Fire breaks out aboard Royal Caribbean cruise ship

Updated 4:05 p.m. ET

MIAMI

An announcement from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship that passengers needed to go their muster stations roused Mark J. Ormesher from his stateroom on the Grandeur of the Seas early Monday. A fire had broken out.

Ormesher said in an email to The Associated Press that immediately after the captain's announcement, his room attendant knocked on the door and told him and his girlfriend to grab their flotation devices, saying: "This was not a drill."

The native of England, who lives in Manassas, Va., Ormesher said he and his girlfriend smelled acrid smoke as they went to their muster station, the ship's casino. He said the crew quickly provided instruction.

"This encouraged calm amongst the passengers," he said. Passengers were required to remain at their stations for four hours, he said, and the captain "provided us as much information as we needed to stay safe."

Royal Caribbean said that the fire that began at 2:50 a.m. was extinguished about two hours later with no injuries reported.

Ormesher, 25, and on his first cruise, said the air conditioner had been shut off, and as the hours passed and the ship got hot, bottled water was passed around. The crew and passengers remained calm, and helped those who needed it. Crying babies were given formula and held while their parents used the bathrooms.

The ship had sailed from Baltimore on Friday and arrived in Freeport, Bahamas, Monday afternoon.

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In Freeport, passenger Andrea Sanders of Washington, D.C., said she slept on the deck with hundreds of other passengers as smoke billowed out of the stern of the ship. "I was terrified with it being my first cruise," Sanders told The Freeport News as she ate lunch in port.

Royal Caribbean said all 2,224 guests and 796 crew were safe and accounted for.

Carnival Corp. also had trouble with fire aboard ship earlier this year.

The 900-foot Triumph was disabled during a February cruise by an engine room fire in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving thousands of passengers to endure cold food, unsanitary conditions and power outages while the ship was towed to Mobile, Ala. It remained there for repairs until early May when it headed back to sea under its own power .

On the Granduer, after passengers were allowed to leave their stations, Ormesher said he saw water on the outside of deck 5 and in the hallways. The mooring lines were destroyed he said; crew members brought new lines from storage.

The damage at the rear of the ship "looks bad," Ormesher said; burned out equipment was visible.

Ormesher posted about the fire on Facebook and gave details of the evacuation and aftermath in emails to the AP.

Ormesher says he got off the ship to spend some time in Freeport. He has not decided whether to continue on the cruise. "I've been having a good time on the ship and am in no hurry to leave," he said.

Magnus Alnebeck, general manager of the Pelican Bay Hotel, said they were asked to hold rooms for passengers, although it was not yet clear how many would stay there.

The ship will stay docked in Freeport overnight. Royal Caribbean said in a statement on its website that most public areas and staterooms are safe and power, propulsion and communications systems functioned without interruption.

Royal Caribbean International president and CEO Adam Goldstein met with passengers in Freeport.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in a tweet that it will join the U.S. Coast Guard in investigating the fire.