Thousands of passengers were forced to evacuate their cabins in the early hours of the morning and assemble at muster stations after a fire broke out on a P&O Cruises Australia ship.

At the time, Pacific Adventure was just off the coast of Sydney, Australia.

It had departed 12 hours earlier on a three-night ‘Comedy Cruise’, with no ports of call.

The fire took hold on one of the balconies in the early hours of Sunday morning.

It damaged four cabins before it was extinguished, say reports, although a spokesperson for the cruise line said the fire was contained to one balcony.

No injuries have been reported.

“This fire activated our emergency response procedures including a full muster of guests and crew and we thank everyone on board for their cooperation,” P&O Cruises Australia said in a statement.

There were more than 3,000 passengers and 1,000 crew onboard at the time of the fire.

They were woken and called to muster stations, with their life jackets, where they remained for about two hours while crew put out the blaze.

They were allowed to return to their cabins at about 5am, and the ship continued the cruise, returning to Sydney today.

In a statement, P&O Cruises Australia said: “This fire activated our emergency response procedures including a full muster of guests and crew and we thank everyone on board for their cooperation.

“No one was injured and the ship continued as scheduled on its 3 day voyage. 

“One cabin’s balcony suffered fire damage and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

“The ship returned to Sydney today (Tuesday) and has since left on a new 10-day cruise.”

Image credit: 9 News, Australia