Fire aboard the Pacific Adventure

[cruiser3775]

Pacific Adventure Ship Stats

Item	Detail
Year Built	2001
Years Old	22
Tons	108,865
Speed	23.0 knots
Length	950 feet
Beam	159 feet
Total Cabins	1,316
Crew	1,100
Expected Passengers	2,632 to 3,158

[Yaya_in_Oz]

I've just seen the footage on the news.

I'm surprised at the folks out on their balconies watching on and taking pics rather than going to their muster stations. I have a bit more respect for fire than to do that.

 

I never thought cruises to nowhere were so popular. Glad everyone is OK and they can continue their cruise after a sleep in.

[rickays]

For anyone who wants to know about fires on cruise ships this is a link to a fire on Star Princess - very interesting reading on what can happen and how the staff manage it.

[ELep]

We were on Pac Adventure in January and I thought the emphasis on the danger of fire at sea was nonexistent, along with the management around smoking in designated areas only. From the upper decks, we saw plenty of people smoking on their balconies on the lower decks over the 10 days. The mismanagement of the messaging and lack of enforcement of the policy put me off P&O for next time. I can cope with cheap and cheerful for the right price, but not blatant disregard for health and safety as I saw on this cruise. 

[arxcards]

9 hours ago, ELep said:

We were on Pac Adventure in January and I thought the emphasis on the danger of fire at sea was nonexistent, along with the management around smoking in designated areas only. From the upper decks, we saw plenty of people smoking on their balconies on the lower decks over the 10 days. The mismanagement of the messaging and lack of enforcement of the policy put me off P&O for next time. I can cope with cheap and cheerful for the right price, but not blatant disregard for health and safety as I saw on this cruise. 

Is it possible some smokers on balconies were in covid isolation? This was an acceptable plan B policy for the cruise lines to manage iso, and when a smoker sees others smoking on their balconies, they are seeing an excuse to join in. While they would be seen clearly from the bridge, I don't think the officers would have a clue between who was in iso and who wasn't in iso. Also, not just a P&O thing but common across most of the lines here over the past year.

 

Still, it isn't a good policy if someone with covid is allowed to smoke on their balcony if it places the ship at risk.

[Aus Traveller]

10 hours ago, rickays said:

For anyone who wants to know about fires on cruise ships this is a link to a fire on Star Princess - very interesting reading on what can happen and how the staff manage it.

The Star Princess is now the Pacific Encounter. When the fire broke out in 2006, they nearly 'lost' the ship.

[Gwendy]

On Pacific Encounter last week, I bought some candles in Fiji, when getting back on ship I was pulled up at scanning station and told, “these are not allowed on ship, I should confiscate them, but I won’t, just make sure you do not use them in your cabin”.  
I had no intention to use them on the ship as they were going to be used as gifts and with over 60 cruises, I know the rules BUT how many first time cruisers had candles or the demographic of P&O who think rules are not for them had them.

my point is they should have been taken and kept for collection when we disembarked.  Trusting everyone to do the right thing is a dangerous situation.

[Haoie]

I hope there are some more first hand reports from passengers who were on this cruise. Very scary.

[sherri3802]

2 hours ago, Gwendy said:

On Pacific Encounter last week, I bought some candles in Fiji, when getting back on ship I was pulled up at scanning station and told, “these are not allowed on ship, I should confiscate them, but I won’t, just make sure you do not use them in your cabin”.  
I had no intention to use them on the ship as they were going to be used as gifts and with over 60 cruises, I know the rules BUT how many first time cruisers had candles or the demographic of P&O who think rules are not for them had them.

my point is they should have been taken and kept for collection when we disembarked.  Trusting everyone to do the right thing is a dangerous situation.

That's really interesting. I had no idea that people could not buy candles as gifts. Like you, I would never have any intention of using them in a cabin. I actually would not buy them as presents either as I have a bit of a thing about them, ever since a friend had most of her house burn down with one.

 

But as you say, you can't trust all people to do the right thing.

 

I was also interested in what ELep wrote, about the emphasis on the danger of fire at sea being non existent on Pac Adventure.

I was on the ship in April & that was my impression too.

I was in an inside cabin so I have no idea if people on balconies were smoking or not but I would have thought that even if someone is in isolation, they should still not allow smoking in rooms or balconies.

 

One thing I did hear though was that the cruise before us had a lot of covid on board and I think it may have been the case on our cruise too. My daughter caught it but no symptoms till the day after the cruise, so she was lucky.

 

One thing that also surprised me onboard the ship was that, considering Covid is still around, there seemed to be less emphasis on using the hand sanitiser than there was back on my pre covid cruises.

I recall back then (On Princess) someone would always be near the sanitiser as you walked into the main dining room at night, making sure you used it.

On my recent P&O cruise, the sanitiser was there on the desk & about a dozen servers were lined up to lead people to their tables but most of the passengers didn't bother using it.
I noticed the same at the buffet. Somehow, I had expected it to be policed a bit more.

[ELep]

10 hours ago, arxcards said:

Is it possible some smokers on balconies were in covid isolation? This was an acceptable plan B policy for the cruise lines to manage iso, and when a smoker sees others smoking on their balconies, they are seeing an excuse to join in. While they would be seen clearly from the bridge, I don't think the officers would have a clue between who was in iso and who wasn't in iso. Also, not just a P&O thing but common across most of the lines here over the past year.

 

Still, it isn't a good policy if someone with covid is allowed to smoke on their balcony if it places the ship at risk.

It is possible that a small number are in iso and are also smokers. Maybe less possible though when observed before we have even left port or within the first 24-48 hours. I would guess that the officers/crew could work out who was "legally" smoking on the balcony as they would be able to find out who was in iso? I am sure that PO is trying to balance the requirements of iso against the needs of smokers. It is still poor policy to allow smoking on the balcony in my view. As I said, I felt that there was zero emphasis by PO on the significant danger that fire at sea poses to human life. So, if you are new to cruising, which is common in the PO demographic, you never get to understand how important it is to manage the risk of fire at sea. And I don't trust everyone to do the safe thing when they are not being observed. Examples of people finding cigarette butts on their balconies are a case in point. Why do smokers feel the need to flick their butt into the sea or elsewhere?

Edited May 29, 2023 by ELep
additional word

[ELep]

9 hours ago, Gwendy said:

On Pacific Encounter last week, I bought some candles in Fiji, when getting back on ship I was pulled up at scanning station and told, “these are not allowed on ship, I should confiscate them, but I won’t, just make sure you do not use them in your cabin”.  
I had no intention to use them on the ship as they were going to be used as gifts and with over 60 cruises, I know the rules BUT how many first time cruisers had candles or the demographic of P&O who think rules are not for them had them.

my point is they should have been taken and kept for collection when we disembarked.  Trusting everyone to do the right thing is a dangerous situation.

Oh dear, why would security be so sure that the passenger would not use the candle on board. Slack work IMO.

[arxcards]

Amid much speculation about the cause of the fire, P&O has made a statement.

 

*P&O Cruises Australia Official Statement*

A fire on a balcony was detected and extinguished in the early hours of Sunday morning on board Pacific Adventure.

This fire activated our emergency response procedures including a full muster of guests and crew and we thank everyone on board for their cooperation.

No one was injured and the fire damage was contained to one room and balcony.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The ship is scheduled to return to Sydney on Tuesday.

 

 

[arxcards]

12 minutes ago, ELep said:

It is possible that a small number are in iso and are also smokers. Maybe less possible though when observed before we have even left port or within the first 24-48 hours. I would guess that the officers/crew could work out who was "legally" smoking on the balcony as they would be able to find out who was in iso? I am sure that PO is trying to balance the requirements of iso against the needs of smokers. It is still poor policy to allow smoking on the balcony in my view. As I said, I felt that there was zero emphasis by PO on the significant danger that fire at sea poses to human life. So, if you are new to cruising, which is common in the PO demographic, you never get to understand how important it is to manage the risk of fire at sea. And I don't trust everyone to do the safe thing when they are not being observed. Examples of people finding cigarette butts on their balconies are a case in point. Why do smokers feel the need to flick their butt into the sea or elsewhere?

 

In this case, there should be none in ISO, so not relevant to Sunday mornings fire. I was just countering comments that on xyz cruise the staff were doing nothing about passengers smoking on their balconies - they may have been given permission to do so. This is an important point when they are being accused of being negligent about safety standards.

 

Not that it really matters, but I am an ex-smoker that sees both sides of the fence on this. Most smokers follow the rules, some don't. I have smoked on my balcony back when it was allowed, which was many years after Star Princess' fire. I believe one of the resolutions of that incident was the fire rating of furniture and furnishings on balconies and in cabins.

 

I have no time for people who can't respect the rules to smoke in designated areas and to properly extinguish their butts, and they should be treated harshly if caught. If P&O is able to determine that smoking was the cause of their fire, I keenly await their findings and actions. 

[Sparky74]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

In this case, there should be none in ISO…

Why do you say that, Geoff?

[arxcards]

5 minutes ago, Sparky74 said:

Why do you say that, Geoff?

She departed Sydney less than 12hrs before, where you needed to test negative 24hrs prior to boarding and be symptom free at check-in.

Edited May 29, 2023 by arxcards

[Sparky74]

5 minutes ago, arxcards said:

She departed Sydney less than 12hrs before, where you needed to test negative 24hrs prior to boarding and be symptom free at check-in.

Last year we had a 3 night cruise to nowhere B2B with a 10 night cruise on P&O. RATs were sent to our stateroom and we had to retest. Mine was positive so we were placed in isolation and disembarked when we returned to Brisbane. 
 

An alternative scenario is that someone started to feel unwell after they boarded and then tested positive. 

[possum52]

2 hours ago, arxcards said:

 

 

 

I have no time for people who can't respect the rules to smoke in designated areas and to properly extinguish their butts, and they should be treated harshly if caught. If P&O is able to determine that smoking was the cause of their fire, I keenly await their findings and actions. 

And hopefully their butts are kicked hard.

[OzKiwiJJ]

57 minutes ago, Sparky74 said:

An alternative scenario is that someone started to feel unwell after they boarded and then tested positive. 

And that is entirely possible as it can come on very quickly (overnight in my case) and tests don't always show positive before symptoms appear and even for a day or so after they do.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Sparky74 said:

Last year we had a 3 night cruise to nowhere B2B with a 10 night cruise on P&O. RATs were sent to our stateroom and we had to retest. Mine was positive so we were placed in isolation and disembarked when we returned to Brisbane. 
 

An alternative scenario is that someone started to feel unwell after they boarded and then tested positive. 

Both possible, but the numbers of confirmed positives are way down at the start of each cruise, then supposedly only 10% of those would be smokers.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, possum52 said:

And hopefully their butts are kicked hard.

Still an IF for me, and just as possible to be electrical. In the end, I don't think P&O will find a "smoking gun" of any kind.

[rkmw]

Someone who’s onboard posted on FB said there was a couple smoking in bed and they’ll be interviewed by the police today and a news crew to interview the passengers 

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, rkmw said:

Someone who’s onboard posted on FB said there was a couple smoking in bed and they’ll be interviewed by the police today and a news crew to interview the passengers 

Yeah - nah.

Funny, there are lots of people on FB that were not on the ship yet are also sure there was someone smoking in their cabin. 

If there was a couple smoking in bed or even in their cabin, they aren't going to admit it to anyone surely, and their smoke alarm not working is doubly strange. The other issue of copping a significant room clean fee would find inconsiderate passengers sneaking one in on the balcony. I think it unlikely that the someone on FB was on the scene to witness it, so I will wait to hear what the cops and P&O have to say.

 

As it is, I don't think NSW Police even has much of a role here, unless they suspect it was intentionally lit.

[cruiser3775]

52 minutes ago, arxcards said:

I think it unlikely that the someone on FB was on the scene to witness it

If you actually believe FB is a reliable, reputable source for your information, then you have my sympathy. I'd be surprised if the ship management told us what the cause actually was.

[mr walker]

Spoke today with my colleague from work who was onboard, 2 decks below the fire. They had gone to bed at 12:30am to be awaken at 3:30am & were held at muster station until around 5:30. They decided not to go back to bed & kicked on.

Seems no investigation is necessary 😮as the experts on board have already spread the word. It is widely reported onboard that the fire started from a cigarette in the bed when the person fell asleep. They then opened the balcony door to try and stop the fire, which caused the fire to erupt.

Anyway, who knows what happened? 

My colleague advises that her partner on the cruise, on his first ever cruise, has categorically ruled out ever going on another cruise 🙂 

[arxcards]

11 hours ago, cruiser3775 said:

If you actually believe FB is a reliable, reputable source for your information, then you have my sympathy. I'd be surprised if the ship management told us what the cause actually was.

I think you could have quoted another post. No, I don't believe FB to be in any way reliable, backed by my other comments, and it is a crazy world where news outlets troll social media for their "facts" and "reliable witnesses".