Potential fix for E-Muster no shows

[Karter]

I just saw a report where Carnival is considering going back to the old muster process because way too many people are not completing the E-Muster before the ship can sail. On Carnival Vista they had 400 people that did not complete it so they shut down all beverage and food services to get passengers to comply.

 

I love the E-Muster process and have an idea that I think could solve the problem. Hand out the sea pass cards at the muster station after you get the 2 minute briefing. They know what cabins are associated with each muster station and it wouldn't take long to hand out the sea pass cards so the passengers can go to their cabins or bars. Plus the missing passengers would eventually be forced to go to the muster station if they wanted to get in their cabins.

 

Any thoughts on if you think this could work?

[luckybecky]

I like it!

 

On our last couple of cruises, there were several announcements trying to get people to complete muster. I don't know why people won't just do it. So easy now.

 

People definitely are always eager to access their cabin, so maybe your idea could be the incentive they need to get things done. Presumably muster staff would need to check IDs so they are sure to give the right key to the right person, but that shouldn't be all that difficult. 

 

I'll be interested to see if others think this would be workable.

 

Have you sent this idea to John Heald?

Edited March 22, 2022 by luckybecky

[lyannea]

Can the majority of  E-muster be completed before you even get on the ship -

it would be a win-win situation. 

[BlerkOne]

Cut off all charge privileges and Cheers until after completing safety drill. 

[RWolver672]

4 hours ago, lyannea said:

Can the majority of  E-muster be completed before you even get on the ship -

it would be a win-win situation. 

 

Not at all.  The object of the e-muster is to have you go to your muster station (life boat) so that in an emergency, you know where to go.  You are assigned a specific station so before you get on the ship, you wouldn't even know where that station is.

[sunkey1]

I think that's a great idea. SO sad that a few lazy ones could potentially ruin what is an amazing improvement on the old method of waiting around for an hour to get muster done. I think allowing NO charging privileges at all until after you've completed muster is the way to go. I'd be willing to bet that a huge number of the people that aren't completing it in time are the ones who don't want to lose their barstool....

[groundloop]

I'm not saying it's the only problem, certainly there are plenty of people who are just lazy, but one thing Carnival could do better (especially to new cruisers) is to communicate ahead of time the importance of going to your muster station.  Thinking about a first time cruiser who's never even heard of a "muster drill", how does  communicate to them that it's even necessary?  And if anyone says "well, there are announcements on the PA", in a lot of areas on the ship (especially on balconies) anything said on the PA system is about as clear as Charlie Brown's teacher.  Carnival should send out emails a week or so before each cruise highlighting the importance of this.  It wouldn't entirely solve the problem but is an easy solution that would at least help.

 

And yeah, I'm gonna' be pissed if we have to go back to standing in close formation with several hundred other guests in 90+ degree heat.

Edited March 22, 2022 by groundloop

[sparks1093]

8 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Cut off all charge privileges and Cheers until after completing safety drill. 

When we embarked Legend the bartender told us that they could only serve us one drink until the muster had been completed, so they may already do that. Saying no charges at all until it is completed is kind of off point because the only thing that is open for charging anything to is the bar until sail away and under SOLAS the muster needs to be done before then (or maybe shortly after, not 100% sure). The same thing applies to trying to do any of this before boarding, I believe SOLAS requires it after passengers have boarded, but I'll leave that to the experts. 

 

As for the idea it sounds good on the surface but it really would be a logistical nightmare, trying to keep hundreds of S&S cards organized at each station so that they could readily and easily be handed out by the 2 or 3 crewmembers are also trying to complete the muster itself. I still remember when they were handed out in the terminal and it always added several minutes to the process for the cards to be retrieved. I do like an email beforehand telling everyone of the requirement but am not sure it would help a lot.

[Indytraveler83]

To add onto the issues with newer cruisers:

 

We've renamed cabins "staterooms"

 

Tenders are now "water shuttles"

 

But this is still a "Muster Drill."

 

Why not call it a "Safety Briefing" to better clarify what it is?  For anyone not familiar with nautical terms or cruising, the term "muster" implies nothing.

 

I think the guilt trip technique is also underutilized.  Announcements such as "Hey folks, we'd love to get underway, but there's 400 of you that haven't attended the Safety Briefing that are preventing us from leaving." Or "Wow, I hope we arent late arriving at Half Moon Cay tomorrow, but if you don't go to the Safety Briefing soon, we might be!"

 

The other option may be not to open bars at all until the muster Drill is complete.  Have a few servers with the obligatory welcome aboard drink, but then have safety briefing compliance on all public screens and say "when we reach xxx goal, the bars can open"

Edited March 22, 2022 by Indytraveler83

[Anyislandwilldo]

I'm looking at this from a different angle. Do all new cruisers know that they should go to the muster drill?  How are they informed that they must attend a muster drill?  It's been a long time since I was a new cruiser.

 

Also if they go back to the old way, people will still be able to hide out on their balconies like before to avoid the drill.  

[Homosassa]

We had the same problem on a Celebrity cruise where ten cabins had not completed e-muster by sailing time. It only took two announcements listing their names and the statement that they were delaying sailing for all passengers on board before they did the muster.

[mz-s]

It's not our problem to solve - if Carnival needs to go back to the old muster drills to comply with SOLAS, then it is what it is. I'm sure pretty much all of us prefer the current process but SOLAS is a hard line in the sand and it must be respected.

[dbrucern]

9 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Cut off all charge privileges and Cheers until after completing safety drill. 

This is what is currently done after your second drink if not completed. Saw it for ourselves on our March cruise. Several tried to get drinks at Casino bar and were told that they must complete E-muster before they could by another drink.

[TechDiva]

56 minutes ago, Anyislandwilldo said:

I'm looking at this from a different angle. Do all new cruisers know that they should go to the muster drill?  How are they informed that they must attend a muster drill?  It's been a long time since I was a new cruiser.

 

Also if they go back to the old way, people will still be able to hide out on their balconies like before to avoid the drill.  

When I cruised in October, as soon as we walked into our cabin, the television was showing a video with Shaq in it and it mentioned the new muster process and that it needed to be completed before sailaway.  There were other things mentioned in the video but it was on a loop, so it was playing over and over, reminding you that you needed to get it done.  I knew prior to boarding the ship about the new process but I think that this was a great way to let the cabin occupants know about what needed to be done.  This was on the Magic.

[Essiesmom]

Can they program the TV service so that the only thing that will run is the muster drill video until you have checked in to your muster station?  EM

[jimbo5544]

9 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Cut off all charge privileges and Cheers until after completing safety drill. 

BINGO

[crazy4themouse]

I don't get the whole cut-off-after-2-drinks thing... Why not simply make it so that you can't use your S&S card/folio number for a single thing until that bar code on either your card or your boarding pass has been scanned at your muster station? I feel like that would eliminate a whole lot of this. You can't buy a beer, get into your room, nothing, until you have completed the muster drill that takes up maybe 3 whole minutes of your time.

 

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by crazy4themouse
boneheaded typos

[Indytraveler83]

1 minute ago, crazy4themouse said:

I don't get the whole cut-off-after-2-drinks thing... Why not simply make it so that you can't use your S&S card/folio number for a single thing until that bar code on either your card or your boarding pass has been scanned at your muster station? I feel like that would eliminate a whole lot of this. You can't buy a beer, get into your room, nothing, until you have completed the muster drill that takes up maybe 3 whole minutes of your time.

 

 

 

IMO you've hit the nail on the head here.  However... Carnival's main source of profit is alcohol and they probably make a good deal of money in those first few hours as people flood the bars to start their vacation. 

[ontheweb]

10 hours ago, lyannea said:

Can the majority of  E-muster be completed before you even get on the ship -

it would be a win-win situation. 

No, it would be a lose-lose situation. It is a SAFETY drill. They have already taken most of it away. Your "solution" would make it totally worthless.

[JoeMo]

18 hours ago, Karter said:

I just saw a report where Carnival is considering going back to the old muster process because way too many people are not completing the E-Muster before the ship can sail. On Carnival Vista they had 400 people that did not complete it so they shut down all beverage and food services to get passengers to comply.

 

I love the E-Muster process and have an idea that I think could solve the problem. Hand out the sea pass cards at the muster station after you get the 2 minute briefing. They know what cabins are associated with each muster station and it wouldn't take long to hand out the sea pass cards so the passengers can go to their cabins or bars. Plus the missing passengers would eventually be forced to go to the muster station if they wanted to get in their cabins.

 

Any thoughts on if you think this could work?

Where was this report ? 

[Lane Hog]

Yup.  The point of a muster drill is to know where to go...  Took us less than two minutes on our RCL cruise this month.  Theirs was out on the boat deck.  You literally had to walk past the muster drill stations as you entered the ship... hard not to stop and get it over with.

[Missymo]

on Celebrity,  all food is shut down about  3:30 for a 5pm sail.   Passengers advised to check in at their  muster stations . Ive only heard a couple of names on the  list before setting sail. Usually sail within 1/2 hour posted sail away.  

[redsox1584]

1 hour ago, Lane Hog said:

Yup.  The point of a muster drill is to know where to go...  Took us less than two minutes on our RCL cruise this month.  Theirs was out on the boat deck.  You literally had to walk past the muster drill stations as you entered the ship... hard not to stop and get it over with.

I experienced the same thing on RCL a few weeks ago. As soon as we got on the ship they pointed us in the direction of our muster station. 

[day-day]

7 hours ago, ontheweb said:

No, it would be a lose-lose situation. It is a SAFETY drill. They have already taken most of it away. Your "solution" would make it totally worthless.

The solution would not make it totally worthless but would not add any real value either.  The passenger would still need to travel to the muster station as a learning process.  The other parts regarding information on alarms and how to don a life jacket could be done elsewhere.

[BallFour4]

20 hours ago, Karter said:

I just saw a report where Carnival is considering going back to the old muster process because way too many people are not completing the E-Muster before the ship can sail.

Please share that link. I'd love to read the source.

.