On Grandeur now..

[Dolphins]

Greetings to New York's Bravest.

 

I agree that the crew did a good job. One difference from shore firefighting is that there will normally be 5-6 five man fire teams responding to any fire, no matter how small or large. There will also be a technical response team to deal with securing power, ventilation, etc. Security teams will cordon off the area, and not allow anyone into the "hot zone" except fire teams. Most ships have an officer billet of "firefighter" who is normally an experienced firefighter or smoke jumper. His duty is training of the fire teams, and being the lead person on the primary fire team. I used to be Staff Chief Engineer, and my responsibility during emergencies was to be on scene commander to the 50 or so crew who actively respond to the emergency.

 

The structural fire protection designed into the ships is quite impressive as well. Boundary cooling is a normal assignment for some of the fire teams, but as one poster noted, cooling of the outside of the ship is normally limited to shore fire departments while in port. As I've posted before, we tend to be somewhat leery of shore fire department cooperation because of the Normandie fire, but we usually had several tours for Honolulu FD personnel every year, to familiarize them with the ship's systems.

 

Do you think sprinklers played a large part in controlling this fire?

[Scotty G]

I've never seen an RCL officer wearing shorts. I would assume this is a Bahamian Pilot or possibly Coast Guard officer who disembarked the smaller boat in the foreground. It's also possible he just wanted to hide his face to avoid being identified in the picture.

I have often seen RCI officers wearing shorts in uniform on Coco Cay. They are part of their uniform. AS A/C was off on the ship during the emergency wearing shorts seems like a smart move ;)

[Jenn31708]

Glad to hear everyone is safe, this really could have been so much worse.

 

 

This got me thinking though, when someone said what about people without passports....

 

 

What about people like me that don't fly? This is why I do a round trip cruise out of Jersey, so I don't have to get on a plane. I'm terrified to fly, and I haven't in years. I wonder what I would do in that situation. :confused:

[ericrz]

Glad to hear everyone is safe, this really could have been so much worse.

 

 

This got me thinking though, when someone said what about people without passports....

 

 

What about people like me that don't fly? This is why I do a round trip cruise out of Jersey, so I don't have to get on a plane. I'm terrified to fly, and I haven't in years. I wonder what I would do in that situation. :confused:

 

Can't really see that you'd have much of a choice. There would be no way to get home without getting on a plane. (I mean, I suppose it would be technically possible to charter a yacht or other ship to take you home. But RCI sure wouldn't pay for that!)

 

The more interesting situation would be if someone can't fly due to a medical issue. Then what happens?

[spencercoop]

Glad to hear everyone is safe, this really could have been so much worse.

 

 

This got me thinking though, when someone said what about people without passports....

 

 

What about people like me that don't fly? This is why I do a round trip cruise out of Jersey, so I don't have to get on a plane. I'm terrified to fly, and I haven't in years. I wonder what I would do in that situation. :confused:

 

When Carnival decided to terminate the Dream's cruise in St. Maarten because the emergency generators were not working properly they put the passengers on an NCL ship who couldn't or didn't want to fly.

 

I would assume Royal Caribbean would do the same.

[cruiserdudebobby8]

Any particular reason that you believe that your comment is so special that it deserves it's very own thread?

 

no particular reason

[Jenn31708]

When Carnival decided to terminate the Dream's cruise in St. Maarten because the emergency generators were not working properly they put the passengers on an NCL ship who couldn't or didn't want to fly.

 

I would assume Royal Caribbean would do the same.

 

 

That's what I said to my husband. "We'll just hang out until then next cruise ship comes by and hop on."

[critterchick]

Balconies? or AFT balconies? I've never had a butt on my balcony but I've never had an aft before. The way afts are set up it seems more likely butts would land there.

 

We, too, are aft denizens and have seldom seen anything but a bit of soot from above on RCI or Princess. On Oosterdam, though, my Deck 8 aft cabin was filthy with butts, popcorn, soot and all the cups and dishes that blew over from the Lido pool deck above.

[SueM.]

What about people like me that don't fly? This is why I do a round trip cruise out of Jersey, so I don't have to get on a plane. I'm terrified to fly, and I haven't in years. I wonder what I would do in that situation. :confused:

 

You would fly if you had to and had no other choice. My aunt and uncle would go to exotic places by freighter every year and she was afraid to fly. Their last trip he got very sick and they had to fly home with a nurse. So my aunt had no choice but to fly, her husbands health was more important. You can do things when you need to.

[swim13]

Well, this story just made my local news, in my small town!

[sailinglisa]

Glad to hear everyone is safe, this really could have been so much worse.

 

 

This got me thinking though, when someone said what about people without passports....

 

 

What about people like me that don't fly? This is why I do a round trip cruise out of Jersey, so I don't have to get on a plane. I'm terrified to fly, and I haven't in years. I wonder what I would do in that situation. :confused:

 

There are ferries that run from Florida to the Bahamas...I know of one that is a hydrofoil that leaves out of Port Everglades and goes to the Bahamas.

[Rockee4055]

Had to jump over and see what was up. I'm glad to hear everyone is okay. My heart sank when I saw it on the news this morning.

 

I hope everyone gets back home safe and sound.

[Kroozen]

RCCL is working with immigration officials to make travel arrangements for people without passports.

[rabin1]

hello

 

i live in south florida. on our 11 news they said passengers are already arriving here from the ship. wasn;t paying total attention so don;t know if that meant they live here and were arriving home or if they were bringing them to miami or ft lauderdale to fly them to wherever they would go home to. would seem more logical to me as many more flights for all over the country from mia and fll. also remember miami is RCCl home base.

 

kathy

[Kroozen]

RCCL is paying for flights back to Baltimore, as that is where the cruise departed from. My guess is that they are working with airlines as we speak to charter entire flights tomorrow. I was booked on the sailing this Friday, and they are even giving me the money back that I spent on the hotel since I can't cancel it.

[wrp96]

One of the pictures I saw showed the ship right next to the Celebration. For those that don't fly for medical reasons, it may be an option to book them on that ship, then train or bus back to Baltimore. Again though even that way the passports will be an issue as its no longer a closed loop cruise - so RCCL will have to work that out with CBP just like the ones flying home without passports.

[Kartgv]

I looked for an article pinned at the top of the RC board and it is not there. I know that the they are suppose to be pinned there for 24 hours, correct? Why is it not? Every issue for carnival was pinned. Discriminate, no. Inconsistent, yes.

 

Early this morning the story was at the top of the CC "News" page, and it's been updated several times - just click on the link from the Home Page. It's there for all readers to see, not only those who check the RCI board.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

We are ok. Bad fire on deck 3 and 4. Headed to Freeport. Lifeboats we lowered and opened as we stood at 3 am for over 4 hours at our muster station. Passengers were ill (passing out and vomiting). Not sure if we will continue or what.

Dharma517, You probably already know this but I just saw this post on a CNN video. I'm glad everyone is ok.

[pspercy]

RCCL is working with immigration officials to make travel arrangements for people without passports.

 

If you're leaving US waters, you should have a passport.

 

If you can afford to cruise, you can afford a passport.

 

I couldn't imagine leaving the country, for any reason, without one:D

[broberts]

If you're leaving US waters, you should have a passport.

 

If you can afford to cruise, you can afford a passport.

 

I couldn't imagine leaving the country, for any reason, without one:D

 

If a passport is not required and one books an inside cabin on a Grandeur 6 night cruise, the cost of a passport would needlessly add an additional 33% of the cruise fare to the cost. Not my idea of affordable.

[cruisingram1]

We are ok. Bad fire on deck 3 and 4. Headed to Freeport. Lifeboats were lowered and opened as we stood at 3 am for over 4 hours at our muster station. Passengers were ill (passing out and vomiting). Not sure if we will continue or what.

 

I have a question about the lifeboats and muster stations. Dharma said they were lowered and I am curious if anyone knows what the procedure would have been if the ship had to be evacuated? Would people go down to the water level by muster group and board the life boats in the same manner they do when tendering to a port? I have been on 7 cruises and for some reason, I thought people boarded the life boat from the muster station and rode it down into the ocean. Clearly, that is not the case. (Given one of our muster stations was in a lounge, I was definitely not thinking that out fully!)

 

Am glad that evacuation was not necessary, but happy to see that the procedures are all in place to be proactive during an emergency.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

I have a question about the lifeboats and muster stations. Dharma said they were lowered and I am curious if anyone knows what the procedure would have been if the ship had to be evacuated? Would people go down to the water level by muster group and board the life boats in the same manner they do when tendering to a port? I have been on 7 cruises and for some reason, I thought people boarded the life boat from the muster station and rode it down into the ocean. Clearly, that is not the case. (Given one of our muster stations was in a lounge, I was definitely not thinking that out fully!)

 

Am glad that evacuation was not necessary, but happy to see that the procedures are all in place to be proactive during an emergency.

 

I also wondered about this. On my cruise last week, my muster station was also in a lounge that was 2 or 3 decks below where my cabin was located. If there would have been an emergency we would have had to first go to our muster station at the lounge and then make our way to the life boats. That seems like a lot of wasted time during an emergency.

[Merion_Mom]

I also wondered about this. On my cruise last week, my muster station was also in a lounge that was 2 or 3 decks below where my cabin was located. If there would have been an emergency we would have had to first go to our muster station at the lounge and then make our way to the life boats. That seems like a lot of wasted time during an emergency.

 

The lifeboats are lowered in a very organized and well-thought-out way.

 

They are not all lowered at the same time.

 

You would be led to your station when it was time for your lifeboats to be launched.

[spencercoop]

I have a question about the lifeboats and muster stations. Dharma said they were lowered and I am curious if anyone knows what the procedure would have been if the ship had to be evacuated? Would people go down to the water level by muster group and board the life boats in the same manner they do when tendering to a port? I have been on 7 cruises and for some reason, I thought people boarded the life boat from the muster station and rode it down into the ocean. Clearly, that is not the case. (Given one of our muster stations was in a lounge, I was definitely not thinking that out fully!)

 

Am glad that evacuation was not necessary, but happy to see that the procedures are all in place to be proactive during an emergency.

 

You board the lifeboats at the muster stations (outside deck/promenade) not where you would board the tenders when you go into a port. What the OP meant by lowering the lifeboats was lowering them from their storage position to right in front of the lifeboat deck where they would have been boarded from.

[TPKeller]

You would fly if you had to and had no other choice. My aunt and uncle would go to exotic places by freighter every year and she was afraid to fly. Their last trip he got very sick and they had to fly home with a nurse. So my aunt had no choice but to fly, her husbands health was more important. You can do things when you need to.

I believe you assume a bit too much. There are people who cannot fly for medical reasons, and I would observe that you are much more likely to find such people on a cruise than on another type of vacation, especially on a cruise that sailed from a non-Florida, "near my home" port, simply because someone who can't fly is likely to take advantage of that convenient option to enjoy a far-away, tropical vacation without an airplane ride.

 

As observed in subsequent posts, during one of the recent Carnival mishaps, several such passengers were granted passage on an NCL cruise ship, which I believe gave nearly everyone who follows the cruise industry nice warm fuzzy feelings inside.

 

Theron