Passengers arrive in US after cruise ship fire

BALTIMORE (AP) — Passengers whose cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas was cut short by an onboard fire began arriving back in Baltimore on charter flights from the Bahamas on this afternoon, with many praising the response of the company and crew.

"I'll never go on any other cruise line," said Craig Dzubak, 26, of Pittsburgh, who was on his first cruise. "They couldn't have handled it any better." He said he and his wife, Chelsea, were planning their next cruise while on the flight home.

Robert Alexander of Hamilton, N.J., said he was impressed by how well-prepared everyone on board was for emergencies. An actor from the ship's theater made announcements to passengers after they were evacuated from their rooms, he said.

"It just shows the training they do," Alexander said. "Our head waiter at our dinner table was one of the first responders" to the fire.

Meanwhile, the vice president of the Grand Bahama Shipyard said the ship would be repaired at his facility, though a full assessment of damage hadn't been done yet.

"We are still working with the cruise line to assess the repairs, and I sent a crew over there this morning," Reuben Byrd said today. "I'm assuming it will be a big job for us."