Did something good happen because of COVID19?

[John&LaLa]

15 hours ago, footzz said:

I accept the challenge. Prove that I'm wrong.

 

Prove you're right😉

Edited July 4, 2021 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, footzz said:

 

This is apparently an issue of semantics, so I shall parse my original statement. Royal Caribbean was one of the last cruise lines to require their passengers to assemble outside on the lifeboat deck at the actual muster station to conduct and complete the safety drill.

 

I take it you never sailed on an Oasis ship

[not-enough-cruising]

2 hours ago, footzz said:

 

This is apparently an issue of semantics, so I shall parse my original statement. Royal Caribbean was one of the last cruise lines to require their passengers to assemble outside on the lifeboat deck at the actual muster station to conduct and complete the safety drill.

Sorry, wrong again. Semantics aside. 

[footzz]

41 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Sorry, wrong again. Semantics aside. 

I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken. Went on four cruises 2019-2020 on 3 different lines. Last cruise was on Jan. 2020 on LOTS. NCL and MSC had their muster drills in entertainment and lounge venues. RCCL still had theirs on deck 4 at the designated muster stations. 

 

[John&LaLa]

4 minutes ago, footzz said:

I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken. Went on four cruises 2019-2020 on 3 different lines. Last cruise was on Jan. 2020 on LOTS. NCL and MSC had their muster drills in entertainment and lounge venues. RCCL still had theirs on deck 4 at the designated muster stations. 

 

 

Some muster stations on LOTS are in MDR

[footzz]

17 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Some muster stations on LOTS are in MDR

That doesn't change the fact that they still had muster drills on deck. 

Edited July 4, 2021 by footzz

[John&LaLa]

4 minutes ago, footzz said:

Well...they won't be from now on.

 

But it's still technically the official muster station. They want you to know where to go in case of an emergency, so I would assume you still go there.

 

All the muster stations on Oasis are in locations like that.  

Promenade, Aqua Theater, Gym, etc..

[Blizzard54]

It really does not matter if the old drills were held inside or outside.  That was a function of ship design. They were still holding the mass gatherings.  Having the video and staggered check-in is new.  

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 7/3/2021 at 9:17 AM, footzz said:

Being packed in like sardines on an open deck for a safety drill regardless of the weather was truly awful.

amen. I can neither stand for more than 10-15 minutes thanks to my back problems, nor can I stand the heat. Muster drills on deck were pure torture. After 10 minutes I would give up and simply sit down on the floor.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

18 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

What is worse is going on a snorkel excursion and using their snorkel gear.

we bring our own now after the first time we saw how they are disinfected.

[DaniDanielle]

3 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

But it's still technically the official muster station. They want you to know where to go in case of an emergency, so I would assume you still go there.

 

All the muster stations on Oasis are in locations like that.  

Promenade, Aqua Theater, Gym, etc..

Anthem had them inside also, theater, restaurants, bionic bar etc.

[AKJonesy]

To the OPs question with regard to cruising, YES, some good has come from Covid.  I have been sick on cruise ships a number of times.  I had NORO once which was horrible.  We've all seen people on ships touching stuff and putting it back.  Who knows if their hands were clean.  By eliminating a significant portion of the food handling, this should reduce the spread of sickness.  Also, I think the new muster protocol is going to be better.  In general, I think most people have changed some of their habits by handwashing or using some kind of hand sanitizer, masking, etc.  I know that during cold and flu season I will probably wear a mask at the store, wipe off the cart and sanitize my hands.  So many people get sick (and die) during flu season and so much of it is preventable by staying home or taking precautions that will prevent other people from getting sick.  

[not-enough-cruising]

4 hours ago, footzz said:

That doesn't change the fact that they still had muster drills on deck. 

It is very sad that you are continuing to hold onto this false narrative, rather that just admit that your original statement was blatantly false. 
By SOLAS standards, prior to 2020, ships MUST ,without exception, hold muster drill at assigned muster locations. 
No amount of creative word play will change this FACT, and make your original statement true. 
You were wrong, period, end of story. 

[OSUZorba]

Crew serving in the Windjammer was always a thing when a ship went to the higher level of disease control, forget the official name for it. The cruise before my first cruise had a massive Noro outbreak, then on our cruise all food was served in the Jammer until ~day 6, then all of sudden it was serve yourself. Since I had never been on a cruise before I had assumed they always served you. That was back in 2006.

 

I assume once things calm down, it'll be back to self service, just like before.

[footzz]

3 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

It is very sad that you are continuing to hold onto this false narrative, rather that just admit that your original statement was blatantly false. 
By SOLAS standards, prior to 2020, ships MUST ,without exception, hold muster drill at assigned muster locations. 
No amount of creative word play will change this FACT, and make your original statement true. 
You were wrong, period, end of story. 

What's sad is that some people could much better at trolling if they were a bit more creative. And, as you stated, if this is the end of the story, it's fine by me.

Edited July 5, 2021 by footzz

[ReneeFLL]

On 7/3/2021 at 2:40 PM, lovesthebeach2 said:

when we went to Ireland and visited the Blarney Stone I thought the same thing! Imagine what was on that! No, we didn’t kiss the stone 

That was my first thought also. We were supposed to go last year, but thanks to covid I didn’t get to watch others. There was no way I would do it ever.

[ReneeFLL]

On 7/3/2021 at 10:27 AM, BirdTravels said:

So,,, think of the poor crew members who have to stand in the hot sun for hours, reading the safety drill script and doing the life vest demonstration over, and over, and over, and over, and over. Instead of once. (Regardless of what you see on the app or your TV, they are still obligated to read the entire safety script to each person/group showing up at the muster station). 

 

And having the ship's captain making repeated threatening announcements that people need to go to their muster station,,, over and over and over. And finally the Cruise Director coming on a ship-wide PA saying that anyone that doesn't go in the next 15 minutes will be thrown off the ship.

 

It was actually kinda of negative way to start a cruise. 

 

This doesn’t sound very pleasant.

[dswallow]

I used to joke when traveling with friends and being at the muster drill on Oasis and Quantum class ships, that they should just look around and watch people, especially families with kids. "Most of these people are going to die in a real emergency because they will be completely clueless about where to go or what to do." Actually I think I usually phrased it more like me not being terribly worried about getting space aboard a lifeboat. And I pointed out the ridiculous "Spy Video" which was useless to those unable to sea or hear it from wherever they sat in the assembly areas, which usually had to be at least half those people there, and likely almost as useless to those who could see and hear it. The time would've been better spent to teach people how to visit a self-service buffet or to wait for people to exit an elevator before trying to get on it.

 

On one of my Adventure of the Seas sailings out of Nassau we had an alarm go off just after 11:30pm. And it kept going off. And a few minutes later most of us out in the Promenade had spent a few minutes waiting to hear if it stopped and there was an announcement. It kept going. So we dispersed, ostensibly to our assembly locations... the ones printed on our SeaPass cards.

 

So maybe after being at mine for about 5 minutes, it was pretty clear there had to be more than the dozen or so of us who showed up that should've been there. We had several entertainers from the ship in our area, and there were a couple crew who likely were to be in charge or perhaps part of the group that would be in charge of leading us as needed. Some people showed up with life jackets who had gone from wherever they were back to their cabin then to their assembly stations (what they were supposed to do was go to the assembly station directly). And while my location didn't see this, at least one passenger showed up in a bra, panties and a life jacket. I guess she pretty much did things mostly right, minus the putting on warm clothing part.

 

Apparently it was a bit of a mess on the passenger decks with people crying or not knowing where to go or if they should go anywhere. Confusion, et. al.

 

So, again, I'm pretty comfortable saying a lot of people will die and there will be plenty of space on lifeboats for the rest of us who paid attention and/or who had gone through the traditional version of the muster drills and thus actually knew what to do because we did it properly, in full, many times.

 

Sure, modern cruise ships are unlikely to experience a disaster that would require the immediacy of response of something like an earthquake or a tornado. But it still is quite clear people don't know what to do, don't react well at all to having to do what they don't know how to do. Muster 2.0 is not better than what was done before with watching a video. And that was not better than going out on deck wearing life jackets. Both of those "improvements" didn't improve safety in any way.

 

 

Edited July 5, 2021 by dswallow