Fire Onboard Cruise Ship Forces Restaurants To Close & Crew To Muster Stations

There was a fire onboard one of the largest cruise ships in the P&O Cruises fleet.

Multiple restaurants on the ship were closed briefly, and safety announcements were made, making the passengers tense and worried.

The incident occurred on the 5200-Cruise Ship Iona. It was a small fire in the kitchen’s fryer in a galley on Deck 5.

It caused some disruption, but passengers were not evacuated but those near the vicinity of the fire were asked to leave their cabins as a precautionary measure.

The crew responded quickly and afterwards were praised by the captain and the guests for their response.

Per social media reports, the crew were asked to report to their muster stations.

Another announcement informed the guests that restaurants on the ship would be closed, especially the ones on Deck 6.

According to a passenger account, many announcements were made, and the situation escalated from a need for a first aid team to a bigger response.

A Reddit user, who was on Deck 5, said that when he opened the door of the cabin, he saw several fully kitted firemen running down the corridor.

The clean-up crew worked on the affected area, which smelled of burning oil, but the situation resolved quickly, and everything was back to normal soon, per another passenger.

The probability of the fire spreading on a cruise ship is a big concern, and even a small incident is taken very seriously for the safety of all.

A social media comment highlighted that the incident showed the benefits of incessant crew drills and the importance of safety training.

A passenger said that the crew had conducted many fire drills just the day before the accident.

Iona is an excellence-class cruise ship launched in 2021, and was the biggest ship ever built for the cruise line at the time of its launch.

It sails from its home port of Southampton, U.K and is on a 7-day round-trip Norwegian Fjords sailing which began on August 23, 2025 and is scheduled to end on August 30, 2025.