Drill disguised as real emergency?

[kac0426]

On a recent Holland America cruise, one afternoon the alarm sounded and they came on the PA system and said there was a fire on the 4th floor, the 4th floor had to be evacuated, and for the passengers to await further instructions. We all experienced a tense 5 or 10 minutes or so, wondering what was happening. Then they came on the PA system to say that what we heard was a drill and that there was no fire or emergency. I've cruised many times on other cruise lines and have never experienced something like this. I don't think this was an ideal way to practice a drill. Many passengers were very frightened and stressed by what they thought was a real emergency. Is this normal for HAL? Was this a freak accident where we should have been notified ahead of time that it was a drill? A few passengers speculated that they made the drill sound real to truly test the emergency crew's response time, but there has to be a better way.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Maybe you just did not hear the initial announcement that it was only a crew drill? We just got off Eurodam, a 7-day cruise to Alaska. In addition to two crew drills, there was a full coast guard inspection in Juneau, and we were kept informed every step of the way as to what was going on. It is sometimes hard to hear the announcements, and what Is being said, depending on your location on the ship.

[OlsSalt]

Do you think you may have misses a preceding announcement? They do these all the time but always warn up front it is a drill for crew purposes only. How was this explained to you after the fact, since it appeared according to your report there was no preceding drill announcement.

[kac0426]

I honestly don't think we missed a preceding announcement. It was a sea day and we had been in our room for quite some time and we could hear the announcements in our room very well. No other passenger that we spoke to had any idea it was a drill, so I really don't think they made a preceding announcement. They explained after the fact, several times, that what we heard was a drill, so the fact that they explained it so many times afterward kind of reinforced that they didn't tell us ahead of time. Maybe they were supposed to but the communication never happened? If it was a fluke, that's fine. Things happen. But I thought if that's their regular practice, that's a terrible way to do it!

[Old As Dirt Mom]

I honestly don't think we missed a preceding announcement. It was a sea day and we had been in our room for quite some time and we could hear the announcements in our room very well. No other passenger that we spoke to had any idea it was a drill, so I really don't think they made a preceding announcement. They explained after the fact, several times, that what we heard was a drill, so the fact that they explained it so many times afterward kind of reinforced that they didn't tell us ahead of time. Maybe they were supposed to but the communication never happened? If it was a fluke, that's fine. Things happen. But I thought if that's their regular practice, that's a terrible way to do it!

 

Thanks for the additional information. Definitely a fluke.

[CruiserBruce]

Drilling on sea days is a bit unusual.

 

That being said, if it was a drill, I suspect someone failed to make the proper notification.

[OlsSalt]

.........But I thought if that's their regular practice, that's a terrible way to do it!

 

Unecesarily panicking passengers on a regular basis would be a terrible practice. Sorry this thought even crossed your mind. No way to enjoy a vacation or think about a cruise line.

 

HAL has a distinguished history in the hospitality business so this was very much a one-off experience. They repeat the drill message because they want to make sure there was no misunderstanding, not that it was a tacit admission of a mistake on their part. These activities are highly scripted.

 

We were also told that passengers do not like getting a lot of announcement blasted into their cabins which is why one needs to go out into the hallway for the mid-day reports unless you find the TV channel. They also said when they really need to make sure you hear an announcement it will come blasting into your room. No ifs ands or buts about it. You raised an interesting point.

[easyboy]

They explained after the fact, several times, that what we heard was a drill, so the fact that they explained it so many times afterward kind of reinforced that they didn't tell us ahead of time. Maybe they were supposed to but the communication never happened? If it was a fluke, that's fine. Things happen. But I thought if that's their regular practice, that's a terrible way to do it!

 

That is really unusual. We too would have been tensed, at least.

 

 

 

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[Cruise NH]

Several years ago on an Oosterdam cruise to Alaska we experienced a false alarm as well.

 

On a sea day the 'serious' alarm was sounded, you know the one with 7 blasts or whatever I don't remember the whole sequence but it was the one you were supposed to pay attention to. I was outside on an upper deck and the few of us sitting there looked at each other and wondered if there was something we were supposed to do. There didn't seem to be an emergency that we could see.

 

A little while later the Captain came on and said to disregard the signal and they were sorry if it caused any concern. There had been a small fire, but it was quickly contained.

 

A few days later when we were lining up below decks to get off at a port we saw a memo addressed to the crew warning them not to sound the general alarm until an incident was looked into by the emergency response team. Apparently a crew member had overreacted to the fire and pulled the alarm to alert the entire ship.

 

There was no panic by the passengers just a little confusion.

[RuthC]

In all my sailing days on HAL (a considerable amount), I have never experienced a crew drill that was not publicized shortly before. Always there has been at least a couple of announcements about what was to come, and that passengers were not to concern themselves. There is frequently a notification that the elevators will be out of use, so I pay particular attention.

 

I can assure you that if there was no preceding announcement, and it was a drill, this was not SOP.

 

I have also been aboard when there was a real emergency, with a fire somewhere. In that instance the Captain was the first one on the PA making the announcement, and he kept us fully informed as to what was going on.

Believe me, even though I was in the normally noisy dining room, you could hear a pin drop.

[Aquahound]

This may not be a popular opinion with passengers (including some folks on this board) but a random fire drill without pre-notification to the crew is actually the best way to train them, and learn from mistakes. Knowing that a drill is coming, along with the crew pre-staging for the drill, that will occur at a specified time, is not a good way to train. Cruise ships absolutely should hold totally random drills from time to time.

[ski ww]

On the Prinsendam a few years back on a formal night in the middle of late seating, suddenly 7 short, 1 long sounded. Nobody moved, some of our table mates didn't even know what that meant. We waited a couple of minutes & then the Capt came on and told everybody to carry on. The next morning during the Q&A with the ships officers somebody asked what happened. The chief engineer said they had a small fire in the engine room which they quickly put out. As he put it in his dry British humour, there was a bit of a fire out side the boiler instead of inside the boiler. Doesn't matter how many muster drills you have some people still don't pay attention.

Allan

[rafinmd]

This may not be a popular opinion with passengers (including some folks on this board) but a random fire drill without pre-notification to the crew is actually the best way to train them, and learn from mistakes. Knowing that a drill is coming, along with the crew pre-staging for the drill, that will occur at a specified time, is not a good way to train. Cruise ships absolutely should hold totally random drills from time to time.

 

Not just that but I'll bet there's a benefit in the crew dealing with passengers who think there really is an emergency. Lots of risks but I bet some real benefits as well.

 

Roy

[OlsSalt]

This may not be a popular opinion with passengers (including some folks on this board) but a random fire drill without pre-notification to the crew is actually the best way to train them, and learn from mistakes. Knowing that a drill is coming, along with the crew pre-staging for the drill, that will occur at a specified time, is not a good way to train. Cruise ships absolutely should hold totally random drills from time to time.

 

Downside of " random fake drills" is passengers could learn to ignore the real ones. I doubt if anyone would require fake drills. I see your point, but putting a few thousand passengers into various states of panic for the sheer exercise of practicing

"real events" sounds like very poor policy.

 

I worked in a large institution that had disaster preparedness drills. Announcements went out ahead of time but one supervisor did not alert one employee who just happened to become the designated "victim" when the police arrived responding to a fake "shooter on premies" drill. He sued us for emotional distress and false imprisonment. It settled in his favor.

[sppunk]

What ship/date?

[Krazy Kruizers]

This sounds like a screw up by HAL.

We have been on many HAL when there was a real fire and instructions were very clear and the captain kept coming on every few minutes and explained what was happening.

The majority of the drills for crew members were held on port days.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Do you think you may have misses a preceding announcement? They do these all the time but always warn up front it is a drill for crew purposes only. How was this explained to you after the fact, since it appeared according to your report there was no preceding drill announcement.

I think that is the story.

[IRL_Joanie]

I honestly don't think we missed a preceding announcement. It was a sea day and we had been in our room for quite some time and we could hear the announcements in our room very well. No other passenger that we spoke to had any idea it was a drill, so I really don't think they made a preceding announcement. They explained after the fact, several times, that what we heard was a drill, so the fact that they explained it so many times afterward kind of reinforced that they didn't tell us ahead of time. Maybe they were supposed to but the communication never happened? If it was a fluke, that's fine. Things happen. But I thought if that's their regular practice, that's a terrible way to do it!

 

Drills done on Sea Days are Crew Only drills (Usually) and IIRC do not sound in the rooms. More than likely it was a drill for crew that had just come on board over the previous 2-3 days. The only time I heard the Crew Only Drills from inside my stateroom or my verandah was on Port Days and there were 3-4 announcements made all spanning from 1 hour prior to the Drill, with the final announcement sounding like a real drill. The Captain, First Officer or Officer of the Day makes each announcement, stating something like, "In a few minutes we will be having a Crew Drill and alarms will sound. Please do not respond as this is only a drill. IF this were a real emergency you would be asked to go to your room(s) and await further instruction." They would also give an alarm to let you know when the drill is over.

 

Not all announcements over the PA system can be heard in the rooms unless you open your front door, so possibly an announcement or 2 was made and you could not hear it.

 

I'm sorry that you and a few other of your cruise mates were scared because of the alarm(s) but better to be safe than sorry.

 

I, as so many others ohn this thread, am very thankful for the training the crews receive in order to keep my hubby and his fellow HAL passengers safe while they are cruising.

 

Joanie

[Hlitner]

This sounds like a screw up by HAL.

We have been on many HAL when there was a real fire and instructions were very clear and the captain kept coming on every few minutes and explained what was happening.

The majority of the drills for crew members were held on port days.

 

Well that sure makes us feel good :). "Many HAL cruises where there was a real fire." Hmmm. Must admit that having been on far more then 100 cruises (with 14 lines) we have never experienced a "real fire" while aboard. And we hope it never happens.

 

 

Hank

[IRL_Joanie]

Well that sure makes us feel good :). "Many HAL cruises where there was a real fire." Hmmm. Must admit that having been on far more then 100 cruises (with 14 lines) we have never experienced a "real fire" while aboard. And we hope it never happens.

 

 

Hank

 

We have experienced a few Real Fire Alrams over the years, just as KK states.

Heck one of our cruises back in 2014 or 2015 we even had a Real Alarm which one of our CC Roll Call members told us all about the next day. Seems their stateroom was right across from the "Officers' Mess. It was a dishwasher that caught fire while the Officers were in there doing whatever they do there:)

We had another one that sounded around 3:00am when there was smoke coming from a Service room on Deck 4. Turned out to be an Ice Machine.

Basically what it comes down to is that Fire happens wherever you are. It is best to be prepared and thankfully HAL keeps prepared, even if it means scaring a few passengers.

Joanie

[frankc98376]

Trust me if there is a real alarm you will know it- especially at 4 am. I was out of be and on my feet like the bed was on fire it scared me so bad. Light fixture at hydro pool shorted and was smoking. They announced the all clear and said sorry to wake you, go back to sleep now, Yeah right, that's gonna happen :)

[Copper10-8]

There is a standard announcement that is read off over the P/A system from the bridge by the OOW prior to EVERY crew drill, no exception! Every crew drill is gone over prior to initiating said drill by the safety officer with the leading participants

[Beach4me]

Well that sure makes us feel good :). "Many HAL cruises where there was a real fire." Hmmm. Must admit that having been on far more then 100 cruises (with 14 lines) we have never experienced a "real fire" while aboard. And we hope it never happens.

 

 

Hank

 

53 cruises...2 fires. One was minor and over as soon as it was announced. One wasn't but at least we weren't very far from port. Nothing like watching the Seattle fire boats heading toward your ship to get your cruise off to a rousing start.

[chengkp75]

This may not be a popular opinion with passengers (including some folks on this board) but a random fire drill without pre-notification to the crew is actually the best way to train them, and learn from mistakes. Knowing that a drill is coming, along with the crew pre-staging for the drill, that will occur at a specified time, is not a good way to train. Cruise ships absolutely should hold totally random drills from time to time.

 

There is a standard announcement that is read off over the P/A system from the bridge by the OOW prior to EVERY crew drill, no exception! Every crew drill is gone over prior to initiating said drill by the safety officer with the leading participants

 

Again, from the other side from most passengers, I agree with Paul that random drills are a very useful tool, and the "pre-staging" (crew gathering their lifejackets or emergency materials and hanging around their assigned stations in advance of the drill) is one thing the USCG inspectors watch for, and will fail a crew on if seen. OP mentioned an upcoming USCG inspection. Especially given HAL's "three step" passenger alarm system, this precludes the passengers from going to their muster stations while still keeping them under control, and in comfort.

 

I also know for a fact that John's statements about announcements and drill pre-briefing is correct. Could the wrong button have been pressed on the PA system to limit announcements? Sure, its happened.

 

I also know that regardless of how much training you have, or how long you have been working on ships, until you actually face the fire, you don't know how you will react, and some will forget or forego their training and sound an alarm that shouldn't have been. This is why the cruise lines use the "three step" or "code" approach to emergencies, where when a "code bravo" is called, not even all crew respond, only those assigned to duties under code bravo, like the fire, security, medical, on-scene command, and technical quick-response teams. Everyone else goes about their business until the on-scene command decides the emergency needs to be escalated.

 

I think this case, and some others mentioned in this thread, is a little of all three of the above.

[chengkp75]

Downside of " random fake drills" is passengers could learn to ignore the real ones. I doubt if anyone would require fake drills. I see your point, but putting a few thousand passengers into various states of panic for the sheer exercise of practicing

"real events" sounds like very poor policy.

 

I worked in a large institution that had disaster preparedness drills. Announcements went out ahead of time but one supervisor did not alert one employee who just happened to become the designated "victim" when the police arrived responding to a fake "shooter on premies" drill. He sued us for emotional distress and false imprisonment. It settled in his favor.

 

I don't think there would be enough "random fake drills" (and they wouldn't be fake drills, but fake emergencies, since the drill is real) to have any one cruiser or group of cruisers get the impression that they were all drills.

 

It sounds like the drill you mention at your institution was poorly planned and poorly executed, in that there was not sufficient briefing between the company, the person in charge of the drill, and the local law enforcement. That is why the person won an emotional distress award, and why the LEO's made an arrest. I don't know the circumstances, but I wonder how the fact that the employee was not notified about a drill caused him to not follow procedure and act like the rest of the employees, who were not "distressed" or arrested.

 

Actually, announced and routine drills (same port, same time every week) are detrimental to crew training, as they know its a drill, and can start to "phone in" their responses. Now, doing it with passengers adds a whole new dimension to the problem, but it is still manageable, and reasonable.