From Cjs Kids

I have to tell you all that after reading some of the posts on my thread I am appalled at some of your posts.

Let me set the record straight, it was not a cigarette that probably caused the fire. I spoke to the person who pulled the actual fire alarm and she's been interviewed by police and officials. It looks like someone did this on purpose. The initial fire spread way to rapidly and there was some kind of accelerant on the balcony. They believe in the possiblity that either some through a moltov cocktail or poured liquor over onto the balcony and then threw a cigarette. The fire went from being a small thing to an inferno in a matter of seconds. Staff told me that more went on than we're being told and that it was a serious major fire that spread very quickly. Our sprinklers didn't go off properly and some of the fire doors didn't shut like they were supposed to.

My husband and I were sound asleep and were woken up around 3:10 by banging. I smelled smoke and opened the blinds to see many embers flying onto our suite balcony hitting the wood chairs. Within 1 minute my husband opened the other curtain to now see a wall of fire on our double balcony. The sliding door then cracked in his face and we turned and ran. It took almost 15 minutes from the time the girl pulled the silent alarm to when the alarm came over for everyone to hear. My room was on fire prior to the captain sounding the alarm. There was no time to grab much of anything unless I wanted to risk my life. My cabin was C414 and was smack dab in the middle of the fire where the balconies were even gone.

We made it to our muster station and everyone was terrified. They kept telling people it was okay, but we knew differently from what we had left. It took them 4 hours to complete roll call. They finally gave us some water from the tap and we would turn in our glasses and they would reuse them. We all watched the life boats being lowered. Some of the crew was telling people we would have to abandon the ship. By am when the fire was completely out they had no reason not to bring bottled water and some crackers or rolls for people to eat. The captain kept saying that they were working on opening the restuarants so we could eat and we couldn't care less, we just needed something. One flight down were tons of food sitting. We had one of the crew sleeping on the floor when he was to be working. Some of the crew were eating Mike and Ikes. My daughter almost passed out and even though lots of the crew were outside hanging out, they wouldn't let her get any fresh air by standing by the open doors.

Our friends we were traveling in were in a different muster station and they quickly were given bottled water and had air turned on hours prior to us. Their roll call was done quickly and the entertainment crew that was manning their stations took great care of them. We had elderly people and people with different illnesses to needed help. For those poster who said that the diabetics should have grabbed their stuff, you have no idea what is was like or if they had time. If there was a large fire in your cabin I highly doubt you would have stopped for anything but rather ran for your life.

They allowed us to go back to our cabin and I lost it. One at a time with staff. What was once two sliding doors witha wall inbetween was now

a large gaping hole.

Everything was burnt, wet, and black. There was nothing for us to salvege, nothing. My husband had his pajamas and I had a pair of shorts and shirt on. At no time did the staff on any level and a senior staff should have taken those of us who lost everything and spoken to us to prepare us. They already knew what our staterooms looked like. All afternoon I would have to go back to the pursers desk to see what was going to happen to us only to be told to come back in an hour. On one of my trips I had to endure an idiot in front of me would was pissed and loudly complaing how he had $40 worth of casion chips and it was crazy he had to wait and "they better give me my money back". It was very hard to hear that. At 3 pm I finally took it upon myself to book my own hotel and called in a favor at a hotel that I stayed in in November. I also used the computer to book my own flight home on American Airlines. We felt like we were on our own.

My hair still stinks and I still have soot under my nails and on my feet that no matter how much I scrub it all won't come out. My chest is killing me and I'm still coughing up black crap. Can you imagine what it's like to walk into a hotel and have some guys make a joke how it smells like the hotel is burning down and laugh at us.

Lana, I adore you. Thank you so much for the offers of money and help. You are truly and very generous and kind person. For all who had

sailed with me prior, thank you for your thoughts and offers.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to set foot on a cruise ship again. The thought of being on my cruise in November terrifies me. I haven't slept since we woke up (only a few hours)I can't get that

smell out of my head and the pictures of the wall of fire and the door cracking in front of my husband.

I am sorry for what you have gone through. I am glad you are safe and home now. I hope you will get a good nights sleep and be able to face tomorrow with peace.

I am so sorry.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I wish you and your family all the best.

I'm sorry to hear about the traumatic experiences you went through. I hope you have an uneventful trip back home. And thank you for taking the time out during the chaos to compose your messages and share your stories with the rest of us. It's very much appreciated.

The major news outlets are still reporting the speculation that it was a cigarette. This is a totally different story if it turns out to have been arson...

Jerry

Thank you so much Cjskids for your posts. So sorry for all the stress you've been through and are still going through.

Again so sorry this happened. Warmest wishes for a safe recovery, time heals all wounds as they say I hope for you. Hard to find the right words in a situation like yours but know that many, many people here are thankful for your checking in and are thinking about your difficulties.

Regards and hope you feel better soon:)

Cjskids

You will find a whole lot of VERY insensitive posts and posters that have speculated, commented, and will continue to defend Princess no matter what. Please don't let them upset you. I admire your resilience and do hope you will feel comfortable cruising again. /Sultan

Oh how horrifying!:( If there is anything you need even back here at home even if you just wanna talk let us know. I hope many of us would be willing to lend an ear for ya to talk to or help out in anyway.

cjskids,

I'm terribly sorry that your cruise didn't end as well as it had begun. What a terrifying experience to go through. I can't imagine. Glad you and your husband are safe, and hope you can begin to recover and get back to a sense of normalcy. As a regular CC poster, you are always willing to share your knowledge with others. I wish you well!

I'm so sorry this happened to you all. Hope you have a safe trip home. Hugs, and we do care!

Thank you for taking the time to post. What a frightening and terrible thing to experience!

Carolyn,

Thank you so much for your posts. I cannot even imagine going thru this.

Hope you & your husband arrive home safely.

Take Care

Cathy

Oh my... Thank you so much for sharing this. It has been made out to look like so much less then what it was and that is sickening for those of you who experienced it. God bless you and your family.

What a terrible ordeal for you both and I wish you a safe and uneventful journey home. You were right in the middle of the flames and survived so a guardian angel was watching over you. I hope that over time the panic and stress will fade and you will be cruising again. Your CC friends are here if you need to vent. Godspeed.

Cjskids

You will find a whole lot of VERY insensitive posts and posters that have speculated, commented, and will continue to defend Princess no matter what. Please don't let them upset you.

Cjs – I’m sorry to hear that what you went through was so horrible. Given there were others who seem to have had positive experiences with crew and the way the incident was handled, it’s unfortunate that those same experiences were not shared by everyone on board the ship. Trust that you will heal and you will move on and perhaps someday you may even board a cruise ship again. The best to you.

Thank God you made it out alive. We are praying for you, and all the others affected by this terrible experience.

So sorry to hear what you went through. You will be in my thoughts and hope that you will be able to get through this. Those of us who weren't there cannot begin to know what you went through. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience.

I agree with what has been said above. Sorry to hear about this traumatic experience and it's good to know you and your family are safe and sound. Try to relax and feel better soon!

Carolyn,

We're so relieved to hear that you and your family are safe. If there's anything we can do to help, please let us know!!

Frederick, Mickie and Alex

My heart goes out to you and my prayers are that you may heal. Undoubtedly this will be formost in your thoughts for a long time. Thank you for posting your experience. The details you painted were both chilling and enlightening.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us, it must be so difficult and I hope it helps your recovery.

None of us can come close to imagining what you have been through. I have been feeling sorry for myself since dental surgery, but you guys really have suffered and are still doing so.

I hope you can soon find some peace. You are so brave.

Bless you.

Thanks Carolyn for providing your impressions and experiences. I can't believe that someone was insensitive enough to complain about $40 when you and others had lost everything. I'd have given him the money from my own pocket and told him to P--- Off.

Thankfully you are home and safe. And thank you for getting info to us as quickly as you did.

Dear Carolyn and family, thanks for your post. We are all so glad that you and your family are okay. I truly cannot even imagine all that you endured. Please take care.

Linda

How very, very frightening! It's so much easier to believe it was a freak accident caused by someone's carelessness than to think it was done deliberately.

I can only hope that this event and your experience will bring about whatever changes need to be made in the cruise industry to prevent anything like this from happening in the future. The proper functioning of fire doors and sprinkler systems needs to be addressed by all cruise lines. How very fortunate there wasn't more loss of life and injury in this case. It's sad to say, but many times it takes a tragedy to bring awareness and awareness to make change.

I'm glad you are okay and hope you will be able to put this behind you quickly.

Marly

I am so sorry that this incident happened to you and are really glad you and your family are fine. In the last two days there have been some extremely insensitive people posting garbage on this board. I hope that you feel that not all CC'ers are that way. I am happy that you are safe and sound and that someday as time goes on that you will sail again.

Marilyn

Thank you for sharing your experience with all of us on CC. I cant imagine how frightened all of you were......

I dont blame you for not wanting to get on another cruise ship as you have really been through a nightmare. Thankfully you are here to tell about it.