Hilo-bound cruise ship redirected to Honolulu because of fire

A cruise ship bound for Hilo from San Francisco experienced a fire on board early Monday morning.

The Grand Princess, which was about 23 miles northeast of Hilo, lost propulsion for a few minutes at about 5:30 a.m. following a switchboard fire, said U.S. Coast Guard Public Affairs spokeswoman Tara Molle.

“We got notified around 6:30 a.m.,” she said.

The Grand Princess was scheduled to arrive at Hilo Harbor at 8 a.m., but was diverted to Honolulu Harbor, said Tim Sakahara, spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Transportation.

“The vessel is expected to arrive at its normally scheduled dockside time of 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning,” he wrote in a Monday afternoon email.

No injuries were reported.

A passenger said in a 6:40 a.m. post on cruisecritic.com that the fire was located near the engine room.

“BAD news first……about 0530 the captain came on and advised the was a small fire on deck 4 near the engine room…we were losing propulsion and had limited lighting…well that certainly wakes you up!” wrote a message board member with the username tml1230. “20 minutes later he advised fire was out but we have limited propulsion and limping onwards to Hilo Hawaii, our first port since leaving SF…”

The reader noted that there wasn’t enough power to brew coffee and limited lighting in the horizon court, “which was a zoo with limited lighting and people acting as if they were rushing to avoid a food shortage,” the person wrote.

Another member, CleoChase, wrote that the mood onboard was relatively calm.

“We are very close to Hilo now. The captain does have a soothing voice. Never felt like we were in any danger. He made regular updates. (glad) this happened this morning and not two days ago. But I feel like we are safe and in good hands,” the member wrote.

The ship is capable of carrying a maximum of 2,590 passengers and 1,100 crew.

Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.