Muster stations

[grammax3]

I haven't read this entire thread, but I am wondering if you book separate cabins for your children, wouldn't it be best to book connecting cabins. I am speculating, don't know for sure, but isn't there a greater chance that these cabins would have the same muster station?

 

If I were on a ship with family, I wouldn't care what boat they were on, just so they were on a lifeboat. I'm sure arrangements would be made for us to meet up once we were safe.

[cruiser87654321]

I haven't read this entire thread, but I am wondering if you book separate cabins for your children, wouldn't it be best to book connecting cabins. I am speculating, don't know for sure, but isn't there a greater chance that these cabins would have the same muster station?

 

If I were on a ship with family, I wouldn't care what boat they were on, just so they were on a lifeboat. I'm sure arrangements would be made for us to meet up once we were safe.

 

A previous poster stated he had booked connecting cabins for himself and his wife and his daughter and her friend, and they were different muster stations. This was not on RCI, but he went to GS and they rectified the situation. On Royal they would not do this for me.

 

We are all different, I would hate to be split up from my family in an emergency. Many others feel the same, you don't and that is fine too. The information should be available for those that want it.

[Cindy]

Of course. But no one here is talking about breaking rules in the event of an emergency. Rather, the discussion here concerns obtaining information ahead of time, when the cruise is being booked.

 

There have actually been several people who stated they would break the rules in an actual emergency.:( If this discussion ONLY concerned obtaining information ahead of time it wouldn't be anywhere near as controversial as it's become.

[NJcruisenewbie]

Of course. But no one here is talking about breaking rules in the event of an emergency. Rather, the discussion here concerns obtaining information ahead of time, when the cruise is being booked.

 

Actually several people are talking about doing just that.

[wingatesl]

just out of curiosity how many cabins are there in just the RCI universe and how many cabin industry wide? I worked in IT for 40+ years and the 'easy' stuff was what always bit us in the butt.

 

The easy stuff is always what bites you!

 

I have an idea...I am not sure how to execute it though. I will give space on my servers to host a site that covers this specific information. How would we collect it? Best case scenario is someone gets a spreadsheet of data and we just import

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[time4u2go]

There are web sites where people have input reviews about cabins on various cruise ships. Perhaps those websites could add a "muster station" entry for reviewers to put that information if they choose to (and if they know it!). It would obviously take a while for there to be any meaningful amount of this information, but it could be a start.

[EmJakeBubbie]

I never considered "different muster stations" when traveling with family and friends.

Thought-provoking.

Would be nice to see the station number relating to the cabin #

[Cindy]

The easy stuff is always what bites you!

 

I have an idea...I am not sure how to execute it though. I will give space on my servers to host a site that covers this specific information. How would we collect it? Best case scenario is someone gets a spreadsheet of data and we just import

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Those of us who are hoarders and save all our sea pass cards have muster station information readily available!:D I have information for 16 cabins on four different lines that I'd be willing to share!

[Brandonclan]

There are web sites where people have input reviews about cabins on various cruise ships. Perhaps those websites could add a "muster station" entry for reviewers to put that information if they choose to (and if they know it!). It would obviously take a while for there to be any meaningful amount of this information, but it could be a start.

 

Those of us who are hoarders and save all our sea pass cards have muster station information readily available!:D I have information for 16 cabins on four different lines that I'd be willing to share!

 

 

Like I said....possibilities!!! :)

This is how changes happen, with people, disscussing problems and possible solutions.

I agree, someone has to document the info. Would be nice if we could just get RCI and others to realize it's needed, and have them give someone the complete info to publish.... or put it on thier site is best!

[cruiser87654321]

Thank you to those who are interested in trying to find ways of getting this info together. If we can have a spreadsheet of desirable cabins which contains lots of detail, which we do on certain boards ( sun at what time of day, soot on balcony, bath etc) then it would just be another column to fill, and arguably contain more important information than some of those details.

 

Perhaps a sticky on each board asking for the info to be included in their trip reports would work?

[sunnysavannah]

Before this thread, I'd never even thought about the possibility of parties (in cabins right beside each other) could be separated at muster stations.

 

If my DH & I take our 2 children and book two adjoining cabins,

- even if DH is on one reservation with one child and I am on another with the other child,

- even if we actually intended to sleep that way,

- even if there is no need for us to go to our muster stations outside of the drill,

I would want to be in the same muster station with my family.

 

If it didn't work out that way, we could deal with it. If there was an emergency, safety would come first. However, in all of my planning and strategizing to get the cabin that will be best for our family, I would certainly like to know this information and possibly avoid the situation altogether.

 

I would assume that connecting cabins go to the same muster station. Would that be incorrect?

[cruiser87654321]

Before this thread, I'd never even thought about the possibility of parties (in cabins right beside each other) could be separated at muster stations.

 

If my DH & I take our 2 children and book two adjoining cabins,

- even if DH is on one reservation with one child and I am on another with the other child,

- even if we actually intended to sleep that way,

- even if there is no need for us to go to our muster stations outside of the drill,

I would want to be in the same muster station with my family.

 

If it didn't work out that way, we could deal with it. If there was an emergency, safety would come first. However, in all of my planning and strategizing to get the cabin that will be best for our family, I would certainly like to know this information and possibly avoid the situation altogether.

 

I would assume that connecting cabins go to the same muster station. Would that be incorrect?

 

 

I can't speak from personal experience our cabins on RCI were adjacent when we had the issue come up. However, there is a post further up the thread from someone with connecting cabins on another line who had the same issue. The other line sorted it out for him, RCI said they could not help us.

[Ocean Boy]

Those of us who are hoarders and save all our sea pass cards have muster station information readily available!:D I have information for 16 cabins on four different lines that I'd be willing to share!

 

I have all of my seapasses too. I never considered before that I might be a hoarder!:eek::D

[Cindy]

I have all of my seapasses too. I never considered before that I might be a hoarder!:eek::D

 

I probably should have put a ;) next to hoarder!:D

I have all my passes in a hand-carved wood bowl I bought in Belize on a cruise. My goal is for the bowl to be overflowing with cards!:)

[sandravb79]

again, all the passageways associated with either your lb or muster station/location will be staffed by crew directing you if either of these cannot be reached.

 

That is theory.

Costa Concordia showed us that in reality, that is not always the case.

 

 

The different ships have the information about which muster station goes with which room, since they print it on your Seapass card.

So, plan of action for RCCL:

- Collect the data from their different ships.

- Make (nice) list with room + muster station, save in pdf

- Put a link to said pdf on website.

There. Not as fancy as dotted lines on maps etc, but very easy to do.

And yes, I do work in IT (IT consultant), I have worked for small, big and huge clients, so I know that that is not that difficult to do. Will probably take longer to write the proposal in the right template and obtain the approvals than actually doing the work.

 

Other than that, yes, individual people could also put their information together and come up with a list. When I see what other information is gathered, this could easily be added to those lists.

Mariner of the Seas, room 6238, muster station A3 (Lotus Lounge)

[texasgirl73]

I am glad this thread has taken in a posite direction :). It's too late for me, my cruise is 17 days away so switching cabins isn't a possibility right now. My current plan of action is to hope that we are all in the same muster station (good chance we will be) and if not to discuss the situation with RCL staff to come up with a proper solution (whether it's switching cabins around, people around, or anything else they can think of.)

[cruiser87654321]

I am glad this thread has taken in a posite direction :). It's too late for me, my cruise is 17 days away so switching cabins isn't a possibility right now. My current plan of action is to hope that we are all in the same muster station (good chance we will be) and if not to discuss the situation with RCL staff to come up with a proper solution (whether it's switching cabins around, people around, or anything else they can think of.)

 

I hope it works out for you.

 

I wonder if it is the case that muster station changes are the same on each deck? Our two cabins were on the end of a run and the one a different station was the end cabin. So, perhaps if your cabins are all togther in the centre of a block you may be fine.

,

[gaylemh]

My last cruise I was having trouble with my back, and couldn't stand for long periods. I emailed the ship to ask which cabins had inside musters. It took awhile, but I did get a response.

 

If it helps anyone, on Explorer, 9630-9658, 9330-9358, 1630-1654, 1330-1354 are all in the MDR, unless something has changed.

[cruiser87654321]

My last cruise I was having trouble with my back, and couldn't stand for long periods. I emailed the ship to ask which cabins had inside musters. It took awhile, but I did get a response.

 

If it helps anyone, on Explorer, 9630-9658, 9330-9358, 1630-1654, 1330-1354 are all in the MDR, unless something has changed.

 

Thank you for that, very useful.

 

So, this shows that the information is out there it just needs collating by RCI and attaching to deck plans.

[KBD1516]

I too have many sea pass cards. I keep them as my "best" souvenir ! Never occurred to me they could be useful. But some how a list (an excel file?) would have to be created for each ship, then it would need to be available In a public area of CC for passengers to input their data. Someone suggested a stickie, but how does that happen?

 

Does anyone know how a passenger or a group would go about putting in a formal request to RCI to ask that such a list be created and made available? I think there might be a lot of bureaucratic stuff that would have to happen first.

 

As you can tell, I haven't a clue where to begin. But I would really like to know about deck 3 of the Brilliance OTS for our family cruise at thanksgiving

[cruiser87654321]

Perhaps it would be an idea if everyone who is concerned sent an email to a senior person asking for this info to be made available?

 

Perhaps we could create a new thread so that those who wish to do this could obtain the ( same) address and post when they have done it, so that we can get an idea of the numbers of people who would like this info.

 

What we need now is the most likely address to secure a result. Done now whilst the Grandeur is fresh in the minds of the execs it may elicit the hoped for response.

 

Does anyone have a suggestion of the best email address to use? Once we have that we can set the thread up and take it from there.

[nmuller328]

Having just gotten off of the GOS- I will tell you it is very unsettling when your group is not at the same muster station. We were a family of 21 in 10 rooms on deck 3 - 5 outside rooms, 5 interior rooms. 4 of the outside rooms were in muster station 5- the remaining 6 rooms were in muster 3. Thankfully my sister was on the outside room that was in station 3- so she was not separated from her children (all teens) and I was glad to know she was with our adult children as well. But when you see the lifeboats drop- you really need the visual of seeing your children/family get in the boat. Though our stations were next to each other- and 150 people in each station- it's hard to even make sure all are in your station- never mind next door. Having faith in the system that everyone is accounted for- and the crew did a great job- but getting the chance to see you loved ones safe is all you want. It wasn't til afterwards I found out that my daughter in law fainted from being pushed in close- though she was ok. After 3 hrs - our muster supervisor accompanied me to the other station- just so I could do the visual. I can't say enough of how thankful I was to the crew- they opened cabins up to make sure all were awake- they doubled and tripled checked to make sure all were out, they treated everyone with respect. Now I don't understand why muster station info isn't available- it must be fairly consistent as the life jackets in the room even have the number on it as well as the door- but I will do my best when booking more than one room- that everyone in the group is in the same station. Just to keep some of the anxiety down.

[cruiser87654321]

Having just gotten off of the GOS- I will tell you it is very unsettling when your group is not at the same muster station. We were a family of 21 in 10 rooms on deck 3 - 5 outside rooms, 5 interior rooms. 4 of the outside rooms were in muster station 5- the remaining 6 rooms were in muster 3. Thankfully my sister was on the outside room that was in station 3- so she was not separated from her children (all teens) and I was glad to know she was with our adult children as well. But when you see the lifeboats drop- you really need the visual of seeing your children/family get in the boat. Though our stations were next to each other- and 150 people in each station- it's hard to even make sure all are in your station- never mind next door. Having faith in the system that everyone is accounted for- and the crew did a great job- but getting the chance to see you loved ones safe is all you want. It wasn't til afterwards I found out that my daughter in law fainted from being pushed in close- though she was ok. After 3 hrs - our muster supervisor accompanied me to the other station- just so I could do the visual. I can't say enough of how thankful I was to the crew- they opened cabins up to make sure all were awake- they doubled and tripled checked to make sure all were out, they treated everyone with respect. Now I don't understand why muster station info isn't available- it must be fairly consistent as the life jackets in the room even have the number on it as well as the door- but I will do my best when booking more than one room- that everyone in the group is in the same station. Just to keep some of the anxiety down.

 

Thank you for sharing your story. I am so glad it worked out for you and for everyone and that all were safe and sound.

 

I think your account illustrates very well why some people want the upfront knowledge of which muster station goes with which cabin.

[amzgirl]

Wow, did I learn my muster station lesson on my last cruise. We booked my husband and I in a balcony and grandma and the kids in an inside a few doors down, and were quite surprised to be assigned different stations, it didn't even cross my mind they would separate parties. Grandma has COPD and my son is autistic, she didn't think she could safely handle him in an emergency situation or at muster drill. We had requested an alternate muster because of our son, but it somehow didn't happen. Fortunately we took the bull by the horns and spoke to guest services, we ended up checking in at the outdoor muster and waiting in a special needs area in a lounge just inside. I felt quite guilty at the time seeing everyone outside, but hearing about waiting two or three hours has cured me of that. Grandma would not have been able to make it and my son would have spun out of control being cooped up with all those people for an hour, let alone three.

 

I really wonder how some of the elderly and young children did during the Grandeur situation, it must have been quite a challenge.

[joepeka]

Perhaps it would be an idea if everyone who is concerned sent an email to a senior person asking for this info to be made available?

 

Perhaps we could create a new thread so that those who wish to do this could obtain the ( same) address and post when they have done it, so that we can get an idea of the numbers of people who would like this info.

 

What we need now is the most likely address to secure a result. Done now whilst the Grandeur is fresh in the minds of the execs it may elicit the hoped for response.

 

Does anyone have a suggestion of the best email address to use? Once we have that we can set the thread up and take it from there.

I am new to RCI but after spending a fair amount of time on this board over the last six weeks, it seems like people recommend Adam Goldstein a lot when it comes to sending emails of concern or thanks. Perhaps an introductory email to him requesting that he or his staff direct it to the appropriate department? :confused: