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Muster Drill


Lewis Clark
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On cruises that spend their first night in the town of embarkation, is the muster drill that first day or just prior to sailing the second day?

 

Just prior to sailing on Day 2. Also note that there are no lifejackets in the cabins, so don't drive yourself crazy looking for them. There are two muster stations--the theater (forward on Deck 2) and the Restaurant (aft on Deck 2). No dressing up in life jackets. No lining up on deck. Simply report to your muster station, check in, find a seat and wait while they make sure that everyone is present and accounted for, listen to the safety speech and leave. Very simple and straight forward. BTW, if you are on a B2B, you have to go to the mid-cruise drill as well.

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Actually, on our Viking Homelands last month, the muster drill was at 5:15 ( or so) the first afternoon. We left Stockholm at 2:30 the next afternoon, so it might depend on actual departure time.

What if you're not onboard at that time on the first afternoon/evening? Since our ship will be in Bergen overnight next June, I was assuming our time would be our own until the ship leaves port (or a little before :)).

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What if you're not onboard at that time on the first afternoon/evening? Since our ship will be in Bergen overnight next June, I was assuming our time would be our own until the ship leaves port (or a little before :)).

 

The question for soundcruiser is if everyone was required to return to the ship to participate in the drill.

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The announcement in the Viking Daily and overhead said it was required of all. They checked our room keys as we entered. That said, there is no way there were 930 pax in the Star Theater for the muster drill! So, I don't know where everyone else was. This might be a question for the kind folks at TellUs@Vikingcruises.com (if that is the right address - I forget!).

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The announcement in the Viking Daily and overhead said it was required of all. They checked our room keys as we entered. That said, there is no way there were 930 pax in the Star Theater for the muster drill! So, I don't know where everyone else was. This might be a question for the kind folks at TellUs@Vikingcruises.com (if that is the right address - I forget!).

 

There are two muster stations -- the theater and the restaurant--and last time I was on board, both venues were used for the drill. So, I'm guessing that the folks who weren't in the theater with you were in the dining room.

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The announcement in the Viking Daily and overhead said it was required of all. They checked our room keys as we entered. That said, there is no way there were 930 pax in the Star Theater for the muster drill! So, I don't know where everyone else was. This might be a question for the kind folks at TellUs@Vikingcruises.com (if that is the right address - I forget!).

 

Not everyone attends the muster drill in the same location. Where you attend depends on your cabin location on the ship. The Star Theater is not large enough to accommodate all passengers.

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I don't think the day or time of muster is the same on each cruise, or maybe not even every cruise with the same itinerary. On our Midnight Sun cruise in June, it was held the day we left Greenwich (London), not the day we embarked. I think it was at 5:30, but don't remember for sure. Besides, if you're departing from Bergen, it might be completely different. It's nice to not have to bring a life jacket (they provide them at muster stations). If departure time is close to the muster drill time you can just head upstairs and outside to watch sailaway. Some sailaways aren't too scenic, and I head to dinner. However, the one from Greenwich is interesting because you sail right down the Thames (although away from London proper) instead of out into the ocean from an industrial port. The huge Thames barrier is worth seeing, too. My pictures are here: http://www.pbase.com/roothy123/london__greenwich_

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I don't think the day or time of muster is the same on each cruise, or maybe not even every cruise with the same itinerary. On our Midnight Sun cruise in June, it was held the day we left Greenwich (London), not the day we embarked. I think it was at 5:30, but don't remember for sure. Besides, if you're departing from Bergen, it might be completely different. It's nice to not have to bring a life jacket (they provide them at muster stations). If departure time is close to the muster drill time you can just head upstairs and outside to watch sailaway. Some sailaways aren't too scenic, and I head to dinner. However, the one from Greenwich is interesting because you sail right down the Thames (although away from London proper) instead of out into the ocean from an industrial port. The huge Thames barrier is worth seeing, too. My pictures are here: http://www.pbase.com/roothy123/london__greenwich_

 

Thanks for sharing your pictures. We are doing the cruise next July and will make sure to be on deck for the sailaway from Greenwich. We are excited to be taking our first Viking cruise.

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I don't think the day or time of muster is the same on each cruise, or maybe not even every cruise with the same itinerary. On our Midnight Sun cruise in June, it was held the day we left Greenwich (London), not the day we embarked. I think it was at 5:30, but don't remember for sure. Besides, if you're departing from Bergen, it might be completely different. It's nice to not have to bring a life jacket (they provide them at muster stations). If departure time is close to the muster drill time you can just head upstairs and outside to watch sailaway. Some sailaways aren't too scenic, and I head to dinner. However, the one from Greenwich is interesting because you sail right down the Thames (although away from London proper) instead of out into the ocean from an industrial port. The huge Thames barrier is worth seeing, too. My pictures are here: http://www.pbase.com/roothy123/london__greenwich_

 

On the two cruises that we have done, the muster drill was sandwiched between back on board time and sail-away--one cruise on Day 1 and the other, with an overnight at the embarkation port, on Day 2.

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Ours was on the second day (Barcelona the Baltic and Beyond 3 week cruise) (we were leaving from Barcelona and boarded the day before). Our station was The Restaurant. We sat there forever...and I'm not kidding. We couldn't figure out what was going on. Turns out that they waited for some tour buses to return. The thing is, the folks on the tour buses were told not to worry about muster, that there would be a "make up" drill. So they went back to their cabins. Then they started paging people and calling their cabins. We know this because a couple of them showed up at our table. By the time everybody showed up, it was well after 6:00, when dinner should have started. I felt really sorry for the restaurant staff...they had no tables set up as we had all been sitting at them forever! Once everyone showed up the drill itself was a couple of minutes. They did make an announcement about dinner starting later, but the poor kitchen and wait staff I'm sure were overwhelmed.

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  • 9 months later...

I was wondering about the Muster drill on our cruise leaving Barcelona with an overnight there. We arrive the morning of the cruise (which I despise but had no choice). We are heading directly to the ship having lunch then I was planning on hiring a tour guide to pick us up at the pier after we checked in and left our luggage on the ship. If I remember correctly when we had the overnight in Rome the muster drill was Day 1 but I could be wrong.

 

It doesn't seem reasonable to have it Day 1. If you are spending the day in the port you would have to make a special trip in the middle of the afternoon just for Muster and then leave the ship again?

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It's the next day, no worries. We got to the ship very early first day, the other passengers were still getting off. They took our luggage and we hopped in a cab and went to Sagrada (we had booked tickets). Wandered around and back to the ship in the afternoon to check in.

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I was wondering about the Muster drill on our cruise leaving Barcelona with an overnight there. We arrive the morning of the cruise (which I despise but had no choice). We are heading directly to the ship having lunch then I was planning on hiring a tour guide to pick us up at the pier after we checked in and left our luggage on the ship. If I remember correctly when we had the overnight in Rome the muster drill was Day 1 but I could be wrong.

 

It doesn't seem reasonable to have it Day 1. If you are spending the day in the port you would have to make a special trip in the middle of the afternoon just for Muster and then leave the ship again?

 

The requirement for holding Muster Drill on a passenger vessel used to be within 24 hrs of embarkation, however after the Costa Concordia, MSC 92 changed the requirement to prior to or immediately after departure. These requirements have been in place since 2015.

 

Therefore, the actual timing of the Muster Drill is entirely at the discretion of the Captain, provided it is completed prior to departure, or immediately after departure. However, in scheduling the drill the Captain also considers that all, or almost all passengers must be aboard.

 

When remaining in port for the 1st night, in all probability the Muster Drill will be held between the all aboard time and departure. However, this isn't guaranteed and the Captain could select the embarkation day. Just because the same ship did it one way on a previous cruise, on a later cruise with a different Captain, they could schedule the drill at a different time.

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Just to confirm that there is no fixed time for muster drills when embarkation day is followed by another day in the same port - our drill on the July 7 "Into the Midnight Sun" cruise out of London was on embarkation day at 5:15, rather than on the following evening when we left London. It would probably make more sense to do it between "all aboard" time and actual sail out, but that wasn't the case on this cruise. (Our "all aboard" time on departure day was around 8:00 p.m., so maybe the captain thought it would be too late to do it after everyone was back on the ship that night.) I have to believe that there were a number of people out and about in London during the drill, and probably some who hadn't even arrived yet, so they must have an alternate plan to deal with those folks.

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Just to confirm that there is no fixed time for muster drills when embarkation day is followed by another day in the same port - our drill on the July 7 "Into the Midnight Sun" cruise out of London was on embarkation day at 5:15, rather than on the following evening when we left London. It would probably make more sense to do it between "all aboard" time and actual sail out, but that wasn't the case on this cruise. (Our "all aboard" time on departure day was around 8:00 p.m., so maybe the captain thought it would be too late to do it after everyone was back on the ship that night.) I have to believe that there were a number of people out and about in London during the drill, and probably some who hadn't even arrived yet, so they must have an alternate plan to deal with those folks.

 

In London with the ship being secured to buoys and passengers tendered ashore, I would have scheduled a drill on day 1, similar to the Captain on your ship. The reason being, in the event of an emergency, the ship had no gangways and would require use of evacuation equipment. Therefore, I would conduct the Muster Drill on day 1.

 

Where the vessel is secured alongside, I would most likely delay the drill until just before departure, as in the event of an emergency the ship is on In Port Manning (IPM) and evacuation can quickly be completed using gangways.

 

Yes, those that miss the drill must attend a separate training session.

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We've never missed a muster drill; and value the importance of attending a drill. Some ships in our experience say take the life vest to the drill with you (which is a bore and leads to people fidgeting with them before and during the drill), and other cruise lines say leave it in your accommodation (which leads to people feeling unsure as to how to put it on and secure it).

The only other problem is that taking a life vest to a drill means that (especially if it's done on day 1), people are tired after the journey getting to the ship and then have to go back to their accommodation to put the life vests back in the wardrobe - all of which leads to slow traffic jams on the stairways.

We would definitely prefer to get it done on day 1, but hopefully there will be a clear notice of both the time and location of the muster drill.

Again, looking at how other cruise lines tackle the muster drill, we know that some cruise lines have the muster station letter clearly printed on the reverse side of the cruise card.

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I think most or all cruise ships require passengers to be onboard (or perhaps just checked in?) at least 2 hours prior to departure, if that's stated in the contract of carriage. I'm guessing that's to allow time to clear all passengers with the authorities and do things like hold a muster drill.

 

A lot of ship personnel are involved in the drills, directing traffic, checking rooms for missing people, etc. That means the time selected for the drill must be a time in which people can stop what they're doing and participate.

 

In planning, I just keep in the back of my head that a drill will be performed, and that it could be scheduled on either embarkation day or the next day, if those days are different. Then when I check in, I verify when the drill will be held and when I need to be back on board. Most people don't go back out once they check in, so it's not an issue. For those who do (and I'm sometimes one of them!), I suppose they might lose an hour of sightseeing, but I think it's worth it so I don't complain.

 

I forget, does Viking print the muster station on our key card, or is it another line we use?

Edited by roothy123
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I forget, does Viking print the muster station on our key card, or is it another line we use?

 

Viking prints both your group number and assembly station code on the card, but not the actual location. For example, on the last cruise my card said "Assembly Station: A". I seem to recall they also print it on the room location card on the back of your cabin door, which also provides emergency escape routes, etc. They also print the muster drill time in the first Viking Daily.

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We've never missed a muster drill; and value the importance of attending a drill. Some ships in our experience say take the life vest to the drill with you (which is a bore and leads to people fidgeting with them before and during the drill), and other cruise lines say leave it in your accommodation (which leads to people feeling unsure as to how to put it on and secure it).

 

Viking addresses this problem by not having life vests in the cabins at all, so nothing to carry or otherwise worry about. Life jackets are distributed by crew at specified locations on the ship.

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Viking addresses this problem by not having life vests in the cabins at all, so nothing to carry or otherwise worry about. Life jackets are distributed by crew at specified locations on the ship.

 

Only in case of an actually emergency; life jackets are not distributed as part of the drill, at least as I have experienced.

 

Also note, that while your keycard has your muster station market on it, it does not have your cabin number on it.

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