Emergency Drill

I'm curious about something, and since the people on this board know a LOT about cruising, thought I'd ask about it here.

Is there a SOLAS or other regulation or guideline that addresses placement of life jackets, and if so, was it revised recently? Most cruise lines place them in each stateroom, but a few keep them near or in the life boats. The latter situation is causing a lot of people a lot of concern. The last time I cruised on Oceania was September, and the life jackets were in the closet of our stateroom. However, we were told in a real emergency NOT to come back to our stateroom to get them if we were somewhere else when the alarm sound occurred. Is this what Oceania is currently doing? Is it required or just O policy? It makes a lot of sense to me, but I'm having trouble finding the exact regulation (if any) on the internet.

Thanks

I'm curious about something, and since the people on this board know a LOT about cruising, thought I'd ask about it here.

 

Is there a SOLAS or other regulation or guideline that addresses placement of life jackets, and if so, was it revised recently? Most cruise lines place them in each stateroom, but a few keep them near or in the life boats. The latter situation is causing a lot of people a lot of concern. The last time I cruised on Oceania was September, and the life jackets were in the closet of our stateroom. However, we were told in a real emergency NOT to come back to our stateroom to get them if we were somewhere else when the alarm sound occurred. Is this what Oceania is currently doing? Is it required or just O policy? It makes a lot of sense to me, but I'm having trouble finding the exact regulation (if any) on the internet.

 

Thanks

the regulation but I can tell you on the T/A this spring on Riviera we were told to bring our life jackets to the drill (and BTW we had two of them) but were told during the drill not to return to our cabins to get them in case of an emergency. LuAnn

I'm curious about something, and since the people on this board know a LOT about cruising, thought I'd ask about it here.

 

Is there a SOLAS or other regulation or guideline that addresses placement of life jackets, and if so, was it revised recently? Most cruise lines place them in each stateroom, but a few keep them near or in the life boats. The latter situation is causing a lot of people a lot of concern. The last time I cruised on Oceania was September, and the life jackets were in the closet of our stateroom. However, we were told in a real emergency NOT to come back to our stateroom to get them if we were somewhere else when the alarm sound occurred. Is this what Oceania is currently doing? Is it required or just O policy? It makes a lot of sense to me, but I'm having trouble finding the exact regulation (if any) on the internet.

 

Thanks

Nothing on placement -- just quantity. The last SOLAS amendment dealing with vests was 2010 and the cycle once they are approved gives everyone 4 years to comply. There were changes to the life jacket requirements in 2010 -- adding whistles, and infants (at 2.5% of the number) plus others.

Oceania rules are over complaint. I think it is lessons learned from Costa Concordia -- do not go back to stateroom and they have plenty of extras at each life boat. Some other cruises we have been on had the all life vests at the muster station.

Being a UN agency it takes the IMO forever for new recommendations to be adopted and then there is the wait time for enforcement/mandating.

Thanks to both of you for those lightening-fast responses. I'm OK with a cruise line having jackets at the muster station, but other people are upset. OK, another related question. I thought the emergency drill was only required within 24 hours after departure. In searching for the regulation on jackets, I think I saw that it is now something shorter, as of January 2015, but I didn't really explore any more to see if that's really what it said. Do you know what timeframe is required now?

I agree that Oceania is over-compliant, but that's OK with me as well. At least people seem to be grumbling less during the drills since the Costa incident - one of the few good things to come out of that!

And one more: Generally, if a cruise ship is departing at 9 PM or later (first day), when is the drill likely to be? Oceania (and other lines) generally seem to have it right before departure, but in the case of a late departure, when is it likely to be held - maybe 5 PM?

I don't know if any ship every leaves as late as 9 pm on the first day. All my drills were scheduled before dinner, usually at 5 pm. All ships had life vests in the stateroom AND additional ones in or near the life boats.

My last 2 drills were on L'Austral of the Ponant line. They had the best organized drill ever. Obviously their safety officer had trained his crew perfectly. No chaos or attempt at unruly moves permitted. No chattering, no getting up unnecessarily and no move out of turn. :)

After the instruction in the theater, we were led to the lifeboat for our group, so we would know which exit to take from the theater in an emergency. Larger ships don't do this.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry. Other lines are on top of everything as well. Oceania was pretty good.

I don't know if any ship every leaves as late as 9 pm on the first day.

MANY ships leave at 9 pm or later. Look at cruises departing from Barcelona or Monte Carlo and you will see what I mean.

MANY ships leave at 9 pm or later. Look at cruises departing from Barcelona or Monte Carlo and you will see what I mean.

Our cruise doesn't leave Lisbon until 10 pm and I believe we're allowed to leave ship after embarking to do more sightseeing in town. I expect that we will have muster on first sea day, or they will tell us when to be back onboard for muster.

Our cruise doesn't leave Lisbon until 10 pm and I believe we're allowed to leave ship after embarking to do more sightseeing in town. I expect that we will have muster on first sea day, or they will tell us when to be back onboard for muster.

It will be listed in your pre-cruise documents (the infamous blue booklet), but figure the "all aboard" to be two hours ahead of Sail Away.

Well, I'm certainly not worried. I know the line I'm talking about will do a good job, and from past cruises, Oceania's drills are always top notch. It's just creating some heartache from some people as there is a new cruise line and they are experiencing the usual start-up glitches. Some people have experienced what they consider to be so many that they don't trust the new staff to be able to do a good job if there was actually an emergency.

We leave Venice at 11:59, and board the same day - thus the question about when the drill might be. I'm thinking it will probably be around 5 but then we will be able to go off shore for a while as long as we're back by 10 or 11 PM. (10 will be sufficient for me!) I'm just sad because we won't cruise out of Venice during daylight, and I hear it's a great experience!

We were in Lisbon (loved, loved Lisbon!) on Oceania last September. I don't remember when we left, other than afternoon, and we got good views of the monuments in Belem, the bridge, and the big Cristo monument on the other side of the river. I forget when the drill was, but think it was just before we left - so maybe 3 and we left at 4? That morning, we were allowed to go ashore once we checked in, and were told when we needed to be back on board. We were docked close to a subway station so it was fairly easy to go exploring, which I did.

Floridiana, Ponant keeps popping up on AWE channel's "Dream Cruises" show. It looks like an interesting line.

Still curious as to the SOLAS requirement for the timing of the drill - think I read something like before departure or immediately after....maybe I'll google some more.

Still curious as to the SOLAS requirement for the timing of the drill - think I read something like before departure or immediately after....maybe I'll google some more.

SOLAS is a 900 page document-

I thought that I would save you some time:

Thank you! Questions answered, as I knew they would be!

We are currently on Marina due to depart at 1 am

So far

we had a drill at 5:15 pm told to bring life jackets but in even of a real emergency if you cannot make it back to your cabin go to your muster station & you will be provided with one

Make sense ..if there is a fire on your deck it would be hard to get back to your cabin safely

There was a second drill at 9:30 pm for those that missed the first muster

Lyn

Thanks. One AM departure - wow. Must not have far to go. Did you guys have a meet and greet? Not sure what would be a good time for one of those when the ship leaves at night. I never make meet and greets when the ship is in port.

We are currently on Marina due to depart at 1 am

So far

we had a drill at 5:15 pm told to bring life jackets but in even of a real emergency if you cannot make it back to your cabin go to your muster station & you will be provided with one

Make sense ..if there is a fire on your deck it would be hard to get back to your cabin safely

 

There was a second drill at 9:30 pm for those that missed the first muster

 

Lyn

Lyn,

Bon voyage - fair winds and following seas!

Paul

Thanks. One AM departure - wow. Must not have far to go. Did you guys have a meet and greet? Not sure what would be a good time for one of those when the ship leaves at night. I never make meet and greets when the ship is in port.

Yes we had a M & G after the drill quite a few turned out

We also had a meeting the night before at the hotel where many of us were staying

We had an official M & G a few days into the cruise must have been at least 100 people ...too many to really get to chat with everyone

But the CD showed up she was quite nice & chatted with several people

Thanks!

Just thought I would mention that when we had the "review" drill on MARINA towards the end of our recent cruise I noticed while waiting that there were a number of infant and adult sized life jackets available in a closet. So I assume they have plenty on hand ...

Because you never know when an emergency will happen.

Mura

Thanks, and this reminds me: I was snooping around in the SOLAS requirements for the drill, and unless I'm reading it wrong, a new timeframe for performing drills came into effect at the beginning of the year. A drill is now supposed to be done "prior to or immediately after departure" instead of the previous "within 24 hours of embarkation."

Just thought I would mention that when we had the "review" drill on MARINA towards the end of our recent cruise I noticed while waiting that there were a number of infant and adult sized life jackets available in a closet. So I assume they have plenty on hand ...

 

Because you never know when an emergency will happen.

 

Mura

The 2 greatest dangers at sea or in any emergency is complacency and over confidence. Long term/time cruisers tend to have a degree of...oh yes ...I know...been there done that... I know what to do...

However the reality is when a real emergency happens most folks whether short or long time cruisers tend to panic. The only way to control ones fear it to practice over and over.

Having worked in the emergency service world for several decades it is my observation that you can not get enough training. People like Firemen and Military, repeat the same drills and practice weekly, and some things daily for decades.... On my Destroyer, they ran several drills a week...

Emergencies are totally un scripted... no two may be alike. The only way to prepare is to mentally and physically go through a system of behavior drills...I for one have been cruising for 40+years and look forward to each and every opportunity to go over shipboard safety.... you cant call a time out when stuff happens..

Thanks, and this reminds me: I was snooping around in the SOLAS requirements for the drill, and unless I'm reading it wrong, a new timeframe for performing drills came into effect at the beginning of the year. A drill is now supposed to be done "prior to or immediately after departure" instead of the previous "within 24 hours of embarkation."

I think the new policy came into effect after the Costa disaster where it is done before leaving port

Crew drills are done regularly on O as well

There was one on Day 5 or 6 of the cruise & I suspect another will be done in another 6 days along with a passenger drill