Azamara Quest arrived in Malaysia early today (Monday) after an engine room fire left the ship without power, as reported by Travel Weekly on Friday.
The ship with more than 98 British passengers on board was on a 17-night cruise from Hong Kong, which it left a week ago, when the fire broke out leaving it adrift for 24 hours off the Philippines.
Engineers were able to restore propulsion the day after the Azamara Club Cruises ship with 590 passengers and 411 crew suffered the fire while sailing between Manila and Sandakan in Malaysia on Friday.
Five members of crew suffered smoke inhalation as a result of the fire. One severely injured crew member was transferred to hospital.
An Azamara Club Cruises statement said: “The damage caused by the fire will require us to cancel the rest of Azamara Quest’s voyage once the ship arrives in Sandakan.
“As a gesture of goodwill and to thank our guests for their understanding, we will be providing all guests with a full refund for their cruise.
“Azamara Club Cruises will also be providing each guest with a future cruise certificate for 100% of the cruise fare paid for their March 26, 2012, Azamara Quest sailing.”
The Royal Caribbean Cruise Line-owned brand’s president and chief executive Larry Pimentel is due to arrive in Malaysia tomorrow morning, local time to meet with passengers and crew personally.
He said: “I would like to commend the crew onboard Azamara Quest, not just for their valiant and courageous efforts during the fire, but for the way they have worked tirelessly to make our guests as happy and comfortable as possible until the ship arrived in port.
“The entire crew has been absolutely brilliant, and I couldn’t be prouder of the exemplary way each and every one of them responded to this incident.
“I would also like to sincerely thank our amazing Azamara Quest guests for their patience and understanding. We understand that this was a difficult journey, and we appreciate their upbeat and positive attitude.”