A New Style Muster Drill

[zqvol]

Found this article from CC about how RCCL is going to do muster drills. What are your thoughts?

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5482/

[hallux]

 

[DCGuy64]

21 minutes ago, zqvol said:

Found this article from CC about how RCCL is going to do muster drills. What are your thoughts?

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5482/

Love it!

 

[roger001]

The muster drill is for about 90% of the attendees only a "meets requirements" event.   Very few are actually paying any attention.  So guess how it is done doesn't really matter.  

[donnajoedoc]

What's not to like.  It sounds like a great solution.  I'm looking forward to getting an opportunity to experience the process.

 

[PelicanBill]

The only risk is adults put it on the TV and don't really pay attention. But then, how many pay attention now? No difference! All for turning the crowded venue and awful elevator wait or stair climb into a relic.

 

But I want my life jacket in my cabin. So I can choose when to put it on.  Watch the video of Royal Viking and that's why.

 

[Vyhanek]

2 hours ago, roger001 said:

The muster drill is for about 90% of the attendees only a "meets requirements" event.   Very few are actually paying any attention.  So guess how it is done doesn't really matter.  

No, its more than that.  

 

Its that 100% of passengers know where to go to get the lifeboats because they have physically walked into that room.    Yes sure you're right,  they aren't paying attention about how to put on a life jacket or what the alarm sounds like, but its the act of physically arriving in the theater,  when there is an emergency.    That's the important part and the part they remember.

[DCGuy64]

FYI people who use RCCL's eMuster will STILL have to physically report to their muster station and answer questions of a staff member before they're cleared to go. I hope others aren't assuming it's just a matter of watching (or ignoring) a TV presentation and you're done. And I like how you can use the ship's Wifi for free in order to use the smartphone app. 😃

[don't-use-real-name]

On most ships (cruise lines) there is an in house TV channel repetitively playing the safety information -

 

AND

 

as posted does anyone actually pay attention to it or even at the muster drill ?

 

A gimmick that could be used to increase the attendance at the muster drill is a drawing/lottery of sorts

awarding prizes or even a free next cruise from those that make an appearance and register at the drill.

Non-attendance - NO Prize.

 

I hear and read about Make-Up muster drills - BUT - do they actually happen ?

What kind of restrictions or penalties are applied for missing -

a slap on the wrist -

no shore excursions for your non compliance -

restricted to ship -

reprimand from the Captain -

washing dishes in the Galley for the rest of the cruise ?  LOL !

 

So when that emergency time comes and you did not comply -

Don't stand in the way of those that did !

Maybe reservations in for the Life Boat maybe the answer.

 

Seriously folks - it is only about your life - RSVP is not an option !

[Gershep]

I wonder how long the line is going to be to check in to your muster location after watching the video. Don't won't to be waiting for hours.

[DCGuy64]

16 hours ago, Gershep said:

I wonder how long the line is going to be to check in to your muster location after watching the video. Don't won't to be waiting for hours.

There will be a four-hour window in which to do that. Assuming that ships aren't sailing at full capacity (at least to start with), it should be pretty easy to do. I'd probably go early just in case everybody else waits until the last minute.

[zqvol]

3 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

There will be a four-hour window in which to do that. Assuming that ships aren't sailing at full capacity (at least to start with), it should be pretty easy to do. I'd probably go early just in case everybody else waits until the last minute.

Currently they can check everyone into a single muster station in less than 15 minutes, even assuming it takes twice as long that is only 30 minutes, and as I read the information there will be someone there to check you into the station from the time boarding begins until sailaway. I don't foresee any problems with this unless people procrastinate.

[Georgia_Peaches]

Guess I'm more of a rule follower because I always pay attention to the muster drill.  Have been in some situations where it's hard to hear/see the presentation but still try to listen.

 

As for the muster station location...I've always wondered how many people actually show up to their assigned muster station in the event of a real emergency.  Costa Concordia comes to mind.  Did those people report to their muster station or the nearest life boat they could find?  

 

As for the new muster method, I'm totally on board with the changes...long over due IMO.

[farmersfight]

30 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

As for the muster station location...I've always wondered how many people actually show up to their assigned muster station in the event of a real emergency.  Costa Concordia comes to mind.  Did those people report to their muster station or the nearest life boat they could find?  

 

My $$ is on the latter. And the old adage "women and children first" was probably thrown out the window. More like "every man for himself". Even the captain of the Costa Concordia was one of the first to get into a lifeboat and make it to shore. When interviewed afterward, the captain said "he tripped" into the lifeboat. Coward (and liar).

[DCGuy64]

51 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Guess I'm more of a rule follower because I always pay attention to the muster drill.  Have been in some situations where it's hard to hear/see the presentation but still try to listen.

 

As for the muster station location...I've always wondered how many people actually show up to their assigned muster station in the event of a real emergency.  Costa Concordia comes to mind.  Did those people report to their muster station or the nearest life boat they could find?  

 

As for the new muster method, I'm totally on board with the changes...long over due IMO.

When we took our honeymoon cruise on the Costa Pacifica, it was a scant 9 months after the Concordia disaster. You can bet your bottom they did the muster drill VERY thoroughly and in 5 languages! They learned their lesson.

[crystalaziza]

what ever it takes to get cruising again, I'm in!!!! Except for a vaccine.

 

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, crystalaziza said:

what ever it takes to get cruising again, I'm in!!!! Except for a vaccine.

 

If a vaccine becomes available, I wouldn't be one bit surprised if proof of having been vaccinated is part of the pre-boarding check in process.  We will see, I guess. 

[sanger727]

On 7/28/2020 at 3:00 PM, don't-use-real-name said:

On most ships (cruise lines) there is an in house TV channel repetitively playing the safety information -

 

AND

 

as posted does anyone actually pay attention to it or even at the muster drill ?

 

A gimmick that could be used to increase the attendance at the muster drill is a drawing/lottery of sorts

awarding prizes or even a free next cruise from those that make an appearance and register at the drill.

Non-attendance - NO Prize.

 

I hear and read about Make-Up muster drills - BUT - do they actually happen ?

What kind of restrictions or penalties are applied for missing -

a slap on the wrist -

no shore excursions for your non compliance -

restricted to ship -

reprimand from the Captain -

washing dishes in the Galley for the rest of the cruise ?  LOL !

 

So when that emergency time comes and you did not comply -

Don't stand in the way of those that did !

Maybe reservations in for the Life Boat maybe the answer.

 

Seriously folks - it is only about your life - RSVP is not an option !

they don’t need a gimmick to get you to go to muster drill. They have a muster, if you don’t show up they attempt to contact you in your room. If you miss it altogether they contact you and you have to go to a make up. I have been on a sailing before where they must have had an issue with this because they made several announcements that if you had missed the muster and the first make up muster you HAD to go to the second make up muster (they listed a time and date) or you would be removed from the ship in the next port.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, sanger727 said:

they don’t need a gimmick to get you to go to muster drill. They have a muster, if you don’t show up they attempt to contact you in your room. If you miss it altogether they contact you and you have to go to a make up. I have been on a sailing before where they must have had an issue with this because they made several announcements that if you had missed the muster and the first make up muster you HAD to go to the second make up muster (they listed a time and date) or you would be removed from the ship in the next port.

As you know from the other thread about this new style "muster drill", that as a professional mariner, I am flabbergasted that this has been approved apparently for general use and not just as a covid mediation measure, and am concerned and a bit appalled by it.  I know you say that the new or occasional cruiser will probably get more out of this "drill" format, but it is no longer a "drill" at all.  While I stress that part of the drill benefits is "muscle memory" in actually going to the muster location, another part of the learning process is to see what it will be like once at the muster location, with all the people gathered there, and also to experience the "inconvenience" of having everyone being herded at the same time to those locations.  This new procedure, in my professional opinion, is no better than just giving each employee a piece of paper with the stairwells marked, and the outside assembly area in case of fire, than having an actual fire drill in a high rise building.  To me, and until the format is tested in an actual emergency and proves me wrong, I believe this will lead to far more confusion and possible panic, and will place more stress on the crew to get the passengers to their stations, and those crew will not have had any experience in dealing with large crowds of worried and unruly people, to develop the skills needed to save those passengers.  This takes even more personal responsibility out of the hands of the passenger.

[FLAHAM]

In 1961, my grandmother took me, at age 13, on a summer tour of Europe after a crossing from New York to Gibraltar on the S.S. United States.  The muster drill still stands out in my memory.  Our group lined up on deck, behind our crew leader, in neat rows and columns.  We wore our old-style (soft, baggy, orange) life jackets.  A senior officer came by, trailed by a crew member furiously making marks on a clipboard.  The officer walked around our group, carefully observing and murmuring notes to the crew member, then said "well done" and dismissed us.  

 

For what it's worth, I also remember dinner in the first-class dining room.  The maitre came to each table, trailed by a crew member with a large silver bowl on a trolley.  The maitre dipped into the bowl with a scoop chained around his neck and dumped a substantial scoop of caviar onto your appetizer plate.  At age 13, I gave mine to my grandmother.  

 

I also shot clay pigeons off the stern of the ship.  Around the first-class pool, a steward assigned a lounge chair to each requesting passenger for the entirety of the crossing (it was June).  

Edited July 31, 2020 by FLAHAM

[SouthLyonCruiser]

The article said that the procedure had a patent. I seem to recall that anything that involves safety can be used by anyone. I just wonder how that would work.

[crystalaziza]

On 7/30/2020 at 4:23 PM, Georgia_Peaches said:

If a vaccine becomes available, I wouldn't be one bit surprised if proof of having been vaccinated is part of the pre-boarding check in process.  We will see, I guess. 

Maybe so, but I will still forgo the vaccine, too much too soon and who knows whats in the vaccine. Just had my Metformin re called due to having found cancer causing components in it. It's not these diseases that are going to knock us off the planet, it's going to be the meds for it!!! LOL

 

[kochleffel]

For NCL passengers who haven't cruised on RC: one difference, IME, is that on NCL ships passengers check in for the muster drill and then mill around somewhat aimlessly, not necessarily in line of sight or hearing distance. On RC passengers were made to form straight rows like a drill dream and not allowed to move from assigned places until the drill was over. Passengers with earbuds were confronted individually and ordered to remove them.

[hallux]

1 minute ago, kochleffel said:

On RC passengers were made to form straight rows like a drill dream

Which ship(s) did you experience this on?  I've been on Explorer and Anthem and on neither ship did I experience what you did, both had similar drills to NCL's.

[kochleffel]

2 hours ago, hallux said:

Which ship(s) did you experience this on?  I've been on Explorer and Anthem and on neither ship did I experience what you did, both had similar drills to NCL's.

 

Serenade of the Seas in 2019. Not just our muster station, but every one that I could see on that side of the deck.