Question about air-tight doors

[MEGADAN]

I've been on 5 RCCL cruises. I have asked this question before but haven't received a response yet. In the wake of the Costa tragedy everyone is reviewing their emergency procedures in their mind.

A few years back we were on the Mariner and an alarm went off in the middle of the night. We were traveling with a group of family and friends and our kids were in the cabin across the hall. As soon as we heard the alarm we went to get the kids. When we opened the door we found that our hall had been closed off.

We were basically locked down and separated from our family in the other cabins.

At some point while we were getting our kids someone opened one of the doors and came into our section.

I've always wondered what the correct protocol is for those doors. We cruised 16 times and this only happened once but I've never heard instructions of any sort on those doors. I know why the ship has them but what do you do if you are trapped?

[Tjukka]

I've been on 5 RCCL cruises. I have asked this question before but haven't received a response yet. In the wake of the Costa tragedy everyone is reviewing their emergency procedures in their mind.

A few years back we were on the Mariner and an alarm went off in the middle of the night. We were traveling with a group of family and friends and our kids were in the cabin across the hall. As soon as we heard the alarm we went to get the kids. When we opened the door we found that our hall had been closed off.

We were basically locked down and separated from our family in the other cabins.

At some point while we were getting our kids someone opened one of the doors and came into our section.

I've always wondered what the correct protocol is for those doors. We cruised 16 times and this only happened once but I've never heard instructions of any sort on those doors. I know why the ship has them but what do you do if you are trapped?

 

 

I think you mean water tight doors or fire doors.

[littlesteelo]

I've been on 5 RCCL cruises. I have asked this question before but haven't received a response yet. In the wake of the Costa tragedy everyone is reviewing their emergency procedures in their mind.

A few years back we were on the Mariner and an alarm went off in the middle of the night. We were traveling with a group of family and friends and our kids were in the cabin across the hall. As soon as we heard the alarm we went to get the kids. When we opened the door we found that our hall had been closed off.

We were basically locked down and separated from our family in the other cabins.

At some point while we were getting our kids someone opened one of the doors and came into our section.

I've always wondered what the correct protocol is for those doors. We cruised 16 times and this only happened once but I've never heard instructions of any sort on those doors. I know why the ship has them but what do you do if you are trapped?

 

I guess what you refer to are the fire doors. You should be able to open them manually, and then they close behind you.

[jonbgd]

Fire doors are what slows the progress of fire or compartmentalise's it

 

Now most of the time they are closed on a cruise ship for drills or on turnaround days So not a big deal but you never know

 

But before you open Fire doors.... Are they hotter than surrounding doors??? You check with the back of your hand ,dont open If they are, it may not be a drill

[CCJack]

On a related note, has anyone noticed the huge fire doors that separate the royal promenade into two sections? (on voyager class). The doors are folded back and are not that obvious but they are very big. They are above and below the little bridge that crosses the promenade. You can also see the door track on the ceiling.

[hmallett]

Yup, the Royal Promenade fire doors are big ones. We did a late departure on one cruise, so sat in Cafe Promenade when there were virtually no other guests on board. They obviously test them each week, and this is the time to test them as it impedes your progress!

[jcl410]

Fire Screen Doors(FSD) and water tight doors create vertical zones, or compartments on the ship. There will be a stair available within the zone. It might NOT be one of the regular passenger stairs however... Check the back of your cabin door; it will show you the location of your primary stairway.

 

(On my last cruise, my primary exit stair way was right across the hall from my cabin. It was normally a crew only stair way.)

 

*Generally speaking!!!*, when the alarm sounds while you are in your cabin you should NOT try and open any FSD doors, but rather gather those family members in your immediate vicinity, and proceed up/down to your muster station. There's no way to know what's behind the FSD. The corridor on the other side could be filled with smoke.

 

(That's at least one of the reasons that RCI requires minor children in separate cabins be directly across the hall.)

 

All that being said, every situation is different. Compare the reports of chaos on the Costa Concordia because of the delay to sound the general alarm to other Cruise ship emergency situations in the past.....

 

In the case of the Carnival Splendor fire, which was BAD, there passengers were never sent to their muster stations.

 

Here's a link to the blog by the cruise director on that voyage:

 

http://johnhealdsblog.com/2010/11/12/smoke-on-the-water-part-1/

 

In the case of the Monarch of the Seas, she hit a reef of off St. Maarten in 1998, and every one WAS told to go to their muster stations at 1:45 in the morning. In that case, they were able to run the ship up on the flat sandy bottom so she wouldn't sink. They used large tenders from shore to evacuate, instead of the lifeboats; here's a link to the official report:

 

http://marinecasualty.com/documents/monarch.pdf

 

Aloha,

 

John

[Tyler80]

I've been on 5 RCCL cruises. I have asked this question before but haven't received a response yet. In the wake of the Costa tragedy everyone is reviewing their emergency procedures in their mind.

A few years back we were on the Mariner and an alarm went off in the middle of the night. We were traveling with a group of family and friends and our kids were in the cabin across the hall. As soon as we heard the alarm we went to get the kids. When we opened the door we found that our hall had been closed off.

We were basically locked down and separated from our family in the other cabins.

At some point while we were getting our kids someone opened one of the doors and came into our section.

I've always wondered what the correct protocol is for those doors. We cruised 16 times and this only happened once but I've never heard instructions of any sort on those doors. I know why the ship has them but what do you do if you are trapped?

 

Interesting question. Fire doors on ships are similar to fire doors in other commercial buildings in the US. Normally they are held open magnetically with an electromagnet. If an alarm is sounded the magnet "lets go" and the door slowly automatically closes (either sliding closed as a pocket door would or closing as a normal door would) and if the power goes out they automatically close as a precaution if there would be a fire (Power loss: electricity would be lost which holds the magnet and door together = door closes).

 

In either situation on land or at sea the doors can always be opened manually if they are closed. This would otherwise be a major safety issue if no one could open a fire door manually. The reason these doors exist is to keep a fire contained within a certain zone so that it does not spread.

 

On a cruise ship you will see fire doors (or maybe you won't see them if you aren't paying attention) at nearly every junction or door way of the ship. This includes hallways, entrances into every major space (Windjammer, Theater, Royal Promenade, Dinning Rooms, Studio B, etc.) as well as around all the elevator lobbies. If you get onboard early on embarkation day and head to your stateroom before it's ready, chances are you'll see the fire door to your hallway closed with a sign posted that rooms will be ready at 1pm.

 

Pocket fire doors slide along a thick metal plate on the floor. Usually there is a track in the ceiling if you look closely. Modern cruise ships use clever design to disguise these safety necessities but whether you see them or not they are still there. One way to know if a fire door is near by is if you see a light switch high up that says "Door Release" on it. This switch will release the door and alert the bridge, so don't push it. The bridge monitors every single safety element onboard and will know when a door has been "released" and whether or not it has closed all the way. They know what doors close on a regular basis (theater, dining room, stateroom hallways) and test the doors on a weekly basis to make sure fire zones are completely closed off so that a fire would not spread.

 

Fire doors are often closed at the entrance of the Theater or Studio B when rehearsals are going on. You may see them closed to keep people from entering the theater or dining room early.

[derf5585]

My question is what about all those EXIT signs around the ship.

Exit to where?

[Tyler80]

My question is what about all those EXIT signs around the ship.

Exit to where?

 

The green signs hanging from the ceiling indicate either:

• A Muster Location - A sign with a number or letter or picture of a boat with arrows pointing to it
  
• Emergency Exit to a Muster Location - A sign with people leaving to go somewhere
  

 

Normally all the exit signs are either indicating a muster station (gathering point) location (inside the ship) or a way to leave the interior section of the ship to head to a muster (lifeboat) station.

 

In an emergency: you will be instructed to walk down stairs to the lifeboat deck to go to your muster station. However, quicker exit points around the ship exist (which you otherwise may not know about) which are indicated by the green signs you see.

 

For example: instead of going down a public stairway and out the door you would normally enter the ship through, in an emergency situation crew might instruct you use a "crew only" stairwell or exit through a "crew only" door through a shop onboard that would directly lead you to the lifeboat deck.

 

It is important to note that in an emergency situation the closest evacuation stairwell or door might be normally used for "crew only". The crew will give you instructions on where to go and how to get there.