The route to the muster station.

[MommaBear55]

 

What's this mean?

[uksimonusa]

Lets take this a step further. How about actually mustering where the life boats are to be boarded?

 

This gathering in the casino or theater because some passengers can't stand for a few minutes outside is ridiculous IMO.

 

Mustering often has nothing to do with life boats, muster means to collect or assemble, the idea of mustering is to have everyone assemble and be accounted for in preparation. If lifeboats need to be used and the ship abandoned, having guests muster in an inside area, leaves the crew space to lower the lifeboats and prepare for evacution unhindered.

 

When the Grandeur caught fire recently, I believe a muster was ordered, but the call to abandon ship was not needed.

[alfaeric]

Didn't think of that situation. However, as awesome as the Oasis class may be, if evacuation of a ship like that is not feasible in a short amount of time, maybe designing and building ships this large may not be such a great idea. I'm waiting for the flames for that, but, with say 6000 pax onboard, plus the crew, in a realtime evacuation, more than likely the scene will be chaotic with the possibility of large loss of life trying to get 7500 people off of a potentially capsized, sinking, or burning ship within a matter of say, an hour or so?

 

As awesome as the Oasis class may be, evacuation of a small sinking city scares me!

 

 

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Following up on this tangent, but used your post since I really like your ID. Works great for me... :D

 

Anyway, on the two mega ship cruises we've gone on, I tried to look around to figure out where we would actually go- and for both the Oasis and Allure- it appeared that there was a direct path from where we were sitting to our life boat. So while we were not mustered right in front of the boat, I *think* we were a handful of steps from the exact same place. To the point that the crew would be able to organize a efficient line that would board the life boat.

 

So keeping masses of people away from all of the life boat entries probably makes the whole boarding process more efficient, and quick.

 

Perhaps.

[maureencruiser]

What's this mean?

 

http://www.r-word.org/Not-Acceptable-R-word-PSA.aspx

 

 

An earlier poster used the word retards to describe how she and her family felt. She is a well respected poster here and I know she said it carelessly and without malice, I just wanted to remind everyone that word is not acceptable. Now back to the muster station for a donut! :)

[BillB48]

Didn't think of that situation. However, as awesome as the Oasis class may be, if evacuation of a ship like that is not feasible in a short amount of time, maybe designing and building ships this large may not be such a great idea. I'm waiting for the flames for that, but, with say 6000 pax onboard, plus the crew, in a realtime evacuation, more than likely the scene will be chaotic with the possibility of large loss of life trying to get 7500 people off of a potentially capsized, sinking, or burning ship within a matter of say, an hour or so?

 

As awesome as the Oasis class may be, evacuation of a small sinking city scares me!

 

 

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From what I have read in order to conform with SOLAS a passenger ship must be able to be evacuated within 80 minutes, which includes reacting to the announcement and travel time to the assembly area. Once assembled there is a 30 minute requirement to load and launch the survival craft. The 7000+ plus on the O and A ships does certainly look like a tall order, but I'm sure they had to demonstrate that is could be done.

[media_gal]

I suggest that when you get on the ship, find out where your muster station is and be familiar with that general area.

 

Since elevators will not be working, I also suggest that you get there (or near there) prior to the muster announcement.

 

And for those that think you can just find any lifeboat and get in it, I hope your swimming abilities are pretty good.

[Eng23]

If you don't mind me asking, what class or particular ship are you referring to? Just wondering, as far as I can recall, most ships have an open deck at lifeboat level or just below lifeboat level where they would be loaded if need be. Would like to see some photos of what you're referring to as I can't recall ever seeing that.

 

 

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Oasis/Allure of the Seas. There is no room to assemble passengers at the lifeboats on this class of ships. From the muster stations inside the ship on the Promenade you are only 20-30 feet from your lifeboat. The crew at your station take you through access doors from the Promenade area to your lifeboat.

Another thing, being called to your muster station is not only done if there is a possibility of abandoning ship. If a person goes overboard you are called to muster for accountability purposes.

 

 

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[jerick]

On the diagrams I have seen a primary route that is through public areas and an alternate route that is through crew areas in case your primary route is inaccessible.

 

This is probably the best answer to my original question. I may have misread the chart on the door and not realized that the route through the crew area was an alternate route.

 

Thanks! :)

[GranysT]

Eng23, I personally sailed on a ship, where a man jumped overboard. No one was called to muster.

[Eng23]

Eng23, I personally sailed on a ship, where a man jumped overboard. No one was called to muster.

 

That may have been because the person that went overboard could be immediately identified (by family or other witnesses). Allow me to clarify that a muster can be ordered for accountability purposes if someone goes overboard and cannot be identified.

 

 

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[Mark_K]

The crew stairwells will not be open.

Yes, they will. Any route that is a primary or secondary escape route will always be unlocked and available for use.

 

 

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[Mark_K]

Have been directed to use crew stairwell twice on RCCL, both times were in Aft cabins. One time they let us climb back up same way (which was HEAVEN because the stairwells are a disaster after the drill).

Same here. Our primary escape route was an aft crew stairway, so we took it to go to the muster drill. We got a couple funny looks, but nobody told us we shouldn't have.

 

 

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[justjim312]

Lets take this a step further. How about actually mustering where the life boats are to be boarded?

 

This gathering in the casino or theater because some passengers can't stand for a few minutes outside is ridiculous IMO.

 

 

Your absolutely right on. If a ship is sinking, and you see it and feel it, I doubt very much many will show up at some dining room or a muster station. You'll go right to a lifeboat. That's a human survival instinct.

[Wheeling_family_of_3]

I suggest that when you get on the ship, find out where your muster station is and be familiar with that general area.

 

Since elevators will not be working, I also suggest that you get there (or near there) prior to the muster announcement.

 

And for those that think you can just find any lifeboat and get in it, I hope your swimming abilities are pretty good.

 

Elevators will not be working in a muster drill? My husband is literally paralyzed from the neck down. How can I get him to our muster station, and worse, in a real disaster, to our lifeboat?

[Leslie K]

That's the way it used to be--in the days before they crammed 3-4000 people on a ship

 

 

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it has nothing to do with being able to stand or not. People who are handicapped report to their muster station and then we are redirected to a different location. Those in handicapped cabins tend to have those locations for handicapped individuals as their muster station location.

 

There is no room on the deck for the numbers of people booked onto the larger ships. That said, I enjoyed leaving NYC in the winter and having an inside muster station one year. I've stood outside in the cold many times. At least back then we were still required to wear the life vests which was an extra layer for warmth, lol. now we're no longer required to bring the life vests. In reality, unless the emergency is at night, I would most likely not being heading to a muster station from my cabin and hope they are truthful when they say there are sufficient life vests at the muster locations.

[A2Mich]

it has nothing to do with being able to stand or not. People who are handicapped report to their muster station and then we are redirected to a different location. Those in handicapped cabins tend to have those locations for handicapped individuals as their muster station location.

 

There is no room on the deck for the numbers of people booked onto the larger ships. That said, I enjoyed leaving NYC in the winter and having an inside muster station one year. I've stood outside in the cold many times. At least back then we were still required to wear the life vests which was an extra layer for warmth, lol. now we're no longer required to bring the life vests. In reality, unless the emergency is at night, I would most likely not being heading to a muster station from my cabin and hope they are truthful when they say there are sufficient life vests at the muster locations.

 

I didn't say anything about standing. That was another poster. My concern is that with not being enough deck space for 7500-8000 people on deck, I just question whether or not an evacuation would really be very orderly and timely

 

 

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[xxHadleyxx]

The vast majority of the time, if people are called to muster stations, the ship is not "sinking" I mean, really, other than the Concordia, when have we seen that in modern times on a large passenger ship with safety equipment?

 

Even the Concordia, if the captain had ordered everyone to muster stations immediately, most passengers would not have known that the ship was possibly sinking to be in such a panic as to go to other lifeboats.

 

I sure hope that the vast majority of people would realize that following the carefully planned procedures is the fastest and safest way to get everyone off the ship, and not try to just jump into whatever was nearby.

 

 

That may have been because the person that went overboard could be immediately identified (by family or other witnesses). Allow me to clarify that a muster can be ordered for accountability purposes if someone goes overboard and cannot be identified.

 

 

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Or, more likely, when someone is reported as missing, cannot be found easily otherwise, and there is a need to determine if they are still onboard or perhaps went overboard.

 

Or Something was reported as having been seen going overboard but there is not a clear idea of if that was a person or other object.

[Mark_K]

Another thing, being called to your muster station is not only done if there is a possibility of abandoning ship. If a person goes overboard you are called to muster for accountability purposes.

Not in my experience. They just turned the ship around and started searching.

 

 

 

 

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