Muster drill

[jsglow]

It's an important safety issue that I wish more people would take just a little more seriously. There's always that one in 100,000 chance that something happens. It does seem that these large cruise ships aren't really sinkable iron at sea but they are.

 

On a Star Clipper ship (300 feet long) some years ago our CD did the Muster drill for the approximate 100 guests aboard. This one clown wouldn't stop talking/joking and when asked politely to pay attention had some smart alec comment. CD (a blonde 6' 3" German) came down off the platform he was standing on so we could all see and hear and got right in the pax face. No more than 6 inches from his nose. We did not hear the exact conversation at that moment from maybe 25 feet away but we could tell it was 'pointed'. And while we were 100% safe the entire cruise of course, one night the cross winds were strong enough that many of us got mildly seasick and the roll of the ship was enough that a handhold was required at all times. Pretty sure the CD had been reminding that pax of the 'reality' of being at sea.

[Brighton Line]

What I don't understand is if they can do the drills in the lounges, dining rooms, etc on the Breeze (and others) - why not on all ships?? I use to work onboard a long, long time ago & understand the Coast Guard regulations, but if it works on ships why not on all??

 

Muster stations are setup when the class of ship is designed. You can't just change the location of the muster stations.

 

Vista was designed to gather in the lounges but all the locations have access to the "boat deck" to get to the life boats and their drill is setup that way.

 

The ship teams drill on taking passengers from the lounge to the boats. Their entire plan is setup that way.

 

The older ships, nope you stand in front of the boats until the order is given to board them.

 

Without redesigning the ship and the muster plan for each ship the older ships will have pax standing outside by the boats and the newer ones in the lounge.

 

Same on NCL, the entire plan is emergency station is the lounge, you never actually go to your "muster station". The briefly mention that you will be lead to the life boat if needed.

 

Had a Behind the Fun tour that explained this when questioned, they even opened a lifeboat (smaller not the Tender sized one) and showed us the inside, pretty cool.

Only one time on a BtF tour did I ever see inside of a lifeboat.

[Pellaz]

Had a Behind the Fun tour that explained this when questioned, they even opened a lifeboat (smaller not the Tender sized one) and showed us the inside, pretty cool.

Only one time on a BtF tour did I ever see inside of a lifeboat.

 

Wow, yeah, I've done five BtF tours and haven't seen that yet.

 

We DID get to see the Captain's private dining room -- once -- and inside a crew double stateroom -- once. :)

Edited December 23, 2016 by Pellaz

[FSHLOT]

We just got off the Magic on Dec. 10th and thought the muster drill was a piece of cake compared to just a couple years ago. No more going back to the room for the life vests is a big PLUS. It was fast and pretty much organized very well. We used to call it "the buzz killer drill" but not anymore...lol