Shortly after the Holland America Line (HAL)’s Westerdam caught on fire this weekend, HAL issued a press release characterizing the fire as "small" and "quickly" extinguished. It also said that it returned to port in Seattle "out of an abundance of caution."

Cruise line press statements like this rarely tell the whole story. We know

Its been a week since a fire erupted on the Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas.  

There has been widespread praise for the actions of the crew in extinguishing the fire, and for the manner in which the cruise line’s public relations representatives kept the public informed via Twitter, Facebook and other forms