MIAMI (CNN) -- A fire broke out Monday afternoon aboard the 855-foot-long Carnival Cruise Lines ship Ecstasy off the coast of Miami Beach.

Approximately 2,000 passengers gathered on the upper decks of the ship wearing orange life vests while the crew and Coast Guard boats tried to put out the flames.

Flames and heavy black smoke were seen billowing from the lower stern of the passenger ship in what is believed to be the laundry area of the loading deck.

RELATED VIDEO
Video of the fire
Windows Media	28K	56K
ALSO: Ecstasy facts

Authorities told CNN that no one was in any danger and that a decision had been made to fight the fire where the ship was rather than bringing it back into port, which was still visible from the ship.

The Coast Guard said there had been no order to evacuate the vessel.

The 70,367-ton ship, built in 1990 and refurbished in 1995, tours the Caribbean year-round, operating out of Miami with Italian officers and an international crew.

It has 1,020 cabins and can carry 2,044 vacationers.