Anxious Cruiser! Questions about Muster Drill.

[chengkp75]

We were the Sunshine last January. The 1st day we were in Nassau. We were supposed to leave at4:30 but I saw a small bus arrive with 50 passengers who had not been able to make the ship the previous day for some reason. Carnival flew them to Nassau. So, they did not have a muster as that is done the day you board.

 

Most lines and ships will contact these guests and hold a separate muster drill for them with the Safety Officer, prior to sailing, but in this case it may have been immediately after, giving them time to get to their cabins. Again, it will be abbreviated, if the line uses the TV's for lifejacket demonstrations.

[agabbymama]

I have questions. If you get this apprehensive of the Muster Drill, what in the world will you do in a real emergency? Are you sure cruising is the best vacation choice for you?

[navybankerteacher]

I have questions. If you get this apprehensive of the Muster Drill, what in the world will you do in a real emergency? Are you sure cruising is the best vacation choice for you?

 

A valid question. A person who genuinely cannot handle crowds should perhaps stay away from crowd situations.

[Cruzaholic41]

I have questions. If you get this apprehensive of the Muster Drill, what in the world will you do in a real emergency? Are you sure cruising is the best vacation choice for you?

 

A valid question. A person who genuinely cannot handle crowds should perhaps stay away from crowd situations.

 

 

I don't want this to sound like a flame on the op but Carnival, especially Dream Class, is the very last cruise line I would recommend for people with crowd anxiety.

 

I think Celebrity has the best muster drills - all inside without life jackets.

[vacation luvver]

I see that the PC round trip is no longer offered, and I think this is because the demand was low and also because CBP handles disembarkation screening differently when there are two cruises onboard at one time, requiring more time.

Maybe that's why the PC round trip is no longer offered. As for the demand being low, there were approx 30 people who boarded in PC. Maybe some of those 30 people thought that there should have been some sort of mandatory muster drill and complained about the lack of it to the proper authorities.

 

It may have been that so few embarked at PC that a separate muster was not done, but this is an oversight.

I don't see how it was an oversight, since they were specifically told to watch a movie in their cabins. It's not as if all of the Breakaway's officers completely forgot about it.

 

SOLAS allows the use of videos to show lifejacket donning and general safety procedures, and as long as these are on the TV continuously, as they are with NCL, that is fine. However, every passenger must be part of a muster drill before sailing. This is a SOLAS violation, and could have resulted in the USCG registering this as a port state deficiency, and these deficiencies are cumulative and can trigger extra port state control inspections (the dreaded USCG drill). This is also, but far less importantly, a violation of CLIA's passenger drill guidelines.

Then it seems that NCL broke the law. I wonder if they were punished.

[Aquahound]

However, every passenger must be part of a muster drill before sailing. This is a SOLAS violation, and could have resulted in the USCG registering this as a port state deficiency, and these deficiencies are cumulative and can trigger extra port state control inspections (the dreaded USCG drill).

 

I'm on the criminal side of the house, not regulatory, so I don't always keep up with these. I know the requirement used to be within the first 24 hours, but cruise lines adopted a before sailing policy due to Concordia. Did SOLAS change the 24 hour policy? :confused:

[chengkp75]

Maybe that's why the PC round trip is no longer offered. As for the demand being low, there were approx 30 people who boarded in PC. Maybe some of those 30 people thought that there should have been some sort of mandatory muster drill and complained about the lack of it to the proper authorities. 30 people is less than 1% of the ship's capacity, so I would say that the demand was pretty low.

 

 

I don't see how it was an oversight, since they were specifically told to watch a movie in their cabins. It's not as if all of the Breakaway's officers completely forgot about it. As I've said, both the video and the actual muster is generally used. The "make-up" muster is usually the responsibility of the Safety Officer, who might have missed the folks you talked to. Did you find out whether everyone who boarded in PC attended a muster?

 

 

Then it seems that NCL broke the law. I wonder if they were punished.

 

IF someone reported this to the USCG, which would be pretty improbable, then the ship would be flagged for a discrepancy, but the officers would not "be punished".

[chengkp75]

I'm on the criminal side of the house, not regulatory, so I don't always keep up with these. I know the requirement used to be within the first 24 hours, but cruise lines adopted a before sailing policy due to Concordia. Did SOLAS change the 24 hour policy? :confused:

 

Okay, went back to check facts. The IMO Maritime Safety Committee adopted the new requirement that drills be done before departure back in Nov 2012. However, I've just seen where the effective date is 1 Jan 2015. So, the drill was not required to be done before sailing, but was required to be within 24 hours.

[vacation luvver]

Did you find out whether everyone who boarded in PC attended a muster?

As I said previously, I was told by some of the people who boarded in PC that there wasn't any muster. They said that they were told to watch a movie in their cabins. And no one made sure that they actually watched the movie.

 

IF someone reported this to the USCG, which would be pretty improbable, then the ship would be flagged for a discrepancy, but the officers would not "be punished".

Flagged for a discrepancy, punished, whatever - then it seems that nothing at all was done about those approx 30 people not having to attend muster drill.

 

The IMO Maritime Safety Committee adopted the new requirement that drills be done before departure back in Nov 2012.

The Breakaway cruise that I was on was in March of 2014. So I guess it wasn't really necessary for everyone to participate in a muster drill, or else those people wouldn't have been told to watch a movie in their cabins.

[chengkp75]

As I said previously, I was told by some of the people who boarded in PC that there wasn't any muster. They said that they were told to watch a movie in their cabins. And no one made sure that they actually watched the movie.

 

 

Flagged for a discrepancy, punished, whatever - then it seems that nothing at all was done about those approx 30 people not having to attend muster drill.

 

 

The Breakaway cruise that I was on was in March of 2014. So I guess it wasn't really necessary for everyone to participate in a muster drill, or else those people wouldn't have been told to watch a movie in their cabins.

 

No, the IMO regulation had always been that a muster needed to be taken within 24 hours of boarding. When cruise lines board passengers at multiple ports, each embarkation needs to have a muster drill, not everyone, just the new people. I cruised on the QEII back in 1977, and because we were embarking at both Southampton and Le Havre, muster drill was done after Le Havre, that way they got both embarkations since it was less than 24 hours after the Southampton embarkation.

 

You are correct that most likely nothing was done about those 30 or so people not having a muster drill. There are no police onboard to enforce the regulations, that was a failure of the ship's senior management in not ensuring the drill.