Covid on QV & Fire

[BigMac1953]

Unfortunately, today's art class was cancelled. Apparently, our art teacher has tested positive.

 

The strange thing is, only two days ago, most of the crew stopped wearing masks, although a few still do.

 

Don't know how many are affected, they don't tell you.

 

We also had some excitement last week, just after we arrived at Funchal, when there was an announcement at 8:20am for the "Assessment Team" to go immediately to Deck 2, stairway "B". I immediately realised that "for exercise" was missing. The next announcement was 100% wrong. The assesment team order was repeated, but this time the Officer of the Watch added "suspected fire". That's something which should never be broadcast.

 

Most people thought it was an exercise, but it wasn't. There was a fire. A friend later told me that he was sitting in the Chart Room, answering emails, when he saw the smokw, then the fire doors closed, then the "assesment team" turned up in their fire suits and ran out the hoses and attacked the fire which was in an electrical cupboard.

 

The place was soaked. About 30 minutes later, the captain announced that it was all over and stood down the crew. He told us that the problem was a burst water pipe, which was obviously nonsense as you could still smell the smoke.

 

I'm sure that someone would have his backside booted for broadcasting the words "suspected fire".

[Windsurfboy]

It's funny how companies think passengers will panic if told the truth. Could they imagine people launching lifeboats themselves. 

 

20 odd years ago, on a BA flight to Europe,  captain announced we had to land unexpectedly at Frankfurt due to technical  difficulties.   I asked the cabin crew who I  knew well from many flights, was it because we only had one engine, as we were flying crabwise. Said yes but not supposed to tell anyone.

 

We were followed down the runway by what looked like every fire engine in Germany.

[Victoria2]

We sailed in the tail end of one of the most severe hurricanes East coast USA.

 

The Captain came on the speaker, as elegant containers of motion sickness bags were placed all around the ship, and told us we were in for some pretty rough weather [I'll say!!] 

 

'but not to worry as the ship was perfectly safe'

 

Too much info. It hadn't occurred to us, and many others that it wasn't but now you mention it... 😄

[exlondoner]

Well, we were certainly woken by the captain on a Vista to say the alarms had gone off in part of the engine space, and they were investigating. So I’m not sure it is something they are not supposed to say. He woke us again within a few minutes to say everything was fine. Personally, I’d rather be allowed to stay asleep until I have to do something,  but some people like to know, I suppose.

[majortom10]

Well we are on QV currently in Princess Grill and haven't seen any member of staff in there not wearing a mask. Also every time we go into restaurant for every meal the head waiter makes sure that you use hand gel. With regards to the fire there has been an acrid smell around stairwell B on deck 5. Also on morning of fire we had no water in suite as it was isolated and redirected in case of need for water to fight the fire. Having been a member of the fire service as a firefighter for 33 years well know that electrical fires do give acrid smell for some time afterwards even if not very serious which we hope this wasnt.

 

 

[CruiseNinjaUK]

We were at dinner on QM2 once where there were multiple announcements regarding a fire. It did not cause panic and then the crew was stood down once the issue was resolved. So the crew do need to know what’s going on! 

[Lanky Lad]

The smell lasted a week. The Chart Room only fully opened again today.  

[molecrochip]

6 hours ago, BigMac1953 said:

Unfortunately, today's art class was cancelled. Apparently, our art teacher has tested positive.

 

The strange thing is, only two days ago, most of the crew stopped wearing masks, although a few still do.

 

Don't know how many are affected, they don't tell you.

 

We also had some excitement last week, just after we arrived at Funchal, when there was an announcement at 8:20am for the "Assessment Team" to go immediately to Deck 2, stairway "B". I immediately realised that "for exercise" was missing. The next announcement was 100% wrong. The assesment team order was repeated, but this time the Officer of the Watch added "suspected fire". That's something which should never be broadcast.

 

Most people thought it was an exercise, but it wasn't. There was a fire. A friend later told me that he was sitting in the Chart Room, answering emails, when he saw the smokw, then the fire doors closed, then the "assesment team" turned up in their fire suits and ran out the hoses and attacked the fire which was in an electrical cupboard.

 

The place was soaked. About 30 minutes later, the captain announced that it was all over and stood down the crew. He told us that the problem was a burst water pipe, which was obviously nonsense as you could still smell the smoke.

 

I'm sure that someone would have his backside booted for broadcasting the words "suspected fire".

Nope.

 

In the event of such emergency, the assessment team are unlikely to be altogether and could be anywhere on the ship so using the full ship announcement gets the quickest response from wherever they are. Telling them it’s a suspected fire means that they will turn up ready for the right situation.

 

The announcement will interrupt other pa’s and local music, even shows in the theatre so it’s used only when appropriate.

 

Other allocated crew members will also attend the vicinity in case passengers or crew need assistance. The medical team will be aware of a developing incident.

 

This is standard practice and can happen 24hrs a day. I was on ship when a small fire started in the laundry press at 2am. It was announced through all cabins followed by the Captain explaining that passengers need take no action.

 

The following day the captain explained the above protocol. He also explained at night it allows passengers to be awake and aware rather than panicked if the first announcement is full emergency. There was no apology, afterall this was for everyone’s safety.

 

I’ve also been in the theatre when a suspected fire elsewhere stopped the show. Turned out to be excessive water vapour in the engine room rather than smoke.

 

As for the cause, presumably a small leak could trigger a fire if it got in the wrong place?

[molecrochip]

Also to add that in port the PA will be heard on the quayside so external help can also be summoned.

 

When a Carnival’s ship smoke stack caught fire, the captain of the ship berthed alongside, the Mardi Gras, heard the PA before he saw the smoke and sent a support team of firefighters.

[BigMac1953]

That's nonsense!

 

Our daughter worked on P&O for almost a year, During that time, they had 2 fires. Never once was the word "FIRE" broadcast.

 

Same as "Code Alpha" or "Alpha Tango". They never say it;s a heart attack, or someone has fallen and broken their leg/arm/hip. It's always in ship's code.

 

The Bridge can easily summon help from ashore without frightening the pax. 

 

The very term "Assessment Team" means fire fighters, so for the crew, there is no need to elaborate. "Crew Alert" is sounded in all crew quarters, but not main areas.

Edited November 10, 2022 by BigMac1953

[si_boy]

14 hours ago, Lanky Lad said:

The smell lasted a week. The Chart Room only fully opened again today.  

Agree the smell was awful but did not affect the cruise in anyway.
The crew worked hard to get that area of the Chart Room open again and we watched them yesterday morning transferring bottles bar to fill the bar.

Did not observe any signs of Covid and crew told us a couple of days ago that for them wearing a mask was optional. We took this as meaning rates of infection onboard were low, but we might have been wrong.

[sogne]

14 hours ago, CruiseNinjaUK said:

We were at dinner on QM2 once where there were multiple announcements regarding a fire. It did not cause panic and then the crew was stood down once the issue was resolved. So the crew do need to know what’s going on! 

same for us on a TA on QM2

[Lanky Lad]

8 hours ago, si_boy said:

Agree the smell was awful but did not affect the cruise in anyway.
The crew worked hard to get that area of the Chart Room open again and we watched them yesterday morning transferring bottles bar to fill the bar.

Did not observe any signs of Covid and crew told us a couple of days ago that for them wearing a mask was optional. We took this as meaning rates of infection onboard were low, but we might have been wrong.

I was on deck 1 but thankfully the smell didn't get into our cabin. 

[Ynox]

There was definitely covid on board. I saw some staff with FFP3 masks and aprons delivering food etc to rooms with positive people in them on my deck (6). Fortunately my wife, daughter and I have all recently had covid so I wasn't too fussed about being too near them. I imagine crew will be in/out of masks as covid numbers fluctuate over time. 

 

As for the fire, the burning electrical smell did hang around. A guess is maybe a water leak resulted in some electrical connectors arcing and then this ignited something else (or the water leak is a misnomer and it just went up without the leak). Definitely a fair bit of damage done by the amount of work that the required to fix this - it felt like they were working on it all day every day until it reopened yesterday. I was walking around the ship at the time of the announcements and didn't notice much in the way of panic (we headed back to our stateroom, but that was mainly as it was my daughter's nap time!). Definitely agree that using 'civilian' language to describe a fire is a bad idea though (and that we were lucky to be docked at the time).

 

Overall it was a good, if different trip for me. First one with my daughter (I'm the guy who brought his 9 month old on board - you probably saw me walking around looking half asleep). We were very impressed with the facilities on board for my daughter and the reassurance from the youth staff - we booked a QV trip for next year to Norway whilst on board. Off on the QM2 next month so it'll be interesting to see how the kids facilities compare.
 

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, Ynox said:

There was definitely covid on board. I saw some staff with FFP3 masks and aprons delivering food etc to rooms with positive people in them on my deck (6). Fortunately my wife, daughter and I have all recently had covid so I wasn't too fussed about being too near them. I imagine crew will be in/out of masks as covid numbers fluctuate over time. 

 

As for the fire, the burning electrical smell did hang around. A guess is maybe a water leak resulted in some electrical connectors arcing and then this ignited something else (or the water leak is a misnomer and it just went up without the leak). Definitely a fair bit of damage done by the amount of work that the required to fix this - it felt like they were working on it all day every day until it reopened yesterday. I was walking around the ship at the time of the announcements and didn't notice much in the way of panic (we headed back to our stateroom, but that was mainly as it was my daughter's nap time!). Definitely agree that using 'civilian' language to describe a fire is a bad idea though (and that we were lucky to be docked at the time).

 

Overall it was a good, if different trip for me. First one with my daughter (I'm the guy who brought his 9 month old on board - you probably saw me walking around looking half asleep). We were very impressed with the facilities on board for my daughter and the reassurance from the youth staff - we booked a QV trip for next year to Norway whilst on board. Off on the QM2 next month so it'll be interesting to see how the kids facilities compare.
 

And, when she’s a grandmother, won’t your 9 month old have tales to tell to her grand children - before taking them on the latest transatlantic Cunarder.

[Ynox]

2 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

And, when she’s a grandmother, won’t your 9 month old have tales to tell to her grand children - before taking them on the latest transatlantic Cunarder.

Thanks - hopefully she will. She's got a few trips booked (including the Queen Anne maiden)! 

[Tangoqueen]

We were in our stateroom on deck 1 at the time of the “fire” and had a recorded message come through on our telephone telling us to leave our cabin immediately and my husband is pretty sure it mentioned a fire. When we left the cabin the fire door was closed and we could hear phones ringing throughout the cabins, obviously some people would have been at breakfast etc. when we got down to the stairwell by the theatre there were some crew there but they didn’t know anything. We decided to go to deck 3 and go on the promenade deck. There we saw an officer who didn’t know anything and advised us to go to the Pursers desk?? We did go back in and attempted to walk through the art gallery but were turned away by crew (obviously we were headed towards the point of “fire”), however the crew suggested using the lift which was a surprise as in all fire training we were taught never use a lift.  Anyway most importantly we still managed to make our way to breakfast in time.

[molecrochip]

On 11/10/2022 at 11:01 PM, BigMac1953 said:

That's nonsense!

 

Our daughter worked on P&O for almost a year, During that time, they had 2 fires. Never once was the word "FIRE" broadcast.

 

Same as "Code Alpha" or "Alpha Tango". They never say it;s a heart attack, or someone has fallen and broken their leg/arm/hip. It's always in ship's code.

 

The Bridge can easily summon help from ashore without frightening the pax. 

 

The very term "Assessment Team" means fire fighters, so for the crew, there is no need to elaborate. "Crew Alert" is sounded in all crew quarters, but not main areas.

May I respectfully ask when your daughter worked on P&O?

Lots changed post the Costs Concordia disaster and continue to change. One of those is the use of language around potential emergencies. That’s not to say that the ship wide announcement is the first call put out.

 

My first hand experiences are from post Covid P&O cruises but I understand that Cunard’s procedures are the same.

As for heart attacks - the announcement on P&O is “Immediate Medical Assistance to cabin XYZ, Deck X, Section Y, Suspected heart attack” x2.  It’s the only time I’ve seen crew members running down the corridors.

 

Again, patient confidentiality doesn’t count zip if they patient is dead. A crew member will attend to dispatch any onlookers who arrive.

[si_boy]

Slightly off topic but same cruise on QV as the Chart Room “fire” we also had a medical emergency one evening when there was a tannoy announcement for medical staff to attend a cardiac arrest in the Britannia Restaurant, deck 2.
We never heard anything more but there were two ambulances waiting on the dockside when we arrived at Funchal. 

[Victoria2]

2 hours ago, si_boy said:

Slightly off topic but same cruise on QV as the Chart Room “fire” we also had a medical emergency one evening when there was a tannoy announcement for medical staff to attend a cardiac arrest in the Britannia Restaurant, deck 2.
We never heard anything more but there were two ambulances waiting on the dockside when we arrived at Funchal. 

It's when you see medical/personnel in the restaurant, kneeling astride a fellow diner on a gurney, pumping up and down  on the fellow passenger's chest that you see  the emergency crews in action.

We heard through the grapevine, he survived.

[exlondoner]

5 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

It's when you see medical/personnel in the restaurant, kneeling astride a fellow diner on a gurney, pumping up and down  on the fellow passenger's chest that you see  the emergency crews in action.

We heard through the grapevine, he survived.

One of the advantages of being on board ship is that trained people and equipment can be got to victim very quickly indeed, compared to most environments on land.

[Underwatr]

51 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

It's when you see medical/personnel in the restaurant, kneeling astride a fellow diner on a gurney, pumping up and down  on the fellow passenger's chest that you see  the emergency crews in action.

We heard through the grapevine, he survived.

I was in the Royal Court Theatre on QM2 a couple of years ago when a woman a couple of rows ahead of me apparently died (later confirmed). The problem was that the entertainers couldn't see anything in the audience and continued singing and dancing for what felt like a long time.

[richard_london]

On 11/10/2022 at 11:01 PM, BigMac1953 said:

That's nonsense!

 

Our daughter worked on P&O for almost a year, During that time, they had 2 fires. Never once was the word "FIRE" broadcast.

I sailed on the P&O Britannia in July 2018 and during dinner the situation was sufficiently serious to warrant the captain announcing to the entire ship over the PA that there the crew were tackling a fire in one of her incinerators (since incinerators burn things we were confused by this). A hush descended over dinner from that point until a later announcement that it was under control.  The word "fire" was definitely used in both PA broadcasts.