Glory 4-29-17 Longest muster drill ever!

[ferfoodle]

I did a B2B on the Freedom back in January. Both drills were the fastest I've done with Carnival. They used the i-pads and scanned one card per stateroom - which pulled up the photos and they tapped each one as they looked at you. Maybe we just lucked out and both sailings people (including the drunk and loud lady on leg 2 that we had the pleasure of standing next to) showing up in a timely fashion.

[GranysT]

Though I have seen poorly ran life boat drills, the delays aren't really caused by the cruise lines. They are caused by passengers that are delaying going to them because they don't want to wait outside or passengers who try to hide out to avoid them.

 

With today's technology there is a real simple fix to this, if they are late or hiding don't wait for them, turn off their cards. When they can't buy a drink or get in their cabins they will go to guest services. Then they can sit them in a room until everyone that missed it is present, lecture them, make the group go to each muster station that may be represented in the missed group and do the drill each time. Once the whole group is done they can go back to the initial room to get their cards turned back on.

 

With no penalties to the offenders only those of us who show up on time are the ones punished. My wife and I get there early, we would rather have a wall to lean against than just stand there.

 

 

I think this is a brilliant idea. It would speed things up for the original drill. To the delight and gratitude of all the people who listen and obey the rules.

You can bet your boopee having the cards closed, would send the "baddies" running to Guest Services, where they could be cornered.

 

Pay Attention Carnival, this could sure solve a lot of headaches.

[Bigmo6967]

On the Ecstacy last week they had people stationed at the doors to the star light lounge where our muster station was and scanned every single card for those coming in. The crew at our station also made several announcements throughout the drill for people who had shown up to the wrong muster station and those who where not there and haven't scanned in. They did all of this before making a final ship wide announcement of those who where not present at their muster stations by name and requested those people to attend a special muster at 5PM in the conference room. After that we went to the life boats for about 5-10 minutes max and were done. A crew member told me that if the missing people did not show up to the 5PM muster that they were now locking their S&S accounts until they were accounted for and in compliance.

[pe4all]

I love the idea of "turning off" someone's card if they skip muster. I do know that NCL has separate muster stations, (restaurants, showrooms, bar areas, etc.) and each station has a hand-held scanner that scans each person's card as you enter that area. If you do not attend, you are "invited" to a "private" muster drill the next day. If it is a port day, and if you are scheduled for an excursion, etc., too bad. There is no reason for a muster drill to last any more than 10 or 15 minutes, imho. As Mr. Spock said "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." I dislike inconsiderate people who think the rules do not apply to them.

[FSHLOT]

Muster drills are just another part of the process.

 

For us, we just go with the flow. Sure it sucks for that half hour or hour, but who cares, your on vacation. If the muster drill is that much of a PIA. maybe cruising isn't for you. Its just an hour out of your precious time. Don't sweat the small stuff and just enjoy.

[Cushing985]

This nonsense will continue until the cruise lines provide punishment to those who wish to skip the drills. If you're caught speeding you'll get a ticket that will cost you money. If you're convicted of assault that will cost you personal loss of liberty. If you're caught trying to skip the muster and it's proven (hiding in your cabin under the bed...yes, they have found people doing that) then you should be invited to leave the ship. Actions should always have consequences otherwise these idiots will continue to play games.

[ryano]

This nonsense will continue until the cruise lines provide punishment to those who wish to skip the drills.s.

 

Exactly. Im all for disembarking those who intentionally skip Muster drill.

[Retired_to_Cruise]

They should do the drill by decks as opposed to everyone at one time maybe then it wouldn't be so long and chaotic. They need to break it up more to be more efficient and move things along quicker.

 

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Why should the crew have to do the drill more than once. The problem has always been that people do not think that the attendance applies to them even though it is announced many, many times before it happens. The new swipe the S&S card approach quickly identifies those people who are not in attendance and gets rid of the counting and the open every cabin looking for people duty the crew has to do. What they should do is shut off the S&S cards for those cabins not present, and make those people have to stand in line at the later supplemental drill to get new cards. Now we just have to eliminate people who try to hide from it. They are as bad as the people who come strolling in with their drinks, even though it is announced that we should not bring drinks to the muster stations. Many of the problems on embarkation and debarkation day are the direct result of people thinking that they can do whatever they want to do and do not have to listen to the crew instructions. And, unfortunately that is a problem that is more and more prevalent and almost impossible to solve.

[Havingfun2010]

Or they could easily set a required attendance time. Like you have 20 minutes (or whatever reasonable time they come up with) to check in at your muster drill station. Anyone not checked in by this time will be removed from ship. Or some other stiff penalty such as a fine or something that would serve as a catalyst to get people there in a timely manner.

 

I truly don't want others to suffer because I am tardy but I also don't want to rush there and be on the very back row because I know myself, I would probably completely lose it since I would just be trapped in there with no set ending.

 

Even if I get approval to attend a "handicapped" muster, it sounds from everyone else's stories that it would still be disorganized and they would likely be calling my name to be at my station, whilst all the other poor sardines were standing there baking and fainting.

 

You would think that after the first or even couple of times that customers fainted during drill they would be able to come up with a better plan.

 

During an actual emergency, many customers will also faint, so this is good practice for the crew to manage. The drills are both for passengers and crew.

 

Also according to Cheng's post above the ships who have room by the lifeboats to safely conduct the drill there must do so, well there was no walk space in the front of the rows when I had muster drill on the liberty. The front rows were smashed into the railing. The employees were actually perched up on top of the railing. Sitting and chatting with each other as we baked and suffered.

 

 

No one ever said that lifeboats and getting on them would be fun. The Titanic glamourized the process with the rich "ladies" getting dressed up for the lifeboats but in reality, panic will occur.

 

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Lifeboat drills can either be easy or hard, depending on how many people on the ship have the attitude that this is important or silly. However, I'm that guy that know where to go, and will be one of the first on the lifeboat why others are running all over, wondering even what floor to go to. I can't think of a single reason to complain about this drill. I would happily do it in a downpour, if it meant that my safety and the safety of my family depends on knowing what to do.