Most lines (but not all) conduct a full drill for all pax prior to leaving port on embarkation day - obviously a good idea if something happened first night out ! My understanding of Solas etc is that the only excemption to this is pax who for whatever reason join the ship late who must then have their own mini drill before setting sail.

Willem

Personally I do not think a drill prior to sailing on the first afternoon very effective. Most people are on a high, some have their first drink in hand, more interested in their new surroundings and sailaway than something serious. You don't get drills on the ferries, just the info over the loudspeakers. When on a cruise to Zeebrugge one has to do a full blown drill, but not if on a ferry. Never even had one on Hurtigrute. It wasn't required as only in coastal waters, never more than a certain distance from land and not continuously at sea for more then 36 hours.

More than once I have been stuck in a drill as we set sail and all I was interested in was getting away and up on deck with the camera not listening at all to the drone that goes on and on and on with say P&O, who tell one just about everything there is to know about the ship, even down to where to eat. No-one listens and many drift off.

Pictures from this cruise, including one or two of IoTS, here:
http://www.travelserver.net/travelpage/aspgallery/view_ad.asp?Ad_ID=3135

HAL boat drill always fore departure on promenade deck. Notice that in Skagway the week land tour returning a/b ship did also a boat drill before departure.

Princess always do drills at the muster station not lifeboats, obviously as depending on circumstances certain lifeboats may not be available and the pax will only be moved form the relative comfort of the muster lounges when actually needed and only to where they need to be. I have to say I think this is a good system and logical.

I wonder what the legal issues would be of a ship sinking on the first night out but no boat drill having taken place ? The suviving relatives and lawyers would no doubt cite this as an issue in their deaths ?

Personally regardless of whether it interferes with a party or not (and if planned properly shouldn't) safety is more important and I don't see it is responsible to do otherwise.

As for language Costa should do drills in seperate rooms for those speaking different languages - they know who they are before boarding so not difficult to organise.

As for late embarks the OOD should be responsible for a proper drill for them prior to sailing including life jackets etc.

RCI take rollcall and will tannoy absent pax until they arrive (oops that was me on the Brilliance OTS !), if they don't they have to do it later, mind Oasis OTS might be a nightmare doing that.

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Originally posted by Frosty 4:
Princess has many passengers report to the theatre area for drills- easy for them but what if the ship is in bad shape? Even though it's crowded on deck I prefer to go where my life boat is located.
Can you imagine leaving the theatre- a stampede to be sure!
Frosty 4

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The fact is that it could be literally hours before the actual abandon ship signal is given, depending on the state of the fire, where it is, outside weather conditions, etc. Think of the actual fire situations, such as on ECSTASY, STAR PRINCESS, etc. If all those pax had been sent to boats, they would have been on deck, in the way, for hours. Far better to keep the pax together inside, until absolutely necessary, so they won't be in the way of getting the boats ready. Remember, you don't want your population leaving the ship until absolutely necessary--this is definitely a last-resort measure.

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Originally posted by Norfolk Boy:
Sail away is avoided for the reasons stated by Pam, but however effective it is to have drill prior to departure it is often the best time to get the largest attendance.

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You better tell Costa

Their drill was just on sailaway from Amsterdam.
Our friends had come to the terminal to wave goodbye and we were sitting in the theatre for a lifeboatdrill with announcements in SEVEN languages ! One could have stayed away as there was no check if all attended.

On Oceanic the drill (at the lifeboatstation) was before departure and was ended at sailaway ! All cabinnumbers were called.

On Marco Polo too, the drill was before departure (in a lounge and all were checked) and also finished at sailaway.

As the boarding process however, was so chaotic, we arrived on the ship an hour after the proposed sailing time (notwhitstanding being there amply on time...).

The boat drill was over. We never had the boat drill, which I thought and think a very serious safety lapse. JotS is an immense ship, surely if you are on a cruise for the first time (like my wife). A bad point for RCI, on an otherwise enjoyable cruise.

In general though I think there has been a trend towards the P&O/Princess style of boat drill that is held indoors in lounges. I first encountered this on Princess and now it seems to have spread to a lot of other lines.

At least on some lines now photos are forbidden during muster. It is daft when some photographer comes along making a joke of it.

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Originally posted by dougnewman:
Pam - Interesting. Nobody's ever done that when I've been on Cunard (QE2 or QM2), most recently this past January.

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Cunard absolutely had roll-calls when I sailed onboard QE2 in 2002 and QM2 in 2004.

When Princess took over, Cunard adopted the Princess lifeboat drill procedures which do not include a roll call. The verbiage now used on Cunard during a drill is exactly the same as on Princess. In fact on Princess it's now a recording (British accent - makes American's feel safer for some reason), and I think it was on QV as well.

On Royal Caribbean, you still go outside for the drill, and a roll call is taken.

Ernie

[ 08-25-2008: Message edited by: eroller ]