TUI-owned Marella Cruises has cancelled the current cruise on its ship Discovery after a fire broke out.

Passengers were alerted at around 01:30 local time on Friday 7 July, as the ship was on its way to Grand Turk, during a Caribbean cruise.

TUI said the fire – in one of the ship’s five engines – was quickly extinguished and there were no injuries to passengers or crew.

The ship was escorted to its previous port of call, Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, for the damage to be assessed.

Passengers were able to stay on the ship and were told TUI would make arrangements for them to be flown back to the UK, while Discovery’s next sailing, on Sunday 9 July, was cancelled.

One passenger described the incident as ‘quite terrifying’, while another said the staff and crew were ‘utterly amazing’.

TUI said on Saturday: “Due to a small fire in one of the five engines on the Marella Discovery, we have taken the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the cruise.

 “We understand how disappointing this will be and would like to apologise to our customers who have been impacted and thank them for their patience and understanding at this time.

“The fire was reported whilst the ship was on course in the Caribbean. The fire was quickly extinguished, and no one on board was harmed.

“We understand how concerning this must be for those on board and we would like to assure customers that our crew are highly trained to deal with these sorts of situations.

“Due to the impacts of the fire, we will also be cancelling the next cruise due to depart from Port Canaveral on Sunday.

“Our customer teams will be in contact with those customers impacted and will support them with their future travel plans.

“Depending on customers’ outward travel dates, those impacted will either be offered a full or pro-rata refund, as well as holiday vouchers as a gesture of goodwill.

“Our teams are currently arranging for all passengers to be brought home.

“We would once again like to thank customers for their patience and understanding and apologise for the inconvenience caused.”