Fire Personnel Quickly Responded to the Incident
After the help call was sent out to Mexican emergency services, fire crews boarded the boat.
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Footage taken from guests shows firefighters walking downstairs while ship announcements can be heard overhead. Sources say that the ship issues its standard procedure for an emergency, and everyone was lucky that smart-acting crews were so fast to call for help.
How Big is the Icon of the Seas?
The Icon of the Seas by Royal Caribbean is 1,197 feet long, has 20 decks, and can sleep a whopping 7,600 passengers, including guests and crew members.
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It’s the newest vessel in the Royal Caribbean’s fleet and takes the title away from the Wonder of the Seas as the world’s largest cruise ship. It hosts 40 restaurants, bars, and lounges and has its own on-board splash pad and water park on the top deck. The boat cost roughly $2 billion to build.
How Expensive Are Tickets?
The average ticket package ranges from $1,946 to $2,318 per person, depending on how many days the cruise is and what time of year.
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Due to the sheer size of the boat and the excellent amenities, cruising on this behemoth will certainly come at a premium. However, most of the packages come with healthy all-inclusive deals for activities, drinks, and food.
Where Is the Ship Right Now?
Currently, the Icon of the Seas is on a seven-day round-trip that departed from Miami on June 22. It stopped in Honduras two days later and then made its way to the east coast of Mexico.
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On Tuesday, it arrived in Costa Maya for a scheduled dock. However, due to the fire, the planned excursion to Cozumel, Mexico, on Wednesday may need to be delayed.
Royal Caribbean Issued a Statement on the Fire
The statement came in from the Royal Caribbean corporate team, who said that, “The ship experienced a small fire (isolated to the crew area) and experienced a brief loss of power while docked at Costa Maya, Mexico; back-up power kicked in immediately and teams restored the main systems; all necessary safety procedures were taken and the team were able to quickly extinguish the fire; safety of our passengers and crew are always our top priority; thankfully there were no injuries.”
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Large cruises such as this one usually train staff extensively on emergency procedures. Due to the tight quarters that everyone lives in, avoiding a stampede of nervous guests is their number one priority.
How Safe Are Cruise Ships?
In general, cruise ships and sea travel are the safest ways to travel. In the past 100 years, only one cruise ship has sunk every five years.
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However, that includes all disasters in the early 20th century, such as the Titanic and other early trans-Atlantic ocean liners.
A Ship Can Only Sink Once
In all seriousness, the boats that usually sink are old, out of date, and operating in less-than-safe places.
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For instance, the rocky shores of Greece have more ships that go down than the safe, calm waters of the Pacific. As well, modern cruise liners have a superior safety rating than smaller ferry style cruise ships that operate in Europe.
What Are Some Other Risks of Cruises?
Cruises aren’t impervious to accidents, but for the most part, illness and injury are limited to individual guests. All cruise ships are stocked with doctors, nurses, and an emergency department that guests can visit in case they take a bad fall on the pool deck or cut themselves on broken glass.
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For the most part, you’re more likely to catch an illness than anything else on a boat. Due to the close proximity to other guests and recycled air inside of cabins, airborne illnesses and even flu-like symptoms can be passed around easily.
Can You Fall off a Cruise Ship?
You can fall or be pushed off a cruise ship. However, it’s incredibly uncommon.
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There are plenty of safety mechanisms in place to stop people from going overboard, such as high railings on patios and a curved outer edge which means if you fell from the top deck, you would land on the deck below. If you do happen to see someone fall into the water off a cruise ship, seek help immediately.
Do Cruise Ships Have Enough Lifeboats?
Although a complete Titanic-like disaster will more than likely never happen again, every cruise ship has more than enough seats for everyone on lifeboats. As well, life-vests are located on all corners of a boat.
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Before each sailing commences, ships are required to hold muster drills for all passengers so that they can familiarise themselves in the event of an emergency.
The Bottom Line
Like everything in life, getting on a cruise ship and sailing the open seas certainly comes with some risk factors.
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However, modern ships are safer than ever and can easily go around heavy storms thanks to savvy tech systems on board. The crew on the Icon of the Seas acted quickly to put out the fire, and thankfully, no one was injured.