Fire Accident (engine room fire) on the Marella Discovery on 7th July 2023

The ship suffered an engine room fire in the early hours of July 7, 2023, while en route from Dominicana to Grand Turk Island (Turks and Caicos). The fire began in one of the five diesel engines and was swiftly extinguished by the crew, according to TUI UK. There were no reports of injuries or water ingress/pollution.

Even though the vessel was still seaworthy, it was escorted back to Dominicana (Amber Cove) for a comprehensive damage assessment and emergency repairs. To receive permission to continue sailing, class-approved surveyors (flying to Dominicana) conducted necessary examinations on Marella Discovery to reinstate and certify the firefighting system used to extinguish the fire.

Due to the incident, the remainder of the journey was cancelled. Everyone was bused from Amber Cove to Puerto Plata’s Gregorio Luperon Airport and then flown back to the United Kingdom. The next scheduled voyage (departure from Port Canaveral on July 9th) was also cancelled.

As compensation, all affected travellers were refunded (either in full or proportionally, depending on departure dates) and also received vacation vouchers (FCC/future cruise credits). All shore excursions reserved for unvisited locations were refunded automatically.

The accident took place near the end of the 7-day “Sunshine State And Sands Cruise” (itinerary July 2-9, roundtrip from Port Canaveral/Orlando, Florida, USA) with call ports in Florida (Miami/July 3), The Bahamas (Resorts World Bimini/July 4), Dominicana (Amber Cove/July 6), and Grand Turk (Cockburn Town/July 7th, cancelled).

The next voyage to be cancelled was the 7-day “American Dream Cruise” (itinerary July 9-16, roundtrip from Port Canaveral) with ports of call in Freeport (Bahamas), New York City (New York, United States), and Charleston (South Carolina, United States).

The Marella Discovery resumed passenger service on the 23rd of July, departing from Port Canaveral.