Ditch bag

[lance32]

Having lived in an Earthquake State, I have taken to carrying a "Ditch Bag" This bag holds vital stuff,suchas medications eyeglasses, and a Copy of your Passport. After the Tradegy on Costa, All cruisers should take the Muster Drill much more serious:). What items would you carry with you in case you had to abandon ship on a minutes notice?

lance 32 Jon P

[NorbertsNiece]

Lip balm

[lance32]

I would certainly include lip balm too!!

[dz9yvr]

The lip balm is a great idea. I would add everything that I keep in the safe. Maybe instead of just putting loose items in the safe, I would keep everything in a small bag in the safe. But at a minimum, I would take a credit card, laminated copies of the passports, my Rolex and of course lip balm.

[ChipLondon]

My Wife, the only thing that has any true value in my life, everything else can be replaced.

 

Having lived in an Earthquake State, I have taken to carrying a "Ditch Bag" This bag holds vital stuff,suchas medications eyeglasses, and a Copy of your Passport. After the Tradegy on Costa, All cruisers should take the Muster Drill much more serious:). What items would you carry with you in case you had to abandon ship on a minutes notice?

lance 32 Jon P

[Paulxyz2004]

My first answer would be nothing, if it´s an emergency evacuation there is not a second to spend on grabbing stuff. In the event of having a minute I might grab my wallet with money and credit cards and the passport. I qould definitel grab nothing that needs a bag to be carried, only stuff that I can wear on the body.

 

I´m surprised by those that would take a copy of their passport, if there´s time to grab something, why grab a copy and not the real thing:confused:

[lance32]

A Ditch bag is always ready. I carry a Knapsack always hence passport copy. The bag is ready to go and you cant count on going back to your cabin. pilots in Planes that would ditch in the ocean had these bags ready as you would only have a few moments to evacuate. passport in Safe is safe. The recent Costa tradegy proves the odd are tiny, but why not be prepared in case.

Thanks

lance 32

[Paulxyz2004]

A Ditch bag is always ready. I carry a Knapsack always hence passport copy. The bag is ready to go and you cant count on going back to your cabin. pilots in Planes that would ditch in the ocean had these bags ready as you would only have a few moments to evacuate. passport in Safe is safe. The recent Costa tradegy proves the odd are tiny, but why not be prepared in case.

Thanks

lance 32

 

Well in that case it´s nothing, nada. I´m not going to lug around anything the entire cruise.

[JTJ]

If I have dive gear the cabin, which is usually the case, then grabbing my wet suit would be number #1, then wallet and PP.

[dz9yvr]

I'll take a laminated copy of my passport because it will probbaly get wet.

[BILLSFAN83]

I think its kind of rude, people are trying to save their lives, walking in crowded patterns, trying not to get hurt, load into small boats and your promoting people to have bags with them.

Making sure my wife is safe, than I... nothing else.

[dz9yvr]

Hey Bill, read the responses. A ditch bag is probably no bigger than a fanny pack. Even with my fanny pack, I'll take up less room in the lifeboat than many of the passengers that eat their way through the week.

[BILLSFAN83]

Hey Bill, read the responses. A ditch bag is probably no bigger than a fanny pack. Even with my fanny pack, I'll take up less room in the lifeboat than many of the passengers that eat their way through the week.

 

 

Yeah I did read it, nothing says anything about fanny pack size, or even hints to it.

 

I see, bag, nap sack, diving gear, etc... nothing in reference to a "small" bag

[dz9yvr]

Hey Bill, Tell me who suggested bringing anything that they couldn't wear or put in a fanny pack? Even the guy with diving gear was goingto wear his wetsuit (BTW, a great idea)

[BND]

OP, you do understand that all the passengers were taken care of whether they had their passport with them or not right? Embassies are there for a reason and in an emergency, they can get a new passport for someone very quickly. I can't imagine carrying stuff around with me and it's just stuff (with the exception of some medications, but even those can be easily replaced, even in a foreign country). The only thing that is important and can't be replaced is human life.

 

While apparently the cruise line basically abandoned people once they got them into hotels, they were all able to get back home without having their wallets, keys, id's, passports, cash, jewelry, etc. Those can all be replaced.

[derftegel]

My diamond pin and cell phone.

[dz9yvr]

Good suggestion on the Diamond Pin !!! The Diamond/Diamond Plus Pins will help get you early entry into the lifeboats.

[Liz315]

If I had the time to grab something, it would be a flash light. If the ship loses power I believe it would be very dis-orienting trying to find our way around the ship in the dark to exit. I actually just bought these to leave near the door of our cabins on our up coming cruise. My family made complete and total fun of me :) but in the slightest case of an emergency these could be worn around the neck and possibly save your life. It's a flashlight, glow-stick, flasher & whistle! lifegear.com

[Ohiocruiser]

If I had the time to grab something, it would be a flash light. If the ship loses power I believe it would be very dis-orienting trying to find our way around the ship in the dark to exit. I actually just bought these to leave near the door of our cabins on our up coming cruise. My family made complete and total fun of me :) but in the slightest case of an emergency these could be worn around the neck and possibly save your life. It's a flashlight, glow-stick, flasher & whistle! lifegear.com

 

We are going on a cruise in a couple of weeks, and I just bought two of these from Walmart. I have been on many cruises before, and until this last ship accident, it never crossed my mind to bring flashlights. Better safe then sorry is my new motto.

[CaptData]

My meds if possible. Passports and everything else is replaceable. I had a go bag in the Military so I understand the concept. Yes, I still have one on the ship.

[My2Kitties]

I sleep with a cpap and my cpap case is where I carry meds, flashlight and copy of passports...and always thought if I was in the cabin (or time to get to cabin) I would take that...but in light of the Costa accident I know that I would most likely take nothing...just myself and my family...as I read that people had nothing but still were able to get passports and airline tickets home so I guess all that stuff can be replaced but life can not...

 

Not stopping me from sailing but will think differently about what is important and what is not...and will take Muster drill serious every time...

[newbiecruiser09]

If I had the time to grab something, it would be a flash light. If the ship loses power I believe it would be very dis-orienting trying to find our way around the ship in the dark to exit. I actually just bought these to leave near the door of our cabins on our up coming cruise. My family made complete and total fun of me :) but in the slightest case of an emergency these could be worn around the neck and possibly save your life. It's a flashlight, glow-stick, flasher & whistle! lifegear.com

 

I always travel with a flashlight and leave it by my bed side. I have vivid memories of my grandfather always saying make sure to take a flashlight with you to a hotel. He also made us find the emergency stairs whenever we got to the hotel room so we'd know where to go in an emergency. 40 years later and I still do both of these things. Pepa was a very wise man!

[Tim,n,Sue]

Unfortunately with the Costa tradegy we have come up with a kit for that will fit into a bellypack that we will keep in the safe. We will only get it IF it is safe to do so, otherwise we evacuate without it. Anything that is printed material will be put in a ziplock bag.

 

Passports or copies of passports if they are taken by the ship

Medications for at least 3 days

Copies of travel insurance information and phone numbers

Copies of the contact information for the Canadian embassies or consulates for the countries were are visiting.

Flashlight

Cell phone

 

If there is room to put in the follwoing. Cash and good jewelry.

[Tim,n,Sue]

Duplicate post.

[pcur]

Having lived in an Earthquake State, I have taken to carrying a "Ditch Bag" This bag holds vital stuff,suchas medications eyeglasses, and a Copy of your Passport. After the Tradegy on Costa, All cruisers should take the Muster Drill much more serious:). What items would you carry with you in case you had to abandon ship on a minutes notice?

lance 32 Jon P

 

We decided to start doing this after the Concordia. We will actually have two ditch bags: one for the closet, and one for the safe.

 

Closet bag will have meds, jacket, 3 days of medication, and some packaged snacks.

 

Safe bag will have passports and small electronics. We keep all this stuff in the safe anyway, but now we will just put all of it in a ziplock baggie, so it's easier to grab and go.

 

If two of us are picking up the ditch bags, then we figure about 30 seconds in the room; one person probably 45 seconds.

 

I always have a tote bag with me whenever I'm out of the cabin, so it's going to have my little cosmetic bag in it, which always has lip balm, cough drops, eyeglass cleaners, and "twid" as my husband calls it! :D