Thread: Fire on the Ecstacy!!!

I found this info on CC but they "POOFED" the thread, in just 2 hours of it being started. Luckily somone had already copied some of the posts from people who had been on the ship.

After reading the posts, I think it is possible that Carnival contacted CC and asked them to remove it because it was such bad publicity for Carnival.

Quote:
At 2.30am I got a wake up call that I did not request....I woke up to the fire alarms going off. I got up and immediatatley smelled smoke, I heard yelling in the hall. I opened my cabin door which was E189 on the Empress Deck and there was a lady in her undies yelling that the ship was on fire and for us to evacuatate. I got dressed, grabbed my purse, sail and sign card and my life jacket.

There was NO crew members anywhere to be seen! No one telling us if the fire was up or down, foward or aft. All I knew was that the Deck was hazy with smoke and that the smell was horrible. I ended up following others up to the Atlantic Deck to our muster station. Still no crew. It was more then 15 minutes after arriving at the Starlight that the first crew member showed up. She just told us basicly to shut up and sit down. An elderly lady was injured during the movement and another had an asthma attack due to all the smoke.

Finally the crew started showing up with medical help. I do not know for sure who or what started the fire, but I was told that some guy set towles afire in his cabin. I did see someone (a male) being arrested before debarkation and being led away in hand cuffs off the ship by Customs agents.

What makes me mad was that during the fire drill on the first day, they said that in emergency that crew members in florescent green hats would be there to direct us...they did not show up until about 5 minutes before we were allowed to go back to our cabins on the E deck.

I will say that the Cruise Director, Steve, was great. He did try to keep us up to date, after the fact. I never saw the damage myself as I did not have any business on that deck, but I heard it was pretty bad. I was told that Cabin U223 was pretty much gone.

Quote:
when I got home this afternoon but was not able to find it. It happend this am at around 2.30 on the Upper Deck in Cabin U223. I am sure that there will be MORE people to post, once everyone gets home. I just happend to live closer to Galveston then some.

I called Carnival and spoke with a sup. I was told that it was a small fire (how small I dont know, it did cause quite a bit of smoke and several cabins on that deck were not available to their occupants for at least 3 hours and at least one passenger had to be moved - I was in line behind her at the pursers desk - and one couple in line to disembark were not allowed back into their cabin right away and thier carpet was soaking wet). Carnival is stating that they are trying to keep it quiet. I suppose it would be bad plubicity. So I suppose that is why there are not any reports about it.

Quote:
'I was on this cruise, we had just returned to our cabin not long before this happened.
I heard some alarms and an announcement, but did not really understand what they said. We had our balcony door open (Cabin V3), I saw a lot of crew members shining flashlights into the water.......so we were thinking someone was overboard.....then a few minutes later they announced there was a fire but everything was under control. Then a few minutes later they said they were evacuating part of the deck where the fire was. About 45 minutes later they gave an all clear.
I personally did not talk to anyone directly affected, it was a little scary for a few minutes not knowing, but I think the cruise director Steve Cassel did a good job informing as much as needed.
There was a lot of people that didn't even know anything happened.......like my husband.....slept right through the announcements and sirens. '



QUOTE: "This is my first time posting, so please forgive me if I make any "forum etiquette" mistakes. I was also on the 2/7/09 - 2/12/09 Ecstacy cruise. I was in the casino and at approx. 2:30am the floor supervisors went to all tables and told everyone to leave. No explanation at all as to what was going on. When I asked for more information, I was simply told that I had to leave and return to my cabin. As I was returning to my cabin (Empress deck) I encountered many confused people with life jackets, luggage, etc. There was no sign of crew to direct any of the passengers. By the time I got to my cabin the smell of smoke was very strong and it was easy to figure out that something was on fire. I woke my wife, grabbed our passports, credit card, & lifevests and proceeded to our muster station. Again encountering many confused passengers and no crew to be found. Once on the Lido deck, many individuals wandering aruond asking each other what was going on, still no crew pressence. Finally, approx. 20 min. after leaving the casino, Steve Cassell came on the speakers and informed us that there had been a fire in a cabin on the Main deck (M-223 I think) and it was extinguished. Still have yet to see any crew on Lido. Several conversations with other passangers and no indication that anyone recieved any information or assistance from crew. The Ecstacy crew really dropped the ball and their lack of presence contributed to an increased sense of panic for the passengers we encountered. I hope someone at a higher level than the Captain of this ship will get involved and deal with the issues that occured. Reprimands and re-training, at a minimum, seem appropriate. It was a great cruise up to our exciting ending, and despite the horrible mismanagement of this incident, we am still booked for (2) more Carnival cruises this year and plan many more. "


Quote: I for one am not very happy if indeed there were no Carnival Staff around to guide the passengers, calm the passengers, tell us what to do etc....

Quote: Me and my Wife got married on this cruise. Cabin R132 was not affected by the fire. It was the M200-M250 (even or odd side) that was affected.

Quote: I was told from someone across the hall that two cabins were completely gone, there was a hole in the wall of the room where the fire was and the carpets were burned in the halls. Also there was smoke damage on the side of the ship and the sprinklers turned on for everyone on that side of the fire wall for that deck.

Quote: As for us.....
First, we would have slept through the "alarm" going off. My father-in-law was staying a few doors down and came banging on our door to get us up. After we were in the hall, we then heard a faint alarm. From the time we left our room until about 15 minutes later while we sat...without seeing one carnival representative...until the cruise director came on over the intercom, everyone sat without information and scared. One of the women in our muster station was crying like she was going to die. Perhaps she'd have been a little more controlled, if anyone were around from the crew to calm her.

We then heard music next to our muster station. The bar next to us was never made aware of what was happening. As a matter of fact, the security guy who was checking ids at the door would NOT let guest who had their life vests on and were trying to get in (since their muster station was in that particular bar) to the bar because they were not dressed appropriately.

Then, I notified both my parents and my sister's family in their cabins, because they had yet to hear an "alarm" and had not been made aware that anything was happening.

While the end result was luckily just a small fire that damaged a couple of cabins, the truth is that carnival could not have possibly known the actual impact of that fire when the event first started until they put it out. This would suggest that in a potentially very dangerous situation, carnival was FAR from prepared. Had the fire been worse, I believe that the lack of organization from the crew would have resulted in a very bad situation for everyone.

Finally, the comment cards had already been turned in, and Carnival was probably thrilled about that. Every passenger that I spoke to after the event felt the same way my wife and I did. Whether it was the best cruise of your life or you'd never go on one again, Carnival's lack of organization and control in an actual event of emergency was ridiculous. So next time, instead of using an hour of my time for the emergency drills, perhaps carnival should use that for their own crew's practice. As for most of the passengers, we handled our end without any help from the crew.
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Yikes, thanks for posting Janice

Wow! I wonder if this will be made public by Carnival? Thre are enough folks who were on the ship who will be posting and talking!

It's a good thing it wan't a really serious situation.

Wow, thanks for posting this. Sounds like Carnival was a bit embarassed by this. But for a thread to get poofed just doesn't seem right, does it?

The Ecstacy had a fire on it some years ago. I think prior to June 2002, because at that time we were on it on a Baja cruise. The fire was off of Miami and I seem to remember it was started by a crew member (welding?).

I can't imagine sleeping through a fire alarm, unless it wasn't working properly.

Nothing from Carnival on this as of yet, and I have no email news alerts on it either.

Maybe some of the passengers will find their way to CLF after they see that the thread is gone at cc.

Originally Posted by Blizzard

Maybe some of the passengers will find their way to CLF after they see that the thread is gone at cc.

Hopefully.

Thanks for posting this. It will be interesting to see what else we hear about it.

well it's in the public domain now, 'cos it's on here.

Thanks for posting this!

Certainly makes all of us think: What would I do if this happen to me?