Star Princess

The "Star Princess" is a Princess Cruises cruise ship. "The Star Princess" is a sister ship of the "Grand Princess" and the "Golden Princess". An earlier ship of the same name is now operating as the "Ocean Village". The Star Princess was built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone, Italy in 2002, and has hull number 6051. Star Princess differs slightly in upper deck layout from her predecessors, having an extra plunge pool (and one less hot tub) at the stern (deck 15) and with the deletion of the "Off Limits" teenagers' hot tub & sunbathing area featured further forward on her predecessors.

Another ship of similar design, Caribbean Princess, was subsequently built, featuring an additional deck of cabins ("Riviera Deck") to accommodade more passengers.

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 [http://www.wtov9.com/news/8211281/detail.html] . Shortly after, the captain sounded the General Emergency Signal—seven short blasts followed by one long blast on the ship's whistle, which 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. Some passengers who needed regular medication required crew members to go into their suites and retrieve their medication. Passengers evacuated their cabins into public areas through smoky hallways, grabbing their life jackets on the way. The evacuation was reportedly orderly, in contrast to deadlier fires such as those on the Morro Castle and Yarmouth Castle. [http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1763599] Lifeboats were lowered, but proved to be unnecessary, as the fire was contained and doused, and the ship headed into Montego Bay under her own power. In the meantime, the fire, which was probably caused by a cigarette left burning on a balcony, or thrown onto it, that had become hot enough to melt the plastic polycarbonate—a material that until the fire was approved by international cruise line safety rules—balcony divides, as well as scorching up to 150 cabins, and causing smoke damage to at least a hundred more on passenger decks 9 through 12 (Dolphin, Caribe, Baja, Aloha decks). A passenger, Richard Liffidge, 72, of Georgia, died from "asphyxia secondary to inhalation of smoke and irrespirable gases" and eleven other passengers suffered significant smoke inhalation. While a smoldering discarded cigarette probably caused the flames the following items were also at fault for allowing the fire to spread as quickly as it did:

The balconies’ polycarbonate partitions, polyurethane deck tiles, and the plastic furniture were highly combustible and produced large quantities of very thick black smoke when burned.

The glass in the doors between the staterooms and balconies were neither fire rated to meet with the requirements of an ‘A’ class division, nor self-closing (a la spring-loaded).

The balconies crossed main zone fire boundaries, both horizontally and vertically without structural or thermal barriers at the zone or deck boundaries.

No fire detection or fire suppression systems were fitted on the balconies.

The Aftermath

Passengers were evacuated to hotels in Jamaica and subsequently were flown home. The ship was en route from Grand Cayman to Montego Bay, Jamaica, after departing Fort Lauderdale, Florida on March 19, 2006. With 79 cabins destroyed and a further 204 damaged, the ship was moved to the Bahamas where she was prepared for a transatlantic crossing to Bremerhaven, Germany for repairs. Her remaining Caribbean cruises and a transatlantic cruise were cancelled, with the anticipation that she would begin her summer season in the Baltic mid-May.

The ship was repaired at the Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven, set sail again on the 13th of May, 2006 [http://www.cruise-ship-report.com/News/051306.htm] and resumed its regular service on the 15th of May from Copenhagen [http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=1660] . Passengers reported that the only noticeable differences were a strong smell of new carpeting, the addition of sprinklers to all balconies and the replacement of plastic furniture with non-combustible alternatives.

External links

* [http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources/Star%20Princess.pdf MAIB Report on the investigation of the fire]
* [http://www.princess.com/ Princess Cruises website]
* [http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=255 CruiseCritic.com review]

fi:M/S Star Princess