Emergency warning

[spunks]

The last night of our Nov 12 cruise on the Symphony, the emergency warning horn goes off at 10:30 pm....you know...7 short one long..

 

We were in bed, and that was quite a wakeup....there was no warning, and no explanation....none during the ,5 minutes or so we were getting dressed and gathering our pills and such.

After 5 or 10 minutes or so a voice comes on the intercom saying...disregard the warning..

 

We never heard another word,..nothing

 

Has anyone ever had a similar experience?

[robmtx]

5 minutes ago, spunks said:

there was no warning, and no explanation....none during the ,5 minutes or so we were getting dressed and gathering our pills and such.

I think the blasts are the warning? This happens all the time in my kitchen when I'm cooking... but seriously on the general alarm there won't be a pre-announcement like you hear on boarding day during muster exercises.

 

Have you visited Guest Services? They can usually expand on that. Curious to know!

[BridgeMates]

Had that happen on a Holland ship years ago.  Scary in middle of night.

Took their time retracting it as they had a small fire in the engine room Capt explained later.

We were down low, inside cabin, one of our earliest cruises......

[Jasukkie]

Yes, once, said to have been a mistake, sent back to bed. I was already down five flights of stairs in my PJs. Quite a shot of adrenaline out of a deep sleep. I think we were out of the cabin in five seconds lol. 

[mo&fran]

We were on Adventure/ week 2 of the restart when the general alarm went off at 1130 pm.  We had just started down the stairs when the Captain announced it went off by mistak, and canceled the alarm. 

[Tin can]

8 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

We had just started down the stairs when the Captain announced it went off by mistak, and canceled the alarm. 

 

Mind boggling to think it can go off by mistake, I would have thought that with something as serious as 'abandon ship' that there would be a very strict procedure to activate it and it you couldn't do it accident. 

[smokeybandit]

It definitely didn't just "go off"

 

That button was just pressed by mistake.

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, Tin can said:

 

Mind boggling to think it can go off by mistake, I would have thought that with something as serious as 'abandon ship' that there would be a very strict procedure to activate it and it you couldn't do it accident. 

Except that in the event of a real emergency it needs to be easily activated.

[Billy Baltic]

Of all the cheerful topics …..

[lovesthebeach2]

Scary…… a few years ago we were at the Disney’s Aulani resort in Hawaii and the fire alarms went off at 2am. We had our son and his family there with us and we all didn’t know what to do. Everyone had their doors open looking around not knowing if it was real. So we all just went outside, kids and all. No one ever came out and said it was real or not so we didn’t know if we could go back inside….. some people ended up just sleeping the rest of the night on the pool loungers..

[gumshoe958]

16 minutes ago, Tin can said:

 

Mind boggling to think it can go off by mistake, I would have thought that with something as serious as 'abandon ship' that there would be a very strict procedure to activate it and it you couldn't do it accident. 

It doesn’t mean abandon ship.

[Tin can]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Except that in the event of a real emergency it needs to be easily activated.

 

I disagree slightly, abandoning ship is that serious I would expect the Captain to have to consciously unlock something to activate it after reviewing the incident, consulting the coast guard and emergency services and probably Royal Caribbean HQ.

 

Perhaps its me but I dont expect it to be an easily accessible button that someone could get mixed up with something else or your could accidentally activate it by  leaning on it for example.

 

Who knows though.

[gumshoe958]

Just now, Tin can said:

 

I disagree slightly, abandoning ship is that serious I would expect the Captain to have to consciously unlock something to activate it after reviewing the incident, consulting the coast guard and emergency services and probably Royal Caribbean HQ.

 

Perhaps its me but I dont expect it to be an easily accessible button that someone could get mixed up with something else or your could accidentally activate it by  leaning on it for example.

 

Who knows though.

Again, it does NOT mean abandon ship.

[Tin can]

1 minute ago, gumshoe958 said:

It doesn’t mean abandon ship.

 

I think it might be a possibility if you are being summoned to your muster station.

[Tin can]

1 minute ago, gumshoe958 said:

Again, it does NOT mean abandon ship.

 

If it went off in a real emergency surely if you are being summoned to leave your cabin and attend your muster station it must be a consideration by the Captain otherwise why would he/she sound the alarm.

 

To be honest though I don't know, its not something I have ever thought about before this thread..

[gumshoe958]

1 minute ago, Tin can said:

 

I think it might be a possibility if you are being summoned to your muster station.

There’s a chance that it might lead to that, yes. But it’s equally likely that it won’t.

[BND]

15 minutes ago, Tin can said:

 

If it went off in a real emergency surely if you are being summoned to leave your cabin and attend your muster station it must be a consideration by the Captain otherwise why would he/she sound the alarm.

 

To be honest though I don't know, its not something I have ever thought about before this thread..

Because they also use it to get people to a location where they are away from any issue.  It does not mean abandon ship by a long shot.  Muster stations are gathering points.  You do realize a lot, especially on larger ships are in public spaces away from lifeboats, right?  It's a way to get a good headcount also.  Abandoning ship is always the very last thing that would be done.

[Tin can]

Just now, BND said:

Because they also use it to get people to a location where they are away from any issue.  It does not mean abandon ship by a long shot.  Muster stations are gathering points.  You do realize a lot, especially on larger ships are in public spaces away from lifeboats, right?  It's a way to get a good headcount also.  Abandoning ship is always the very last thing that would be done.

 

Yes agreed, it's a very quiet afternoon at my business here in the UK and I have looked into this. I genuinely thought if the seven short one long alarm went off it was abandon ship but as you rightly point out it is to round us up for further instruction.

 

I clearly need to pay more attention to the muster drills 😀 

[spunks]

Agreed that it does not mean abandon ship....

 

But that begs the question as to why they want the passengers gathered?

 

I submit that they only want you gathered because it is a very strong possibility they will call for abandon ship

[time4u2go]

There's any number of reasons why they would muster people.  As pointed out earlier, it could be because of a hazard in some part of the ship.  It doesn't necessarily mean the ship is sinking and needs to be abandoned.  It could also be because they need a headcount (also pointed out earlier).  Maybe a passenger is missing and this is the only way they can get a true headcount.  I'm sure there's other reasons as well.  While mustering people is rare, abandoning ship is extremely rare.  Perhaps @chengkp75 can provide some insight.

[cyntil8ing]

The seven short and one long is the general alarm, not an instruction to abandon ship. Its primary purpose is to notify crew, who have specific things they are supposed to do when it sounds.

 

I've been on a ship when it has sounded. It was a sea day afternoon. There was a fire in a passenger cabin a/c unit. Immediately after the alarm, we were told where the fire was and to avoid the area. We did not have to report to our muster stations. It was a little scary for a minute or two, as I was alone in the cabin and my husband was at a mixology class, but once the announcement was made all returned to normal. The mixology class didn't miss a beat.

[chengkp75]

What most cruisers believe is the "abandon ship" signal of "more than 6 short blasts followed by one prolonged blast", is actually the "fire and general emergency" alarm.  This is what not only to send passengers to their muster stations, it is to send the balance of the crew to their emergency stations.

 

Typically, there would be a "code" announcement made prior to the general emergency alarm, that would have alerted specific emergency teams to respond, but at that time in the morning, it may have been made in crew areas and public areas only, not in guest cabin areas, since no crew would be working there.  For example, on NCL, a "code bravo" call would notify the command team, the bridge team, the fire teams, the quick response tech team, security, and medical to respond to their stations.  The remainder of the crew go about their normal routine.  When the "general alarm" sounds, then those crew who you saw during the "old style" passenger muster drill (station leaders, stairway monitors, etc), along with the others that you didn't see (deck searching), which represents a large portion of the crew, report to their stations.

 

As noted, the "muster station" signal is sounded when the Captain and the "on-scene commander" decide that the emergency is such that it endangers passengers, and they should be sent to known and controlled locations, and an accountability taken (so that the emergency teams know whether or not they need to search for passengers). As a past "on-scene commander" on cruise ships, if my fire teams know that all passengers are accounted for, and don't have to spend time searching for passengers, then it becomes far easier to attend to the emergency.

 

There are many cases, including the infamous Star Princess fire, where the passengers were called to muster, while a very serious emergency was dealt with, where there was literally no thought given to evacuating the ship.  "The ship is the best lifeboat".

 

The "muster signal", and the passenger muster are for accountability, not really about getting into lifeboats.  For every 200 true musters in emergencies, perhaps one results in actually loading boats

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

1 hour ago, Tin can said:

 

Mind boggling to think it can go off by mistake, I would have thought that with something as serious as 'abandon ship' that there would be a very strict procedure to activate it and it you couldn't do it accident. 

Technically the alarm is just "Report to your muster stations" - if abandon ship is necessary that directive will come verbally from the captain.

[spunks]

Agreed that it does not mean abandon ship....

 

But that begs the question as to why they want the passengers gathered?

 

I submit that they only want you gathered because it is a very strong possibility 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

3 minutes ago, spunks said:

Agreed that it does not mean abandon ship....

 

But that begs the question as to why they want the passengers gathered?

 

I submit that they only want you gathered because it is a very strong possibility 

As has been stated, it could be because there is a hazard and they need to keep everyone out of the area and make sure that no one is in the area who needs to be searched for. It could be because someone is missing and they need to have an accurate head count. 

 

There is no need to automatically jump to the conclusion that it will lead to abandoning ship. As @chengkp75 said above, abandoning ship is a LAST resort.