From Cjs Kids

[cnmiranda]

It appears someone on this board also heard it from a crew member on this sailing firsthand. Whatever the case, the truth will come out.

 

After watching all those concocted CSI or more truthful discovery channel, court tv shows it seems there are some pretty high tech ways of telling what caused a fire?

[cruzegirl]

Carolyn,

I don't know you but I feel I know what your going through.... My heartfelt prayers go out to you and your family.... It will get better over time though you'll find you have a heightened smell of smoke that never goes away.. In 84 my brother was playing with matches and burned down the family home.. My mother was ill at the time but luckily, we all got out safe... But only with the clothes on our backs..... There's nothing as scary as this to me.. Watching your home burn down and wanting all to be ok.... For the longest time I couldn't smell smoke without shaking/sweating and having a panic attack... I can actually have lit candles now, 22 years later.... It will get better but let yourself heal.... You'll cry, scream and have some nasty nightmares.... But it will get better..... If you want to chat privately, let me know.... I truly know what your going through..... My saving grace is that it wasn't at sea.... How truly terrifying...... Take care and your in my prayers....

[Twinsmomct]

CJSKIDS --

 

Just another cruiser sending along her best wishes for both a physical and mental speedy recovery. I keep picturing in my mind what you must have gone through and cannot even imagine the horror of it. After reading your posts on the roll call board for this cruise and how excited you were, I just feel for you. What an incredibly horrible experience. Please know that there are good people out here praying for you, your family, and all the other passengers from the Star. How is the rest of your family doing?

 

Patty

[negc]

 

Bill I was not the original poster of that.. I am responded to a quote that I am reserving any comments on how that fire started until the facts are in: As you can see by your reply, you thought I commented on the saftey equipment etc.. I did no such thing :) and if you look a little closer, you will see I only posted a response to that one original post and now to this one :)

 

Just trying to keep the FACTS clear, about me as well :)

 

Thanks

 

Sorry about my mistake Jimcat. The way that your post appeared on this board makes it look like the whole post is yours and doesn't differentiate between the first portion speculating about the source of the fire, and your response about reserving comment. Usually the quoted portion is highlighted to indicate that it is from another source. That was the reason as I said I was confused and I am glad that you have clarified the situation.

It is clear now that we both agree that now is not the time to be speculating and it would be best if everyone would wait for the results of the official investigation.

[TNTLAMB]

It appears someone on this board also heard it from a crew member on this sailing firsthand. Whatever the case, the truth will come out.

 

 

And of course crew members never spread rumors, speculate, or gossip either.

[cnmiranda]

And of course crew members never spread rumors, speculate, or gossip either.

 

 

Which is why I wrote "the truth will come out", at least in this case, the media is all over the story as well as gov't officials;)

 

But then there will always be conspircacy theories, lol Look out when those start!:)

[blackpool belle]

Carolyn,

 

Did you get my last e-mail? Hope I sent it to the correct address. I would like to send you a private e-mail once you have returned home.

 

Chin up:)

[cruzrus]

Carolyn,

 

 

Thank God you are all safe and back home. Thank you for taking the time to give all of us an accurate and personal accounting. What an horrific experience! You and your family have been in our thoughts. I hope in time you will find peace. Shirley and Fred(GoldenPrincess July, 2005)

[SomeBeach]

cjskids... thank you for taking the time to tell us your story. I am sorry to read of how ill you are. I hope you will recover soon, though I imagine some parts of recovery will be difficult.

I've read so much here I may be a bit confused. I think you mentioned that you couldn't scrub some soot out of your skin. Sometimes a skin lotion can help to loosen that so it can work it's way out. This may work for you. If someone mentioned this, sorry I duplicated an answer.

Please take care of yourself and post to let us know how you are doing.

[katiel53]

cj,

I am not a reader of the Princess board because I normally sail Celebrity or Royal Caribbean. Someone did post a link to your board and I almost cried after reading your report. I think a fire at sea is the most terrifying experience there can be. Where can you go? Where can you run to get away? I truly can't imagine what you went through and I sincerely hope I never have to live through it.

 

Coming home and having time to think about the fire, I think makes one reflect on things. I am sorry for what you went through, and feel that you have done a great service letting all of us know what it was like.

 

I hope you will be back to good health soon, and my prayers are with you. I don't know how I would have dealt with what you and the other passengers did.

 

Only you will be able to choose if another cruise is for you. Don't rush to judgement, do what you feel is best for you and your husband.

 

Thanks again for letting us know what it was like onboard.

[Deloresgardella]

I also want to extend my deepest sympathy for you and your family. It must have been terrible not knowing what to do and how to do it. I am just glad that you are back home now and on the way to mending. I hope you are also getting well from the smoke. My prayers are with you.

Delores

[Beach4me]

Carolyn,

 

Sending wishes of peace and strength. I'm imagining being in your place...waking up and seeing what you described and I know that I can only imagine 1% of the terror and confusion you went through. I am sorry for your ordeal. And, I am grateful for your sharing your experiences and thoughts with us.

 

Please continue to keep us posted. Your friends here do care - and are interested.

[Guest Host Tink]

cjskids, Thank you for sharing your ordeal with us, it really puts it into perspective. If there is anything we here at Cruise Critic can do to help you, please do not hesitate to email me, or any other Host. *hugs*:o

[ceejay2sail]

okay, my first post. been a long time lurker, and i know and love a lot of the people here, and consider you my friends, though you can't possibly know me.

 

i was finally moved to enroll based on your postings on your experiences on the star. i am just so glad you and your family are home safe and sound. and i hope that your trip to the doctor today helps you to get better. i can only imagine what you went through in the last 3 days. take care Carolyn. you have always been one of my favorite posters. please don't leave us. you are in my thoughts.

[cruiserforlife]

Wow...every cruisers worst fear.

Glad to hear you've made it home safe and sound....

[Host CJSKIDS]

okay, my first post. been a long time lurker, and i know and love a lot of the people here, and consider you my friends, though you can't possibly know me.

 

i was finally moved to enroll based on your postings on your experiences on the star. i am just so glad you and your family are home safe and sound. and i hope that your trip to the doctor today helps you to get better. i can only imagine what you went through in the last 3 days. take care Carolyn. you have always been one of my favorite posters. please don't leave us. you are in my thoughts.

 

Thank you for the kind words. I don't plan on going anywhere as everyone on this board has been wonderful and it's been very helpful to me to hear the kind words.

 

I can say that prior to the fire, it had been an unbelievable cruise. The seas had been calm, the weather had been perfect, and the service had been amazing. We were really enjoying ourselves and our day in Grand Cayman was so much fun. The tendering was just fine and we had rented jeeps with our friends and explored. Rum Point was fantastic.

[wasup254]

cjskids,

 

I see you are from Naples, I work for the hospital in Naples and we are on the Transatlantic on 4-30. I was reading your posts prior to the sailing and we happened to be at the port on Sunday 3-19 to see a car show and saw the Star, and as we were leaving I said to the people milling about on the decks, jokely, take care of OUR ship, see you in 6 weeks! Then I wake up Thursday morning and see the horrible fire and cannot believe my eyes. Glad you are fine and hopely she can be made whole again so all who wish can sail her...

 

Marlene

[Iamthesea]

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 know how you must feel. I survived a house fire three years ago and am just now starting to be able to relax at night. It does get better and the smell and soot will disappear. Try dipping your nails in Clorox and then rinse with water and clothes softener. The softener takes the Clorox smell away and keeps your skin from getting irritated. Top it off with a good lotion!

 

I cruised just two weeks ago and I am telling you that if your fire had happened before my cruise, I'm not sure I could have gone. It was bad enough when the RCCL had a small fire.

[Larry502]

When I worked for the fire department and would come home my mom would yell that tthe housw was on fire because I smelled . A little trick I uses to clean my hads and under the nails was to use JJ baby oil. You would it into your nails for a couple of mins and then wash with dish shope like joy. No more smell.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Thank you for the tips about the soot. It's amazing that I still have so much on my nails but it's probably because they're gel.

I've been diagnosed with smoke inhalation injury which set into an infection. From this I also have dyspnea, bronchitis, interstitial prominence, and tachycardia and fever. They're keeping an eye on me for pneumonia as I guess this is what happens after smoke inhalation. I've been put on major anitbiotics, cough medicine with codiene, steriods, and a few other things. I guess this is nice welcome back from your cruise. It's a little hard to get over what happened when I'm hacking up stuff every few moments and feel like I've been hit in the chest with a sledge hammer.

Is there anyone else out there having these problems?

[spongerob]

Get well soon, Cjs. How are the rest of your family doing?

[Host CJSKIDS]

Get well soon, Cjs. How are the rest of your family doing?

 

The kids are fine, but my husband has now started with a hacking cough so he's going to the doctors. They kids were in an inside cabin on the other side of the ship so with the exception of the few minutes they were on our side they didn't really inhale too much I hope. Our cabin was right in front of the elevator bank in the middle and they were in C419 on the other side. I was a bit worried about that but I guess it ended up being a Godsend. We've tried to have them go back to normal and up and off to school today. We've told them if they need to talk to someone or have nightmares it's important they let us know. My oldest had some anxiety attacks but now that she's home, she seems to be better. They were having the time of their lives and want to plan another trip already!

[Iamthesea]

Thank you for the tips about the soot. It's amazing that I still have so much on my nails but it's probably because they're gel.

Well, if they are not your real nails... take them off!

 

Glad everyone got out OK and that you are on the mend. The sooner you try to get over your ordeal, the better you'll be.

 

Our fire was caused by an arsonist. I have residual spine trouble from being sucked into the house when I didn't realize the house was on fire. The threshold stopped me from being "blown" in too far, but unfortunately caused my back trouble. I also got the "smoke" cold. Because of our Christian beliefs, I/we have forgiven and just had to let the whole matter go. My family is grateful that I survived. ;)

[spongerob]

The kids are fine, but my husband has now started with a hacking cough so he's going to the doctors. They kids were in an inside cabin on the other side of the ship so with the exception of the few minutes they were on our side they didn't really inhale too much I hope. Our cabin was right in front of the elevator bank in the middle and they were in C419 on the other side. I was a bit worried about that but I guess it ended up being a Godsend. We've tried to have them go back to normal and up and off to school today. We've told them if they need to talk to someone or have nightmares it's important they let us know. My oldest had some anxiety attacks but now that she's home, she seems to be better. They were having the time of their lives and want to plan another trip already!

 

I've stayed in aft suites a couple times and those balconies had the plastic matting. Did your balcony have teak decking? There has been a lot of discussion about where the fuel for the such a large fire could come from, at least initially. Wooden balconies might be enough, maybe not. You must have been close to the source.

[Songhee]

Thank you for explaining what happened. It is impossible to protect against crazies such as arsonists. Luckily there aren't a lot of them so the chance of having this happen again is very small. I hope ALL of the cruise ship management (not just Princess) read your post and learn from it. Your treatment after the fire was cruel.