Anyone Just Off The Magic Sailing Of 3/9?

[mmouse37]

If so, please let us know about the fire incident. Was there much damage and how well did the crew handle the situation. Was there much chaos or did things run smoothly?

Would love to hear your experiences. Thank God it was not more serious.

MJ

 

[johnf]

MJ,

I just returned home from the 3/9 Magic and let me tell you..it was quite the adventure. Everything was positively "magical" until about 4:15 a.m. on Thursday morning. I was traveling with my wife and our 5 year old son and I had just gone to the bathroom and was lying awake when a brief announcement came over the PA system about "Red Team." My wife, who had been also lying awake noticed my taking deep breaths as if to smell something and she asked me if I smelled something burning. I told her that I did. Within a few moments, the Captain came on the PA system and announced that they were investigating reports of a fire in the "funnel" but that no further action was required of anyone. At this point my wife and I started to get a little nervous because we could definitely smell burning plastic/metal. We both got up and got dressed and waited. A few minutes later, the Captain again came on the PA system and told us that as a precaution they would be evacuating a small number of aft staterooms. Our stateroom was 6600 which is very near the aft elevators so we were really nervous. I grabbed our passports and cash and within a few minutes the general alarm sounded and we were all told to respond to our assembly stations with our life jackets on. My 5 year old suddenly woke up, rolled out of bed and yelled "Fire Drill Fire Drill" and immediately was telling my wife and I to get him dressed and to get our life jacket on....

We assembled on Deck 4 "O" station by 4:30 a.m. and we were not released until about 6:30 a.m. There was extensive damage to the rear smokestack with a lot of burning and melting. The Mickey pool and Pluto's Pup was closed the rest of the trip but they opened the crew pool for adults and the other pools became open to everyone.

I must say that the crew and the Captain performed magnificently. They got the fire out and handled the crisis wonderfully. Everyone was very tired (and the incessant listings of events on the PA system didn't help us all try and get some sleep). Originally, the Captain had indicated that because of the fire we would be delayed by about 1 hour or more in to Castaway Cay but he made up the time overnight and we got there right on time.

It was quite touching right before the Variety Show last night when the Captain came out onstage to thank us all and we gave him a standing ovation for 10 minutes.

Another nice surprise was a letter we all got yesterday afternoon from the President of Disney Cruise Lines thanking us all for our patience and telling us that we would all be given a $100 onboard credit as a thank you.

All in all...a great cruise and a great crew!! We have already booked another 7 day cruise (Western this time) for April 2003.

Way to go Disney!

johnf
Palm Harbor, FL

 

[mmouse37]

John F.....wow, what a scary feeling. We just off the Magic two weeks ago today. Even though that safety drill can be a pain in the butt, it is certainly necessary. I am so glad you and your family are alright and such good troopers. We have sailed DCL 6 times already and are booked for this August 3rd Western.

I was getting chills reading your other post as well. I just had visions of Titanic in my mind!!!! Sounds like DCL did a stand up job and the crew performed as they should. When we were disembarking two weeks ago, the crew was telling us that they were having a Coast Guard Inspection that morning and they had to perform all life saving procedures and mock fire drill. I am glad they were so prepared.

I do feel awful that the Magnificent Disney Magic is damaged. Hope she is back to normal soon. We heard about the fire on these boards on Thursday when somebody posted a thread from another cruise board who was on Veendam. Nothing about the fire on the local or national news up in New York....someone posted the Orlando Sentinel article...but that was all the info we had.

Thanks for the response.

MJ