A small fire on Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas caused a temporary power loss.
Icon of the Seas docked in Costa Maya, Mexico on Tuesday afternoon when guests reported the ship lost power while docked.
UPDATE: A Royal Caribbean Group spokesperson confirmed there was a fire and a brief loss of power, but all necessary safety procedures took place, and teams were able to extinguish the fire quickly. Backup power was the first the activate, followed by main power.
The ship is proceeding as scheduled, according to the spokesperson.
Reports flew in online quickly of the event.
Reddit user reddituid posted, "I'm on the ship. The power went out for 20 minutes. Calls on the intercom were Bravo Bravo Bravo, then later instruction 23. Crew are at emergency stations."
The code of "bravo" indicates fire. It's a way to easily share with crew members what incident is occurring, so that they can respond quickly.
An hour or so later, the same person wrote, "Everything back to normal. Power was out about 20 minutes, people not able to board or leave for an hour, and crew at muster stations for 60-90 minutes. No official announcement what the incident was."
X/Twitter user @mkntze shared a real-time thread of updates, "Some type of mishap on #IconoftheSeas while docked in Costa Maya. Crew responding to emergency instructions, and we’ve had intermittent power outages. First emergency calls were for forward engine rooms. Gangway activity suspended."
"Crew announcement on #iconoftheseas indicates an “incident” in the lower technical areas. Several unconfirmed reports of possible fire in an engine area. Multiple emergency crew announcements over PA, but using code words so as not to panic guests."
The ship's gangway was temporarily closed during the incident, but @mkntze shared that gangway activities resumed shortly thereafter.
Another update added that clearly something had happened, but it did not seem serious, "passed 2 crew in fire suppression gear. They appeared to be done with whatever work they had been doing, not moving with a sense of urgency. Crew members have been calm and it feels like things are getting back to normal."
On Reddit, AlterEgo_Persuasion recapped their experience onboard:
We were going through security at the gangway to get back on the ship when all of the crew at the metal detectors walkie talkies started blaring “BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO” and crew seemed a bit unbothered until the leader of the group yell “GO! GO!” I guess the crew had been doing drills throughout the morning and were confused to the legitimacy of the call coming over their radios.
We were able to eventually get onto the ship once one crew member was given the okay to perform manual searches. We did hear over the radio that two hose crews were enroute.
We felt better being on the ship knowing that the crew is highly trained! Happy all is back to normal and I can get a drink!
Fire on a cruise ship is a serious matter
Fire is the biggest threat to cruise ships because of how quickly it can spread.
Fires on cruise ships are rare, but it's one of the most dangerous problems that could occur, so mitigating the threat is why the line prohibits so many household items from being brought onboard. It's why you can only smoke in designated areas, and will never see lit candles onboard.
Furthermore, it's why crew members train for fire drills repeatedly to ensure they know what to do in case it actually happens. They are evaluated on their response by both their supervisors as well as in quarterly evaluations by the United States Coast Guard.
Just like on land, incidents do occur and the vast majority of times there is a fire onboard, it's for something minor such as a fire in the oven, overheating wires, or even just the smell of smoke.
