A question about the lifeboats.

I was viewing videos of the Escape and a morbid question popped into my head. How many people can a lifeboat handle? With roughly 4500 guests plus the crew, in case of an emergency can the lifeboats hold everyone? I'm not worried, but since no ship is unsinkable, I thought I would throw this question out there. 😁

I was viewing videos of the Escape and a morbid question popped into my head. How many people can a lifeboat handle? With roughly 4500 guests plus the crew, in case of an emergency can the lifeboats hold everyone? I'm not worried, but since no ship is unsinkable, I thought I would throw this question out there. 😁

By International Regulations, every ship is required to have enough working lifeboats for EVERY person on board.

Weekly crew drills are also required so in an emergency, every member crew knows there their assignment and can do it.

the lifeboats that hang off the side of the ship can hold about 300-400 people

for the crew, they are inflatable rafts. they are those big 3/4 white cylinder things at the end of the lifeboats

also, on your first day you are required to attend a muster drill..... the reason you must go to a specific location, and not just the first one you pass, is that muster station is assigned a specific lifeboat and has the appropriate seats assigned for people. Also, this is why sometimes the ship's inventory of staterooms may appear to have several empty staterooms and people wonder why they're empty or they can't get the upgrade..... it's because the number of people staying in that area make up the max number for that muster station (hence the max number for the lifeboat). Hope that helped.

Well everyone's mind when questions like this are asked goes to Titanic. As someone who has been obsessed with Titanic since the age of about 5 and have studied it ever since I can understand the question and it's interesting.

The regulations now are great. Not only did life boat requirements change but other changes were made. A big one we all may not actually notice is "no dead ends". Ships after Titanic were to be designed with no dead ends, every corridor or hall way leads to somewhere that you can get out on Deck. Ever notice that when you are on cruises? Check it out next time, and you'll see it for yourself.

The other thing about Titanic specifically is they had room for about 500 more people if they had filled or over filled the life boats. They could have and should have saved 1200 people. People didn't take the situation as serious as they should. People didn't believe Titanic was going to sink and people were reluctant to get into life boats. It's the most extraordinary story in Maritime history and really of all time.

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I was viewing videos of the Escape and a morbid question popped into my head. How many people can a lifeboat handle? With roughly 4500 guests plus the crew, in case of an emergency can the lifeboats hold everyone? I'm not worried, but since no ship is unsinkable, I thought I would throw this question out there. 😁

Since you asked its woman and children first. IF their is a seat left you might get on:D

Well everyone's mind when questions like this are asked goes to Titanic. As someone who has been obsessed with Titanic since the age of about 5 and have studied it ever since I can understand the question and it's interesting.

The regulations now are great. Not only did life boat requirements change but other changes were made. A big one we all may not actually notice is "no dead ends". Ships after Titanic were to be designed with no dead ends, every corridor or hall way leads to somewhere that you can get out on Deck. Ever notice that when you are on cruises? Check it out next time, and you'll see it for yourself.

The other thing about Titanic specifically is they had room for about 500 more people if they had filled or over filled the life boats. They could have and should have saved 1200 people. People didn't take the situation as serious as they should. People didn't believe Titanic was going to sink and people were reluctant to get into life boats. It's the most extraordinary story in Maritime history and really of all time.

 

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Believe or not, the most recent Regulations revisions came from the Costa Concordia accident in January 2012 off the coast of Italy.

I don't know about the "no dead ends". I like to walk the track for an hour as exercise but when the weather does not permit I walk around the interior of the ship and have had to turn around in several passageway.

Believe or not, the most recent Regulations revisions came from the Costa Concordia accident in January 2012 off the coast of Italy.

On ththe Concordia, not all of the lifeboats could be launched because of the list of the ship. And hardly any of the life rafts were launched. So, having “seats” for everyone is good, but you have to be able to get them loaded and on the water. And you know one of the seats was filled with the Captain.

Believe or not, the most recent Regulations revisions came from the Costa Concordia accident in January 2012 off the coast of Italy.

The other thing specifically about life boats is some were rendered useless because of list the ship took on, again because of the mistakes of a very stupid captain. He punctured such a large hole in the ship it took on too much water, too quickly. When the ship list too far over the life boats could not be launched.

The captain as far as I'm concerned can rot in jail. Veering off course to get a better view of the island is inexcusable. He is directly responsible for every death that occurred.

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I don't know about the "no dead ends". I like to walk the track for an hour as exercise but when the weather does not permit I walk around the interior of the ship and have had to turn around in several passageway.

most doors is usually marked with a emergency exit or a crew only sign that can be used in an emergency to go outside. they are sometimes not that obvious from the inside.

Another problem (that has since been changed) with Concordia was that over 600 new passengers on the ship had not gone through the muster drill.

As for Concordia's lifeboats, it the captain had given the order for passengers to get into the lifeboats sooner (and all passengers knew where to go), far fewer people (if any) would have died.

I was a waiter for NCL and my safety job was davit operator (lowered the life boats). The boats have enough space for all passengers. Workers not assigned to a life boat crew would be put on life rafts. The big round cylinders on board are also automatically activated to inflate if they come in contact with water which would provide any people that may have fell off or stuck on board something to swim to. You will also notice some of these located at the top of the ship which in case the ship completely sinks will deploy even more life rafts. The life rafts would then be picked up and dragged by the life boats to safety. Another thing the newer ships have is an inflatable slide which allows crew to slide down into the rafts at a very fast pace.

The issue with Costa was the captain and company hesitating to abandon ship before listing too much. If a cruise ship evacuates, the cruise line has to give out an insurance payment to each passenger.

Well, let's set a few things straight.

First off, the Escape's lifeboats are most likely (not completely sure) the Schat Harding MPC39 boat with a capacity of 328 people. Passenger ships are required to have lifeboat capacity for 75% of all souls onboard, which typically relates to the maximum capacity of passengers, along with the 3-4 assigned crew to each boat. The ship is required to have lifesaving appliances for 125% of everyone onboard. So, the difference between the 75% in lifeboats is made up with inflatable life rafts. 95% of the crew are assigned to life rafts, and then there are additional life rafts in case some rafts or boats are not usable. So, no, passenger ships are not required to have life boats for everyone onboard, but they do have to have some form of life saving craft (combination of boats and rafts).

Regarding dead ends in passageways, while that is the wording of the regulation, in reality it is that every place on ship has two means of egress, not necessarily to the open deck.

There were no regulations regarding lifeboats that "came out of the Concordia" disaster. The only change that came out of the incident was the requirement to have muster prior to departure, rather than within 24 hours.

Regarding the Concordia, 23 of 26 lifeboats were successfully launched. And the list did not reach the point where boats and rafts could not be launched until after the ship grounded the final time on the island of Giglio. Had the muster been called in a timely fashion (45 minutes prior to when the actual "abandon ship" announcement was made as the only official notification), and had the Captain admitted to himself that there was no hope of saving the ship (after he received the word that there were 3 compartments flooding, which was within 10 minutes of striking the rock), the boats and rafts could have been launched while the ship was still upright. The ship did not start to list more than 5-10* for over two hours after striking the rock.

I was viewing videos of the Escape and a morbid question popped into my head. How many people can a lifeboat handle? With roughly 4500 guests plus the crew, in case of an emergency can the lifeboats hold everyone? I'm not worried, but since no ship is unsinkable, I thought I would throw this question out there. ��

i was told in the Officer's Q&A that there's twice as many lifeboats/rafts needed for max # of passengers.

thats because incase the ship leans to one side and unable to use that side's lifeboats.

I was a waiter for NCL and my safety job was davit operator (lowered the life boats).

Welcome to Cruise Critic gaabbee!! I look forward to your "technical knowledge" posts like those of ChengKP who always brings incredible knowledge to the boards. :D

Welcome to Cruise Critic gaabbee!! I look forward to your "technical knowledge" posts like those of ChengKP who always brings incredible knowledge to the boards. :D

Thanks! Its nice to be on the other side now!

i was told in the Officer's Q&A that there's twice as many lifeboats/rafts needed for max # of passengers.

thats because incase the ship leans to one side and unable to use that side's lifeboats.

That is not correct. Cargo ships that have davit launched boats on each side are required to have 200% lifeboat capacity. Passenger vessels only have to have 125% of capacity, and only 75% of that in boats.

Here's a link to a powerpoint presentation on the SOLAS regulation:

http://www.mar.ist.utl.pt/mventura/projecto-navios-i/en/sd-1.2.4-solas-iii-lifesaving.pdf

That is not correct. Cargo ships that have davit launched boats on each side are required to have 200% lifeboat capacity. Passenger vessels only have to have 125% of capacity, and only 75% of that in boats.

 

Here's a link to a powerpoint presentation on the SOLAS regulation:

 

http://www.mar.ist.utl.pt/mventura/projecto-navios-i/en/sd-1.2.4-solas-iii-lifesaving.pdf

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So some rough numbers. The Pride of America has 18 life boats. 6 tender boats that carry 250 pax plus 12 regular boats at 150 pax. This equals 3300. The capacity if POA is 2500. This equals 132%.

This is not including crew

Since you asked its woman and children first. IF their is a seat left you might get on:D

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The lifeboats are only for the passengers in the Haven the rest of peasants have life jackets and they can swim ashore

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The lifeboats are only for the passengers in the Haven the rest of peasants have life jackets and they can swim ashore

 

 

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what if i can not swim?

what if i can not swim?

Then if you put a $500 deposit for a future cruise they will throw you a rope and one of the lifeboats will tow you to shore

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Then if you put a $500 deposit for a future cruise they will throw you a rope and one of the lifeboats will tow you to shore

Do keep in mind the 20% gratuity.