Stricken cruise liner limps to Malaysian port

The 590 passengers, looked after by the crew of 411, have been offered the chance to fly home immediately from Singapore or see out the duration of their holiday there and returning on their planned flights.

They will also receive a voucher for another cruise on the line, owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises, the world’s second largest operator.

Passengers said despite initial momentary panic when they were told to don life jackets, most people remained calm and were full of praise for the captain and crew.

Part of the alarm stemmed from memories of the Costa Concordia which hit a rock and sank off the Italian coast in January, killing 32.

“We were waiting to go in to dinner,” passenger Deborah Garnett, from Yorkshire, told the BBC. “One of the engineers came running into the dining room covered in oil and smoke filled the dining room.

“Everybody was evacuated and told to go to the muster stations and given life jackets. The captain was in the dining room. He ran after the engineer to the bridge.

“It was a bit of a panic. People were a bit worried because they thought they were going to have to lower the lifeboats. But the captain kept everybody calm and under control.”

Her husband, Tim, explained that once the power had been restored on Saturday conditions aboard the ship had become more bearable, though without air-conditioning the tropical weather made it extremely hot.

“We’ve got cold water and the lavatories are working, fortunately,” he said. “But we do not have any air-conditioning because that has been severely damaged. They’re still hoping to get that back on, but as of this moment it’s extremely hot.”

A Malaysian coastguard ship was due to meet the liner when it entered its territorial waters and the passengers were to spend Sunday night on the ship before disembarking and flying to Singapore.

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