Glory 4-29-17 Longest muster drill ever!

[jayscore]

I admit, muster drills are necessary, but, our drill on the Glory was the longest ever!

The latest head count system seemed fair enough until a few passengers were a no-show. The crew then went to check the S&S of the offending cabin members to see who might be missing.

I get it, but, if a guest isn't capable to do the drill, make it known right away, lest they be known as a pariah the rest of the cruise.

Okay, I'm off my soap box now!;)

[impeccablekaos]

Greeeeeeeeeeeat sailing on Glory on Saturday. Really hope it goes more smoothly this weekend as it's already going to be difficult keeping my 2 year old entertained and quiet as it is, let alone in a giant smushed group of people.

[firemanbobswife]

So Glory now scans the S&S cards?

[Cruiseman38]

It was like that for us last year on Glory. Muster was over 50 minutes. Longest muster ever.

[lazydayz]

Agreed. It was miserable. Why the Glory staff thinks it is ok to make people stand outside 45+ minutes is beyond me. They need to fix this system.

 

And the "penalty" for missing the main muster drill was to report to the Green Room afterwards and have your muster drill there.

[gigito2]

Agreed. It was miserable. Why the Glory staff thinks it is ok to make people stand outside 45+ minutes is beyond me. They need to fix this system.

 

And the "penalty" for missing the main muster drill was to report to the Green Room afterwards and have your muster drill there.

 

WHAT???? I would have been furious with those deadbeats!

[jdemps]

It was like that for us last year on Glory. Muster was over 50 minutes. Longest muster ever.

 

Last December on Imagination, it was a solid 45 minutes! and everyone seemed clueless as to what was going on - didn't make us feel very safe if something really did happen. :(

[maldenmusic]

Last July on the Triumph, our drill lasted 45 minutes while they tried to round up the no shows and count and recount passengers. The heat index was 115 (I had the Weather channel on my phone) and several elderly passengers had to be helped off and taken inside due to the heat. Pretty miserable.

[moongal]

This is completely unacceptable. As I stated in the thread I started on this very matter, it gives me a panic attack being smushed in so close in the unbearable heat (summer in Texas in my case)

 

Some of the advice I was given was to just show up as late as possible and that was going to be my plan, but I think that is why these things are lasting an eternity. Everyone now is thinking the same thing. Why rush to muster drill only to be smushed in the very back with even less air and more heat and bodies in front and around. So more and more people are meandering there as late as possible which is making it last longer and longer as they try to round up the late comers. I have been wrestling with this as I don't think it is fair to anyone. Not the people who report immediately as requested, they wind up standing there the longest and not fair to people like me who have panic disorders or health problems that preclude them standing a long time in the heat so they are forced to make choice between self preservation or doing the right thing and going right away.

 

Something needs to be done about this. I truly see no point in the drill as it is executed at this time. Even the employees running the drill seem like they don't know what to do.

 

I don't have any expectations that if a true disaster were to take place that anything but pure chaos would be the scenario that would play out no matter how long or efficient any "drill" might be. We have become too uncivilized in general as a society to hope that any abandon ship event would be done in a calm organized manner.

 

Just do away with the drill ( lol I know that would involve changing laws etc so probably won't happen in my lifetime) but at least make it easier. I feel like I would learn a lot more if I watched a "drill" on my cabin tv.

 

Perhaps if we all revolt and say "no more" we can make changes.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[ostrich1973]

They should do the drill by decks as opposed to everyone at one time maybe then it wouldn't be so long and chaotic. They need to break it up more to be more efficient and move things along quicker.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Forums mobile app

[Brad1972]

Every muster station has a certain number of passengers assigned to it. Initially they usually do a simple head count. if they dont have the number they're supposed to then they scan cards to see who's missing then go on search to find those missing people. I thought I remember hearing on our last muster drill when they were talking to us something about all passengers are required to be present for the muster drill and muster drills are required by coast guard rules or international coast guard rules or something like that. Passengers dont show up then they cant start the drill untill they are found. I also remember seeing in a notice or fun times maybe or just a posting in the stateroom that if you try to avoid attending muster drill you could be removed from the ship.

[firemanbobswife]

Every muster station has a certain number of passengers assigned to it. Initially they usually do a simple head count. if they dont have the number they're supposed to then they scan cards to see who's missing then go on search to find those missing people. I thought I remember hearing on our last muster drill when they were talking to us something about all passengers are required to be present for the muster drill and muster drills are required by coast guard rules or international coast guard rules or something like that. Passengers dont show up then they cant start the drill untill they are found. I also remember seeing in a notice or fun times maybe or just a posting in the stateroom that if you try to avoid attending muster drill you could be removed from the ship.

 

 

I have never seen this. They either scan the cards at the beginning with iPads (like on Vista) or they have the guy walk through with the little counter thing. That is no way that's accurate IMHO because people are staggered all over. Some shorter people get lost in the crowd. Sure it may give a general idea, but no one can tell me they have any idea how many are missing. And I have yet to see them have any type of way of scanning cards on ships without the iPads unless they are going to haul the A-Pass machines up to the muster deck or make everyone go down there. I haven't heard or seen this on any ship much less a Carnival one in all my sailings.

[moongal]

The thing is, if the other cruise lines or even some of the Carnival ships such as the Magic are able to conduct their muster drills in relative comfort in seated climate controlled rooms then why not on all ships? It makes no sense why some are subjected to standing in airless summer heat packed like sardines and others are able to conduct the same drill in seated air conditioned comfort. I don't think the law says it has to be held in front of the life boats or else all ships would conduct the drills in the exact same manner.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Brad1972]

I have never seen this. They either scan the cards at the beginning with iPads (like on Vista) or they have the guy walk through with the little counter thing. That is no way that's accurate IMHO because people are staggered all over. Some shorter people get lost in the crowd. Sure it may give a general idea, but no one can tell me they have any idea how many are missing. And I have yet to see them have any type of way of scanning cards on ships without the iPads unless they are going to haul the A-Pass machines up to the muster deck or make everyone go down there. I haven't heard or seen this on any ship much less a Carnival one in all my sailings.

 

You've never seen what? Assigned muster stations? A staff member walking through the crowd counting heads instead at each muster station? I did say this. People staggered all over as in what? People just going to any muster station they want? I don't get it by saying you have never seen this or that is no way that's accurate. What's not accurate of what I said? All of it? You've done way more cruise then me and know that everyone has their muster station printed on their card and told that's the muster station they are to report too during the drill. So I don't get it when you say no way that's accurate IMHO or never seen this? I mearly stated the procedure they did on my last cruise. Each passenger goes to their assign station, someone came through and did a simple head count and IMHO if they didn't have the head count that's assign to that station then they scan cards to see who's missing. I don't know what they used to scan my card, but was just a simple hand held bar code scanner. I didn't look at it closely to see if it was an iPad, PDA or something like a scan tool. But they did not scan our cards until after they walked through and did a simple head count. I'm just stating what I saw and our experience on our last cruise on Splendor. Maybe on Vista they scan as you arrive to your station, I've never been on Vista. Splendor they didn't. Each ship does things differently.

[firemanbobswife]

You've never seen what? Assigned muster stations? A staff member walking through the crowd counting heads instead at each muster station? I did say this. People staggered all over as in what? People just going to any muster station they want? I don't get it by saying you have never seen this or that is no way that's accurate. What's not accurate of what I said? All of it? You've done way more cruise then me and know that everyone has their muster station printed on their card and told that's the muster station they are to report too during the drill. So I don't get it when you say no way that's accurate IMHO or never seen this? I mearly stated the procedure they did on my last cruise. Each passenger goes to their assign station, someone came through and did a simple head count and IMHO if they didn't have the head count that's assign to that station then they scan cards to see who's missing. I don't know what they used to scan my card, but was just a simple hand held bar code scanner. I didn't look at it closely to see if it was an iPad, PDA or something like a scan tool. But they did not scan our cards until after they walked through and did a simple head count. I'm just stating what I saw and our experience on our last cruise on Splendor. Maybe on Vista they scan as you arrive to your station, I've never been on Vista. Splendor they didn't. Each ship does things differently.

 

What I have never seen is them having everyone line up outside, do a manual count, and then scan cards. They either scanned them as you entered the muster station or only did the head count with the little thumb counter thing.

 

What I think is inaccurate is the hand held counter things. They seem to blindly stare at random people and just keep clicking away the little counter. I did not say people go to random muster stations. What I meant by people staggered all over is while they are lined up. they are really in no orderly fashion. It's not like everyone is in an assigned number spot and people don't necessarily stay 3 rows deep, they tend to migrate all over making a manual count extremely difficult.

 

So just to clarify, I absolutely have been to every muster drill at my assigned muster station. They either do a manual (inaccurate count IMHO) or scan cards upon entering assigned muster station. I have never seen them do both. If they are going to scan cards, I would think it would be easier at the beginning instead of making people wait while they do both. Hope this clarifies things for you. That is all.

[Organized Chaos]

Just do away with the drill ( lol I know that would involve changing laws etc so probably won't happen in my lifetime) but at least make it easier. I feel like I would learn a lot more if I watched a "drill" on my cabin tv.

 

Perhaps if we all revolt and say "no more" we can make changes.

First off, I'm not defending the poor state of some of the muster drills. We went on our first cruise last year (Conquest, sister ship to Glory) and the muster drill was miserable. We were good little passengers and got there right after being called. Which meant we were near the back of the pack, standing there in the extreme heat with no air flow, surrounded by a whole lot of body heat. But until I read others' accounts online afterwards, we thought that was normal. Now we know it was longer than what others have experienced.

 

You can't do away with them because they're required by law. And that law is never going to change. If they simply let passengers watch a short video on their cabin tv, no one will actually watch it. With that said, something should be done to make them run more smoothly and efficiently. They've been doing it long enough that I think it's a reasonable request. We're going to be on the Glory in June '18 and I keep reading about muster drill horror stories aboard Glory. Not just from this recent sailing, but I've read others since we booked. It seems like they have a hard time getting it together.

 

The thing is, if the other cruise lines or even some of the Carnival ships such as the Magic are able to conduct their muster drills in relative comfort in seated climate controlled rooms then why not on all ships? It makes no sense why some are subjected to standing in airless summer heat packed like sardines and others are able to conduct the same drill in seated air conditioned comfort. I don't think the law says it has to be held in front of the life boats or else all ships would conduct the drills in the exact same manner.

We just went on our first cruise last year and we stood outside by our lifeboat. Up until recently when I read otherwise on here, I thought it was like that for everyone. To be honest, I don't understand why they would hold muster drills for some passenger inside. For example, in the main lounge or MDR. I thought part of it was to show you where your assigned lifeboat is. If your drill is held inside, and a real emergency happens, many of those people are going to be running around like chickens with their heads cut off not knowing where to go. Sure, your muster station is on your S&S card, but if you don't know where it is, it doesn't do you much good.

[mrsfuzzmo]

I've been on many cruises where...at muster...they call out your cabin number and you let them know if all your cabin guests are there or not. It hasn't been in the past few years, but it has happened.

 

On the Vista in Feb, they just scanned our cards as we walked into the dining room. Once everyone was accounted for.....or unaccounted for, they called the missing peoples names over...and over.....and over again for almost 30 minutes. Finally they released us.

[Brad1972]

What I have never seen is them having everyone line up outside, do a manual count, and then scan cards. They either scanned them as you entered the muster station or only did the head count with the little thumb counter thing.

 

What I think is inaccurate is the hand held counter things. They seem to blindly stare at random people and just keep clicking away the little counter. I did not say people go to random muster stations. What I meant by people staggered all over is while they are lined up. they are really in no orderly fashion. It's not like everyone is in an assigned number spot and people don't necessarily stay 3 rows deep, they tend to migrate all over making a manual count extremely difficult.

 

So just to clarify, I absolutely have been to every muster drill at my assigned muster station. They either do a manual (inaccurate count IMHO) or scan cards upon entering assigned muster station. I have never seen them do both. If they are going to scan cards, I would think it would be easier at the beginning instead of making people wait while they do both. Hope this clarifies things for you. That is all.

 

Ah ok, that does clarify now what you meant.

 

The muster station on Splendor they did say as we where arriving that people with small children and height challenged people (I swear that's the words they used, lol) please stand in front and make 3 rows deep against the wall to make head counting easier. Then a guy that came through after was just clicking that hand counter just as fast as he could and I thought to myself, what if he messes up, clicks too fast and has to start over? Lol. After he was done he yelled out a number to another staff member. 10 minutes later some came through and said please have your cards out and ready to be scanned. That's when they had another person with like a PDA or scan tool scan the bar code on the cards. And again I thought why didn't they just did this first go around? But they finished pretty quickly and 10 minutes later they began the speech of what to do in an emergency. I had already been told by a friend who has been on many Carnival cruises that if everyone doesn't show up then they don't even start the drill until everyone is present so don't try to skip out on it or it holds everything up. After experiencing it on Splendor I kind of thought it was a little organized but not. After as many times the staff does this they'd have more of the kinks worked out like counting. They did tell us a couple times before starting the drill that no cell phone use or electronic device use is allowed or talking to others during the drill. Your full attention on an what the staff members are showing you and telling you is what you need to be focused on. They weren't afraid to say if you are caught using your phone during the drill they will confiscate your phone and you can pick it up from guest services later and then they would start over with the drill. Lol. Ok they mean business. pay attention your life depends on it. They said this many times also. At least made it clear they want you to pay attention. Wrightfully so too. The ones that didn't pay attention are the ones who get hurt or cause problems in a real emergency because they don't know what to do.

[SheehanDJ]

We just went on our first cruise last year and we stood outside by our lifeboat. Up until recently when I read otherwise on here, I thought it was like that for everyone. To be honest, I don't understand why they would hold muster drills for some passenger inside. For example, in the main lounge or MDR. I thought part of it was to show you where your assigned lifeboat is. If your drill is held inside, and a real emergency happens, many of those people are going to be running around like chickens with their heads cut off not knowing where to go. Sure, your muster station is on your S&S card, but if you don't know where it is, it doesn't do you much good.

 

If you muster station is in a lounge, that is where you would go in an emergency. In a real emergency you would go to said lounge then you would be taken to either a boat or a raft depending upon what was going on.

[SheehanDJ]

Though I have seen poorly ran life boat drills, the delays aren't really caused by the cruise lines. They are caused by passengers that are delaying going to them because they don't want to wait outside or passengers who try to hide out to avoid them.

 

With today's technology there is a real simple fix to this, if they are late or hiding don't wait for them, turn off their cards. When they can't buy a drink or get in their cabins they will go to guest services. Then they can sit them in a room until everyone that missed it is present, lecture them, make the group go to each muster station that may be represented in the missed group and do the drill each time. Once the whole group is done they can go back to the initial room to get their cards turned back on.

 

With no penalties to the offenders only those of us who show up on time are the ones punished. My wife and I get there early, we would rather have a wall to lean against than just stand there.

[Drose716]

That's simply not acceptable. I am onboard 10000% with checking who has attended. However, at some very reasonable point, you have to call no-show & make the derelicts attend at an inconvenient time.

 

I have issues with lower blood pressure and fainting. It's nothing too terrible. It takes extreme circumstances for it to be a problem. In October in Miami with the heat in the 90s & lots of people in a small space & little air... I fainted, I fainted a few minutes into the drill. In front of hundreds of people. My poor kids caught me as I fell. My pre-teen daughter was crying hysterical when I came to. Terrifying for my kids & humiliating for me. Because others couldn't just be on time.

 

I am not even 30 & mostly healthy & waiting in the heat for passengers with no respect ended badly for me. I feel real bad for others with more extreme conditions having to wait. Start without 'em & make them pay later.

[RWolver672]

If on a ship that's scanning cards, I'm wondering what happens if a passenger doesn't have their cards on them. I realize that most people always do have their cards on them but what would happen if they didn't.

 

 

One of the biggest problems we've seen is waiting for the people to show up that had to have that one last drink, one last lap in the pool, one last burger or whatever.

[chengkp75]

They should do the drill by decks as opposed to everyone at one time maybe then it wouldn't be so long and chaotic. They need to break it up more to be more efficient and move things along quicker.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Forums mobile app

 

The thing is, if the other cruise lines or even some of the Carnival ships such as the Magic are able to conduct their muster drills in relative comfort in seated climate controlled rooms then why not on all ships? It makes no sense why some are subjected to standing in airless summer heat packed like sardines and others are able to conduct the same drill in seated air conditioned comfort. I don't think the law says it has to be held in front of the life boats or else all ships would conduct the drills in the exact same manner.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Couple of points.

 

SOLAS requirements are that the muster station be as close to the boats as practicable. This means on deck, provided the space on deck by the boats is sufficient for the number of people mustering there, and for safe walkways past the muster station. Newer ships have decreased the size of the outer decks (which are not revenue generating spaces) in order to maximize the interior spaces (revenue generating) to the point where you could not have enough space to hold all the people mustering and still have room for personnel to pass by. Therefore, those ships have muster stations indoors. These spaces are not randomly selected, and not all public spaces are acceptable. There must be studies done using crowd and crisis management paradigm software to determine if the indoor space has sufficient volume, ingress and egress, and is close enough to the boats, as well as having lifejacket lockers installed in them. This is why you will not see older ships changing to indoor muster stations, it would cost too much to do the crowd dynamics studies and equip the spaces.

 

As to why not do it by deck, and break it up into smaller segments, which would take longer overall, just not for each group? Remember, the crew who are running the musters have other jobs to do onboard, and the longer you take them away from those jobs, the less service the passengers get. Also, the passenger muster drill is just as much training for the crew as it is for the passengers. This is the only time the crew actually can train in handling large, unruly crowds of people, so it is a learning experience for them at the same time as you. Breaking into smaller groups would only dilute their exposure to what is a real situation. Remember, the key to training is to train as close to reality as possible.

[shof515]

If on a ship that's scanning cards, I'm wondering what happens if a passenger doesn't have their cards on them. I realize that most people always do have their cards on them but what would happen if they didn't.

you tell the staff the cabin number instead. on the vista my card had issues with their ipad thing so he can to manually enter in my cabin number.

[oxymoron11]

chengkp75,

Thank you for the great explanation of why some ships can do the muster inside. You always have the best replies!