As we were sitting in the concert hall for the evening entertainment, there was an announcement for the emergency crew to report to the port side on the eleventh deck. There was smoke coming out of a panel. The audience seemed nonplussed. A few short minutes later a second announcement said for the fire crew to report to that location.
At this point I looked at Brenda and said let’s get outta here and go to our room. I did not want us to be in the middle of a mob heading for the exits. As we were leaving the theatre, the captain came on the speaker and said all crew members needed to report to their emergency stations immediately. Walking to our room we saw dozens of waiters running out of the restaurant. The gaming tables immediately shut down operations. Other guests started looking worried and were told not to take the elevators. Crew members were running around with life vests on.
In our room we gathered up our valuable documents, cold weather clothing, medicines and life vests. Then we waited. Shortly thereafter the captain came on the speaker that a lithium battery caught fire and it was put out. A potential disaster was averted and we heaved a sigh of relief not to have to leave everything else behind.