Muster Drill.... i.e. "If I ruled the world!"

[robsmom]

I agree with OP that there are many opportunities for improvement in the safety processes and communications methods. I don't think it is just about convenience, but that should be a consideration. The same elderly people, people with back pain, and children that are at the drill are the ones that will affected in a real emergency. Leaving them standing unnecessarily for periods of time in a real emergency is going to create issues even greater than those that are highlighted as they are standing at the muster drill A bad drill is a good sign that the real event is not going to go well. Are all the OP's suggestions the perfect answer? I don't know, but they are thought provoking solutions that should be considered. I suspect that gathering in large areas and being escorted to life boats has been determined to be an efficient best practice. Even if this is really the best way on paper, I think think the Costa situation has created a perception that this is bad. There is no way that I am going to go down to a lower deck in the event of a real emergency. I am going right out to the lifeboat deck. I am also not going to criss-cross across the ship or going back to the cabin. I am going to the nearest door. Having people on the stairs to tell me where to go during a drill is not representative of real life. In a true emergency the crew members will not know in advance and will not get to their posts before all passengers. They will be caught in the flow of traffic just like everyone else. I may not be in my cabin, I may not go to my muster station per se. When we have fire drills at work, we a) don't know they are coming and b) don't go back to our own office prior to exiting. We leave by the nearest exit to where we are at the time. There are definitely opportunities for improvement on cruise ships.

[Trekker954]

I agree with the OP. sounds good.

 

Now we sailed our first X Reflection out of Miami last month and was so happy, unlike Royal's muster out of Miami. First you have to endure the whole thing in English, but then they subject you to the entire thing in Spanish also and we aren't released until both languages are complete.

 

I also do not like that when we muster in a dining room and the plates, glasses, etc are all set up. This is one reason, I absolutely refuse to eat in the dining room the first night. Who the heck was seated at my table during muster, touching my glass, fork, etc. ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[Tuna Fish]

And I don't think it would add any work to the crew, but rather would just redistribute it.

 

Let's say the muster occupies those involved for 30 minutes. Now, how many crew were at the last venue when you mustered? I was in Tuscan Grill and I believe there were at least a dozen crewmen there.

 

What if, instead of all twelve people being there at once, they were there in half hour shifts, starting at noon? You would be covered until 6pm with the same man power.

 

And now that I think about it, forget the people assigned to the muster stations. There are two crew members on every deck at every stairwell, just directing traffic. That's only necessary because you're sending all three thousand people to the stations at once.

 

The drills have many more crew members involved than you think. All crew who work in passenger areas of the ship are participating. Remember this is a drill as required by the USCG. Do you know they are required to check every cabin, restroom, or space you may have access to while you are watching the movie during the drill?

 

The deck and engineering departments also have a separate drill during one of the ship's port calls. If you are back onboard early on the day they conduct their drill, look over the side of the ship away from the pier. You will see most of the crew lowering, raising, and navigating the life boats. You could also find a tag stuck in every cabin onboard that says evacuated. Celebrity is very serious about their safety drills. 20 minutes or so is not a big deal if you want to cruise with Celebrity.

There was a Med cruise last year where the Captain apparently allowed the passengers the option to read the muster place card on the door inside their cabin. We all know how that horrible tragedy ended.

[Miss SeaBee]

I think there are lots of ways muster could be improved, but IMHO, a little consideration would go a long way. Cut out the loud chatter going on during the drill, chairs filled with young people who wouldn't dream of getting up and offering their seat to let my 80 year old mother sit, repeated calls over the PA for late-comers who finally wander in cluelessly 30 minutes late. If everyone would just suck it up and participate as requested, it wouldn't be such a painful experience.

[Karen@Steve]

The muster drill is not an inconvience, it is totally ineffective. On our Summit sailing this summer we were mashed into the Rendevous lounge. We couldn't see anything nor understand anyone on the PA. We were standing near the door and basically everyone struggled to get anything out of it. Total waste of time and those within our hearing all agreed in an emergency we would be totally on our own if the muster call was so bad, how would it be any better during an emergency?

 

How about holding the muster drill in the Celebrity Theater in shifts? The theater holds nearly 1/2 of the guests. Hold 3 or 4 muster drills starting at the beginning of embarkation. Everyone would need to swipe in for a session and if by sail away you have not attended the muster then lock the key cards and direct people to a specified venue for remedial muster drill.

 

You could also encourage attention by running a short contest on the interactive TV. Like what color was such and such or name your muster station or something else. People might pay more attention. You can't force people to pay attention but you can encourage it. However, if you don't even make it comprehensible it's a complete waste of time and as such gets about the same amount of attention and respect.

 

The muster drill is very important and as such it should be delivered in a way that it can be understood.

[Miss SeaBee]

I just wanted to take a moment to give everyone who contributed to this discussion a big round of applause for going 3 pages so far with no one calling it the "mustard drill!" :D

(see also, dinning room and cabin stewart)

[Partyanimal79]

my last muster drill for my frist cruise i found it hard to follow and a bit of a joke. I think they should try and do something a little more like air crafts. have a set time to be on the ship when boarding and if not there then you miss the boat you would then be given the time to be in the theater you swipe your card and they would do the presatation and muster drill then once all groups have seen the show like others have said made there way to their station to know were it is then ship would then press off and the fun could begin.

[Taxguy77]

On recent cruises, I have become less and less enthralled with the muster drill. I don't know if it's a product of larger ships, but it seems to me that the current format of the drill is nothing but a huge waste of time. Large crowds, PA announcements that are inaudible, people coming late, just a big mess.

 

So, under the category of "If I ruled the world", here's what I propose.

 

All muster stations should be staffed by an appropriate number of crew members from the time boarding starts until sailaway. All guests must visit their appropriate muster station and swipe in, sometime between boarding and sail away. The staff at the muster station can demonstrate life vest use, perhaps there could be a video (like the ones they currently play that no one can hear) on a continuous loop.

 

In the staterooms, have a muster video play on a loop continuously. The tv will be on upon entering the room, and be available to watch on a particular channel throughout the cruise.

 

Lastly, come sailaway, anyone who has not yet swiped in at their muster will have their cards frozen until they do so- no room access, no charging, you could even require swiping in to dinner the first night. The card would be reactivated once they visit their muster station and swipe in.

 

It's not perfect, but I think it has potential.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Great Idea!