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Muster stations are a better way of getting hundreds of people together in a safe indoor environment while the situation is being analyzed to determine whether an 'abandon ship' is necessary. And if need be they can re-route you to a more accessible lifeboat in case something incapacitating has happened to those in a particular area of the ship.
quote:Originally posted by dmwnc1:Ok, let's say they have 'assigned lifeboats' instead of a 'muster station'. What happens if your assigned lifeboat was damaged in a collision, or on the high side of a capsizing ship? What then? Same goes for a muster station if there is a fire between you and your assigned meeting area or your lifeboat?Muster stations are a better way of getting hundreds of people together in a safe indoor environment while the situation is being analyzed to determine whether an 'abandon ship' is necessary. And if need be they can re-route you to a more accessible lifeboat in case something incapacitating has happened to those in a particular area of the ship.
DMW, this has been discussed before by cruisetalker Gohaze who has since passed. He was a ship master. He too believes the muster station is the best starting point in case of inclement weather or unlauncheable lifeboats
On my past 2 cruises on the Galaxy and the Regatta, we met at the muster station in our lifebelts, and went out to the lifeboats after.
There are many ways for passengers to know what is going to happen. Good communication is important. The drills have to also be run professionally. This should also be made known to passengers-that it is not a game-and should be taken very seriously!
Maybe crew need to be retrained constantly since crew does change. The way I see it: play it safe rather than risk. I guess you all agree on that.
The COSTA CONCORDIA incident will definitely change things in one way or another. Nautilus International, maritime professional union, has voiced its concerns. Let's hope the industry takes heed.
******
Cheers
It doesn't take more than a few minutes of research and planning to develop steps to get yourself and your people to safety in case of an onboard emergency. Having a plan also puts you in the best position to help others, if things get crazy. The herd mentality will get you killed in a mass-panic situation. Have a plan, and take decisive action based on previous previous observation of the emergency tools at hand, and you'll be long off the ship before things get critical.Do you read and consider the emergency escape info on the back of your hotel room door? You should be doing the same thing with the info on the back of your stateroom door on a ship.
[ 01-19-2012: Message edited by: Namlit ]
a) I vaguely remember reading something in the aftermath of the Star Princess, in which passengers were called to muster stations in the small hours and held there for quite a long time. The comment I read (by a passenger) was that having done the drill was a help, when they were woken by the alarm at 3am or something like that, because they knew where to go.
b) Doing 'bus stop' cruises in which passengers embark/disembark at various ports along the route seems to be a feature of the Italian companies, both Costa and MSC. In the case of Concordia's itinerary, the relevant ports were Savona, Barcelona & Civitavecchia, with Savona being the main port. I wonder if this will continue? I can't help thinking that trying to do good drills for the minority of passengers who have just embarked at secondary ports is difficult. You can't even do things like shut the bars, etc, because they need to stay open for the majority of passengers who have already done their muster drill.
c) The only time I can recall being taken from the muster station out onto the deck and shown 'my lifeboat' was on an Italian cruise. This was on MSC Sinfonia and happened in Genoa, which was the principal port for the cruise.
[ 01-25-2012: Message edited by: Tom Burke ]
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