With the recent tragedy of the Costa Cancordia.......

[tandtmk04]

I like everyone else DREAD the Muster Drill but have to wonder if something ever happened if people would actually follow the rules in the muster drill or like what happened on Costa panic. I can imagine most people are going to panic if the boat is sinking the last thing on their mind is what was heard at the muster drill. That being said though, I won't be dreading them as much on future cruises.

[cdamion]

My DH and I had a talk after viewing the debacle of the Costa-and we found out that we both have a personal habit of checking out the escape route of any building, plane or ship we have been on.:) It's nice to know that one of the things that drew us together in our personalities was an escape trait:D. I think that everyone should have that talk when they get on the ship. Or a hotel room, look at the map on the back of the door, read over the escape route, and WALK the escape route. So all of you know how to get out or off, in the case of an emergency. And after seeing this horrible disaster, do it after you get to your cabin, don't wait for the "drill".

 

Um. Should I be a little concerned that each of you checked the escape routes, but didn't tell the other about it at the time? :D

[KTBLUE]

On my last cruise (in July), our kids were only given wrist bands if they signed up for the kids programs where they would be away from their parents. It was at that orientation that bracelets were distributed. I am thinking that if your kids do not want to participate in the ship activities for kids, then they didn't get the bracelet assuming that they would always be under the direct supervision of their parents/guardians.

 

I could be wrong, and it may have changed in light of recent events, but I think that's where the bracelets come in.

[girloverboard]

I just would like to say that if you were in that or a similar situation, it would be fine to be the crazy mom screaming for her kids. In

Would be too!

[CruisingMouse]

The protocol is for all guests to retrieve their life vests if time and conditions permit then to proceed to their designated muster station. Minor children have wrist bands showing who they are and what muster station they are assigned. This is so crew can bring them to their muster station where they can be reunited with their parents/guardians.

 

In the case of teenagers who may not be part of an organized activity it is important to have them pay attention at the muster drill and to know where their muster station is located. In the event of an emergency they should know exactly what to do, proceed to their muster station where they will meet you. The very last thing that should happen in an actual emergency is parents wandering the ship calling for their children.

 

 

Nicely said!

[CruisingMouse]

Did you just make that up?? Lol it may be requested but I have never seen kids have wristbands and certainly don't remember having them when I was a child cruising. Just sayin.

 

 

No it`s not made up! If in fact you have registered a child to sail with you, they give the children a wrist band to wear upon check in, if not there and they show up to the drill without one, one is placed on their wrist immediately. They also double check at the kids clubs to make sure the children have one on. Some cruise lines and age dependant of the child also insist you carry a pager with you.

[pcrum]

To go back to the OP's original question, we had just reached the point where I was comfortable with our 16 year old twins not being with us all the time. DD loves the teen club, whereas DS is happy watching movies in bed and ordering room service, while DH and I relax on deck during the day. So, I gave a lot of thought as to what might have happened had the event on the Concordia not happened at dinner time (a time when we are all together). Given that we might be spread out all over the ship, I don't know what the answer is. If you can get back to your cabins to retrieve your life jackets, great, but what if your cabin is located in a damaged part of the ship and it is not possible to go back there? I only half jokingly told my kids that if we cruise again, they will be stuck with us the entire time. I just cannot imagine being separated from your loved ones during a tragedy such as happened on the Concordia. At the very least, we will all have small flashlights with us at all times and I am seriously thinking of everyone always wearing one of those little neck pouches with our passports and some money! We are not big pool people, so no need to worry about it getting wet while on the ship! An event like this might not happen for another 100 years, but I, for one, will not cruise again without taking some added precautions!

[tkportersat]

Yes, I have seen it on all of mine. Usually at muster the crew member will spot the child and give a wrist band. On RC they had clip boards.

 

Well then, I guess we were just SOL that cruise. Haha.

[tkportersat]

Yeah, I never considered this much before this tragedy but that is the scariest part possibly being seperated from my child.

 

It was something I never really took into consideration previously. Yes, we have attended the muster together, but I really got to thinking what would have happened had we not been together at 9:42 that night and been aboard.

 

From the time to impact, to a commencement of seeking out the rest of my family in that chaos, especially after the lights went out, I would have been freaking out.

 

Those moments would be lived over and over till I met up with them, which obviously is only one possibility.

 

I dread to even try to think of any other possibility.

 

My heart goes out to those that were lost, still lost, especially that 5 year old and her father, as well as the couple from the US.

 

And I'm kinda getting ill over reading posts defending the company, as if they owned it. And how safe they would still feel cruising it.

[Drazil65]

Our son who jsut turned 9 in December has always had them (wrist bands) when we sailed Carnival. We are going again later this year and I expect he will have one again. We always received the wrist bands at the welcome thing when you go and sign your kid up for Camp Carnival the first day.

 

In the case of what happened recently on the ship there is no way that "protocol" would have worked with the dark and the chaos going on. My husband and I have been discussing this since it happened and it has certainly made us think about how many times we are not in the same area that our son is in. We too have talked about a meeting place but is that even reasonable in a situation like that? I get sick to my stomach thinking about that 5 yr old missing each time I see her mother on the news. We are not sure how we will handled it with our son yet but will keep talking and thinking about it until we come up with a plan that works for us (we are not sailing until August so we have some time).

[cdamion]

Well, I will be traveling with my tween and teen in a couple months and have thought about this. I think I will be more certain to make sure they understand exactly where to go in an emergency - and probably walk with them to the muster station - and maybe even pick a specific spot to try to meet at.

 

I absolutely do not want to have to rely on the crew to get them there, because obviously if the .00000000001% chance of something going wrong occurs, I don't know how people will react in the panic.

 

I went with step kids when they were 14 and 15 and really don't recall whether they had wrist bands or not. We did not have any specific plan in place back then.

[Chmie]

I would suggest that the #1 priority should be to get to safety rather then set a meeting point like your room for example. A sinking ship or burning hotel should probably be evacuated as directed as quickly as possible from wherever one is. You all can meet up later and recount your escape rather then going down with the ship while waiting in your room. :)

[cdamion]

I would suggest that the #1 priority should be to get to safety rather then set a meeting point like your room for example. A sinking ship or burning hotel should probably be evacuated as directed as quickly as possible from wherever one is. You all can meet up later and recount your escape rather then going down with the ship while waiting in your room. :)

 

When I said a specific spot, I meant a specific spot at the muster station - such as a certain area in the room if inside, or one end or the other if outside.

[tikimon]

Well my kids are grown now and gone from home.

 

We have cruised 2 times with the grandchildren and both times they received the wrist bans at the muster drill.

 

Even then 2001 and 2007 both on Carnival it was always on my mind, what if something happened, could I really depend on some forigen stranger to make sure that my grandchildren would get to safety.

 

I'm not saying anything bad about the staff on any cruise ship, all I'm saying is just because it's part of their job to look out for your child while in say camp carnival, how can you know for sure that they will do what is expected of them or will they only look out for themselves.

 

Don't mean to make anyone feel uncomfortable about cruising with small children, but if you have small one's then it's something to keep in mind.

[Cruzface]

For us, we have already discussed that we will pick a meeting place if anything goes wrong. I will not be going back to the room to get my life jacket, nor will anyone in my family. That is probably how these people died. In there rooms, with no way out. Horrible.

 

I would also like to know how to lower those lifeboats so I can do it if the crew member assigned to my muster station is "unavailable" or is cowering in the corner.

[laumicmah]

No it`s not made up! If in fact you have registered a child to sail with you, they give the children a wrist band to wear upon check in, if not there and they show up to the drill without one, one is placed on their wrist immediately. They also double check at the kids clubs to make sure the children have one on. Some cruise lines and age dependant of the child also insist you carry a pager with you.

Only kids who go in the kids clubs get wrist bands...no? My kids did not partake in the kids clubs this past August and they never had a wrist band. They were 12, 12 and 14 at the time of the cruise.

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

O.K. so for those paranoid parents like me, on the next cruise, not only will Son memorize where his muster station is and which lifeboat is ours, we will have at least one or two drills or our own when we will meet at a certain time at our muster station! We will also make it a point to find where life jackets are available if you cannot make it back to the room. You can only prepare so much for life's problems, everything else is a gamble!

[Mikel1733]

Even though my kids are grown I certainly will want our family to make plans on the ship to review the muster drill and make plans on meeting. I hope some folks returning from cruises who post reviews will give their opinions of the muster drill now. I am very curious to know if people will now take the drill more seriously and I'd not I'd the crew cracks down. I expect this to be the case, however I wonder if it will last long term.

[tampabrat22]

We have been cruising with our kids since they were 2 & 6 and they have had wristbands on every cruise. I'm not sure how some of these kids have slipped thru without them but you should really consider making sure your child always has one on.

 

Our families plan in an event of an emergency is to follow the directions of meeting at our muster station. We all try to memorize that station and location the very first day.

[CupKayke]

I agree with the OP and several other posters on this thread ~ hubby & I talked about "what if" ~ something we had sadly never done on previous cruises. In our case, he could have easily been on the balcony reading and I could have been in the gift shops or the photography department or etc... We are going to find a neutral meeting place from now on ~ on all cruises ~ the first hours we are on the ship ~ and we are going to walk the route from our meeting place to the muster stations ~ on both sides of the boat ~ just in case.... even though my husband says, and I agree, this is probably the only time in our life we will see something like this. Hopefully, he is correct. :(

 

So, yes, this has made us both think a lot more about safety and at least having some sort of sketchy meet-up plan. I can't imagine getting off that ship and into a lifeboat without my husband.

 

At the same time... did anyone see the interview with the American family (mom, dad, 2 daughters) who said they went to the muster station and all the life jackets there had been handed-out and they wouldn't let them on a lifeboat without their life jackets so they all went back to the room to get their jackets ~ and then struggled to get back up to the lifeboats?? I can't imagine someone telling us we couldn't get in a lifeboat just because we didn't have our life jackets???!!! That concerned me. I don't know that we would run back to our room to get life jackets and risk it ~ especially after the Concordia tragedy. :confused:

[Mikel1733]

I always expected in the case of emergency that you would have folks that would panick and folks that would have no idea what to do because they either skipped the drill or didn't pay attention at the drill. But now the news is reporting that wealthy passengers were paying the crew to get 1st access to the lifeboats. It will be interesting to see how this developes.

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

I always expected in the case of emergency that you would have folks that would panick and folks that would have no idea what to do because they either skipped the drill or didn't pay attention at the drill. But now the news is reporting that wealthy passengers were paying the crew to get 1st access to the lifeboats. It will be interesting to see how this developes.

 

Having flashback to Titanic movie! Way too much he said, she said, they said everyone said!