By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY 3

The cause of a May fire that damaged several decks of Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas remains a mystery, despite weeks of investigation.

BALTIMORE — The cause of the May fire that damaged several decks of Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas remains a mystery, despite weeks of investigation.

“We’ve had a lot of investigators on board from many different agencies, (and) we are starting to get some reports in,” the line’s executive vice president for operations, Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, tells USA TODAY. “But …I’m honestly not sure we’ll ever know what started it.”

Speaking on board the vessel Thursday in advance of its return to service later today, Lutoff-Perlo said there was no indication the fire was caused by a mechanical failure. What is known is that the fire started in a mooring area near the back of the ship where ropes are stored. But no obvious ignition source has been discovered.

Significantly damaged during the blaze, which took two hours to douse, the 1,950-passenger Grandeur of the Seas has spent the past six weeks undergoing repairs at a shipyard in the Bahamas. It sets sail later today from Baltimore on its first cruise with paying passengers since the event, a seven-night sailing to Bermuda.

Though the cause of the fire remains unknown, Lutoff-Perlo says the ship is perfectly safe to carry passengers.

“We would never send the ship out if it wasn’t safe,” she says. “There should be absolutely no doubt in anybody’s mind that this ship is safe.

On Thursday, Grandeur of the Seas appeared pretty much as good as new, though repairs to fire damage continued in a couple of areas. The ship’s second-largest entertainment venue, the South Pacific Lounge, will remain closed for the coming week for repairs, as will a portion of the aft promenade.

In addition, a number of crew cabins still are undergoing repairs, forcing some crew to sleep in passenger cabins, which in turn has forced the line to bump some passengers from today’s sailing. The crew cabins suffered water damage as firefighters fought to contain the blaze and have had to be completely gutted.

Lutoff-Perlo says all of the final repairs will be done by next week’s sailing starting on July 19.

Several changes have been made to the mooring area of the ship as a result of lessons learned from the fire, Lutoff-Perlo adds.

“Most of this came from our team, in terms of enhancements and improvements that we could make … for storage of ropes, (and for) steel hatches being moved, and different things that came out in terms of materials that are on the mooring decks,” she says.

Royal Caribbean has been widely praised for its handling of the fire, which occurred as Grandeur of the Seas was on the way to the line’s private island in the Bahamas, CocoCay. The ship never lost power during the incident and was able to reach Freeport, Bahamas, about seven hours after the fire started.

Lutoff-Perlo and Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein immediately flew to the ship, within hours of the fire, and met with passengers to apologize for the incident. The line also quickly arranged transportation to get passengers off the ship and back to their homes. Passengers also were immediately promised a full refund for the sailing as well as a voucher good for 25% off a future sailing.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2013/07/12/cruise-ship-fire-mystery/2513097/