Star Princess burns - time to ban smoking on cruise ships from Planck's Constant

We should ban smoking on Cruises. A fire broke out aboard the cruise ship Star Princess Thursday as it sailed through the Caribbean sea, leaving one passenger dead and 11 others injured.

A number of bloggers reported on the fire ¹ and the Cruise ship's own Press Release fail to mention that it was most likely started by a lit cigarette, although there were a few bloggers who did mention smoking as the culprit ².

Princess Cruises does not allow smoking in the Dining Areas [thank god!], but does offer other smoking areas throughout the ship. I think it is time that smoking was banned in the sleeping quarters on cruise ships. I do not mind if some smoke-jerk burns himself to a crisp in the middle of some desert, but if one's carelessness can burn down an entire ship, then it's perfectly right that we ask a person not to smoke in his cabin. Smoke detectors should be put in and anyone violating the policy should be put in the brig. It's quite fortunate all on board didn't die - this time.

A special number was set up for inquiries from immediate family of passengers who were on board: 1-800-693-7222. But read what happened to one blogger who actually called: Albany Lawyer. The Cruise line did do one thing right: Passengers will be flown home from Jamaica over the next two days with full refunds.

The Star Princess fire comes on the heels of a separate accident Wednesday in Chile in which 12 passengers on a shore excursion from a Celebrity Cruises ship died when a tour bus plunged off a road near the Peruvian boarder ³.

My previous posts on smoking here.

Inside Smoker - video powered by Metacafe

Notes

(1):

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE, (a South Park Republican) Deadly Fire Breaks Out On Star Princess
A fire broke out aboard a cruise ship Thursday as it sailed through the Caribbean sea, leaving one passenger dead and 11 others injured, according to reports reaching here from the Jamaican capital of Kingston. The fire broke out at around 3:00 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) in the passenger accommodations and spread to adjacent cabins when the Star Princess was traveling between the Cayman Islands and MontegoBay, Jamaica, said the reports.

(2): dieselduck, The Life And Times Of A Habitual Line-stepper™ and the travel bloggers.

(3):

USA Today, Officials: Tour bus lacked permission to carry passengers
The tour bus that crashed in northern Chile, killing 12 elderly American tourists returning to their cruise ship after an excursion, was unregistered and not authorized to transport passengers, government officials said Thursday.
The cruise line, meanwhile, said the excursion had been arranged privately and was not among those offered to its passengers.