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Bazuki Muhammad / Reuters
The stricken luxury cruise ship Azamara Quest sails toward a port in Malaysia's town of Sandakan on Borneo island, April 1, 2012.
The Azamara Quest, a luxury cruise adrift off the southern Philippines for 24 hours because of an engine fire, has safely reached a Malaysian port.
The vessel, carrying 600 passengers who are mostly westerners and 411 crew, was stranded at sea flames engulfed one of its engine rooms Friday night.
It restored propulsion the next night and reached the harbor of Sandakan city in Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah on Borneo island late Sunday.
Police and buses were waiting at the port to take the passengers to a hotel. Five crew members suffered smoke inhalation, including one who was seriously injured.
The Azamara Quest, carrying 600 passengers who are mostly westerners and 411 crew, suffered an engine-room fire on Friday that disabled the engines and left the ship temporarily stranded off the southern Philippines coast.
The fire, the latest in a string of cruise ship accidents across the world, was put out on Saturday although five crew members suffered from smoke inhalation with one requiring serious medical attention.
A U.S. Navy vessel had joined the escort flotilla comprising of several Philippine Navy ships and a coast guard ship, Filipino officials said.
The heightened security comes as the waters off the coast of southern Philippines and northern Sabah are key hunting grounds for pirates and the Abu Sayyaf, a deadly Islamic militant group.
The Abu Sayyaf wants an independent Islamic nation in the south of Roman Catholic Philippines, and has been responsible for high profile kidnappings of westerners, including abducting tourists from a nearby Malaysian resort island in 2000.
Azamara Club Cruises - a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd - said engineers onboard the ship had restored power to one of the ship's engines that allows for some air conditioning, running water and refrigeration.
The rest of the cruise, carrying mainly Americans, Australians and Western Europeans, has been cancelled but some of the passengers were still upbeat.
"This is our first trip on a cruise holiday and after what has happened you would think we would not want to go again but you are so wrong," said Neil Andrew Kirkpatrick who posted on the Azamara Facebook page on Sunday.
"The only discomfort is the heat due to the air-conditioning not working but I can suffer that as I know the engineering department have been working 24/7 to try to get this up and running."
The Azamara Quest was on a 17-night journey and had departed Hong Kong on Monday with port calls to Manila, Balikpapan (Borneo), Palapo (Sulawesi), Benoa Bali, Semarang and Komodo in Indonesia, Malaysia and ending in Singapore.
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It's come to be that a death-defying adventure vacation can be had in a deck chair. More trouble means a smaller market, making profits shrink, and leading to cutting corners, which leads to more problem. Repeat whether necessary or not.
I'm not sure how many "engine room fires" on cruise ships have actually occurred lately but it occurs to me there may be something else going on not related to "cutting corners" (other than perhaps employee security screening). Anyone remember 9-11? The simple fact that you have a cruise ship with much wealth onboard in waters known for pirates, all you need is someone on the inside to disable (or sink) the vessel and ... I'm just saying I would not be quick to chalk this up to a "string of bad luck" and would have to begin considering other more sinister, purposeful actions by "employees" who need to be looked at very hard.
Make my cruise pirate-free please.
arg. After seeing his Brother on TV, I see it as Gay Bashing. Full steam?
Huh?
The cruise industry is definitely going to suffer from this rash of incidents. The industry was already feeling the heat from the increasing frequency of outbreaks of illness aboard the ships and now they are having major problems with the ships themselves. If you do take a cruise, pay close attention to the flag the cruise line operates under. Different flag states have different crew licensing requirements and different standards for their safety inspections. The flag the ship flies will also have an impact on the makeup of the service staff on board the ship from the standpoint of nationality, although to a lesser extent than it has on the ship's licensed and unlicensed operations personnel. Even though all cruise ships in theory comply with the international SOLAS convention dealing with safety, the strictness of the compliance inspections can vary greatly.
I wonder if they stll get their frequent cruiser nautical miles.
600 passengers and 411 crew, Wow that's what i call First Class !
What's up with this headline "Stricken cruise ship Azamara Quest limps into Malaysian port" ? It sounds as if the ship was stricken with some sort of object like a boat or missile maybe. Sounds like pirates attacked the ship. The media are sensationalizing there headlines to get us to read stories that we would not otherwise be interested in. The headline could read something like "Engine Fire On Cruise Ship Azamara Quest Limps Into Malaysian Port". Wouldn't that be a little more accurate of a headline?
no chaz that wont do. ships dont limp. Maybe it should read "The Azamara Quest arrived at a Malaysian Port after experiencing Engine room fire"
There seems to have been a fair few problems on cruise ships recently. However, I am sure this was a problem many years a go to. It is just that with the invention of mobiles and wireless news does travel really fast.<a href=""> Mediterranean Cruises </a>