Emergency drill

We recently got off the Equinox. We are troubled with how the drill is conducted . It seems that they just go through the motions to satisfy federal regulations .

Sorry to hear that.

I also never like to see passengers not paying attention and making light of it.

Keith

What would you recommend they do differently?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Get rid of the inane video for a start. In their attempt to make it entertainment it is now nearly useless. The poor sountrack means that you can't even hear the impotant parts and tge silly plot line is just confusing.

I think they should create a cruise line “trusted cruiser” program that would allow frequent cruisers ( me 40 days away from #43) to opt out of the drill. Nothing new to cover and it would make the drills more manageable.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

On virtually all of my RCI cruises we've had to stand in line on deck, sometimes very uncomfortably so due to heat and/or humidity. RCI say that it is compulsory that non-showers must attend another drill if they miss the main one. Every single time we've stood there for about 10 mins before it starts while they call out cabin numbers of those who aren't there. Without fail, quite a few late-comers turn up over half way through it and are just directed to the end of a line. We found out on our last RCI cruise that lots of people do it on purpose as they get ticked off the no show list even though they've missed half of the drill. It saves them having to stand there for ages like the rest of us. So annoying! I've done this drill so often that I feel that I could host it myself. And if I did, I'd turn away any late comers over 5 minutes and make them come back for their own drill at about 6am the next morning!!

I think they should create a cruise line “trusted cruiser” program that would allow frequent cruisers ( me 40 days away from #43) to opt out of the drill. Nothing new to cover and it would make the drills more manageable.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

THIS! (y) Over 20 cruises here and we certainly should know by now what to do. :confused:

I have another perspective, the first few times we cruised we waited in our cabin for the actual signal to go off ( as instructed) then proceeded to our station only to find hundreds of people already there giving us the evil eye. Seems the experienced cruisers go early them blame others for being late

Remember the passengers on the Costa Concordia did not have a life boat before sailing. We know how that ended up. I have been on 45 cruises and have over 600 days at sea. I would never miss a life boat drill even though most of them are a little boring.

I have another perspective, the first few times we cruised we waited in our cabin for the actual signal to go off ( as instructed) then proceeded to our station only to find hundreds of people already there giving us the evil eye. Seems the experienced cruisers go early them blame others for being late

Experienced cruisers do not go early. The smart thing is to arrive last. You will also leave first.......

On virtually all of my RCI cruises we've had to stand in line on deck, sometimes very uncomfortably so due to heat and/or humidity.

Older ships were designed with the muster stations outside and there is no way to change that. Those ships will always muster outside. Newer ships are designed with muster stations inside. That is why the muster stations are in lounges etc. There is actually no space outside for everyone to muster at a muster station at once.

Experienced cruisers do not go early. The smart thing is to arrive last. You will also leave first.......

This experienced cruiser goes early, and gets a seat. Latecomers on Celebrity have to stand. The last time I was not early, I had to stand in a hot, stuffy, crowded room where I was crammed next to strangers on three sides and starting to feel a bit claustrophobic. And we still had to wait for what felt like forever. I can tolerate the crowd, and lack of fresh air in an actual emergency, but until that happens, I’m going early and sitting down!

We recently got off the Equinox. We are troubled with how the drill is conducted . It seems that they just go through the motions to satisfy federal regulations .

I must say I agree with you. Watching a ridiculous video (which many can neither see nor hear clearly) in a stuffy, overcrowded room makes no sense at all. New cruisers need to know what to do in the event of an emergency, and even experienced cruisers need to know the current procedures. My first cruise was on Millennium in 2006. We were required to report to muster stations with life vests on! By 2013, the emergency drill had devolved to something like we see today, but minus the simplistic, repetitive video.

The new Muster video can possibly be very ineffective, in case of emergency.

It shows like a music video, and new cruisers may miss important needed information.

Celebrity may want to review this further.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Realistically, what do passengers really need to know other than where to report? People are going to act differently in a real situation versus a check-the-box situation so I'm not sure why expectations should be so high. You report to a station to receive further instructions from crew because how any situation is handled will be done on a case-by-case basis, and no muster drill is going to be able to cover every possible scenario.

I have tried to take notes on my IPad but was told that I couldn’t be using it during the drill 😟

Other than knowing how to put on a life vest, and being told to bring any meds, not using the elevators, having the Seapass card and clothing it really doesn’t matter as it would be chaos as the I doubt that the ship would sink as gradually as the plan is made for. It would probably roll over and everyone will be fighting to figure a way out.

The whole thing is a CYA and any plan is better than none.

Happy cruising 🌊🛳🇺🇸🌅

Why muster?

Lawyers.

In all honesty, I thought the video was stupid as well.

The video is ridiculous because it's not apparent what points the cruise line wants you to take from watching it. BTW RCL has the identical video but with an RCL ship. It would make more sense if the cruise line would simply state the key points rather than making up the spy scenario. Also, the wash your hands video is presented at a level that is probably appropriate for a 3 or 4 year old.

Just for reference if you have a problem/handicap that makes it difficult to stand during the drill then just simply point this out to one of the drill leaders and they will show you where you can sit during the drill.

Why muster?

Lawyers.

Wrong.

SOLAS.

Concordia.

The video is ridiculous because it's not apparent what points the cruise line wants you to take from watching it. BTW RCL has the identical video but with an RCL ship. It would make more sense if the cruise line would simply state the key points rather than making up the spy scenario. Also, the wash your hands video is presented at a level that is probably appropriate for a 3 or 4 year old.

 

Just for reference if you have a problem/handicap that makes it difficult to stand during the drill then just simply point this out to one of the drill leaders and they will show you where you can sit during the drill.

Information presented at a 4 y/o level would be too difficult for many today.

Our thoughts?

70+ cruises. 1000+ days on cruise ships.

Have no problem going to the muster, every time. Different ships, different procedures, different locations. No way we get there late. Get there on the second page (15 minutes prior). Always have a seat, where we can listen to the later arriving whiners complaining about "what, no SEATS?"

It's like 25-30 minutes, total, even arriving early. Our time is not so precious that we can't spend it being acquainted with the system.

Gripe all you want. Follow the rules. If you attended and don’t need it, no big deal. If you didn’t attend and need it, big big deal.

I put forth my perspective, that of a professional mariner with 42 years at sea, several on cruise ships.

I have attended weekly fire/boat/safety drills for 42 years, and continually learn something new every time I do a drill.

For those of you who feel that "we've done this many times, and know it by heart", remember who is ultimately responsible for your safety; the person who looks back at you in the mirror. Try doing this; each time before muster, decide where you will be, and where a potential fire will be on the ship, and then decide the best way to get from where you are to your muster station without going through or above the area of the fire. It is a tool we use to train crew on emergency teams. If you feel that you are not getting any information from the safety briefing during the drill, run this exercise in your head, and then after the drill, see if your route would actually work.

I've not seen the RCI/Celebrity video, but I know it is a response to the complaints that nothing was being communicated in the past, or that people weren't paying attention. Whether it works, and whether it continues is up for research, but at least it is an attempt to make the muster more informative.

As to the ship sinking in minutes, let's discuss a few points about that. Remember, first, that the passenger muster has literally nothing to do with getting into lifeboats and leaving the ship. There are far more instances where the passengers will be mustered and the Captain has no intention of ever putting people into the boats and abandoning the ship. The purpose of the muster is to get the passengers into known, controllable areas, and to make accountability to ensure everyone is accounted for, so that emergency teams do not have to expend time and resources searching for passengers, and can concentrate on the emergency.

Next, unless your ship has been torpedoed or bombed and breaks in two, ships don't sink within minutes, and most do not "roll over" before doing so. Look at the Concordia. She had a huge gash in one side, and there was nothing on God's earth that was going to keep that ship afloat, but if she had not drifted back to shore on Giglio, she would have sunk upright, and a couple of hours after the allision. The grounding on Giglio is what caused her to roll on her side.

Also looking at the Concordia, the major fault, and the cause of loss of life, was the fact that the muster was not signaled in a timely fashion. Had it been done within minutes of the allision, when the Captain was informed that the ship was flooding, the passengers would have all been grouped and accounted for, information could have been passed to crew, and boats readied. Even given the short time between the decision to abandon the ship and her rolling on her side, 23 of 26 lifeboats were launched.

To put it bluntly, a passenger's responsibilities during a muster are: know where to go (and how to get there), get there in a timely fashion, shut up, and wait for instructions.

Personally I think this is one place Celebrity falls down. Others seem to do it better.

The new video is a big "Fail" in my opinion. Having cruised many times I understood what it was saying but it certainly was not clear - in trying to make it entertaining many of the key points were lost.

The venues for muster are always overcrowded which makes it uncomfortable for many. Tallying the missing passengers always seems to take an age. The crush of people leaving is very unpleasant for elderly passengers and children.

Main thing though is that it is for the safety of all on board - it doesn't take much out of your day - and once it is over the holiday really starts, I'm sure Celebrity keeps looking at ways to improve this experience for both passengers and crew - some ideas will work - some won't. In the end there is always the chance we will be grateful we attended along with the crew.