Lifeboat drill on cruises with 2 segments

We are on the Zuiderdam, 26 days from Athens to FLL, Oct 14. This cruise could also be purchased as a 7 day ATH->Rome, or 19 days Rome->FLL. We purchased this as one long cruise and we have only one booking number for the entire 26 days. We are scheduled to be in Rome from 7am to 5 pm, but, as many of you know, it's a 90 minute bus ride from the port to downtown Rome and another 90 minutes back. That kills 3 of the 10 hours we are in port. I have read on CC that when there is a lifeboat drill mid-cruise for passengers joining the ship at the mid-point, all passengers are required to attend the drill, even those who are already on the ship and attended a drill a week earlier. If this is true, HAL will want passengers back onboard around 90 minutes before departure, meaning 3:30pm. That would effectively shorten our available time off the ship to 7-1/2 hours, then remove 3 more hours for a round trip bus to Rome, and we have only 4-1/2 hours in Rome. Barely enough time for a gelato at the Trevi Fountain. This would eliminate many of the shore excursions we have been looking at. Is a mid-cruise lifeboat drill mandatory for guests who are already on the ship and have not boarded at the midpoint ?

So your cruise can be bought as 2 different segments but you bought it as a Collector's Cruise. Right?

Yes - you will have to attend the second lifeboat drill.

There was a time when we did Collector Cruises and did not have to attend the second lifeboat drill. But that all ended after the Costa Concordia accident.

Now we have to attend all lifeboat drills.

We were on the Zuiderdam in March/April -- they hand scan your ID card when you arrive at your muster station -- so they know who is in attendance and who isn't.

We are on the Zuiderdam, 26 days from Athens to FLL, Oct 14. This cruise could also be purchased as a 7 day ATH->Rome, or 19 days Rome->FLL. We purchased this as one long cruise and we have only one booking number for the entire 26 days. We are scheduled to be in Rome from 7am to 5 pm, but, as many of you know, it's a 90 minute bus ride from the port to downtown Rome and another 90 minutes back. That kills 3 of the 10 hours we are in port. I have read on CC that when there is a lifeboat drill mid-cruise for passengers joining the ship at the mid-point, all passengers are required to attend the drill, even those who are already on the ship and attended a drill a week earlier. If this is true, HAL will want passengers back onboard around 90 minutes before departure, meaning 3:30pm. That would effectively shorten our available time off the ship to 7-1/2 hours, then remove 3 more hours for a round trip bus to Rome, and we have only 4-1/2 hours in Rome. Barely enough time for a gelato at the Trevi Fountain. This would eliminate many of the shore excursions we have been looking at. Is a mid-cruise lifeboat drill mandatory for guests who are already on the ship and have not boarded at the midpoint ?

It has been mandatory on any of our cruises for the last few years and was mandatory on our April cruise on the Westerdam that we just did.

Option if this is not your only stop for Rome would be to consider either doing the Etruscan tour or explore Civi which is quite attractive actually and does have some things to be seen.

We have been to Rome many times so opted to stay in Civi last time and it was a nice, relaxing and surprising day :)

It has been mandatory on any of our cruises for the last few years and was mandatory on our April cruise on the Westerdam that we just did.

 

Option if this is not your only stop for Rome would be to consider either doing the Etruscan tour or explore Civi which is quite attractive actually and does have some things to be seen.

 

We have been to Rome many times so opted to stay in Civi last time and it was a nice, relaxing and surprising day :)

Thanks, and you have confirmed what we read elsewhere. We did not purchase this as a

"Collector's Cruise", we just saw the 26 days, with lots of ports in the Med, and then 7 days to relax on a TA. We had no idea that guests would be leaving the ship in Rome and more would be boarding. As far as we were concerned, it was just one long cruise.

We have been to Rome twice before, but years ago. But, I would assume that after 2100 years, the Coliseum has not changed that much in the last 10 years !!! So, I think it will be a DIY tour of Civi, with a nice pizza and a few beers. That will prepare us for the 2nd lifeboat drill.

You will be required to attend both life boat drills.

Whether you purchased it as back to back or Collectors' cruises, the fact of the matter is that you purchased two separate cruises (not both segments of one cruise), and it will be treated as such.

You will have two muster drills, two embarkation night menus, the same introduction of the entertainers for the first show.

As the others have said, the muster is mandatory on both cruises.

The crew member assigned to your lifeboat station has a clipboard. They have to account for the souls assigned to their station. Hey, you got a discount for the combined runs. What's a half-hour of Deja Vu going to hurt?

On our BtoB Med tour 3 years ago we were excused from the drill on our mid-cruise turnaround in Rome. We were told when to be back on ship and had the entire day out in the countryside. It was fabulous. I would ask when you board. Certainly would not do it without permission! Good luck.

The crew member assigned to your lifeboat station has a clipboard. They have to account for the souls assigned to their station. Hey, you got a discount for the combined runs. What's a half-hour of Deja Vu going to hurt?

I don't mind the 2nd muster drill, we've been to plenty over the years. I just wanted to know how to plan my day in Civi or Rome. If I have to be back onboard at 3:30, that puts a serious dent in our allotted time, so my shore excursion will need to be planned accordingly.

On our BtoB Med tour 3 years ago we were excused from the drill on our mid-cruise turnaround in Rome. We were told when to be back on ship and had the entire day out in the countryside. It was fabulous. I would ask when you board. Certainly would not do it without permission! Good luck.

c

This was before the changes due to the Concordia accident. Now you have to do the Muster drill.

c

This was before the changes due to the Concordia accident. Now you have to do the Muster drill.

Exactly. We did a Panama Canal cruise that had two embarkation ports (Boston & Ft Lauderdale). Those of us who boarded in Boston had our muster drill the first day, before departure. And then we had it again, in Ft Lauderdale before departure. And this was only 3 days apart.

c

This was before the changes due to the Concordia accident. Now you have to do the Muster drill.

I would say that is generally true but I didn't have to attend a second drill on my b2b on the Veendam may 9- 23, 2015 so there may be exceptions on some cruises.

It never hurts to attend more than once.

If that were the case, none of us would have to attend after one cruise.

We had a similar situation in Venice during our 22 day Med. Adriatic cruise in April this year. The all aboard time was set for 2:30PM. Sail away was scheduled for 4:00pm Well this took away time for our touring Venice that afternoon. Because this port was the start of the 2nd 11 day segment another life boat drill was required. We decided to push the envelope and found out if we did not get back for the life boat drill we would have to do a makeup drill, which was fine with us. Well we pushed our sightseeing and did get back about 3:05 in plenty of time for the drill which did not fully start until 3:15. On the Zuiderdam you now scan your cards at the station rather than yelling your cabin number. This worked real well.

PS For your information Trevi is still under renovation and has see-thru plastic screens all around the fountain. Here is a link to a good live web cam of the fountain.

http://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia/lazio/roma/fontana-di-trevi.html

I would say that is generally true but I didn't have to attend a second drill on my b2b on the Veendam may 9- 23, 2015 so there may be exceptions on some cruises.

The captain of the Veendam explained to us on the Voyage of the Vikings that one must attend the second muster if the cruise is over 30 days IIRC.

Ours was 35 so we attended both musters. We did not have to attend a second muster on RCCL on a 29 day cruise which was a back to back in reality.

I will take this opportunity to applaud HAL on its muster drills and not just after the Concordia. We go on deck under our OWN lifeboat. We cruise on three other lines that have you go to a large room like a lounge where they may not even be enough seats for everyone. One must depend then, in case of emergency, that crew and passengers will follow procedures and that it will not be a riot for the lifeboats. I am not convinced of that, especially on our last X cruise where there were not nearly enough seats for everyone in the lounge.

We did a collector cruise of 22 days in Europe this spring. We were in Rome during the start of the 2nd part of our cruise. We were on a HAL excursion & missed the 2nd muster drill. Never had to do a make up or heard anything about missing it. Our luggage was still in our cabin when we returned from the excursion. Also had the same thing happen on our Panama cruise in 2009 which ended in Vancouver. Missed the muster drill in San Diego. Never heard anything from the ships staff.

The captain of the Veendam explained to us on the Voyage of the Vikings that one must attend the second muster if the cruise is over 30 days IIRC.

Ours was 35 so we attended both musters. We did not have to attend a second muster on RCCL on a 29 day cruise which was a back to back in reality.

I will take this opportunity to applaud HAL on its muster drills and not just after the Concordia. We go on deck under our OWN lifeboat. We cruise on three other lines that have you go to a large room like a lounge where they may not even be enough seats for everyone. One must depend then, in case of emergency, that crew and passengers will follow procedures and that it will not be a riot for the lifeboats. I am not convinced of that, especially on our last X cruise where there were not nearly enough seats for everyone in the lounge.

Interesting. We did have to attend all of our muster drills on our 20 day Panama on the Westerdam which was just a few months ago.

We had a similar situation in Venice during our 22 day Med. Adriatic cruise in April this year. The all aboard time was set for 2:30PM. Sail away was scheduled for 4:00pm Well this took away time for our touring Venice that afternoon. Because this port was the start of the 2nd 11 day segment another life boat drill was required. We decided to push the envelope and found out if we did not get back for the life boat drill we would have to do a makeup drill, which was fine with us. Well we pushed our sightseeing and did get back about 3:05 in plenty of time for the drill which did not fully start until 3:15. On the Zuiderdam you now scan your cards at the station rather than yelling your cabin number. This worked real well.

 

PS For your information Trevi is still under renovation and has see-thru plastic screens all around the fountain. Here is a link to a good live web cam of the fountain.

 

http://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia/lazio/roma/fontana-di-trevi.html

Thank you for the link for Trevi fountain renovation.

OK I'm leaving in 3 weeks on the 30 day Statendam final cruise. It was originally only sold as 30 day cruise. However it did not sell well so now it departs from Seattle, takes on passengers in Vancouver for a 7 day to Hawaii, turns over in Hawaii for a 22 day to Singapore. I wonder how many drills they will force me to attend?

OK I'm leaving in 3 weeks on the 30 day Statendam final cruise. It was originally only sold as 30 day cruise. However it did not sell well so now it departs from Seattle, takes on passengers in Vancouver for a 7 day to Hawaii, turns over in Hawaii for a 22 day to Singapore. I wonder how many drills they will force me to attend?

When you return, will you please come back and let us know?

When you return, will you please come back and let us know?

Will do.

Is HAL the only line that requires attendance of those on B2B or Collector cruises on turn around days????

... I have read on CC that when there is a lifeboat drill mid-cruise for passengers joining the ship at the mid-point, all passengers are required to attend the drill, even those who are already on the ship and attended a drill a week earlier. ... Is a mid-cruise lifeboat drill mandatory for guests who are already on the ship and have not boarded at the midpoint ?

The vast majority of responses appears to be "yes", with only a couple of "no" votes. So, to be certain, I suggest you direct your question to HAL Ship Services. That is the surest and safest approach IMO.

There seems to be no consistency. I like what I understand to be the Crystal policy:

For however long you are on the ship you must attend the FIRST muster each calendar month. Not perfect but there is some consistency and you can't go too long between drills.

Otherwise, this year I've been required to attend both drills on both of my B2B, 14+14 days on the Prinsendam and 10+8 days on the Grandeur of the Seas.

The crew must set up for every muster and has at least 1 other drill each week. If they can do that I think we can attend the muster drills where we are expected.

Roy

For what its worth you can catch an express train from the port to rome that takes only 40 minutes and 9 euros each way.