Enough life boat seats for all aboard?

[teaach]

NY Times reported yesterday in a Triumph article that Oasis of the Seas had 1000 less life boat seats than the number of pax/crew on board. Does Carnival provide enough seats for everyone, including the crew, to evacuate a ship via life boat in case of emergency. If not, it's a scary situation given recent events. Need to feel safe on upcoming Breeze cruise.

[gelo7]

Interesting.....

[MrPete]

Ever since the Titanic sunk, it's required.

 

Someone should challenge the NYT on their stats.

 

You have a link to the article?

[HighSeas4120]

NY Times reported yesterday in a Triumph article that Oasis of the Seas had 1000 less life boat seats than the number of pax/crew on board. Does Carnival provide enough seats for everyone, including the crew, to evacuate a ship via life boat in case of emergency. If not, it's a scary situation given recent events. Need to feel safe on upcoming Breeze cruise.

 

Well it's true but not...

 

Life BOATS are mainly for pax...They have inflatable life RAFTS for the crew.

 

They are stored in these:

 

Here's one deployed from the Concordia:

[Sparky2]

NY Times reported yesterday in a Triumph article that Oasis of the Seas had 1000 less life boat seats than the number of pax/crew on board. Does Carnival provide enough seats for everyone, including the crew, to evacuate a ship via life boat in case of emergency. If not, it's a scary situation given recent events. Need to feel safe on upcoming Breeze cruise.

 

Yes, they do have enough for everyone on the ship. Each life boat holds 150 people - although I'd love to see that happen. Actually I wouldn't want to see that if it was a life threatening emergency, but it seems unbelievable that it would hold 150 peeps.

 

They have some wierd barrel type things on the same deck as lifeboats. These are for certain crew who know how to handle these barrels which open up to a life raft. This was explained to us when we did the ships Behind The Fun Tour.

 

PS - Guess I took too long editing as I was originally the first post after the OP.

[shof515]

the times article might be wrong. They are inflatable life rafts that open up when they touch water. Those are those white cylinders you see on the side of the ship sometimes stacked in 3

[hooforce]

Here's an article that shows how the barrel-type life rafts work. According to this article, it appears to be a very dangerous system. The way I understand it is that the real lifeboats are for the paying passengers. The life rafts are for the crew, but I could be wrong. Anyway, here's the article:

 

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2013/01/articles/sinking/titanic-redux-can-royal-caribbean-safely-evacuate-8500-passengers-crew-from-the-oasis-of-the-seas/

[gtalum]

NY Times reported yesterday in a Triumph article that Oasis of the Seas had 1000 less life boat seats than the number of pax/crew on board. Does Carnival provide enough seats for everyone, including the crew, to evacuate a ship via life boat in case of emergency. If not, it's a scary situation given recent events. Need to feel safe on upcoming Breeze cruise.

 

They have more than enough lifeboat seats for the passengers. Crew (except those running a lifeboat) use life rafts.

[garycarla]

I am guessing this is the article that was quoted. Or should I say was "mis-quoted" or out of context.

 

 

"... Oasis of the Seas is daunting. It carries enough lifeboats for 6,500 people; or 1,000 seats fewer than its maximum capacity.

 

A spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean, Cynthia Martinez, said that, if necessary, crew members would have to slide down emergency escape chutes into life rafts..."

[Tapi]

Oasis and Allure of the Seas had to get a series of special approvals in order to meet the requirements, but rest assured, there's a seat for everybody onboard!

 

• Oasis passenger capacity is 6,300
  
• They have enough lifeboats for 6,600
  
• Maritime regulations require that lifeboats have a maximum capacity of 150, however, Oasis/Allure got a special authorization. Their lifeboats have a maximum capacity of 370.
  
• As previously mentioned, the 2,200 crewmembers on Oasis/Allure are evacuated on life rafts using the Viking Dual Evacuation Chute system. Those are the white canisters that can be seen stacked along promenade decks on cruise ships (including Carnival).
  
• If Royal hadn't received the special authorizations for the bigger lifeboats and for the evacuation chutes, they would've needed to install 55 lifeboats, instead of the current 18. :eek:
  

 

Here's a video of how the chute system works:

[SadieN]

Yes, they do have enough for everyone on the ship. Each life boat holds 150 people - although I'd love to see that happen. Actually I wouldn't want to see that if it was a life threatening emergency, but it seems unbelievable that it would hold 150 peeps.

 

They have some wierd barrel type things on the same deck as lifeboats. These are for certain crew who know how to handle these barrels which open up to a life raft. This was explained to us when we did the ships Behind The Fun Tour.

 

PS - Guess I took too long editing as I was originally the first post after the OP.

 

On the wall opposite each lifeboat is a sign the total capacity for each lifeboat and the amount (written in grease pencil) for the cruise.

 

Some lifeboats actually have U U U U U U printed on the benches.

I think the size of the U is the width of a supermodel.

 

If the ship is sinking I won't care how crowded the lifeboat is.

[sanmarcosman]

They have more than enough lifeboat seats for the passengers. Crew (except those running a lifeboat) use life rafts.

 

So they say......;)

[maggieworkman]

Here's an article that shows how the barrel-type life rafts work. According to this article, it appears to be a very dangerous system. The way I understand it is that the real lifeboats are for the paying passengers. The life rafts are for the crew, but I could be wrong. Anyway, here's the article:

 

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2013/01/articles/sinking/titanic-redux-can-royal-caribbean-safely-evacuate-8500-passengers-crew-from-the-oasis-of-the-seas/

 

Wow! I watched the video of the chute and I don't think I would be able to do that!! But I guess if the boat is sinking, that would be incentive enough.

 

However, the guy/crew member who got stuck in the chute looked to be a normal size. I would hate to see what would happen with broader guys.

 

Maggie

[skittl1321]

I'm baffled how a ship evacuation would actually work.

 

Think about how long it takes stragglers to get to your muster station for the drill... How long in an actual emergency do they hold the life boat to from lowering to make sure every person who should be in it is? At some point, it is a danger to not get on and lower it. Where do the remaining people go? Is it realistic to think every lifeboat is lowered full?

 

What about situations where the ship is listed such that the boats CAN'T be lowered (didn't this happen on Concordia?) Where do those people go? IIRC, Concordia managed this by running shuttles since they were so close to shore, but is this realistic for an at-sea emergency? The Sea Diamond also was very near shore when it sunk- people were lowered on ropes, so they couldn't get into life boats for some reason.

 

I think cruising is safe, but I also think there is a huge chance for a disaster with the gigantic ships!

[SadieN]

The comment posted on Feb 11 2013 is food for thought.:eek:

[Tapi]

I think cruising is safe, but I also think there is a huge chance for a disaster with the gigantic ships!

 

There's a chance for disaster with any means of transportation, no matter the size, or whether it's a ship, a plane, a train. There can always be an accident catastrophic enough that, no matter how many precautions are taken, lives will be lost (harsh, but it's the sad reality).

[MsMot]

Ever since the Titanic sunk, it's required.

 

Someone should challenge the NYT on their stats.

 

You have a link to the article?

 

It is true. It was first reported by the blogger on cruiselawnews.com.

[skittl1321]

There's a chance for disaster with any means of transportation, no matter the size,

 

The chance of a catastrophic/huge disaster definetly increases with size. A gigantic ship could lose hundreds or thousands of lives. If I run my car into a tree, it is probably just going to kill me...

 

I feel the precautions taken by the giant ships (petitioning to get lifeboat capacity raised, for example) are not enough to justify me getting onto them.

 

 

Does anyone know how NCL Epic's lifeboat rating is? Do they use the 300 per lifeboat of Oasis/Allure?

[spencercoop]

The chance of a catastrophic/huge disaster definetly increases with size. A gigantic ship could lose hundreds or thousands of lives. If I run my car into a tree, it is probably just going to kill me...

 

I feel the precautions taken by the giant ships (petitioning to get lifeboat capacity raised, for example) are not enough to justify me getting onto them.

 

 

Does anyone know how NCL Epic's lifeboat rating is? Do they use the 300 per lifeboat of Oasis/Allure?

 

The Epic uses 267 seat and 293 seat lifeboats. The 267 seat are the lifeboat tenders and the 293 seat are just lifeboats.

 

The Epic and the Carnival Magic both use the same 293 seat lifeboats.

[Blurgh]

The comment posted on Feb 11 2013 is food for thought.:eek:

 

The Viking system is hilarious and frightening at the same time. I don't know what the point of an evacuation system is, when you'd have to roll a pile of broken bodies out of the way.

 

If I had to do that, I think I'd just wait for the boat to sink enough that I can safely jump into the water and then swim to the raft. :)

 

Expecting a boat evacuation to go to script is probably foolish. I think it would look more like a wrestling battle royal.

[nybumpkin]

That NY Times article had numerous errors (among others, labeling the Costa Allegra as the sister ship of Costa Concordia:rolleyes:). The article definitely inferred that the RCI ships do not have enough life rescue equipment when that is certainly not the case. And the crew is trained in working with the life rafts - I've watched them do drills.

[tallyho8]

Yes the lifeboats have enough capacity for all the passengers, but no, they don't have enough seats.

 

I have been in several of their lifeboats that serve as tenders and saw signs on them that read something like: Lifeboat capacity 150, tender capacity 120.

 

Meaning that when they tender they have enough seats for 120 people but in an emergency, it will hold 30 more but they must stand up.

[larkz]

The statistical likelihood of being on board a sinking ship is rather tiny, while the likelihood of wiping out in your car on the freeway, on your way to the ship, is a lot more worrisome. People always worry about the wrong things, ignoring emergency room and mortality stats.

 

Things that will most frequently result in an unnatural death -- such as automobile accidents, poor diet, substance abuse, falling from a ladder or down stairs or through plate glass windows, electrical shock, home fires, gun accidents, drownings, various diseases -- are pretty much avoidable. But rather than take simple, intelligent actions to prevent those things from occurring, we spend a great deal of effort freaking out about terrorists, murderers, carjackers, and whether our ship will sink on our next cruise.

 

None the less, I don't think there has been a situation where a large ship with thousands of passengers successfully evacuated into life boats while sinking, in modern times. And I doubt that it would happen without some pretty spectacular heroics from, say, a captain who had the courage and integrity to lead his crew through the process. As opposed to fleeing for his life...

[NoName]

I can't help but wonder how many "real" people would fit in a lifeboat....Obesity is a "growing" problem. Is this taken into consideration when computing how many people can fit in one lifeboat?

[Amy Giard]

I can't help but wonder how many "real" people would fit in a lifeboat....Obesity is a "growing" problem. Is this taken into consideration when computing how many people can fit in one lifeboat?

 

Not to worry... obese people NEVER cruise ;)