I received the terrible news that a blaze broke out in the engine room aboard the Insignia while the ship was docked in St. Lucia on Thursday, December 11. A crew member and two contractors died, and two other crew members were treated for injuries. The fire was contained to the engine room and extinguished.

All of the ship’s 656 passengers were unharmed during the incident and were flown back to Miami on charter flights late Thursday. Transfers and hotel stays were arranged in Miami until flights to passengers’ cities of origin could be arranged. The ship was on a 10-day cruise that left San Juan on Sunday, scheduled to return to Miami on December 17. Insignia’s next voyage on December 17 has been cancelled, but there is no news yet regarding future cruises with the ship.

The cause of the fire is yet unknown, but the ship will remain in St. Lucia while under investigation.

This is very sad news for Oceania, their passengers, and crew family. To read more, click here, and I will keep you posted on how this will affect our upcoming world cruise, scheduled to depart January 10, 2015 on Insignia.