Fashionably Late to Safety Drill

[LightCruiser210]

I was wondering if anybody deliberately shows up a little late for the safety drill.  We usually show up right when called, and then end up crammed behind three rows of people on a hot corridor waiting 20-40 minutes for stragglers.  On our last cruise, my Mother in Law (who is claustrophobic) passed out after 30 mins in these conditions, along with two other people in our section.  The “stragglers” showed up 35 mins late and got put right up front and basically spent less time in those miserable conditions than the “good” people who came right away.  I am thinking of waiting just inside the doors for 20 mins or so, so that we don’t get crammed in the back and wait forever for the drill to start.  I have never seen one start before this time anyway.  Has anyone else ever tried this?  I don’t want to be the last people that everyone has to wait on, but I also don’t want to subject myself to that experience again.  

[Purvis1231]

Those who are late make it longer for the rest of us- so please be early.  I am grateful since on my last few cruise our stop was on the Lido deck or the main showroom. 

Edited January 11, 2020 by Purvis1231
typo

[LightCruiser210]

I’m talking about waiting right near the doors to our muster station, so we can see when the area is getting full and join once two or three downs have formed.  That should not delay anyone, just keep us from being in back and maybe shave 15-20 minutes off the time we have to wait for the people who are really late.

[klfrodo]

1 minute ago, LightCruiser210 said:

I’m talking about waiting right near the doors to our muster station, so we can see when the area is getting full and join once two or three downs have formed.  That should not delay anyone, just keep us from being in back and maybe shave 15-20 minutes off the time we have to wait for the people who are really late.

The crew members are not going to let passengers hang around the doors. It just jams up the entire process.

 

Do we go down early? Used to. Got crammed in and waited so long thought we were going to have heat stroke.

Do we head down when the alarms go off? Used to. Still crammed in.

Now we wait a few minutes. We aren't the last by any means, but we are less crowded.

[bury me at sea]

I hate the waiting too and the calling of names.  I think it should start on time and that the S&S cards of everyone absent should be frozen.

 

If your method still gets you there on time, go for it.

[stellarose]

we waited over 20 minutes for straggers. It held up the muster drill. please don't .

[DallasGuy75219]

52 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

The crew members are not going to let passengers hang around the doors. It just jams up the entire process.

Agree. Anyone hanging out in the stairwells or in the vicinity of the muster stations will get firmly ushered along by the muster staff.

[Stacie.]

56 minutes ago, bury me at sea said:

I hate the waiting too and the calling of names.  I think it should start on time and that the S&S cards of everyone absent should be frozen.

 

If your method still gets you there on time, go for it.

I also hate waiting and head to my muster station when the drill is announced. 
On my last cruise in November I went to the muster station. They scanned my card, asked if my DH was with me (he was standing right behind me) and let us through. They did not scan his card. After about 15 minutes they started calling out names of people and if your name was called you were supposed to wave your arms and get their attention. Mine was called and I waved. When we got back to our room after dinner there was a sheet on our bed with muster instructions since it said I skipped the muster drill. Um, no I didn’t! They even scanned my card! Nothing for DH, who did not get his card scanned. It was weird. 

[Garth2]

What if all 3 or 4 thousand passengers decided to be fashionably late?  The ship can't sail until after the muster drill/safety briefing is complete and they have figured out who blew it off.

[SMSACE6]

On Carnival this only seems to be a problem on Conquest class ships, because for some technical reason, they have to conduct muster drill outside on those side decks.  I think it has to do with space on those decks per passenger numbers, but something like that.  I have come close to passing out during those muster drills, not because I am claustrophobic, but don't like to be jammed up next to people where you can feel other people next to you.  Hate that, not sure why I am like that, but just seem to have some sort of phobia that way.

 

Last cruise I had a legitimate physical problem that limited the time I can stand in one place, and so I requested and was granted special muster drill inside for those with special needs.  Thank heavens for that.  In the future, I will not need this special needs, because I have recovered from my physical disability of that time.  However I will say, that while I do like and enjoy ships of Conquest class, I will likely avoid them in the future, only for that reason of muster drill outside, and my extreme dislike of being crammed in.  Fantasy class ships and Dream class up ships, do conduct Muster drill inside in various locations through the ship, so for me, just because I hate the cramming in body to body, in often hot and humid weather conditions, along with the late arrivals of many people, meaning a late start to muster, I am sorry to say that I will be very picky about which ship class I cruise in the future, whenever that may be.

 

 

[joepeka]

1 hour ago, klfrodo said:

The crew members are not going to let passengers hang around the doors. It just jams up the entire process.

 

Do we go down early? Used to. Got crammed in and waited so long thought we were going to have heat stroke.

Do we head down when the alarms go off? Used to. Still crammed in.

Now we wait a few minutes. We aren't the last by any means, but we are less crowded.

Agree. We used to go down immediately on first call and always got stuck up against the bulkhead, in the heat for like 25-30 minutes with 3-4 rows of people in front of us. So we go a little after the first call but like you, nowhere near "late."

I've often wondered: what if the crew had the people that arrived early/on-time be in the front line and then fill up behind them with the others as they arrive? 😁

[Saint Greg]

Not late but if there’s a line to get in I’ll wait until it dies down. 

[Organized Chaos]

2 hours ago, LightCruiser210 said:

I’m talking about waiting right near the doors to our muster station, so we can see when the area is getting full and join once two or three downs have formed.  That should not delay anyone, just keep us from being in back and maybe shave 15-20 minutes off the time we have to wait for the people who are really late.

 

I know what you mean. Some people see the word "late" and they snap. You don't want to be late, you just don't want to be first. We learned our lesson after our very first muster drill. Hurried to get there as soon as they made the announcement and got shoved back against the wall with 4 or 5 rows of people squeezing us in like sardines when it was 95°. Now we wait. Not so long that we hold up the process, but long enough to make sure we aren't in the back. Last month on the Valor, we were in our cabin when they made the announcement. We waited a couple minutes, then headed to our station. There was still a mass of people flowing out the door, so we waited just around the corner, out of the way of everyone. Multiple crew walked by, including those with muster duties, and none of them rushed us out the door.

[katpetal]

3 hours ago, joepeka said:

Agree. We used to go down immediately on first call and always got stuck up against the bulkhead, in the heat for like 25-30 minutes with 3-4 rows of people in front of us. So we go a little after the first call but like you, nowhere near "late."

I've often wondered: what if the crew had the people that arrived early/on-time be in the front line and then fill up behind them with the others as they arrive? 😁

They did that on the Legend the last time I cruised and it was great

[Crusin Hogs]

5 hours ago, LightCruiser210 said:

I was wondering if anybody deliberately shows up a little late for the safety drill.  We usually show up right when called, and then end up crammed behind three rows of people on a hot corridor waiting 20-40 minutes for stragglers.  On our last cruise, my Mother in Law (who is claustrophobic) passed out after 30 mins in these conditions, along with two other people in our section.  The “stragglers” showed up 35 mins late and got put right up front and basically spent less time in those miserable conditions than the “good” people who came right away.  I am thinking of waiting just inside the doors for 20 mins or so, so that we don’t get crammed in the back and wait forever for the drill to start.  I have never seen one start before this time anyway.  Has anyone else ever tried this?  I don’t want to be the last people that everyone has to wait on, but I also don’t want to subject myself to that experience again.  

Does not happen on the newer ships  Dream ,Magic ,Breeze ,Vista ,Horizon ,, We sit in A/C in the theater ,FR  ect , 1 reason we won't sail on the older ,small ships  

[Tiger0613]

3 hours ago, SMSACE6 said:

Fantasy class ships and Dream class up ships, do conduct Muster drill inside in various locations through the ship,

Fantasy class ships start inside, but they usually lead you to your lifeboats after the inside portion.

 

3 hours ago, joepeka said:

I've often wondered: what if the crew had the people that arrived early/on-time be in the front line and then fill up behind them with the others as they arrive? 😁

I would hate that.  I like being in the back because I can lean against the wall.  I can't do that in the front row.  It's never hot for me because my cruises are usually December - February.  I will only cruise from Los Angeles or Seattle in the summer, and I don't do that very often. Those two cities don't have the humidity of the Gulf homeports.

[Denise Ann]

6 hours ago, LightCruiser210 said:

I was wondering if anybody deliberately shows up a little late for the safety drill.  We usually show up right when called, and then end up crammed behind three rows of people on a hot corridor waiting 20-40 minutes for stragglers.  On our last cruise, my Mother in Law (who is claustrophobic) passed out after 30 mins in these conditions, along with two other people in our section.  The “stragglers” showed up 35 mins late and got put right up front and basically spent less time in those miserable conditions than the “good” people who came right away.  I am thinking of waiting just inside the doors for 20 mins or so, so that we don’t get crammed in the back and wait forever for the drill to start.  I have never seen one start before this time anyway.  Has anyone else ever tried this?  I don’t want to be the last people that everyone has to wait on, but I also don’t want to subject myself to that experience again.  

Just ask to stand in front. I do for every cruise.

[cruisegus]

past experience tells me how do the line you up on the outer decks.

2 different senerious

they can line you up in rows along the outside deck rear row and then start second row and work from there

or

they can start at the middle most of the ship for your section rear to front in columns and work there way to the closest exit

 

basically it is a no win situation and luck of the draw, just go when told and bite the bullet is my philosophy

[DallasGuy75219]

6 hours ago, Stacie. said:

They scanned my card, asked if my DH was with me (he was standing right behind me) and let us through. They did not scan his card.

They didn't scan his card because they can see and check off everyone in the same room as present once one person's S&S is scanned.  Saves times scanning the card of the everyone in the cabin.

 

Why did they still flag you as not present?  Because Carnival's IT blows.

[Stacie.]

33 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

They didn't scan his card because they can see and check off everyone in the same room as present once one person's S&S is scanned.  Saves times scanning the card of the everyone in the cabin.

 

Why did they still flag you as not present?  Because Carnival's IT blows.

Yeah, it was weird. I’m just glad they didn’t make me sit through it again. 😉

[TNcruising02]

Every time we board a ship, my husband says that we should not head to the muster station as soon as they call.  But for some reason, we always do.  Next time, we will hang back.  At least that's the plan.  I would never actually plan to be late for muster though.  It's  annoying when people are late and hold up everything.

[MicCanberra]

For us it depends on the cruise line and where the muster station is. Some have civilised muster drills and have all the people seated others have you line up on the promenade.

[spookwife]

17 hours ago, LightCruiser210 said:

I was wondering if anybody deliberately shows up a little late for the safety drill.  We usually show up right when called, and then end up crammed behind three rows of people on a hot corridor waiting 20-40 minutes for stragglers.  On our last cruise, my Mother in Law (who is claustrophobic) passed out after 30 mins in these conditions, along with two other people in our section.  The “stragglers” showed up 35 mins late and got put right up front and basically spent less time in those miserable conditions than the “good” people who came right away.  I am thinking of waiting just inside the doors for 20 mins or so, so that we don’t get crammed in the back and wait forever for the drill to start.  I have never seen one start before this time anyway.  Has anyone else ever tried this?  I don’t want to be the last people that everyone has to wait on, but I also don’t want to subject myself to that experience again.  

 

 

we position ourselves in then nearest lounge to our muster station about half an hour early, then at the final PA announcement, get up and walk outside.  or, if I am having a bad day, I use the special needs station where I am guaranteed a seat no matter how long it lasts.

 

once in a while Muster lasts 10 minutes because everyone actually  did the right thing and showed up on time.  

[spookwife]

17 hours ago, bury me at sea said:

I hate the waiting too and the calling of names.  I think it should start on time and that the S&S cards of everyone absent should be frozen.

 

If your method still gets you there on time, go for it.

useless to do that since all  public venues are closed anyway..there's no where for them to try and use their  cards.  

[mjkacmom]

Muster on NCL has always been pretty civilized for us. We show up early, grab seats, and wait.