A question about ship's safety.

[scamper]

I have an ongoing debate regarding ship's lifesaving apparatus that I would like to get directly from a ship's officer. Present or former. I could get it from a corporate mouthpiece, but I would like to have it directly from someone with authority aboard ship. Would someone who keeps in touch with said individual act as a go between for me or be willing to ask that person to contact me via e-mail?

 

Thanks much.

[Seabourn-nail]

"Music to drown by. Now I know I'm in First Class!" (quote)

 

Could it be you are too pessimistic?

What is the chance of a ship in real trouble compared to a car, a plane or you crossing a street?

Do you need safety confirmation from your bus driver, taxi driver, pilot?

Live your life to the fullest while you can!

Cheer up,

Marja

[scamper]

No, one has nothing to do with the other.

[Martita B.]

Scamper,

I'm not understanding your post...??? Which/what lifesaving apparatus are you referring to~~ life vest, defibrilator, etc.

Martita B.

[scamper]

Miss Martha,

 

Lifeboats, rafts, flotation devices, and that sort of thing.

 

Thanks

[howndder]

When last I looked, They seemed to have all of the above.

Howard

[Martita B.]

Scamper,

I have every confidence in the Yacht's safety ~~Seabourn's 1st concern has, is and always has been their passengers well being and safety.

If I was the least concerned I wouldn't be Crossing the Atlantic once or twice yearly.

To ease your mind, you should contact Seabourn directly.

Martita B.

[scamper]

Yes, of course. I have a specific inquiry regarding the equipment, to help settle a debate with a friend. I will contact Seabourn directly, I was just hoping someone could put me in touch with a ship's officer directly. I suspect I will get the typical "safety is our top priority" etc. I wrote Celebrity on a whim and, as I suspected, got just that answer.

 

Thanks for your feedback, though.

[Crewmember]

Hi,

You ever got the answers?

You have a contact add?

 

rgds

Sailor

[Iamboatman]

Lifesaving and safety devises are strictly governed by various maritime organizations (IMO - International Maritime Organization, for example) and SOLAS (Saftey Of Life At Sea) regulations. Without getting too technical, there are a huge number of safety requirements from fire protection to crew training, to life rafts, provisioning, etc. that passengers never even think of, no less know about.

 

If you review those regulations you will see what the MINIMUM is for whatever you are looking for. Seabourn meets, or in many instances, exceeds those standards. If you are looking for security information, no cruise line will share much of that information.

[Signor John]

>>Thank goodness! The surge is having a real effect on all those casualties!<<

 

Seabourn has casualties?

[Two4Sea]

--only amongst the bar stock

 

Bill

[Lakedog]

I am profoundly suspicious of someone seeking out health and life safety information without cause or reason. (Comes from teaching anti-terrorism courses). Scamper, what is your need to know, and exactly what information are you seeking?

Sorry, but I don't see why you want this. :confused:

[lord of the seas]

Funny,I thought the same after post number one.

[Iamboatman]

Yes, an rather obtuse question on the subject of security can give that impression. But considering this is open forum I figured it was just a strange question by a poster desiring to stir something up with a crew member...which isn't going to happen.

 

Either way, shall I say I feel safe?:eek:

[Two4Sea]

Use Profile search to scan the posts Scamper has initiated, there’s nothing here but curiosity. All that he has done by not elaborating on his question is prevent himself from getting a straight, simple answer from the many knowledgeable people here.

 

BIll

[scamper]

Thanks everyone for your comments (and even for your suspicions). I actually got the information that I was looking for. I was able to contact the captain of one of Celebrity's ships who was able to answer my questions.

 

The purpose of the op was to settle a "debate" between myself and a friend. The debate was this: in the event of an accident wherein a ship might need to be abandoned at sea, and the ship was listing to such a degree that half the lifeboats/liferafts were unlaunchable, would there be enough space in the remaining boats/rafts to save a full compliment of passengers and crew. My friend maintains that there is twice as much space in lifeboats on ships as is needed to account for this contingency and I say that there is enough using them all. I posed my question directly to a couple of lines' customer service offices and got the standard party line, "we make passenger safety our highest concern...yadda yadda yadda." I would expect nothing else, but that certainly didn't answer my question and wasn't helpful.

 

I searched this board (and others) for members who might be present or former ship's officers to direct my question to. I may have missed it, but I couldn't find anyone. I posted originally in the hopes that someone who is well acquainted with, and in communication with, an officer whom they might be willing to direct my inquiry to...directly. This might have been presumptuous on my part, but, hey...it was worth a shot.

 

Anyway, a nice guy on the RCI board (interesting group of folks there) sent an e-mail to me saying he could forward my question to his captain friend, and, voila! Another debate won.

[howndder]

Scamper, that was certainly very nice of you to explain why you initially started this thread. You, of course, didn't have to do that. However, that being said, I think it was terribly rude not to list the answer you received as we too would like to know, now that we know what you were after.

Howard:)

[Two4Sea]

Scamper, the lifeboat capacity in the rules was increased about 70-80 years ago for exactly the concern you and your friend questioned. A few incidents had occurred where indeed the boats could not be launched on one side (listing, fire, severe wind, sideswipe damage, aground on rocks). Nowadays liferafts are part of providing the total capacity on ships, they are not as sensitive to lists but the other hazards still apply. The triplets have four 90 person lifeboats which accounts for all the passengers and just about all the crew then the liferafts add about half again. The raft canisters are readily moved to either side and are designed to float free if the ship should sink before they get launched. So the passengers will always have boats available and the crew will use boats or rafts as the situation allows.

 

If you and your friend would like another debate I might add that a few years ago a British safety official sincerely questioned the value of lifeboats. He didn’t mean for a second to eliminate them but he did point out the disturbing fact that on freighters there are several serious accidents every year during crew drills with lifeboats. His counterpoint was that it has been decades since someone needed a boat as a refuge while they waited days or weeks for rescue. Thanks to satellite locating and to helicopters, survivors always get rescued within a day and for that a covered raft would be sufficient. Our local 1500 passenger coastal ferries have always relied on rafts for 95% of the passengers.

 

A nice safety touch that Seabourn has added is that they have painted little “bums” on the lifeboat seat boards to encourage everyone to promptly squeeze into their allotted spot. The joke of course is after a bit of cruising few of us have “official” size bums so its going to be cozy in there!

 

Bill

[scamper]

Scamper, that was certainly very nice of you to explain why you initially started this thread. You, of course, didn't have to do that. However, that being said, I think it was terribly rude not to list the answer you received as we too would like to know, now that we know what you were after.

Howard:)

 

Oh, I am sorry...I thought I made that clear when I closed with "another debate won." The full and complete answer, however, can be phrased like this: in the event of such a scenario on most ships filled to capacity, approximately half the people on the ship would do well to learn the lyrics to "Nearer, My God, to Thee" and hope that help in the form of another ship comes soon.

 

 

Didn't mean to be rude!

[lord of the seas]

Thanks scamper for clearing things up.We can all put our crystal balls away now.