Mandatory life boat drill

[Spiffy MacSpiff]

If you've done a couple of these then you think you know the drill by heart: go to your room, gather the people in your cabin, your life jackets, warm clothes, and any medication, and get to your muster station. That there are people in that YouTube clip, wandering around the ship, clueless and taking cell phone videos, just shows how necessary it is to do the drill -- and pay attention -- every single time.

Also: I've been one of the people standing on a hot DCL deck during lifeboat drill, crammed up against sweaty total strangers, while they call and look for someone who thought they could skip out. Not fun, not fun at all.

 

[Yooper Writer]

In 2015, my mother and I took a 3 night DCL cruise. On the last night of the cruise, a crew member thought they saw someone fall overboard. Around 10pm, the ship had an emergency muster. They had continual announcements over the loud speaker in both English and Spanish. What should have been a 20 minute process turned out to be an hour and a half ordeal on a cold, windy, rainy deck. Several kids were throwing up, but none of us could return to our rooms due to a few people who didn't attend the mandatory drill and had to be hunted all over the ship. Most of the cruise was great, and I think DCL was right to take precautionary measures, but many of us were upset and angry over the few cruisers who refused to follow a simple procedure.

 

[hrhdhd]

This is a video taken on a Disney cruise. The general alarm was triggered while they are at sea; it is over two minutes [not clear exactly as the video seems clipped, but it runs > 2 min of time] until the captain informs them it is a false alarm. You can see that some people know what to do while others appear to not at least at first.

Let's agree that attending the mandatory muster drill is important. Let's also agree that in the case of a real (or imagined) emergency, many people will still not know what to do. All the more reason to pay attention so those who didn't don't impede your ability to be safe.

 

[CamColt]

I'll be honest and say I didn't always pay 100% attention while at the drill. Back in the day you had to wear the vest, and standing out in the hot sun, packed like sardines while my mind was already up at the sail away party, the thought of actually needing this drill was minimal. Then came our cruise in 08 on the Wonder, about 3:00 am in bed we got an announcement of "Red Party, Red Party, deck 4 starboard". I knew it wasn't good if it was coming in the rooms at that hour. As it turned out we did not need to evacuate but there was in fact a fire on board. As I laid in bed before we got the all clear, all I could think of was, how did they say to put on the vest???" Since then I pay attention! A 10 minute reminder can't hurt.

 

[Dug720]

I'll be honest and say I didn't always pay 100% attention while at the drill. Back in the day you had to wear the vest, and standing out in the hot sun, packed like sardines while my mind was already up at the sail away party, the thought of actually needing this drill was minimal. Then came our cruise in 08 on the Wonder, about 3:00 am in bed we got an announcement of "Red Party, Red Party, deck 4 starboard". I knew it wasn't good if it was coming in the rooms at that hour. As it turned out we did not need to evacuate but there was in fact a fire on board. As I laid in bed before we got the all clear, all I could think of was, how did they say to put on the vest???" Since then I pay attention! A 10 minute reminder can't hurt.

Actually having been on a ship in the past couple of years that DID require you to bring your life jacket to drill (fathom was the line), in this day and age it did NOT help people pay attention. Most were too busy taking selfies in the life vest to hear anything.

 

[FigmentSpark]

In 2015, my mother and I took a 3 night DCL cruise. On the last night of the cruise, a crew member thought they saw someone fall overboard. Around 10pm, the ship had an emergency muster. They had continual announcements over the loud speaker in both English and Spanish. What should have been a 20 minute process turned out to be an hour and a half ordeal on a cold, windy, rainy deck. Several kids were throwing up, but none of us could return to our rooms due to a few people who didn't attend the mandatory drill and had to be hunted all over the ship. Most of the cruise was great, and I think DCL was right to take precautionary measures, but many of us were upset and angry over the few cruisers who refused to follow a simple procedure.

Good point that they don't just call muster for an evacuation reason. While that would be the most common (of a highly uncommon situation), there may be other reasons they need passengers to muster. In short, if you have to... don't panic. Stay calm and go to your station.

 

[SamFaniam]

Must everyone in the stateroom attend? I would like to just sit up on deck and let hubby go. What experiences have you had or seen?

There won’t be any place to sit on deck 4, as all the loungers are put away during the drill. If you’re up on the pool deck, I would guess that the crew members will politely ask you to go to your Muster Station. I don’t think it would be possible to sit in any public area without being asked to go to your muster station.

 

[Starwind]

I'll be honest and say I didn't always pay 100% attention while at the drill. Back in the day you had to wear the vest, and standing out in the hot sun, packed like sardines while my mind was already up at the sail away party, the thought of actually needing this drill was minimal. Then came our cruise in 08 on the Wonder, about 3:00 am in bed we got an announcement of "Red Party, Red Party, deck 4 starboard". I knew it wasn't good if it was coming in the rooms at that hour. As it turned out we did not need to evacuate but there was in fact a fire on board. As I laid in bed before we got the all clear, all I could think of was, how did they say to put on the vest???" Since then I pay attention! A 10 minute reminder can't hurt.

A good reminder that they can call muster for reasons other than evacuation, thank you.

On the ship our muster station has always been the same location [5 cruises]. One thing we have started to do is to get to it from a different location [not necessarily our stateroom] or different pathway [there is at least a primary and alternate pathway from your stateroom, although they sometimes block one or the other during the drill as part of the drill], so we know how to get there from different places or in different ways. Our next cruise is a B2B2B and I am planning on three different ways to get there.

SW

 

[scgustafson]

Must everyone in the stateroom attend? I would like to just sit up on deck and let hubby go. What experiences have you had or seen?

The key word in your thread title is "mandatory", so yes, that means everyone. No one is more special that the rest of the guests.

 

[scgustafson]

You are correct that it is international law and mandatory. But I am not sure about the stern talking to and them not being happy with you because we managed to write down the wrong time and missed the makeup drill too. We were told to watch the in room TV drill, which we did. Again, not advocating that anyone intentionally miss the drill but you don't get put in jail or thrown off the boat for missing it.

You are speaking of another line and not DCL, so you are not versed in DCL procedures, but those who are late, especially by choosing to not go will get special attention regarding their attendance.

 

[soniam]

Some cruise lines won't let you have food or beverage, except maybe water, during your muster drill. On our Celebrity Cruise last year, we had just gotten our coffee from dinner and had to head to the muster drill. They did it after we left Puerto Rico. We just had to walk a little from the suite dining room to our indoor muster station in the club. They made us give up our coffee as we entered the club I get it. I understand. However, I really wish they had done the drill earlier and not during dinner time. Plus, they didn't take away people's cell phones or ask them to put them away, which are way more of a distraction than coffee. When we go on a cruise with our child, we definitely pay attention and make him pay attention. Afterward, we make sure that he understands what he is supposed to do. You never know when an emergency could happen.

 

[knewton64]

FYI -

this is why I always tell our Guests to NEVER take the elevators after A LOT of heavy rains.....
(FROM HURRICANE HARVEY) ......




Missing hotel worker found dead in Harvey-flooded basement
https://nypost.com › 2017/09/09 › missing-hotel-worker-found-dead-in-ha...
Sep 9, 2017 - With Harvey's floodwaters rapidly flowing into the Houston hotel where she worked, ... Missing hotel worker found dead in Harvey-flooded basement ... made a frantic cellphone call to a fellow employee: “I'm in an elevator. ... Thursday, and police say they believe it to be that of the 48-year-old Renick.



in another words, in my opinion - she chose to not utilize common sense........
Per se, after approx 16 HOURS of constant heaby heavy rain.... she CHOSE to take the elevator.......


and never made it out alive......




So -----
Please take the life boat drill seriously -
your life and other lives depend on it ......................................

 

[brewcrew]

Must everyone in the stateroom attend? I would like to just sit up on deck and let hubby go. What experiences have you had or seen?

Sorry if this sounds harsh... but you are asking whether you have to go to a life saving safety drill or sit in a lounge chair (and not attend the drill). To me, its a simple choice.

 

[disneylove69]

Room Hostess check all the rooms and will kick you out. No one can enjoy there vacation till everyone is accounted for. Please dont be that person.

 

[ivanp91]

Why on earth would you want to skip the muster drill? I am sorry but I can't help thinking about a previous airplane crash in Russia. Many people died because some passengers apparently skipped the safety instructions, and they thought it was OK to bring out their luggage on an evacuation.

Not really the best comparison, as you can't "skip" the safety demonstration on an aircraft. You can ignore it, sure, but you can just as easily attend yet ignore the muster drill on the ship. People taking their luggage is more selfishness than anything else - in the plane crash you cited, there is one person in particular that other passengers pointed the finger at over them taking their time to retrieve their bag. Said person had the nerve to then go to an airline representative in the airport and demand a refund for the flight, with no regard to the fact he surely just caused people to die.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

You can be disembarked at the captain’s discretion. Especially for something you can control - writing the wrong time was 100% your fault, and had the captain chosen to could have disembarked you at the next port.

This^^^ You may pay for the cruise, but you are a guest. If the Captain wants you off, no matter how much you paid, you will be getting off. As for Costa, people lost their lives on the Concordia. A very sad, sad, preventable event. You may not ever need to get on the lifeboats, but it is in your best interest for yourself and the lives of those on the crew who are there to help you, to be at the mandatory drill.

 

[CamColt]

A good reminder that they can call muster for reasons other than evacuation, thank you.

On the ship our muster station has always been the same location [5 cruises]. One thing we have started to do is to get to it from a different location [not necessarily our stateroom] or different pathway [there is at least a primary and alternate pathway from your stateroom, although they sometimes block one or the other during the drill as part of the drill], so we know how to get there from different places or in different ways. Our next cruise is a B2B2B and I am planning on three different ways to get there.

SW

I may have used the wrong wording there...sorry! We did not have to do anything. We did not get the emergency horn signal, just the Captains announcement went in all the rooms.

 

[TaiTai1]

You MUST go, and if you don't, they will contact you and go over everything in person. It's a rule.

 

[cwis]

we got an announcement of "Red Party, Red Party, deck 4 starboard"

Interesting this is the code for a fire. Had no idea they were using codes on the PA system on cruise ships, thanks for the tip! Definitely not one I'm looking forward to hearing myself, I'm glad everything in your family went fine!

 

[Dug720]

Interesting this is the code for a fire. Had no idea they were using codes on the PA system on cruise ships, thanks for the tip! Definitely not one I'm looking forward to hearing myself, I'm glad everything in your family went fine!

Yes. They use codes to prevent a - panic; and b - people running to see.

Bright star is the medical emergency code.