Carnival would like you to muster as soon as you board. We did and checked in and the guy said thank you, he just scanned our boarding pass, we just took off, no life jacket demo...interesting. We stayed on board in Nassau and the Dream had an abandon ship drill where they launch the lifeboats and actually run them and then re attach them to lift cables. Our cabin attendent was one of the drill people. He is a talker and I asked him do you guide the guests on this deck to the muster station, he said yes. He said down the hall and up the stairs to your muster station. I told him the stairs are the walls as ship will list one way or the other, they dont sink level,aka concordia. He told me he did not know that. I asked him the lifeboats say it can handle 150 people, is that 150 small or huge people? He just said people. I asked him how are you going to get a 200 pound plus person from this deck to the muster station. He said easy, up the stairs(duh) no stairs ship is listing walls are stairs(scooter people, he did not answer). He asked me how will I get off ship since I climb on walls? I said I will jump overboard. He said ship too high. I said I was In Navy and we jumped off a platform as high as an aircraft carrier where the pool looked like a small square. The lifeboats has 3 crew members on it, a helmsman, a bow person and a stern person, plus each station on the ship has a person operating the lift to lower the lifeboat in the water. It takes about two minutes to get lifeboat in the water and away from ship(got it all on video). It took an hour to get the lifeboats back on the ship as no one knew how to parallel park them to their lift stations, look liked a keystone cop movie. I dread the day and I hope I am not on the ship that has a major disaster with 3ooo people on board,with crew brainwashed that ship will sink level and everyone will go to life rafts like they will be getting off the ship.As I said in one of my posts before, the muster drill is a laugh, now they just scan your card and let you go to your merry way it is getting even more laxer...a disaster waiting to happen
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Muster on our April cruise
18 Answers
At the rate they're going, eventually they'll offer neither...make you see a video at home...click a box.....but yes, they don't do much either way...until theres a tragedy...a BIG tragedy....what they really want is not have to close the bars AT ALL.....some beancounter figured up what that costs in lost liquor sales fleetwide...
A toast to the bean counters!!! Someone with our best interest in their computations.
The old style, "in-person" muster drill did nothing to truly train people what to do in the event of an "abandon ship" situation...well accept for how to don the life jacket (which is more or less, self explanatory). And having to stand and wait, sometimes 45 minutes (often in very warm climates) or more for everyone to show up is not tolerable for many. The E-Muster drill is much preferred for my DW and I (our opinion). One solution is to offer both, that way everyone is satisfied, although this solution is more labor intensive to manage.
At the rate they're going, eventually they'll offer neither...make you see a video at home...click a box.....but yes, they don't do much either way...until theres a tragedy...a BIG tragedy....what they really want is not have to close the bars AT ALL.....some beancounter figured up what that costs in lost liquor sales fleetwide...
The old style, "in-person" muster drill did nothing to truly train people what to do in the event of an "abandon ship" situation...well accept for how to don the life jacket (which is more or less, self explanatory). And having to stand and wait, sometimes 45 minutes (often in very warm climates) or more for everyone to show up is not tolerable for many. The E-Muster drill is much preferred for my DW and I (our opinion). One solution is to offer both, that way everyone is satisfied, although this solution is more labor intensive to manage.
Looks like my post from last night was swallowed by the ether. Here it is again (for what it's worth)
It's occurred to me that this is the 3rd or 4th time we've had a variation of this topic over the past year or so. That tells me that obviously a topic of concern, or at the very least it's of interest.
Not to go into a long winded dissertation (again) I believe the old style drills instilled a sense of seriousness in a higher percentage of passengers (especially first timers) than the new method. Not everyone of course. There's always going to be the crowd that complains of any inconvenience. But I firmly believe that under the old system more people than now took a moment of pause to look around and think "Hey, in the event of an emergency this could be a big deal. I had better pay attention".
Now, people on this board routinely reference naval training, with stories of jumping off the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. While the image is compelling, that action alone does not guarantee survival. Maritime safety (as well as air safety) is, and probably always will be a numbers game. In the event of an actual catastrophic emergency aboard a cruise ship, it's a very, very high probability that not everyone is going to make it out alive. It will be to some extent survival of the fittest. To that end the muster drill is not, and was never meant to be a "ticket to survival", it's just a vehicle of knowledge that can give people a fighting chance. The goal is to save as many lives as possible. Lessening it's importance will only increase the level of chaos and fatalities in an emergency.
I for one would really like to go back to the old system. Not so much for myself (I know what to do), but for the newbies who probably never give it a moments thought that anything bad could happen on board. And isn't that attitude what the cruise lines are reinforcing by "cheapening" the muster drill?
...........but very difficult should they be obese.
I did notice that also (UKtraveller), especially on cruises I have been on ,that most of the US passengers. are obese. I am glad that you did notice also.
Imagine if a disaster did occur, how would these large obese people get off the ship ?
I wonder if the crew have any training for removing pax this size ?
Lynn is beautiful
Luvit! Onward!!!
If the bars run out of olives, or lemon slices, THAT -- is a concern !!!!!
If you see a guy dressed in a Princess gown holding a Bud Light, THAT - is a bigger concern !!!!!
It's refreshing when one comes across an individual who has their priorities in order.
Everyone makes sense. But you have to think of the 'possibility' and the 'probability".
On EVERY cruise, the possibility of an abandon ship experience exists.
On EVERY cruise, the probability of an abandon ship experience is NEXT TO NOTHING.
Cruise, enjoy, go thru the required exercises, and ENJOY the experience.
P.S. Yes, I have walked on the bulkheads instead of the decks. I lived. So should 99.99999% of you on a cruise.
P.P.S. In the Navy, a ship (or boat/sub) HAD to be in a specific location at a specific time. Cruise ships have the luxury of diverting around a storm, skipping a port, or changing ports -- all to keep the passengers safe. ENJOY your cruising experiences !!! Don't sweat the small stuff.
If the bars run out of olives, or lemon slices, THAT -- is a concern !!!!!
If you see a guy dressed in a Princess gown holding a Bud Light, THAT - is a bigger concern !!!!!
The huge modern ships with capacity for 5,000 or more passsengers and up to 2,000 crew are a concern to me. I fear that one day there will be a dreadful disaster involving one of these ships. Rescuing that many people in a raging sea, far from land, would not be easy. Another concern is the number of disabled passengers on some ships. With the elevators out of action, it would mean that the crew would have to carry people up several flights of stairs. That may be fairly easy if they are lightweight but very difficult should they be obese.
I agree that the new Muster drill doesn't really prepare you for a "catastrophic emergency" but the old way didn't really either. The only good training would be like the Navy has and that's not practical for a bunch of civilians who are not willing to pay attention longer than 15 minutes (if you're lucky).