A large fire has broken out on the Icon of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship. This fire subsequently caused a brief power failure among the entire ship, though this was soon rectified.
According to officials, fires aren’t necessarily common on cruise ships — however, they aren’t uncommon, either.
The Icon of the Seas
The Icon of the Seas is currently the world’s largest cruise ship, at nearly 1,200 feet long and 250,500 gross tons.
The record-breaking vessel, which is operated by the Royal Caribbean, is a $2 billion cruise ship that was just launched in 2024.
The World’s Largest Cruise Ship
This massive cruise ship offers a variety of different features and luxuries to its many passengers on their voyage.
The vessel has a whopping seven swimming pools. It also has a 17,000-square-foot water park — the largest water park on a cruise ship ever seen.
A Sudden Fire
A reportedly “small fire” occurred on the Icon of the Seas recently while it was docked in Costa Maya, Mexico.
Luckily, the crew and staff of the cruise immediately got to work to put out the fire completely. Officials of the Royal Caribbean stated that workers were able to quickly extinguish the fire before any major damage was done.
No Injuries or Damages
This fire also hasn’t seemed to cause any injuries or damages. Neither passengers nor any of the crew who were actually battling this fire have been harmed.
The vessel itself was somewhat damaged — but nothing major has impacted it. The Royal Caribbean has stated that the impact of the fire on the ship is “minimal.”
Losing Power
However, the Icon of the Seas did have one major issue during this fire: the vessel lost power. While the crew was working to extinguish the fire, the power was shut off.
Reporting has confirmed that this loss of power was relatively brief, and the ship’s backup power was activated.
Passengers Were Impacted
While it doesn’t appear that any passengers were in the vicinity of the fire when the blaze occurred, voyagers were impacted by the fire as a whole.
A Facebook group full of Icon of the Seas social media users revealed that there was a minor disruption to their day, likely because of the power outage. However, regular proceedings quickly got back to normal, so this wasn’t a huge impact.
A Transparent Cruise
Officials on board the Icons of the Seas were completely transparent with all of the passengers as this fire broke out. They made on-board announcements to alert those on the ship about what was happening.
These many announcements worked to calm passengers as the crew handled the fire. Eventually, once everything was dealt with, an announcement was made to reassure passengers that nothing else was amiss.
A Prepared Crew
This fire likely didn’t get out of hand because the experienced crew of the Icon of the Seas quickly got to work to ensure that the blaze was extinguished.
The Royal Caribbean explained that the cruise’s crew members are all trained to handle situations such as fires. Therefore, they immediately worked to ensure this fire was dealt with.
Continuing On
Though this fire did momentarily interfere with some of the passengers’ days, the cruise’s entire itinerary wasn’t affected at all.
As a result, the ship is continuing on its schedule, just as it would if a fire hadn’t broken out. After the fire, the cruise will head to Cozumel, a Mexican island.
Other Cruise Fires
This isn’t the first time a fire has broken out on a cruise ship. Unfortunately, it also likely won’t be the last. These types of events can occur, after all.
Most recently, a fire broke out in March of 2024 on a Carnival Cruise Lines vessel. Footage of this dangerous incident revealed the ship’s tail was on fire. Initial reporting suggested the tail of the ship caught on fire after a lightning strike.
Fires Breaking Out on Cruise Ships
Officials have come out to explain that fires aren’t necessarily a common occurrence on cruise ships, so potential passengers have nothing to worry about.
However, these same officials have also conceded that fires aren’t uncommon, either. If fires occur, the crew of the ship are all well trained to deal with the incident quickly — and ensure that it doesn’t disrupt passengers.
