Safety Briefings after Costa tragedy

[rugbypopsie]

I noticed on the Dawn Princess cruise last week that there have been substantial changes to the safe briefing procedure. Princess have always mustered passengers inside in locations throughout the ship for the briefing unlike HAL who do it on the promenade decks. In inclement weather mustering outside especially if the briefing becomes more detailed would be very difficult.

 

The briefing is now long...very long...they go through every possible safety issue you can imagine as well as checking passenger cruise cards electronically...twice.

 

I am not suggesting for a minute that you do not take the briefing seriously but they need to re think the length of time and process, there were not enough seats to have all passengers seated either.

 

They need to rethink the need to bring your lifejacket..fetching it and returning it is just another botheration and adds to the time...and watching some of the older passengers struggling to get it on..I dont think it would make any difference how long they practised they would need help (perhaps it could be a deck game LOL..) I digress.

 

If airlines simply show you how its done as do any number of other lines..I think they can drop the need to bring it part.

 

Has anyone else noticed a change in the briefing since Costa?

 

Sue

[karmac]

We just did 2 nights on Pacific Sun and there was no change to the last muster I went to on a P&O ship 18 months ago. Howver, I do think their drill is sufficent and not too long.

 

We did a 3 nighter on RCI last month and their's is also done on deck, without life jackets. However, I thought that muster was a complete waste of time. We were standing at the back of a row and the crew member doing the demonstration was on the same level which meant we couldn't see a thing. Also, she wasn't using a microphone which meant we also couldn't hear a thing. We would have learnt just as much if we hadn't been there. I really think they need to re-address their system.

[johndon]

Rugypopsie

 

We are going on the "Sun" next week and will look out for changes to the safety briefings.

Personally, I find it ludicrous to "muster" in say Princess Theatre or some other inside venue. I would want to be mustering next to the lifeboat I am assigned to in an emergency like Concordia. I can remember on a P & O cruise back in the 90's mustering at the lifeboat station for the emergency drill. Mind you, I think the promenade deck would be very crowded if 2000 plus passengers had to muster next to their assigned lifeboat all at the same time. I also wonder if there are enough lifeboat spaces for 2000 plus passengers and 800 crew. Perhaps they inflate the capsuled life rafts.

Very interesting!!!

 

John

[Sutho]

No change at all on Arcadia. I see no reason why they should change it. The indoor muster stations are also designed as shelters for emergencies such as fires etc. The reason they have indoor muster stations in the theatre and main rooms on the promenade deck is that the compartment can be easily secured and barricaded from fire, smoke etc, and the access doors lead directly to the lifeboats on the promenade deck. There are alternate muster stations and all are designed to divide passengers into areas that gives quicker access to the lifeboats in orderly flows opposed to congestion with all passengers heading to the one door.

[Sandielle]

I found Princess to be very similar to P&O, except that on Sun Princess our cruise card was checked.

[lizzy77]

There were no changes on our last cruise on the Dawn in Feb and that was after the Costa tragedy.

However muster was a horror on the Star Princess last year when we went round South America as they did the whole thing in 3 languages!!!

[Cruise ship fan]

I noticed on the Dawn Princess cruise last week that there have been substantial changes to the safe briefing procedure. Princess have always mustered passengers inside in locations throughout the ship for the briefing unlike HAL who do it on the promenade decks. In inclement weather mustering outside especially if the briefing becomes more detailed would be very difficult.

 

The briefing is now long...very long...they go through every possible safety issue you can imagine as well as checking passenger cruise cards electronically...twice.

 

I am not suggesting for a minute that you do not take the briefing seriously but they need to re think the length of time and process, there were not enough seats to have all passengers seated either.

 

They need to rethink the need to bring your lifejacket..fetching it and returning it is just another botheration and adds to the time...and watching some of the older passengers struggling to get it on..I dont think it would make any difference how long they practised they would need help (perhaps it could be a deck game LOL..) I digress.

 

If airlines simply show you how its done as do any number of other lines..I think they can drop the need to bring it part.

 

Has anyone else noticed a change in the briefing since Costa?

 

Sue

 

Actually Princess did that before the Concordia accident. Well at least they did on the cruise that ended a few days before it happened.

[Duck Creek]

I have mustered on Princess both pre and post Concordia.

Did not notice any particular changes. They were scanning cards on the Dawn Princess in April last year.

As Sutho pointed out it is not just for abandon ship situations.

On my recent cruise there were at least 50% new Princess cruisers and many of them were first time cruisers.

Need to remember that as cruising is getting more popular out of Oz, many cruisers have never had to muster before.

[austrish]

I found Princess to be very similar to P&O, except that on Sun Princess our cruise card was checked.

 

Like you Sandy I didn't notice any difference between Princess and P & O. We didn't have our cruise cards checked though.

[Sandielle]

Like you Sandy I didn't notice any difference between Princess and P & O. We didn't have our cruise cards checked though.

 

I think it would be easy to miss getting your cruise card checked. People were milling in the doors and I think the staff were relying on their memories as to who they checked. That seemed to be the case in the Wheelhouse Bar, anyway. :)

[johndon]

I read somewhere on these posts that people had been put off for not going to the Safety drill. I know it is repetitive if you are a seasoned cruiser but it is for your own safety that they require you to be there. I think it is "interesting" to go along and see the confusion on some peoples faces especially when they try and put on their life jackets.

Incidentally, how do they read your boarding card? Do they go around with a hand held reader or something?

 

John

[Sandielle]

Yes John. They had a hand-held reader on the Sun Princess last month.

[rugbypopsie]

They actually checked our cruise cards twice! I dont mind the muster its kind of part of the cruise rituals...love to see all the excited faces of the new to cruising passengers...the only bit I mind is dragging our life jackets along and then having to go back and get rid of them.

 

Sue

[Vader1111]

Royal Caribbean's system is terrible. If anything, it seems designed to kill as many passengers as possible (should an emergency ever arise).

 

None of the staff make any attempt to inform passengers where their muster station is.. until the muster drill itself. This means that the drill takes 5x as long as it should, because passengers take forever to locate their muster stations. The problem is compounded by the sheer number of muster stations and the obscure locations of many of them.

 

Once they arrive, passengers are lined up outside, under the lifeboats. I'm not sure how safe this would be when the lifeboat deployment systems are being operated.. but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt (even though they probably don't deserve it).

 

They do make an attempt at crossing people off, but it's not a very good one. I rocked up 10min before my cabin mate and they crossed both of us off when I arrived (assuming that all people from the same cabin would arrive together). They got very confused when he arrived later and they went to cross him off, only to discover that they had already done so (in his absence).

 

People are queued 8-10 deep and the staff then do a demonstration of how to wear the lifejacket correctly. Nobody behind the 3rd row has a chance of seeing anything (unless they're tall enough to tower over the people in front). Completely and utterly useless.

 

Passengers are not required to bring lifejackets to the muster - and I'd bet that 80% of them couldn't locate them in an emergency as a result. Even if they could find them, they wouldn't know how to wear them.

 

Royal Caribbean need to seriously re-think their approach. It just doesn't work and it's a disaster waiting to happen. I love cruising with Royal Caribbean, but this is one area where I feel that the company falls down horribly.

[happyaussies]

actually sounds just like the one we had on the daw

so as far as I'm concerned nothing has changedn princess last nov

 

I know the safety drill is a pain but once past it.........the world's your oyster! lol! Just one of the things that NEEDS to be done but I feel in a real emergency none of us will remember what to do anyway.

 

Let's just hope and pray staff "learn" how to do it when it's most needed.

 

B&B

[Aus Traveller]

We cruised on Princess last year and also once this year (after Concordia) and I couldn't see any difference in the safety briefings. On all these cruises they scanned our cruise cards with a hand-held reader.