Safety Drill enhancement

[woodscruise]

Royal Caribbean Group reinvents cruise industry's safety drill

- New patented approach helps guests sail away smoothly

- Technology licensed to other cruise lines to help eliminate crowding

News Release Issued: Jul 24, 2020 (6:00am EDT)

 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/royal-caribbean-group-reinvents-cruise-industrys-safety-drill-301099281.htm

 

 

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Host Kat
Removed copy/paste of article's text & replaced with link per the Copyright Infringement section in the Cruise Critic Guidelines.

[Biker19]

4 minutes ago, woodscruise said:

Guests who took part in the mock process indicated a strong preference for the new approach and also reported better comprehension and retention of the safety information.

Are any of those guests CC contributors? Any Symphony cruisers see this in the RCI app?

Edited July 24, 2020 by Biker19

[Ourusualbeach]

@chengkp75 I though you said this wasn’t allowed?

[greykitty]

Looks like everyone still has to visit their assigned assembly station before ship's departure - just not necessarily in a huge group?  I'm assuming their reference to maritime law means SOLAS, but of course I'd defer to @chengkp75

 

 

After reviewing safety information individually, guests will complete the drill by visiting their assigned assembly station, where a crew member will verify that all steps have been completed and answer questions. Each of the steps will need to be completed prior to the ship's departure, as required by international maritime law.

[molly361]

Completely off topic but I;m guessing at some point Royal will buy and/or merge with NCL

[Saturngrl]

Best cruise news ever!   No more "moooo" feeling of being herded! 

[Milwaukee Eight]

25 minutes ago, molly361 said:

Completely off topic but I;m guessing at some point Royal will buy and/or merge with NCL

Interesting 

[CSHS1979]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

@chengkp75 I though you said this wasn’t allowed?

 

I guess they found a loophole

[ATC cruiser]

I notice that the article doesn’t say that the procedure has been approved by SOLAS, just that they have worked with the USCG and other international organizations. Hopefully it has been approved and goes into effect ASAP. I’m willing to bet that the people who were late for the current drills will still be late for these. At least the rest of the passengers won’t have to be standing around waiting. 

[island284]

Next up will be e-masks. 

[twangster]

Getting maritime regulators on board was no small undertaking I am sure.  Visiting the muster station with verification by a crew member was most likely a big step in getting that done.  

 

The licensing component is an interesting twist.  Waiving the licensing fees in the near term allows "other" lines (cough cough Carnival) to follow suit but later will require license fees.  It will be very interesting to see how Carnival handles this.  Merely copying may mean potential infringement.  Guests will demand this so it somewhat forces their hand.  They'll likely claim they were developing something on their own without knowledge or awareness.  Bring on the lawyers.  

 

I forecast a lot of names being paged prior to sailing.  Experienced cruisers will know not to mess with this and to get it done.  New to cruise won't appreciate the improvement or the significance of what this accomplishes and they will need to chase a lot of them down before departure.

 

• After reviewing safety information individually, guests will complete the drill by visiting their assigned assembly station, where a crew member will verify that all steps have been completed and answer questions. Each of the steps will need to be completed prior to the ship's departure, as required by international maritime law.

[lovelife]

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Are any of those guests CC contributors? Any Symphony cruisers see this in the RCI app?

 

I was on Symphony three of the four weeks of January -- January 4 to 25.  Didn't hear a word about it.  Must have been during the other nine days or I wasn't selected to participate.

[BND]

1 hour ago, molly361 said:

Completely off topic but I;m guessing at some point Royal will buy and/or merge with NCL

Why?  Just because they already have an agreement on licensing on the app?  All that means is NCL jumped onboard.

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, Saturngrl said:

Best cruise news ever!   No more "moooo" feeling of being herded! 

 

Having been a passenger on a ship that nearly averted disaster and declared a mayday that resulted in having over 400 passengers evacuated by helicopter, I totally disagree with your mode of thinking on this. I guarantee you that when that mayday signal is called, in the heat of the moment you'll be lucky if you can even remember where your muster station is, let alone what else you're supposed to do. Reducing the essential components of a drill to an option whereby you view it on your own (not including the in-person follow-up) will surely result in many people simply NOT bothering to even do it, but then telling the crew they did. I have a unique take on all this having been through the "real deal". The importance of these drills should not be underestimated. I, too, admit to having been one that - while always paying attention during drills (even prior to my evacuation experience) - also felt it one of those necessary chores that I was always anxious for to be over. I've stood in lines where people are on their phones, talking, etc. not really paying attention. So now you're going to expect that people will take the time - once onboard and anxious to get their cruise activities underway - to view a safety procedure if not really compelled to do so?  Joke....

Edited July 24, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[dasbis]

Biker19, yes. We participated in the test of the new system on January 11 on Symphony.

We received an email inviting us to participate and were instructed to go to the upper deck of the theater. They gave us a computer tablet. We watched some instructional stuff and finished with a short multiple-choice test. (We even got a small OBC .)

 

Because it was only a test of the new system, we still had to do a regular muster drill.

[OnTheJourney]

3 hours ago, woodscruise said:

Travelers will be able to review the information at their own time prior to setting sail, eliminating the need for the traditional large group assemblies. The new approach also enables everyone on board to maintain better spacing as guests move about the ship, and it allows guests to enjoy more of their vacation with no interruption.

 

 

 

In my opinion, BAD idea. As I responded to another poster, I've been through all this...for real....a mayday, report to muster, and prepare to evacuate. You can't tell me this will be as effective an approach. Let the vacation start AFTER the group drills. I personally will go one step further - that you should still have to put on a life vest. When I was at muster in the real emergency, I had NO idea how to put the thing on despite it being showed to us during the pre-cruise drill. The thing came folded up like a cube and, in the anxiety of the moment - having no idea what was going to happen next (was the ship going to sink, for instance?) my hands were less than steady and my mind just seized on me and, as said, could not recall how to put the thing on. Luckily my wife did 😉 

 

The new format IS a good idea, however, from the standpoint of COVID-19. Either way, pray you don't really have to go through the real experience - it's not much fun. In our case, the lifeboats were not even available due to storm and wind conditions. 

Edited July 24, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[compman9]

There is a thread on this somewhere

 

I am sure it is near what I predicted

 

All hail the cruise guru 🤣

[Biker19]

8 minutes ago, dasbis said:

Because it was only a test of the new system, we still had to do a regular muster drill.

Welcome to CC and thanks for the feedback.

[mps69_1999]

3 hours ago, woodscruise said:

After reviewing safety information individually, guests will complete the drill by visiting their assigned assembly station, where a crew member will verify that all steps have been completed and answer questions. Each of the steps will need to be completed prior to the ship's departure, as required by international maritime law.

Not wanting to sound like a complete negative nelly.... there are going to be an element of people who just won't do this, and there will be multiple calls for these people to complete the process before the departure.

If they are sitting in the bar or having food, they're not going to move.

Lets face it, we've all been in airports where people get called to board the plane, and hold everything up. I can see the same happening here too.

[danv3]

1 hour ago, Saturngrl said:

Best cruise news ever!   No more "moooo" feeling of being herded! 

 

The cattle call may still occur during the last 15-30 minutes or so before sailaway when everyone who waited to check in at their muster station frantically queues up, unless each party has their own window in which to complete the check-in.

[OnTheJourney]

I'm just concerned since, let's face it, for probably most cruisers the drill is taken rather lightly with the belief that it's very unlikely anything bad will happen during the cruise that would actually necessitate having to report to the station. I always thought so as well, until last March. 

[livingonthebeach]

10 minutes ago, compman9 said:

There is a thread on this somewhere

 

I am sure it is near what I predicted

 

All hail the cruise guru 🤣

 

 

[rhblake]

How can the ship be sure that every person has watched the video from their stateroom TV or individual app? Will each passenger in the same stateroom have to log in and watch it individually? Ought to be interesting.

[Milwaukee Eight]

20 minutes ago, rhblake said:

How can the ship be sure that every person has watched the video from their stateroom TV or individual app? Will each passenger in the same stateroom have to log in and watch it individually? Ought to be interesting.

Interactive quiz to see if you paid attention. 

[molly361]

Will Mr and Mrs. Smith from Deck 9 report to their muster station to check in.  We can't leave the dock until you check in