Hundreds of passengers on board P&O’s Pacific Adventure were woken at 3.30am yesterday and told to evacuate their cabins after a fire was spotted on a balcony.
The vessel, off the NSW coast, had a blaze in a cabin. Seven News reported it was believed to have been caused by a cigarette.
A P&O spokesperson told News.com: “This fire activated our emergency response procedures including a full muster of guests and crew and we thank everyone on board for their co-operation.There are no reports of injury.”
Passengers were told to don their lifejackets and go to their muster stations. The emergency was called off at 5am.
The cruise is expected to continue and the ship is due back in Sydney on Tuesday.
Most passengers were stoical with Lin Winton posting:
Cruising life … complete with headlines
Started off great … sailing out of Sydney at sunset, cocktails, magic show with an onstage appearance, white party and then at 3:30am 
alarm and evacuation… hallway muster point gatherings for 2 hours.
alarm and evacuation… hallway muster point gatherings for 2 hours.Onwards and upwards though and we’re still sailing
Brian Zarth reported on Facebook: “There WAS a fire onboard the Pacific Adventure at 3am this morning, we were evacuated to Muster stations. The fire was on a cabin Balcony, deck 10, port side. We have inside cabin on deck 10
First warnings were at about 3:15am. Then frequent captain announcements told to evacuate about 3:20, bring life jackets to Muster stations. Told fire extinguished about 3:45. Now doing card rescans to confirm head counts. Crew are wearing life jackets (for visibility) we are told to take them off.
4:15am (announcement) now clearing smoke from ventilation systems. We could smell smoke on deck 10, but didn’t see any
5am. Still in Muster stations, they are calling out cabin numbers confirming people.
5am. Still in Muster stations, they are calling out cabin numbers confirming people.
5:06am. (Announcement) guest mustering completed. Guests may return to cabin. No reported injuries.”
