One hell of a day...

[Neothin]

So since the 19th i've been cruising around the carribbean on the Star Princess cruise ship. Left out of Ft. Lauderdale, steamed to cozumel, then grand cayman yesterday. And then we come to today. I ended up getting to bed this morning around 2:30. Yes, LOTS of late night things to do (wink wink) on this boat. Anyways, 3:00 rolls around and the general P/A system starts going off in the hallway calling crew members to their stations. I think nothing of it and roll back over in bed. Then, 3:15 comes around and a VERY loud long beep comes over the P/A system again. Right after this an announcement comes over the system saying the general emergency procedures are about to begin. This kinda freaks me out so i go outside to see TONS of billowing smoke and sparks flying past my balcony. Now fully awake again I immediate wake up my younger sister (god im such a nice guy) and we get dressed and grab up all the valuables we could hold (cash, digi camera though i didnt grab batterys , idendifications, etc) and we go down a couple of decks to the meeting area. It is here that we wait with about 700 others with no a/c, no little information about what was going on at 330 in the morning with a fire ablaze on the ship that we didnt know exactly how big it was. so we stay there in this hallway (mind you this is a tile floor that we're all on with all the fire prevention doors closed so no air is circulating) until just after 10 AM. Once we're finally able to leave the hallway, we go back to the cabin and just wait. around 1 we're finally able to leave the ship. the first thing that we go is catch a cab and drive to the oposite side of the port. The damage is amazing. 1/3 of the left side of the ship has completely melted off. it's about 30 cabins long and 4-5 decks tall. rumor has it around the ship that the fire was intentionally set by a passenger. apparently he was having a party the other night and ruined the carpeting in his cabin and princess charged him with the cost of the replacement carpeting. he got mad at this and set his cabin on fire. ive heard this from a number of passengers and was confirmed by a crew member as i was getting back on board this afternoon. f*ck him. his stupidity just ruined 2600 peoples vactions. anyways, princess is flying us all out tommorow morning/afternoon so i should be home sometime tommorow evening. im using the ships internet cafe atm and it's a charge per minute thing so i think that im gonna go wrap this up. anyways, ill hopefully be on tommorow evening. talk to y'all then.

yes everyone with me (sister/parents) are fine. our room was 30 cabins or so behind the fire. besides some heavy soot in the hallway/balcony, everything was perfect.

talk to y'all later

[cwcad]

Different strokes for different folks. that guy could have put in a protest to his credit card company. Wow the lengths that people will go to make there mark.

Am glad to hear that you and your family are safe and are able to continue the trip by what ever means. Stay safe and report back in when you are on the internet at home.

[Joshua312]

Glad to know you are safe and sound...Sorry about your trip...
As for the guy...what a moron--Id like to see his face when he see's a cruise ship boat will now be on his credit card statement hehe

Damn dude that really sucks!

Glad to hear you're okay though.....

[SpoiledMan]

Just saw that on the news last hour! I'm glad you and yours are OK!! The amount of damage is pretty staggering too.

[WILDFIRE]

saw this on the news also glad it wasn't any worse and you are all safe

[killrwheels@autogeek]

It is amazing at the lengths individuals will go to ... but be glad you are safe, as everything else can only be considered as an adventure in life.

[BritOn2wheels]

My guess is that the Star Princess is in serious need of some detailing supplies

[Neothin]

detailing supplies.... do you think some AIO would clear up melted plastic? Or maybe some folex to use on the water-stained/heavily sooted carpeting?

The way that it's looking right now, we're not going to be getting out of here today. They're trying to fly everyone out of here via empty seats on pre-existing flights out of jamaica. mind you that's 10-15 seats per flight. may i remind you that there's 2,600 passengers aboard.

Yes, i'm on a cruise ship... but... the pools are netted off, the bars are closed, TV's don't work, A/C is working in certain areas, internet is limited to 30 minutes a day (and only 10 minutes at any one time), phones take FOREVER to call out (because there's hundreds of people trying to use them), and it seems that their using leftover food. It sucks to be on this boat atm

help

[Meghan]

Neo, bet you actually are missing good old PSL right now!!