Lifeboat capacity

Occasionally, they've got the cover open on a lifeboat while they're working on it. You should look at one, if you get the chance.

Our casino dealers one night were chatting about their morning drills -- they practice filling a lifeboat completely... That means shoulder to shoulder, with each person sitting between the feet of the guy behind you. Their knees are on either side of your shoulders, with the back/top of your life vest resting on top. There is absolutely no room for bags, purses, luggage, or anything but the most critical of medical items.

My husband and I look around at the drills, wondering which of our fellow passengers would panic, which would be dragging their luggage, and which would be drunk.

We speculate that HE would be standing at the rail, handing people in, and I'd be a few feet away, reminding people to put on a jacket, put their meds and ID into their pockets, and that their precious giant bag of (shoes, electronics, etc.) would NOT be going along.

I'd like to see a video of a lifeboat being loaded, and then shown full, on one of the cabin TV channels. I think it would be a valuable supplement to the lifeboat drill. Even if only some pax watch, it could make a difference in an emergency if people know better what to expect.

Back in 1912, so they tell me, it wasn't envisaged that the entire ship's company would have to disembark all at once into the lifeboats. The idea was that the lifeboats would ferry passengers to the nearest ship, and come back for another load. You were seldom out of sight of another ship (except of course when it was dark and you were steaming through an icefield).

 

I don't know how many ships were on the Atlantic at the time, but over a million people every year were emigrating to the USA at that time, so that's 3,000 per day setting off before you start counting the people who intended to return.

 

One would hope even now, with the benefits of radar, radio and satnav, that another ship could appear on the scene before your own ship sinks under you.

Ever heard about M/S Estonia? She sunk in the Baltic sea in 1994.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Estonia

The boats are there, but there is no guarantee that they would all be available in the event of their being actually needed. If the ship lists, there is possibility that half the lifeboats could not be launched.

Excellent point. Has certainly occurred in the past.

I believe the largest lifeboats at sea are on Oasis and Allure, but they are just a tad short of being able to hold all 6300 passengers when the ship sails full.

 

from cruise law news 2013...

 

Each life boat has a capacity of 370 people, divided into 354 passengers and 16 crew members who are responsible for overseeing the passengers and maneuvering the life boat. With only 17 life boats, there is room for only 6,018 passengers; whereas, the Allure and Oasis each have a capacity of 6,296.

 

happy cruising, unless your sinking....

There are 18 lifeboats on O/A which brings the total to well over 6300

Ever heard about M/S Estonia? She sunk in the Baltic sea in 1994.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Estonia

Yes, I've heard of the Estonia (I've seen the Estonia, actually, about 6 months before it sank), and I've heard of the Herald of Free Enterprise too.

They're the reason that cruise ships with bow doors that lift up, and huge car decks the length of the ship, have been banned. As have RORO ferries, incidentally.

Yes, I've heard of the Estonia (I've seen the Estonia, actually, about 6 months before it sank), and I've heard of the Herald of Free Enterprise too.

 

They're the reason that cruise ships with bow doors that lift up, and huge car decks the length of the ship, have been banned. As have RORO ferries, incidentally.

Well then you know that a big ship can sink before others get there in time. The Baltic sea (especial the area around/between Stockholm - Helsinki - Tallinn) are a lot smaller then the atlantic ocean.

available on line:

SOLAS has been revised and updated many times and now comes under the auspices of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). It has fairly extensive rules about the all aspects of lifesaving equipment including the location, number and size of lifeboats to be carried on a ship and how quickly the passengers should be able to be evacuated from the ship. The 1983 amendments to SOLAS required all lifeboats on passenger ships to be totally or partially enclosed equipped with an engine rather than the traditional open lifeboats manual propelled by oars.

Modern passenger ships engaged on international voyages, which are not short must carry partially or totally enclosed lifeboats on each side to accommodate not less than 50% of the total number of persons on board (in other words, the two sides together must equal at least 100%. Some lifeboats can be substituted by liferafts. In addition, inflatable or rigid liferafts to accommodate at least 25% of the total number of persons on board. Sufficient lifeboats and life rafts of such capacity as to accommodate 125% of the total number of people on board.

http://www.rina.org.uk/lifeboats.html

Well then you know that a big ship can sink before others get there in time. The Baltic sea (especial the area around/between Stockholm - Helsinki - Tallinn) are a lot smaller then the atlantic ocean.

Yes, I do know that a big ship can sink quickly. It may be hit by an asteroid, or a giant supertanker with no-one on the bridge, or rolled over like in The Poseidon Adventure, or sucked under the water by a Kraken. But by and large, they aren't. The main reason a ship sinks like a stone is because it has a huge open car or cargo deck with floods and makes the ship roll; and as crusie ships don't have huge open car decks, I will continue in my hope that another ship will get there in time to help.