muster drills

[RuthC]

I also wonder about the folks who have reasons why they can’t get to their assigned lifeboats for the drill, due to mobility problems, high thresholds in the doorways, etc. What would they do in the case of a real emergency?

Depend on the kindness of strangers.

[dakrewser]

Unfortunately that is not true. It used to be taller people at the back, shorter in the front but even that does not hold true anymore.

 

Must be a recent (last couple of years) change, then, as the call was always "women and children to the front"...

[3rdGenCunarder]

Must be a recent (last couple of years) change, then, as the call was always "women and children to the front"...

 

Maybe it depends on the ship. But space is so tight on the S class ships that there's no way to shuffle people around. So as more people arrive, they just squish into the side of the group. On Veendam a few weeks ago, we did as the drill says, and stayed in our cabin until they called us to the muster station. We walk and navigate stairs pretty quickly, but we were among the last to arrive. I think a lot of people go to the muster stations early.

 

For some odd reason, our route took us out on deck two boats aft of our boat, even though there was a door right at our boat. It was hard work getting through the crowds to our own station. Anyone with a wheelchair or scooter would not have been able to fit through. Another reason why there should be an indoor muster station for people who need assistance or use a wheelchair or scooter.

[cbr663]

Must be a recent (last couple of years) change, then, as the call was always "women and children to the front"...

 

When we sailed out of Vancouver on the Volendam in 2014, we had to endure a very noisy muster drill while the ship was still being loaded. Upon arriving at our designated life boat, we were ordered, in a very loud and aggressive voice, to stand side by side, so many people deep. This was repeated every time someone new arrived and resulted in quite a bit of shuffling and an unpleasant experience. As more and more people arrived it quickly became apparent that the desired order was not possible.

 

Women and children were definitely not in the front and I can assure you that it was this shouting orders that prompted quite a few passengers to exclaim their displeasure with the treatment. Some passengers had no problem bluntly telling the crew member what they thought of him and leaving the muster drill to make a formal complaint.

 

It was the first time that I had ever experienced such a poor muster drill on HAL. I hope that it was an anomaly, and not an indication of things to come. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will not have a repeat of this episode on our upcoming cruise.