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Revision as of 21:09, 24 March 2006
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The Star Princess is a Princess Cruises cruise ship. The ship, which has a tonnage of 109,000 tons, a height of 18 decks, and over 700 balcony staterooms (1300 passenger cabins in all), can accomodate up to 4,000 passengers and crew. The Star Princess is a sister ship of the Grand Princess.
The Fire
On March 23, 2006, at about 3 am, a fire broke out in the passenger compartments, amidships, on the port side of the ship. Shortly after, the alarms were rung ; several short beeps followed by a longer tone woke passengers up all over the ship. Passengers went to muster stations and evacuees were combined into groups, then stationed in cramped rooms for about seven hours. Folks who were short of medicine needed crewmembers to go into their chambers and retrieve the medication. Passengers evacuated their cabins and public areas through smokey hallways, and at least some grabbed life preservers before running downstairs (presumably to the muster stations). The evacuation was reportedly orderly, in contrast to deadlier fires such as those on the Morro Castle and Yarmouth Castle. Lifeboats were lowered, but proved to be unneccessary, as the fire was contained and doused, and the ship headed into Montego Bay under her own power. In the meantime, the fire had become hot enough to melt television sets and cabin walls, as well as scorching cabins. A passenger died from a heart attack, and two other passengers suffered significant smoke inhalation. The blaze affected 100 to 150 cabins on passenger decks 9 through 12 (Aloha, Baja, Caribe, and Dolphin Decks, in reverse order), almost all of which were either inside cabins or balcony outside cabins, and all of which were above the promenade deck and the lifeboats.
The Aftermath
Passengers were evacuated to hotels in Jamaica and subsequently they will be flown home. The ship was en route from Grand Cayman to Montego Bay, Jamaica, after departing Fort Lauderdale, Florida on March 19.
Also see this article about possible controversies re: ship safety.
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