CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A Royal Caribbean cruise ship that caught fire last week is back in Port Canaveral.
The fire broke out on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas last Wednesday as it approached Jamaica.
The ship docked in Port Canaveral shortly before 6 a.m. Sunday, about 20 minutes ahead of schedule.
Passenger Raymond Bower said the fire on the cruise ship didn’t make him nervous.
Photos: Royal Caribbean cruise ship fire
Raw: Video of cruise ship fire
The retired firefighter was vacationing from Los Angeles.
“My wife was very nervous. She did not like it at all. She was very, very upset,” he said. “My wife was in the diamond lounge and saw the smoke and saw the ashes coming out of the smoke stack. That’s not normal.”
Bower took photos as the smoke billowed from the cruise liner.
Passengers said it helped knowing they were close to land when the fire broke out.
“Because we were right in the port of Jamaica, we knew we were by land which made it much less scary,” said Christine Chrisstockstill.
A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said the fire started in a mechanical area of the ship.
Equipment on board was used to put it out and all passengers were told to go to evacuation stations out of an abundance of caution.
“We heard the emergency siren and we all came out pretty calm. Some of the kids were crying, some people were panicking,” Chrisstockstill said.
“They sounded the alarm for us to go to our stations,” said passenger Gregory Haynes.
No guests were hurt and a crew member was treated for first-degree burns.
The company said all the systems were operating normally after the fire was put out.
The seven-night cruise continued as planned.
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