Princess Cruise ship catches fire

The Princess Cruise ship Royal Princess suffered an engine room fire today while departing Port Said, Egypt.  Here is the word directly from Princess Cruises:

Royal Princess Update – 2:00pm PST

At approximately 8:10 pm local time, an engine room fire broke out aboard Royal Princess, as the ship was departing Port Said, Egypt.

The fire is now extinguished, and the ship is currently anchored approximately five miles off the coast of Port Said.

All passengers and crew have been accounted for, and passengers remain at their emergency stations as a precautionary measure until further notice. The ship is operating on emergency power and lighting.

Assessments of any damage will be made over the next several hours, at which time we will be able to provide further information about how the remainder of the cruise may be impacted.

We will continue to provide updates on a regular basis.

Royal Princess is carrying 733 passengers and 393 crew. The ship is on the fifth day of a 12-day Holy Land sailing between Civitavecchia and Athens.

Phone numbers have been established for inquiries from family of passengers and crew (only please) currently onboard Royal Princess:

For inquiries about family: 800-693-7222

For inquiries about crew members: 661-753-2804