Chris Helgren / Reuters

An Irish Coast Guard helicopter evacuates an ill passenger from the Titanic Memorial Cruise ship MS Balmoral on April 10 in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland.

It's more rough waters for a cruise ship retracing the Titanic's doomed voyage 100 years ago this month.

One day after the MS Balmoral arrived late for planned festivities on Ireland's coast, the ship was forced to turn back Tuesday due to a medical emergency on board.

Rachael Jackson, public relations manager for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, which operates the Balmoral, told msnbc.com that a passenger had fallen ill.

"The ship is turning around and heading approximately 20 nautical miles east to bring it nearer to the coast and within reach of a helicopter," the cruise line said in a statement. "Fred. Olsen and Titanic Memorial Cruises are working with the Irish Coastguard to co-ordinate the relevant arrangements, and making sure that all agencies involved are being kept informed." 

Miles Morgan, Managing Director of Miles Morgan Travel which chartered the journey, told Reuters that "the passenger's condition is not thought to be life-threatening."

The ship, which departed Southampton, England, on Sunday, is currently traveling to New York. After a brief port call in Cobh on Ireland's south coast, the Balmoral sailed again late Monday night.

The ship is carrying 1,309 passengers on a 12-night cruise. Among them are relatives of those who lost their lives, relatives of survivors and historians.

The Balmoral's itinerary includes a memorial service at the spot where the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912, in international waters in the North Atlantic. More than 1,500 people aboard perished.

Related: Titanic's wealthiest passenger built NYC hotel

Also on Tuesday, the cruise ship Journey, carrying 440 passengers, left a New York City pier for Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Titanic Memorial Cruise, which arranged the cruises on both the Balmoral and the Journey, says the passengers will visit a cemetery where 150 victims of the Titanic are buried. The ship also will feature lectures about life on board the doomed ocean liner and will hold a memorial service at sea.

Ticket prices dropped in recent weeks from about $5,000 per person to $1,000 per person. 

Meanwhile, the Balmoral continued to be plagued by bad weather on Tuesday afternoon, forcing the cancellation of a floor show due to safety concerns for the performers. 

The memorial cruise has been five years in the making and organizers have tried to make it as authentic to the era as possible. 

Related: Who gets Titanic's treasures? Stay tuned

Passengers from 28 countries, who have paid between around 2,600 pounds ($4,100) and 8,000 pounds each, are being offered dishes served on the Titanic and on-board lectures about the famous ship. 

The Balmoral was set to resume its voyage once the passenger was evacuated.

Like the Balmoral, the Titanic also experienced several delays, Jeff Jensen of Living Titanic Lectures told msnbc.com. After the Titanic's sister ship, the Olympic, collided with a ship in New York's harbor in 1911, workers were pulled off the Titanic to make repairs, which postponed the Titanic's maiden voyage by three to four months.

“Even the morning it left, there was a two-hour delay,” Jensen said, referring to an incident in which the force of the Titanic's engines snapped the mooring lines of the liner New York in Southampton’s harbor, resulting in a near collision between the two ships.

While at sea, the Titanic's radio broke down on the day before the ship's fateful collision with an iceberg, Jensen said. As operators tried to catch up on a communications backlog, they neglected to deliver ice warnings to the captain. “Right up until the day of the disaster, they were still feeling the effects of some of the delays.”

Despite the current holdups aboard the Balmoral, Jensen said he hopes the ship will soon be able to get back on course and stay true to its its focus: "to remember and honor the Titanic."

Information from the Associated Press and Reuters was included in this report.

More on Overhead Bin

• Titanic cruise delayed due to strong winds
• Cruise ships commemorate Titanic's voyage
• Events mark 100th anniversary of Titanic's sinking 
• Ghostly new images of the Titanic revealed 
• Full Titanic wreck site mapped for the first time

Updated April 1, 9:32 a.m. ET:

A luxury cruise ship stranded at sea for 24 hours because of a fire has safely reached a Malaysian port.

The Azamara Quest was adrift off the southern Philippines for 24 hours with 1,000 people aboard after 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.

A fire broke out in the engine room of the luxury cruise liner as the ship was steaming for Malaysia Friday, disabling its engines and leaving it drifting off the coast of Borneo in Indonesia. Five crew members were injured.

According to a statement from Azamara Club Cruises posted on its Facebook page, the blaze started at approximately 8:19 p.m. ship's time (8:19 a.m. EDT) while Quest was en route from Manila, Philippines, to Sandakan, Malaysia.

Crew members suffered smoke inhalation and were being treated in the ship's medical facility, a statement late Friday said. One crew member was in serious condition.

Azamara Club Cruises said the fire was contained to the engine room and was quickly extinguished.

Royal Caribbean International said there were approximately 300 Americans on board out of a total of 617 guests, NBC reported. Azamara Club Cruises is a member of the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. There are no reported passenger injuries, and Azamara had described the mood onboard as "calm."

Late Friday, the cruise line said engineers aboard the ship had restored power to one of the ship's engines. "This additional power has permitted the ship to re-establish air conditioning, running water, plumbing, refrigeration and food preparation onboard for the comfort of our guests and crew," a statement said.

Quest was on a 17-night sailing that departed Hong Kong, China, on Monday, March 26, and included port calls to Manila, Philippines; Sandakan (Sabah), Malaysia; Palapo (Sulawesi), Benoa (Bali), Semarang and Komodo, Indonesia and was meant to conclude in Singapore on Thursday, April 12.

The remainder of the cruise has been cancelled, and Azamara is offering guests on the stricken ship a full refund for the cruise and a certificate for a future cruise worth 100 percent of the cruise fare paid for their Azamara Quest sailing.

The company's president and CEO Larry Pimentel was planning to fly to Sandakan to meet passengers personally.

The Azamara fire was the latest in a series of accidents hitting luxury cruise liners since January, when the Costa Concordia capsized off the coast of Italy, killing 32 people.

NBC News, the Associated Press and Dan Askin of Cruise Critic contributed to this report.

More from Cruise Critic

• Learn more about Azamara Club Cruises
• Which luxury cruise is right for you?
• Compare: The 10 Most Popular Cruise Ships

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Passengers alight from the Costa Allegra cruise ship at Mahe port in Seychelles Island on March 1. Tired passengers left a crippled Costa cruise ship in the Seychelles capital Victoria on Thursday, ending a three-day ordeal in the Indian Ocean after a fire knocked out the vessel's main power supply.

Laurent Levy / EPA

Passengers and crew members of the stricken Italian cruise ship Costa Allegra stand on the deck as they wait to disembark at the harbor in the capital Victoria, the Seychelles, March 1.

Eleonor Bradwell / AP

In this image taken on Monday, Feb. 27, 2012 by a passenger of the Costa Allegra cruise ship, passengers sit on the deck of the ship. A disabled cruise ship carrying more than 1,000 people docked in the island nation of the Seychelles Thursday after three days at sea without power since a fire broke out in the generator room on Monday.

VICTORIA, Seychelles -- Tired passengers left a crippled Costa cruise ship in the Seychelles capital Victoria on Thursday, ending a three-day ordeal in the Indian Ocean after a fire knocked out the vessel's main power supply.

The Costa Allegra suffered an engine-room fire on Monday which disabled its engines in waters prowled by pirates.

The ship is owned by the company whose giant liner Costa Concordia smashed into rocks off Italy and capsized last month, killing at least 25 people.

The passengers said they had prepared to abandon ship when fire broke out in the engine room three days ago, leaving the vessel adrift in waters prowled by pirates.

Gregorio Borgia / AP

Costa Allegra cruise ship Captain Niccolo Alba wipes a tear during a news conference in Victoria, Seychelles, on March 1.

But the fire that broke out Monday was brought under control and the more than 1,000 people wound up staying aboard the Costa Allegra, which suddenly had no engine power, no air conditioning, no lights and no running water for showers or toilets.

A French tuna fishing boat towed the Costa Allegra for three days toward the port in Victoria, where a line of ambulances, a Red Cross medical team and a fleet of small buses was waiting.

Passengers lined the railings and a few began to clap as the vessel drew close to the crowded dock Thursday morning.

Read the full story.

-- msnbc.com news services

Laurent Levy / EPA

Towed by a French tuna-fishing boat, the stricken Italian cruise ship Costa Allegra approaches the harbor in the capital Victoria, the Seychelles, on March 1. Towed by a French fishing boat, the ship carrying more than 1,000 people arrived at a port in the island nation of the Seychelles after it had lost all power on Feb. 27 due to a fire in the engine room. The Costa Allegra is operated by the same company that operated the Costa Concordia, which capsized off the coast of Italy on 13 January, killing at least 25 people.

Gregorio Borgia / AP

Passengers of the Costa Allegra cruise ship look for their baggage upon their arrival at Victoria's harbor, Seychelles Island, on March 1.

Updated at 12:30 p.m. ET -- Twenty-two passengers on Carnival Splendor were robbed at gunpoint Thursday while on a ship-sponsored tour in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 

At least one Mexican media outlet said the passengers were returning by bus to their ship at approximately 5 p.m. after spending time in El Nogalito, a tourist area known for its lush natural setting. Masked assailants stopped the bus and robbed the cruisers of their money, watches, cameras and other valuables. 

There were no injuries and all passengers were returned safely to the ship, Carnival said in a statement. Numerous authorities were notified and responded to investigate, as well as assist the affected passengers, Carnival said. 

According to informador.mx.com, the bandits have yet to be apprehended. 

Carnival apologized to the passengers for the "unfortunate and disturbing event" and said it is working with passengers to reimburse them for lost valuables and assist with lost passports or other forms of identification. 

On Saturday, Latitude Intl, the public relations firm representing the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board, called Thursday's robbery an "extremely rare incident." A statement on Latitude's Facebook page said, "minutes after we learned of the incident representatives from the local and state government, tourism leaders and tour operators [moved] to provide assistance to those involved and police and the district's attorney office started their investigation."

The tour in question — a guided nature trail excursion sold and booked through the line — has been suspended until further notice. 

More from Cruise Critic:

• Learn more about Carnival Cruise Lines
• How to stay safe in port
• Cruise ship rescues 3 men adrift in the Pacific

The incident comes at a rough time for the beleaguered Mexican Riviera cruise region, which has seen numerous lines pull out over safety and security concerns, as well as issues with demand. Lines have primarily cut calls in Mazatlan, which has seen its scheduled ship visits plummet from 200 in 2010 to roughly a dozen in 2012, but Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta have also suffered.

The U.S. State Department advises Americans to exercise caution when traveling to Mexico. Earlier this month, the department released its latest travel warning, updating one that had been in effect since April 2011. As with the earlier warning, it reiterated that millions of Americans safely visit the country every year and that most of the drug-related violence occurs near the Mexico-U.S. border and along drug-trafficking routes, rather than in resort towns and other tourist destinations. 

The Carnival Splendor made headlines in November 2010 after an onboard fire paralyzed the ship for three days about 200 miles outside San Diego and stranded thousands of passengers. The repaired ship set sail again last February with two new generators and a new engine.  

Carnival Splendor is currently sailing on a seven-day cruise that departed Long Beach, Calif., on Sunday.

Msnbc.com contributed information to this report.

More stories you might like:

• Puerto Vallarta says it's safe despite Princess canceling calls
• Mexico looks for rebound in U.S. tourists
• Time to say adios to Mexico travel?
• Beware the hard sell at vacation resorts

Updated at 2 p.m. ET -- Salvage divers discovered eight bodies on Wednesday in the submerged part of the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship. 

Italy's national civil protection agency said three of the bodies were recovered a few hours after being spotted by fire department divers, the Associated Press reported. The bodies are those of a woman, a girl and a man, the agency said. Because of worsening weather, the divers were not able to immediately remove the other five bodies. 

The bodies were being transferred to a hospital on the mainland for identification, a process which could take days. Before Wednesday's development, 15 people were listed as missing, but only one of them was a child, Dayana Arlotti. The 5-year-old girl was on the Mediterranean cruise with her father and his girlfriend. The girlfriend survived. The father was among the missing.

Dayana's father, Williams, had a history of health problems, and was said by family to be traveling to celebrate a new lease on life — he had received a kidney and pancreas transplant in the past. Some witnesses told media that they last saw him during the evacuation as he headed back to his cabin to retrieve life-saving medication. 

The confirmed death toll has risen to 25, and seven passengers remain missing and presumed dead. The only American passengers missing, Jerry and Barb Heil of Minnesota, were memorialized on Saturday.

Italian authorities stopped searching the ship for passengers at the end of January due to dangerous conditions. Salvage crews are still working on pumping almost 2,400 tons of diesel fuel from the vast hulk, which lies partially submerged just meters from the shore of Giglio, a popular holiday island in a maritime reserve off the Tuscan coast.

The Costa Concordia, a luxury liner carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew, struck a rock off the Tuscan coast on Jan. 13. A gash in the ship's side flooded the engine rooms and caused the vessel to capsize.

Dozens of survivors are suing Carnival Corp. and its subsidiary Costa Cruise Lines for at least $528 million in damages. The lawsuit alleges that the crew failed to conduct safety drills, that the ship was off course when it hit the reef, that the captain waited too long before giving the order to evacuate, that the crew performed badly during the evacuation and that the cruise line inflicted emotional distress and failed to provide prompt and adequate aid to survivors.

• Lawyers: Cocaine found on cruise captain's hair
• More shipwreck survivors sue Carnival, Costa
• Minn. couple lost in Italy shipwreck memorialized

NBC News, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Italy's Civil Protection agency said Tuesday that technical studies indicated that the deformed hull of the ship created too many safety concerns to continue the search. It said in a statement that relatives and diplomatic officials representing the countries of the missing have been informed of the decision.

A spokeswoman for Civil Protection, Francesca Maffini, stressed that the search for the missing would continue wherever possible, including on the part of the ship above the water, in the waters surrounding the ship and along the nearby coastline.

The Concordia ran aground off the island of Giglio on Jan. 13 when the captain deviated from his planned route and struck a reef, creating a huge gash that capsized the ship.

The ship, precariously resting on one side, will likely be a part of the scenery off the Italian island of Giglio for the better part of a year.

The cruise line is considering bids for the ship's removal and is expected to make a decision -- based on method and costs -- in two months, NBC News has learned. Actual removal could take up to 10 months.

Inclement weather over the weekend shut down search and salvage efforts at the site of the ship wreck off the Tuscan coast. High winds and rough seas delayed plans to begin pumping 500,000 gallons of fuel off the Concordia. That effort will likely continue midweek. A barge carrying pumping equipment that was attached to the capsized ship was withdrawn after strong winds and high waves worsened conditions for the divers working on the huge wreck.

The operation, aimed at preventing an environmental disaster in the pristine waters off a marine nature reserve, could take up to one month to complete.

Residents of Giglio have been circulating a petition to demand that officials provide more information on how the full-scale operations can co-exist with the important tourism season. At the moment, access to the port for private boats has been banned and all boats must stay at least one mile from the wrecked ship, affecting access to Giglio's only harbor for fishermen, scuba divers and private boat owners.

"We are really sorry, we would have preferred to save them all. But now other needs and other problems arise," said Franca Melils, a local business owner who is promoting a petition for the tourist season. "It's about us, who work and make a living exclusively from tourism. We don't have factories, we don't have anything else." 

Slideshow: Luxury cruise ship runs aground

DigitalGlobe

The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers, ran aground Jan. 13 off the coast of Italy. At least 15 people died in the accident, and rescuers continue to search for others missing.

Launch slideshow

Carnival Corp. said on Monday that it will take a hit between $155 million and $175 million against fiscal 2012 net income because of the Concordia wreck. In an annual report filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Carnival also said it significantly reduced its marketing activities after the wreck.

"Costa's booking activity is difficult to interpret because of the significant re-booking activity stemming from the loss of the ship's use and related re-deployments," the company said. "However, we believe it to be down significantly. Despite these recent trends, we believe the incident will not have a significant long-term impact on our business."

Related: Passengers on wrecked ship offered $14,460

The Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest, suspected of causing the accident by steering too close to shore, and faces charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship before the evacuation was complete.

The ship's first officer, Ciro Ambrosio, has also been questioned by prosecutors but the company itself has not been implicated in the investigation at this stage.

NBC News, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• Rough seas shut down cruise ship search, salvage efforts
• 17th body found on wrecked Italy cruise ship
• Captain says he was told to perform fatal maneuver
• Woman's body found aboard stricken Italian cruise ship
• PhotoBlog: Madonna recovered from Costa Concordia

Updated at 11:15 a.m. ET: GIGLIO, Italy -- The official overseeing the search effort of the capsized Costa Concordia has acknowledged it would take a miracle to find any survivors from the Jan. 13 cruise ship grounding.

Franco Gabrielli, head of the national civil protection agency, told reporters Wednesday that recovery operations would nevertheless continue until the ship, which is half-submerged off the Tuscan island of Giglio, was searched as much as possible.

Operations continued Wednesday as crews set off more explosions on the submerged third floor deck to allow easier access for divers. On Tuesday, the body of a woman was found on the deck.

Rescuers have found 16 bodies. At least six of the bodies remain unidentified, and are presumed to be among some of the 17 passengers and crew still unaccounted for.

The Concordia ran aground and capsized off the island of Giglio on Jan. 13 after the captain veered from his planned course and gashed the ship's hull on a reef, forcing the panicked evacuation of 4,200 passengers and crew.

Citing Italian civil protection officials, NBC News reports that a woman was identified Wednesday, but no name has been released yet. Officials also said that bodies may have floated away in recent days and that it may take more time to find victims of the accident.  Divers are now limited to searching for 20 minutes at a time as a result of poor conditions.

On Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to Italy David Thorne was at Giglio's port with relatives of two missing Americans, Gerald and Barbara Heil of Minnesota. The Heil's children posted on their blog Monday that they are still waiting for word about their parents. The Heils are the only Americans missing in the wreck.

The search and rescue operation will continue in tandem with the fuel removal operation.

Workers kept up preparations to remove a half-million gallons of fuel from the ship before it leaks into the Tuscan sea. Pumping is expected to begin Saturday, and according to officials, tests will begin Wednesday.

Spokesman Martin Schuttevaer said "based on what we have seen the position of the tanks are in line with what we expected."

Officials have identified an initial six tanks that will be tapped, located in a relatively easy-to-reach area of the ship. Gabrielli told reporters Tuesday that once the tanks are emptied, 50 percent of the fuel aboard the ship will have been extracted.

The pumping will continue 24 hours a day barring rough seas or technical glitches in this initial phase, he said.

The wife of the captain accused of grounding the Costa Concordia cruise ship said in an interview published Tuesday she was outraged over the way her husband had been portrayed by the media.

Captain Francesco Schettino, who is charged with multiple manslaughter and with abandoning ship before the evacuation of passengers and crew was complete, has told prosecutors he had been instructed to perform the maneuver by operator Costa Cruises.

"My husband is at the center of an unprecedented media storm," his wife, Fabiola Rossi, told French magazine Paris Match. "I cannot think of any other naval or air tragedy in which the responsible party was treated with such violence ... This is a man hunt, people are looking for a scapegoat, a monster."

Schettino has been branded a coward in Italian newspapers, after a recording of his conversation with a coast guard agent during the disaster was leaked to the press and widely circulated on the Web.

Asked if she was angry about his treatment, she said "wouldn't you be?"

He is "someone determined, firm and lucid. He is able to analyze situations, to understand and manage them. At home he is organized and meticulous, and otherwise he is a friendly and funny person who earns people's esteem," Rossi added in a version of the interview published on Paris Match's website.

In the recording with the coast guard, Schettino sounds bewildered and out of control as he is ordered back onto the ship and threatened with arrest.

Schettino's lawyer, who says his client admits partial responsibility for the disaster, is seeking to widen the investigation to include third parties with whom he was in contact, notably from ship owners, Costa Cruises.

The company, a unit the world's largest cruise ship operator Carnival Corp, has suspended Schettino and declared itself an injured party in the case. It has said "unfortunate human error" by Schettino caused the disaster.

Giglio and its waters are part of a protected seven-island marine park, favored by VIPs and known for its clear waters and porpoises, dolphins and whales.

The disaster prompted the U.N. cultural organization to ask the Italian government to restrict access of large cruise ships to Venice, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO charged that the liners cause water tides that erode building foundations, pollute the waterways and are an eyesore.

Slideshow: Luxury cruise ship runs aground

DigitalGlobe

The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers, ran aground Jan. 13 off the coast of Italy. At least 15 people died in the accident, and rescuers continue to search for others missing.

Launch slideshow

Related stories:

• Death toll from cruise ship wreck up to 15
• Captain says he was told to perform fatal maneuver
• Woman's body found aboard stricken Italian cruise ship
• PhotoBlog: Madonna recovered from Costa Concordia

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Updated at 11:10 a.m. ET: Officials say divers searching the toppled Costa Concordia have discovered another body in the submerged cruise ship.

The discovery on the third floor deck brings to 16 the number of bodies found since the Jan. 13 grounding. Officials at the Tuscan prefect's office said Tuesday they couldn't immediately confirm Italian news reports that the body was that of a woman.

At least six of the bodies remain unidentified, and are presumed to be among some of the 17 passengers and crew still unaccounted for.

On Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to Italy David Thorne was at Giglio's port with relatives of two missing Americans, Gerald and Barbara Heil of Minnesota. The Heil's children posted on their blog Monday that they are still waiting for word about their parents. The Heils are the only Americans missing in the wreck.

Divers, meanwhile, continued blasting holes inside the steel-hulled ship to ease access for crews searching for the missing. The search and rescue operation will continue in tandem with the fuel removal operation.

A large platform carrying a crane and other equipment hitched itself to the shipwreck, signaling the start of preliminary operations to remove a half-million gallons of fuel from the ship's tanks before it leaks into the pristine Tuscan sea.

Actual pumping of the oil isn't expected to begin until Saturday, but officials from the Dutch shipwreck salvage firm Smit were working on the bow of the Concordia on Tuesday, making preparations to remove the fuel.

Officials have identified an initial six tanks that will be tapped, located in a relatively easy-to-reach area of the ship. Franco Gabrielli, head of the national civil protection agency, told reporters Tuesday that once the tanks are emptied, 50 percent of the fuel aboard the ship will have been extracted.

The pumping will continue 24 hours a day barring rough seas or technical glitches in this initial phase, he said.

Smit officials say the first thing divers will do is drill holes into the tanks and attach valves onto them. The sludge-like oil will then be heated and hoses attached to the valves to suck out the oil as seawater is pumped into displace it.

"This is a complicated operation," Gabrielli warned. Smit has estimated the extraction operation could last a month.

Giglio and its waters are part of a protected seven-island marine park, favored by VIPs and known for its clear waters and porpoises, dolphins and whales.

The disaster prompted the U.N. cultural organization to ask the Italian government to restrict access of large cruise ships to Venice, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO charged that the liners cause water tides that erode building foundations, pollute the waterways and are an eyesore.

Slideshow: Luxury cruise ship runs aground

DigitalGlobe

The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers, ran aground Jan. 13 off the coast of Italy. At least 15 people died in the accident, and rescuers continue to search for others missing.

Launch slideshow

On Monday, islanders and officials spotted an oil film on the water about 300 meters (yards) from the wreck. Absorbent panels were put around the oil to soak up the substance and officials said Tuesday it was a very thin film that didn't present any significant levels of toxicity.

Gabrielli said he had formally asked Costa Crociere SpA, the owner of the Concordia, to come up with a plan for what to do with the innards of the ship that are floating away — the tables and chairs and other furniture that are knocking into divers and being hauled away by barge on a daily basis. And he said he had asked provincial authorities to designate a site on the mainland where the material can be dumped.

Early Tuesday, amid continued outrage by passengers of the chaotic evacuation, Costa promised to refund the full cost of the cruise, reimburse all travel expenses to and from the ship, all on-board expenses and any medical expenses incurred as a result of the grounding.

"Every effort will be made to return the valuables left in the cabin safe," Costa said in a statement.

The company is facing more questions over its share of the blame for the shipwreck.

The criminal probe into the ship's doomed voyage may be widened, a lawyer for the ship's captain said Monday.

Costa Cruises has not received any notification that it is being investigated, according to a company spokesman. The company will be forthright with investigators and has full faith in the magistrature, he added.

Captain Francesco Schettino is accused of steering the cruise ship too close to shore while performing a maneuver known as a "salute" in which liners draw up very close to land to make a display.

Schettino, who is charged with multiple manslaughter and with abandoning ship before the evacuation of passengers and crew was complete, has told prosecutors he had been instructed to perform the maneuver by operator Costa Cruises.

Pier Luigi Foschi, chairman and chief executive of Costa Cruises, has previously said that Schettino delayed issuing the SOS and evacuation orders and gave false information to the company headquarters.

Foschi, who visited Giglio Sunday, declined to respond to Schettino's allegation that he was instructed to perform the maneuver.

Related stories:

• Death toll from cruise ship wreck up to 15
• Captain says he was told to perform fatal maneuver
• Woman's body found aboard stricken Italian cruise ship
• PhotoBlog: Madonna recovered from Costa Concordia

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.