Boat Drill

[Pontius Navigator]

We experienced our first Celebrity boat drill on Constellation. Where ALL the airlines we have flown on and other cruise ships have all had a common thread Constellation's boat drill was a stella performance (not).

 

We were ordered to proceed from our cabins to our muster station wearing our lifejackets. My wife, following previous cruises, was carrying hers. She was ordered to put it on. She was not shown how to put it on.

 

At the muster station we were left standing, no seats, before being led out on to the boat deck. We stood en masse until eventually instructions, in various languages, were broadcast over the loudspeaker. All the while there was music playing as well.

 

Eventually we were told to return to our cabins while still wearing our lifejackets. Why? One woman near us never put her jacket on from start to finish. Put mildly it was a shambles.

 

Was this standard for Celebrity or a special Greek drill?

[lucky white heather]

We experienced our first Celebrity boat drill on Constellation. Where ALL the airlines we have flown on and other cruise ships have all had a common thread Constellation's boat drill was a stella performance (not).

 

We were ordered to proceed from our cabins to our muster station wearing our lifejackets. My wife, following previous cruises, was carrying hers. She was ordered to put it on. She was not shown how to put it on.

 

At the muster station we were left standing, no seats, before being led out on to the boat deck. We stood en masse until eventually instructions, in various languages, were broadcast over the loudspeaker. All the while there was music playing as well.

 

Eventually we were told to return to our cabins while still wearing our lifejackets. Why? One woman near us never put her jacket on from start to finish. Put mildly it was a shambles.

 

Was this standard for Celebrity or a special Greek drill?

 

We've just come off QM2 this last week...we were not Grill PAX..if you think Celebrity's boat drill is /was dreadful ( and we've done it at least 25 times now) try mustering in a very crowded (standing room only) buffet area with crew scattered willy nilly amongst everyone there wearing yellow hats for identification purposes, everyone carrying life jackets until told to wear them if you heard when or could see how to in the crush.....there was no walking out to your identified boat area... you would be told to follow someone (presumably with a yellow hat???) when and if you needed to in the event of needing to line up at "a" boat station?????...and then we were given the dispersal instruction , after a few other language repeats.

 

We have always considered Celebrity's muster to be at least organised so that we would at minimum roughly know what to do in event of an emergency ... this Cunard experience was definitely not confidence boosting and extremely poor in our view, so by comparison our evaluation of Celebrity 's muster was infinitely more professional and efficient.

[CelebrityMan]

We experienced our first Celebrity boat drill on Constellation.

 

We were ordered to proceed from our cabins to our muster station wearing our lifejackets. My wife, following previous cruises, was carrying hers. She was ordered to put it on. She was not shown how to put it on.

 

At the muster station we were left standing, no seats, before being led out on to the boat deck. We stood en masse until eventually instructions, in various languages, were broadcast over the loudspeaker. All the while there was music playing as well.

 

Eventually we were told to return to our cabins while still wearing our lifejackets. Why? One woman near us never put her jacket on from start to finish. Put mildly it was a shambles.

 

Was this standard for Celebrity or a special Greek drill?

 

 

Hi,

 

Lifeboat drills on Celebrity are usually quite organized, unless passengers disrupt the process. And I've seen this happen all TOO often!

 

Slipping a life vest on without securing it is a fairly easy process, and one can wait for further instruction for securing the vest while at the muster station.

 

The reason everyone is asked to wear their life vests from the time they leave their stateroom until they return thereto is for safety.

 

I've seen many instances of where folk were put in serious danger by scofflaws dragging their life vests. I've seen people tripped by the dragging belts; bashed in the head by the bobbling collars; shoved against the wall by an improperly carried vest; and the funniest of all, a glass M-class elevator stalled by life vest belts caught in the door! Needless to say, the other passengers in that elevator gave that man a real what-for!

 

I hope your next Celebrity experience will be more to your liking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CM

[Pontius Navigator]

LWH, clearly our expectation and experience differ then.

 

I agree the standing around in a crush was a common thread.

 

In all our other cruises we have not been taken to the boat stations. We have always been assured that we would gather in muster stations and only guided to our boats when and if that was necessary. It would minimise our exposure to the elements.

 

I would not disagree with mustering on the boat dck as you did. Just that our drills also seemed shambolic.

 

When going to our muster stations we all used the normal passage ways. There was no instruction on how to pass through a closed watertight/smoke tight door. We were not shown any routes along the signed emergency exit routes.

 

On P&O we were led along the internal service passage ways that are normally closed to passengers.

 

It would be interesting to hear others' experiences.

[megabill]

I've sailed on 4 different cruise lines ... each line seems to do their drills differently. Some didn't have a muster station, but instead you go directly to your life boat. Others you never see a life boat and only go to a muster station. Celebrity does both. The muster station is for the instructions, then you are escorted out to your life boat and given more instructions.

 

There isn't much reason why you should be shown how to use the fire doors becuase if its closed your not supposed to be going through it (same goes for crew who are not part of a Fire Squad)... and there will be enough crew members around that if you feel you need to go through an area thats closed by a FSD, that they'll tell (or show) you how to get around it (usually by going up, or down 1 or 2 decks).

 

Not having sailed a P&O ship, nor knowing their layouts, i can't comment as to why they would have guests go through a crew area for evacuation. But for Celebrity, the "Embarkation Deck" for lifeboats is the same deck as the muster stations, so there wouldnt be a need to go to a crew area to evacuate.

 

The lighted paths (emeregency exit routes) should be self explanitory... follow the lights untilt hey stop - there should be a sign that says "exit" at that point... a very raw description of the instructions which is actually scripted into the annoucement given during the drill.

 

As another poster said, the cruiseline asks you to keep your life jacket on becuase of the trip hazzard from the strap.

[Pontius Navigator]

Hi,

unless passengers disrupt the process.

 

True.

 

Slipping a life vest on without securing it is a fairly easy process, and one can wait for further instruction for securing the vest while at the muster station.

 

Equally true although, as I said earlier, one passenger never dnned her LJ and the staff gave no instructions whatever

 

The reason everyone is asked to wear their life vests from the time they leave their stateroom until they return thereto is for safety.

 

Nice idea however rather impractical for some couples ;) .

 

I hope your next Celebrity experience will be more to your liking./quote]

 

This was a minor gripe compared with others that I shall take up with Celebrity directly.

[Lois R]

I have always thought the Celebrity's muster drill was organized.:eek:

 

I have gone to the area I was told.....plenty of seats all around.

Then one of the Activites staff explains how the life jackets go on

(along with the standard put yours on first then, if you have children

put theirs on them).

Then we were all take outside to the proper spot.

The entire thing has always taken about 30 minutes.

 

There is only once that our Muster Drill was delayed and that

was in May 2006 on Mercury to Alaska. That particular sailing

was the Infamous "Captain was dismissed" and it happened prior to/

during muster...so muster was delayed for about an hour.

And yes, many folks were not happy. We weren't told why there

was a delay. So people left the areas and then we all had to return.

I decided instead of getting upset I would go stand out by

the railing and chat with a few crew members who were also

waiting for news.

At least it was nice outside;). Oh we ended up having muster

about 5:15 instead of 4:15.

 

Other than that cruise my others have all gone smoothly.

[Pontius Navigator]

There isn't much reason why you should be shown how to use the fire doors becuase if its closed your not supposed to be going through it (same goes for crew who are not part of a Fire Squad)... and there will be enough crew members around that if you feel you need to go through an area thats closed by a FSD, that they'll tell (or show) you how to get around it (usually by going up, or down 1 or 2 decks).

 

Clearly you didn't notice the fire doors then. All corridors/alleyways on Constellation had automatic fire check doors. These close automatically and, in our case, would have barred the alternative muster route. Previously we were instructed that you can 'barge' through the doors overcoming the closure springs. Maybe you now remember them?

 

Not having sailed a P&O ship, nor knowing their layouts, i can't comment as to why they would have guests go through a crew area for evacuation. But for Celebrity, the "Embarkation Deck" for lifeboats is the same deck as the muster stations, so there wouldnt be a need to go to a crew area to evacuate.

 

Again you may not recall that there were many exit signs off the corridors into CREW only areas. These lead to stairways that have no compustible materials. Use of these may well be better than the normal passenger stairwells. Sometime we would use the ordinary route (shortest) other times we would use the austere route.

[Host Anne]

I've always disliked the muster drills where you must put your life jacket on before you get to your muster station.

 

First, if you pick up your life jacket as is when you receive it in your cabin, the straps are securely wrapped around the jacket and don't dangle causing a safety (tripping) hazard. It becomes a hazard when people begin messing with the jackets.

 

Second, I think it's more of a hazard walking down several flights of steps with the jackets ON. You can't see where you are going wth a life jacket on, making it dangerous walking steps (particularly down).

 

I'm a tad claustrophobic (got stuck in an elevator - not on a ship - several years ago for an extended period of time and that did it for me). The newer jackets that have an extended back collar designed to keep head straight (and probably out of the water) are particularly claustrophobic for me. The second the drill is over, I have to get out of the jacket so I can breathe (I'd probably have a very difficult time in one long term in a real emergency). I always remove my jacket, re-wrap the straps correctly so that none of them dangle, before heading back to our cabin.

 

I've always wondered about the insistence to put your life jacket on before you arrive at your muster station when you have yet to be instructed how to do so.

 

Of the lines I've sailed with (Celebrity, RCI, Princess, HAL, and NCL), I feel Princess does it the best. You carry your jacket with you to your muster station. Their muster stations are lounges so they have you "sit" while you listen to instructions on how to put the jacket on and then they have everyone put the jacket on properly with staff walking through and checking jackets and offering assistance. I haven't sailed Princess in more than a year so I'm a littly foggy on whether they then escort you to your lifeboats.

 

I do believe in following whatever rule the cruise line we are on has. But that doesn't mean we can't question the rule in hopes that they make a bad one better.

 

Just my thoughts.

[megabill]

I remember the FSD's quite well having worked on an ML class ship for 6 months. The doors aren't (shouldn't) be closed during the muster drill. If they were, its definitely an exception. Generally - only the FSD's surrounding the problem area will be closed during a real emergency. Alternatively, if all the FSD are closed there will be crew around to assist you in navigating. (after all - a lots of saftey training, and 2 drills every week - we should be the ones who put our "eductation" to good use by helping you get to where you need to be :) )

 

I stand corrected as having to go through a crew area. But its definitely not a normal practice. I've never been led through a crew area (as a guest) for a muster drill. And again - it would be in an emergency situtation that you need to go through a crew area - and (imo) should be assumed given the schpiel about Low Location Lighting. (... about following it to the nearest exit, yada yada yada.) again - imo - its not something that should be part of a drill, explicitly. Your emergency exits are marked on the back of your stateroom door, LLL will take you to your exits if you need to use them... Once your there, stairs are stairs... (and again - i would imagine, that there would be crew guiding you should you need to use the emergency exit).

 

Hope that helps a bit more :)

[peteranddan]

Heaven forbid that someting did happen to the ship and the passengers needed to be evacuated. At least with the muster drill you have some idea of where to go and what to do.

 

On our very first cruise, the lifejackets were a bit of a maze to get strapped up but it was also fairly intuative. If I had any question as to how to fasten the lifejacket and had not figured it out by the end of the muster drill, I would have certainly approached one of the staff members and would have asked. This could potentially, although rarely, mean the matter of life or death. Not something to play around with and gripe about.

 

At our very first muster drill (Eastern Carribean), I also removed my lifejacket after the drill and prior to heading back to our cabin. I was politely asked by one of the staff to please keep the lifejacet on until returning to our cabin for safety reasons. They have multiple incidents each cruise with people tripping on either there own strap from the lifejackets or someone elses. I would not want to have to start my cruise off with a sprained or broken ankle because I tripped on my own strap, and even less if I did it on someone elses!

 

Are the muster drills inconvenient? Yes they are. Are the lifejackets hot and scratchy. Yes they are. Is this all important. Yes, it could mean your life.

 

It a half hour out of your 7, 12, 14 or longer day vacation isn't that much of an inconvenience if it means that it could ultimately save your life.

 

Peter

[ILikeShips]

Just would like to add my two cents regarding our Celebrity experiences. We consistently find that passengers will talk with each rather than listen to the live instructions or overhead speaker instructions. Thus, one cannot hear/understand what is being said. Some passengers will try to listen for instruction in their native language and then immediately start talking when other languages are being given. IMHO this is a good review for all and not to be ignored. Perhaps it could be suggested that passenger silence be observed for this short period of time which could save our lives.

 

Recently, on our last cruise, the overhead speaker in our stateroom wasn't functioning when announcing the start of drill etc. We reported this to Guest Relations who agreed to have a technician check it out. The next time our cabin steward, Selvino, saw us, he stated that it was not necessary to send for a technician "because that speaker is only for emergencies anyway". We were so taken back that I said, "That's when you r-e-a-l-l-y want the stateroom speaker to be working."

[NorCalCruiseGuy]

Wow, I wonder what some people would do in a REAL emergency. If it is too difficult to stand for 15 or 20 minutes on a "crowded" deck, and too uncomfortable to put on a life vest? It is for your own safety and could possibly save your life.

Just relax and take those relatively few minutes seriously, participate in the drill, and then go have fun.

[megabill]

Host Anne - i agree with you: I never understood why its required to wear your life jacket up to the muster station when they give you the demo there. (and people *still* end up with it wrong... go figure.)

 

While i can understand your claustrophobia, you are probably an exception in terms of wrapping up your strap. From being one of the "crew guiding guets to their life boats" (and watching everyone head back in after the drill) most will take of the life jacket and not care for their strap - maybe make a small loop of it in their hands, but the majority of the strap still gets in the way. If people were more careful about it - say spend a second or two, in place, to rewrap it the right way - then it would be a non-issue... but thats expecting to much for people who want start enjoying their cruise :) (and i can't say i blame them!)

 

ILikeShips: - again - couldn't agree more. In order for multiple languages to be used for a drill, either the captain has to order it that way (maybe he likes hearing german every drill!) or there has to be a mimiumum number of passengers... so on my first contract it was English, French and Spanish nearly every voyage. But my other contract has been English only, except for a cruise here and there. For the ones in English-only... even thent i was hard for guests to keep focused. On the ships that i've worked on, the announcement always starts "May we have your attention for these important safety announcments" (or something similar to that regard). You would think people would listen up... and for the most part, they do. But there are some "bad eggs" that wont. In a real emergency, it would be taken care of. For a drill, while important, most crew would rather not upset the guests by telling them to be quiet (i agree, for those who are safety-concious, a chatty guest could be enough to upset them too...)

 

NorCalCruiseGuy - 15 or 20 minutes on deck... imagine having to get into those lifeboats?? they hold 150 people (most do anyways). Thats tight quarters for 150 people. Ever taken a Celebrity Tender boat? Tenders have a max capacity of 150 for emergencies... for tendering, they'll put only about 100/110 in there to get a really full tender... most run less than that. Imagine that same boat carrying 40/50 more people...with lifevests. I can't imagine thats fun - and its not something i parcticularly care to expericence :)

 

The one thing i tell people about muster drills is that - are they annoying? yeah... but feel bad for the crew :) we have to do them twice a voyage! hehehe

[Pontius Navigator]

Wow, I wonder what some people would do in a REAL emergency. If it is too difficult to stand for 15 or 20 minutes on a "crowded" deck, and too uncomfortable to put on a life vest? It is for your own safety and could possibly save your life. .

 

NorCal, I won't say you misunderstood my initial post but . . .

 

My point was that we received no instruction or demonstration in any language on how to wear a life jacket. We stood, there were no seats, at our muster station. Most people could not see the crew members. Crew members were not wearing life jackets nor were they otherwise distinguished except for their lack or life jackets.

 

When we stood in phalanx on the boat deck we were briefed but, contrary to what megabill said, it was not the passengers talking that interrupted the briefs but the continuing muscial backround music played over the same public address system.

[BellKat]

Our first cruise was on the old Westerdam in 2000. I was really impressed with the muster drill. They even went around and checked every cabin to make sure everyone was on deck AND checked off your name on their list while you were at the muster station. I don't know if they still do all of this but to this day I am still impressed by it.

 

Our second cruise was on Carnival. I don't even know why they had the drill other than the fact it's a requirement. They told us there was to be no eating or drinking during the drill. Hah! Almost everyone around us was drinking, many of them well on their way to being drunk (if they weren't already). We could barely hear any of the announcements because there was so much talking around us. We ended up having no clue where we should be or what we should do in case of emergency.

 

Celebrity's muster drills are just fine. I kind of don't get the put your life vest on first since a first timer probably has no idea what to do but I do appreciate the fact that I'm not tripping over someone else's straps. I really get ticked off at people who do take them off or undo all the strap after the drill. I've almost fallen on the stairs trying to avoid straps that were trailing behind someone. And I really wish people wouldn't blow the whistle. I don't appreciate someone blowing their whistle in my ear thank you very much! Besides, what kind of germs are on those whistles? Ugh!:(

 

Kathleen

[megabill]

hahaha - the other thing to remember about those wistles (kinda goes along with the germ thing....) you're not the first person to wear that life jacket! think of all the folks who have worn that life jacket before you... and blown the whistle too!

 

YUK! :eek:

[Lois R]

Hi Bill, your photos are very nice:) says you were on Mercury earlier

this year. Me too:D

If I had known you, I would have said hello:)

[lola's mom]

Experiences on HAL and Crystal were alike ... everyone puts the life-vest on -- tromps out to the assigned deck under their lifeboat and waits until their name is checked off. After everyone is finished, we are dismissed and, like a bunch of bumper-cars, make our way back to our rooms with the life vests still on.

 

Not the most fun in the world - but definitely a must.

[Ships R Great]

I don't blow the whistle. (Every kid on board does.) On RCL, or maybe NCL, we had to stand in line while every name on the list was called. And those who did not answer had to attend a drill just for them.

 

I will take the inconvenience of X's procedures anyday, when the alternative is not knowing what to do in an emergency. Even after multiple cruises.

[DrKoob]

 

We were ordered to proceed from our cabins to our muster station wearing our lifejackets. My wife, following previous cruises, was carrying hers. She was ordered to put it on. She was not shown how to put it on.

 

Eventually we were told to return to our cabins while still wearing our lifejackets. Why? One woman near us never put her jacket on from start to finish. Put mildly it was a shambles.

 

This just drives me nuts. Each of the things I left in the quote above come back to one thing--some people think the rules don't apply to them.

 

First your wife was told to put her life jacket on. She didn't. Why? Because she thought the rule did not apply to her.

 

Another woman doesn't put her life jacket on the entire time. Why? Because she thought the rule did not apply to her.

 

People, you aren't that special. When you are asked to do something by the people in charge, why do you think you are the only ones to whom the rule does not apply. I just don't get it. I don't like life boat drills at all. After six X cruises I am pretty sure I know the entire thing well enough to do the announcements myself. Couldn't I just stay in my cabin? Couldn't I go to the drill but sit there and talk with my friends. Do I have to pay attention?

 

Of course I do. Why, because it is the right thing to do.

[megabill]

Lois - Looks like you'll be on Mercury again in October of this year... Im expecting to head back there in September (though i dont have my assignment papers yet, so we'll see for sure). We should try to connect :)

[Kathie44]

Putting on the life jacket is not rocket science--just read the instructions and look at the diagrams. If you have a problem, ask a staff member on your way. I don't understand how you could not see where you are going with it on. :eek: It doesn't cover your face or eyes.

We have always been assigned to a muster station first (on X and RCCL) and given instructions for the life jacket, in case someone didn't have it on. The only real waiting time happened when some idiot didn't show and they had to page over the loud speaker. Your cabin # is on the jacket, so it's easy to take "roll call". I heard from another passenger once that some woman had to be threatened with removal from the ship before she finally cooperated. How stupid is that?

We're taken from the muster station to the life boats and told what would happen and what we were expected to do. It's always been organized with crew members all along the way. We didn't have to leave our jackets on going back to the cabin. It's not my favorite thing, but necessary.

We missed our first cruise drill because we were still checking in due to flight delays. I've learned to take a jacket if it's cool outside.

[happynewbie]

has anyone photos of the muster drill? Guess with the big vests and all trying to use a camera would be cumbersome. :D

 

I'm claustraphobic as well Host Anne...but we WILL do as we are instructed!! Hope that I do not have to listen to the directions in a prone position...(fainting is embarrassing:o). LOL

 

Seriously, this is a very important rule and the ships are required to have them.

 

happynewbie

[Pontius Navigator]

Bellkat, you make a good point.

 

I really get ticked off at people . . . who undo all the strap after the drill.

 

I guess this meant most people.

 

They put the 'one size fits all' jacket on, possibly fasten the strap properly (for a moment), then loosen it and at the end of the drill undo it completely. While still around the neck the velcro fasteners are undone to reduce the constriction around the neck. The strap is left hanging.

 

You know who I mean!!!!!!!!

 

As for roll call: Nothing at all on Constellation. On P&O and Cunard - "We do not do a roll call as our procedures ensure that all passenger spaces have been vacated"

 

Yeah, and all stowaway's discovered.

 

On that, Constellation allowed guests on board before departure. The others do not.