a very nice thread with someone who experienced first hand the scariest thing at sea and is taking the opportunity to laude the wonderful crew. Please don't spoil it

Thanks for the compliment!

And yes, as you noted...The purpose of this thread wasn't to start an argument as to how the fire started. Our best information comes from those who were hired to figure it out.

By the way, the balcony floors, dividers, chairs, and tables were all flammable during our cruise. From what I heard, these items are made from different materials now. So, apparently anything on the balcony could have caught fire.

Good review.

Thanks!

I went to the Star Princess wiki and there's quite a bit of info there. The gentleman was 72 years old and died from smoke inhalation.

 

More info and causes of the fire:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Princess

It was heartbreaking when we went up to our room once we reached Montego Bay, and there was a hearse parked next to an ambulance at the dock. A little while later, a helicopter flew in to airlift someone out...

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.

 

What was your theory as to the cause of the fire? And were there casualties or death?

 

We were on the Grand last November when we had a small fire in one of the control panels. We were all awakened early but fortunately we never had to go to muster station as it was controlled quite quickly. Some cabins lost power for a few hours. We missed our ports, except for Honolulu because they were to be able to do a minor repair there. Some people insisted not continuing with the cruise (still another 9-10 days left)and made a huge fuss about it but most of us remained on the ship and had a wonderful time with lots and lots of sea days. :D I loved that cruise. The service and staff were wonderful. Absolutely loved how the Captain handled everything, as well. The refund package was similar to yours, too. We were quite happy.

Yes, there was one casualty (see a few posts before this one)...

As for the theory....it was 10 years ago, so I'm trying to remember what I meant by that. :) I believe I was referring to something that another couple had told us....that they had some sparks coming out of one of the electrical outlets a day or two earlier. Of course, that's just what they said, so who knows how accurate that really was...

Fire is something that is taken VERY seriously on a ship. The crews train long and hard on shipboard fire prevention and shipboard firefighting. Here’s an interesting link to the HAL Prinsendam fire http://www.explorenorth.com/library/ships/prinsendam-1980.html Was there any loss of life during the Star Princess fire?

Yes, one older gentleman died. I'm not sure if he died from a heart attack or smoke inhalation...

I once met a couple whose first cruise was on the Prinsendam which sank in the Gulf of Alaska. There is an interesting book called Burning Cold about it. They continued to cruise and when we met they had been on over forty cruises. That story reflected more on the great work by the coast guard as all passengers were put in lifeboats and had to be rescued from those in less than ideal conditions. Amazingly no lives were lost.

Wow....that's crazy...I hadn't heard of that one...thanks for sharing!

Thanks for retelling this story, what a great testament to the crew!

No problem! Thanks for the compliment!

Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

 

I'm amazed that you continued to cruise, especially since this was your first. I don't know if I could have done the same.

 

You must have been horrified to see the extent of the damage after you disembarked. It's a miracle there wasn't more loss of life than there was.

You're welcome!

I think this is one of those "you had to be there" moments in order to understand why we continued to cruise after the fire. The entire Princess staff was amazing through everything, and we really felt like every employee worked at their top level to put out the fire and keep all passengers safe. The "real thing" was handled as orderly and professionally as the muster drill a few days before. When a crew works as hard as they did, you feel you're in the best hands. So, we never hesitated to book again...