Lifeboats -- For Better or Worse

[Oakman58]

Is this a tongue in cheek post or am I serious?  I'll let you decide.

 

Since Norwegian's official muster stations are located within the ship at various venues such as dining rooms, lounges, the theater, etc. I do my own lifeboat drill soon after muster or on the following day.  Not all lifeboats are equal, some are better than others and I look for the best.

 

In the event of a disaster like the Costa Concordia experienced I can't imagine going to an interior muster station to have a crew member take me to the appropriate lifeboat for evacuation.  Would they hold passengers at the muster station until everyone shows up and then take everyone to a lifeboat?  Just how is this supposed to work?  Is there any guarantee that the crew members will even be at the muster station and not panic and abandon ship?  Even the Captain of the Concordia panicked and "slipped and fell" into a lifeboat.  This is why I do my own lifeboat drill.

 

On my Breakaway cruise last week I discovered there were three lifeboats on each side of the ship that were much better than the others.  These would be the lifeboats I would head to in case of an abandon ship event.  These six lifeboats had windows on the sides, they were equipped with marine radar, and they even had a sundeck.  My thinking is any lifeboat with a sundeck would probably have a lounge and nice toilets too.

 

Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.  Here's a typical lifeboat.

 

It certainly looks good enough to save lives.

 

Here are the lifeboats I will head to.  Notice the designer windows on the side of the lifeboats.  Hmmm, these lifeboats look a lot nicer than the others.

 

Notice these lifeboats are equipped with a radar dome.

 

And how fancy is this?  A sundeck on a lifeboat, how sweet is that?

 

So if I'm ever on the Breakaway and there is an abandon ship event, don't look for me at the muster station, I'll already be on the sundeck of one of those fancy lifeboats and probably sipping on a martini from the lifeboat's lounge.  Cheers!

Edited September 17, 2019 by Oakman58

[ColeThornton]

You sound like one of those cruisers who would put a towel out on the lifeboat deck to save a seat all day.

[RossE]

I must say that I do like the roof seating, or is that the Haven area?

[BirdTravels]

Did you also note that on the lifeboat embarkation Deck, there are muster station numbers signs above of each lifeboats? Gotta have the right muster station number to ride. Haven and suites get the air conditioned lifeboats used for tendering. Steerage class get the boats with a flap in the plastic for ventilation. Probably each 100 degrees in the first 20 minutes with 300 passengers crammed shoulder to shoulder. Then there are the rubber life rafts and the big rubber blocks (where you spiral down a shoot from deck 7 to the water - like a water slide with no water and just friction burns on any exposed skin). 

[Sauer-kraut]

25 minutes ago, Oakman58 said:

And how fancy is this?  A sundeck on a lifeboat, how sweet is that?

 

 

 

That's actually the Posh area and you have to pay $$$ and be the first few people in line as the tickets for that area are extremely limited.

 

[Sweetnspicy]

13 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Did you also note that on the lifeboat embarkation Deck, there are muster station numbers signs above of each lifeboats? Gotta have the right muster station number to ride. Haven and suites get the air conditioned lifeboats used for tendering. Steerage class get the boats with a flap in the plastic for ventilation. Probably each 100 degrees in the first 20 minutes with 300 passengers crammed shoulder to shoulder. Then there are the rubber life rafts and the big rubber blocks (where you spiral down a shoot from deck 7 to the water - like a water slide with no water and just friction burns on any exposed skin). 

Sign me up for the big rubber rafts. I’m claustrophobic and I will not be crammed in with 300 other people 🤣 

[shof515]

when i think of ship lifeboats a question that pops into my head, how well does the crew assist those with special needs and what happens with the special needs equipment? my travel partner requires a walker and even thru it folds, it can still take up some valuable space

Edited September 17, 2019 by shof515

[km3045]

What about these?  I think they are inflatable lifeboats on the Breakaway?  Can anyone confirm this?  If so, how do they work?  Maybe there’s helium in those tanks and the passengers can just fly the inflatable whatever’s to safety?  Sounds like a plan!!

[Sweetnspicy]

3 minutes ago, km3045 said:

What about these?  I think they are inflatable lifeboats on the Breakaway?  Can anyone confirm this?  If so, how do they work?  Maybe there’s helium in those tanks and the passengers can just fly the inflatable whatever’s to safety?  Sounds like a plan!!

They just drop it over and then you jump over and hope you land in it. 

[lambs2]

On a Royal Caribbean Cruise many years ago DH and I WERE assigned to one of those container lifeboats during the drill. We had a good laugh at the time, but so glad we didn't have to see how it worked!

[Son of a son of a ...]

The inflatables are for crew.  Kpcheng would have much better info

[shof515]

1 hour ago, km3045 said:

What about these?  I think they are inflatable lifeboats on the Breakaway?  Can anyone confirm this?  If so, how do they work?  Maybe there’s helium in those tanks and the passengers can just fly the inflatable whatever’s to safety?  Sounds like a plan!!

 

On some ships, this is how you enter the inflatable lift raft:

 

a free fall drop that is atleast 15-25+ feet ..i do not want to do that

[ziggyuk]

15 minutes ago, shof515 said:

 

On some ships, this is how you enter the inflatable lift raft:

 

a free fall drop that is atleast 15-25+ feet ..i do not want to do that

 

It's not as bad as it looks, not really a free fall but a gentle decent:

 

[triptastic3]

Nothing wrong with planning ahead. If everyone did that people would find themselves in less trouble when danger arises. Plus I like that you are thinking of making the most of a difficult situation and thinking of the trip in the life boat more as a mini cruise, is the DSC reduced for time on the lifeboats?

 

As for the life boats they fall under SOLAS and no the inflatables are not just for crew

 

Most ships don't sink in a nice flat and level manner , usually they list to one side heavily or go down by the bow or stern. So you can't plan on the life boats on both sides of the ship being equally capable of deploying it all depends on the speed and the severity of the accident. At a certain degree of listing the life boat deployments will not work safely. We used to train endlessly for ship and aircraft evacuation in the daylight, the dark, eyes blindfolded. Even so it was shocking how easy it was to become disoriented and lose your bearings. 

 

If you dig a little into SOLAS and google it you will find:

 

 

Per the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS); ships must have lifeboats for 50% of the total capacity of people aboard on each side (totaling 100%). There is an exception if the ship is only engaged in a “short international voyage”, where it is only required that you have enough for 30% of the total capacity of people aboard on each side (totaling 60%). But, please note: this is before “life rafts” are counted. So, after all is said and done, all ships will have Life Saving Appliances (LSAs) with the capacity of at least 25% over the total soul on board.

 

At the discretion of the flag state the lifeboat capacity on each side can be reduced to 37.5% of the total number on board with the shortfall being made up with liferafts. For passenger vessels on short international voyages, it is permissible for the lifeboat capacity to be reduced and replaced with liferafts. In all cases there must also be additional liferaft capacity to cover 25% of the total on board.
 

I highlighted that one paragraph because rules are rules but many states use whatever waivers they can. Cost etc.

The Costa Concordia only had enough for 37.5% in covered life boats on each side. The rest was made up by inflatable life rafts. She was listing heavily with hundreds still left on board. The report on her makes for some interesting reading.

 

So yes by all means plan ahead. But don't limit those plans to one side of the ship, especially in a chaotic situation. You always need to plan on having two exits. Primary and secondary. So pick an area on both the port and starboard side of the ship to head to depending on the situation. Of course follow the directions of the crew first, they are trained and know the ship best but yes by all means keep the wheels turning in your head and have a backup plan if stuff hits the fan and you find the crew have all slipped into the life boats. Decades in the military leave a person with some interesting memories and some habits that will last forever.

 

this is the best example in modern times of stuff hitting the fan and the crew leaving the passengers to fend for themselves

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTS_Oceanos

 

 

[ColeThornton]

triptastic3, Good info you provided but I'm pretty sure the OP was joking around.

[Two Wheels Only]

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

....you spiral down a shoot from deck 7 to the water - like a water slide with no water and just friction burns on any exposed skin). 

 

That's what they get for wearing shorts to dinner...

[triptastic3]

Of course he was joking around. I thought his post was hilarious. I assumed from my first paragraph that it was clear I understood that. 

 

Someone said the inflatables were for crew. I was just giving a little info as to the actual purpose of the inflatables. 

I can't walk past any life saving equipment without taking a quick look at the directions. Force of habit. 

 

 

[eowyn13]

This is a very interesting topic 

[Starry Eyes]

Never mind 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Starry Eyes

[Starry Eyes]

Never mind

[SubSmithy]

4 hours ago, Sauer-kraut said:

 

That's actually the Posh area and you have to pay $$$ and be the first few people in line as the tickets for that area are extremely limited.

 

Life boat Vibe !!!

[ColeThornton]

34 minutes ago, triptastic3 said:

Of course he was joking around. I thought his post was hilarious. I assumed from my first paragraph that it was clear I understood that. 

 

Someone said the inflatables were for crew. I was just giving a little info as to the actual purpose of the inflatables. 

I can't walk past any life saving equipment without taking a quick look at the directions. Force of habit. 

 

 

 

Ah, gotcha.  I skimmed over that.  🙂

[nyc2pdx]

so when a cruise ship has 4000 people onboard, how many lifeboats do they need?  I don't see 30-40 of them.

[adam_s_allen]

14 minutes ago, nyc2pdx said:

so when a cruise ship has 4000 people onboard, how many lifeboats do they need?  I don't see 30-40 of them.

The megaships have closer to 6000 onboard when you count crew as well.

[Two Wheels Only]

44 minutes ago, nyc2pdx said:

so when a cruise ship has 4000 people onboard, how many lifeboats do they need?  I don't see 30-40 of them.

 

I don't know the exact number (chengkp does, I'm sure), but each lifeboat on Breakaway holds over 300-something people.