"Go to your room!" - how often does this happen on a cruise?

[Honolulu Blue]

15 hours ago, Aquahound said:

When I read the thread title, I thought it was for disciplinary measures.  😁

I wanted a short, catchy, but not deceptive title.  "The Captain told us to retreat to our cabin for safety reasons during a storm" doesn't have the same punch, IMHO.

 

I also thought of a couple of other situations where passengers are asked to "go to their room" - when they misbehave badly enough to require containment, but the brig is full or nonexistent; or when somehow a passenger makes their way to medical and they give a wrong answer to a pop quiz up the nose.  

 

Thanks everyone for your replies here.

[JVes]

Sheltering in their cabins might be to enable easier passenger counts. But depending on the line's technology, sending everyone to their muster location might be a better/more effective way of ensuring passenger safety (& accuracy in knowing who's safe or not).

[lisiamc]

2 hours ago, JVes said:

Sheltering in their cabins might be to enable easier passenger counts. But depending on the line's technology, sending everyone to their muster location might be a better/more effective way of ensuring passenger safety (& accuracy in knowing who's safe or not).

In cases of passengers who are missing and might have gone overboard, I’ve heard of everyone being called to their muster stations to be accounted for. That seems quicker and easier to manage than checking off passengers in their cabins. 

[cruisemom42]

13 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

It would require additional issues, such as mechanical defects, with heavy weather for the Master to use the overriding authority of Section 5.2.

 

Would the situation I described in post #3 be an example of the above?

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Would the situation I described in post #3 be an example of the above?

 

That would be an unusual situation where the Master would be responding based on his/her experience. When power is lost, minimal emergency lighting is initially provided by batteries, until the emergency generator starts and is brought online, usually about 30 secs. However, in that situation, those would be the longest 30 secs in the Master's life. Losing propulsion power prevents the Master from keeping the head to wind, to minimise rolling. Upon losing power, the ship will steadily settle beam to the seas, with the potential for significant rolling.

 

I'll suggest the Master's initial response was excellent, having pax remain in cabins, if there, or to sit on the deck wherever located. With the potential for violent rolling in 30' seas, any movement around the ship could result in injuries.

[MBP&O2/O]

Agree with the above in respect of beam seas etc.

My last tanker had an unwanted and uncontrolable ingress of water into the ER.

All power lost on main engines.

Water continued to flood the ER and within the hour the emergency generator was lost.

Ergo .... no power whatsoever.

Totally 'Not Under Command' .... 

We ended up beam on to the sea ..... rolling like a pig in muck 🤭

Unpleasant.

 

[Honolulu Blue]

Thanks everyone.  It seems the answer is "rare" but not "unprecedented".  I'll add it to my cruise story repertoire to impress the n00bs and fill in dead space among cruising veterans.

[dmrrn73]

I have been on a few cruises in rough seas (all but one to or from Bermuda and one was on the way back to NYC from the Caribbean but going up the coast so pretty much same water) and they would have the sea sick bags in the hall, announcements being made to avoid outside decks, etc but there was one where the captain even made an announcement recommending passengers to avoid wearing high heeled shoes... 

 

In those rough seas it was kind of fun to walk around, sometimes it would feel like the floor was coming up to meet our feet as we walked, LOL

 

Couple times in the dining room we periodically would hear crashes from the kitchen. 

[CDNPolar]

On 1/31/2024 at 6:49 AM, Honolulu Blue said:

Thanks everyone.  It seems the answer is "rare" but not "unprecedented".  I'll add it to my cruise story repertoire to impress the n00bs and fill in dead space among cruising veterans.

 

I think it is like frequent flying.  There was a time that I was boarding an aircraft every 2-3 days and this went on for several years.  I experienced some crazy rough turbulence and "drops" and missed take offs and missed approaches and go arounds....   Some frequent flyers and some not so frequent flyers get to experience these things and some don't ever...

 

I think the same with rough waters when cruising.  We have had what I would call moderate seas, where you are arms outstretched when walking the corridor to your cabin and we have also been in the Drake Passage with 35+ foot waves.

 

I do think that based on the number of cruise ships sailing around the globe at any one time, there is a very low chance and percentage of ships that would ever be in the situation where they were advised to go to their cabins.  Ships are going to sail around this weather if possible.  But, it can happen.

[Mary229]

Years ago in a North Atlantic storm it was strongly recommended that we stay in our room. As I recall it was more about containing seasickness to the passengers’ own room.  Quite often I have been told to leave the outside decks due to weather conditions 

Edited February 2 by Mary229

[BruceMuzz]

In my career I have worked 1,563 cruises, and have never experienced the situation you described.

The roughest seas I experienced were just over 100 feet in height (with a very small ship), and it was very difficult to move around, but the Captain did not require guests to remain in their cabins.

[beaming90]

This may be a silly question, in the times when it is recommended that you stay inside, do they lock the balcony doors?  Do they have the availability to even do that?  I'm guessing there is no way to do it because you might lock someone out?  Just wondering, no reason why.  Just a wandering thought that popped up in my mind.  Thanks guys!

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, beaming90 said:

This may be a silly question, in the times when it is recommended that you stay inside, do they lock the balcony doors?  Do they have the availability to even do that?  I'm guessing there is no way to do it because you might lock someone out?  Just wondering, no reason why.  Just a wandering thought that popped up in my mind.  Thanks guys!

In my case, balconies were not mentioned in any of the announcements. I don't think there was the available manpower to lock the passenger balcony doors had they wanted or needed to do so.

[JVes]

Hm. Containing seasickness to small groups might be wise: one person vomitting can trigger other people in the room vomitting. I know I can trigger my partner, and frankly I'd rather not have the two of us competing for the toilet!
Can you imagine an entire muster station of nauseous people? 🤢

Can you imagine attempting to manage sanitation issues with that many people together?
And would you ever be able to get the smell out of the room?

[CDNPolar]

13 hours ago, beaming90 said:

This may be a silly question, in the times when it is recommended that you stay inside, do they lock the balcony doors?  Do they have the availability to even do that?  I'm guessing there is no way to do it because you might lock someone out?  Just wondering, no reason why.  Just a wandering thought that popped up in my mind.  Thanks guys!

 

The ships that I have been on, there was no mechanism that was apparent to either manually or automatically lock the balcony doors.  Assuming that you are suggesting that would override you being able to open it yourself....  

 

I would hope in seas that are rough enough to beg danger being on the balcony, that folks would just stay inside.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

The ships that I have been on, there was no mechanism that was apparent to either manually or automatically lock the balcony doors.  Assuming that you are suggesting that would override you being able to open it yourself....  

 

I would hope in seas that are rough enough to beg danger being on the balcony, that folks would just stay inside.

Yes, you would hope for common sense. But with thousands of people aboard the new megaships, you wonder if the odds do not say that there will be a few totally lacking in common sense.

[CDNPolar]

56 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Yes, you would hope for common sense. But with thousands of people aboard the new megaships, you wonder if the odds do not say that there will be a few totally lacking in common sense.

 

To take you completely literally, there would be more than a "few".  For certain.   Haha.....

 

With the Fail videos that you can catch online, there are more than a few that involve cruise ships, and the idiocy of some things people do is outlandish.

[ldubs]

20 hours ago, BruceMuzz said:

In my career I have worked 1,563 cruises, and have never experienced the situation you described.

The roughest seas I experienced were just over 100 feet in height (with a very small ship), and it was very difficult to move around, but the Captain did not require guests to remain in their cabins.

 

I think I may be not understanding what is meant by a 100' seas.   Are you saying the distance from the  trough to the crest off the waive was over 100'?    

[mammajamma2013]

22 hours ago, beaming90 said:

This may be a silly question, in the times when it is recommended that you stay inside, do they lock the balcony doors?  Do they have the availability to even do that?  I'm guessing there is no way to do it because you might lock someone out?  Just wondering, no reason why.  Just a wandering thought that popped up in my mind.  Thanks guys!

On a cruise with Carnival, security locked the balcony door of one of our party members. We had to go down to see them to have the door unlocked.

 

It had nothing to do with weather, but with the member's behaviour.

 

So yes, they can be locked but it seem to be impractical to do that during a storm - too many cabins to deal with. (Basing the entire cruise industry on one cruise with one line. What could go wrong? 🙂)

[Heidi13]

6 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

I think I may be not understanding what is meant by a 100' seas.   Are you saying the distance from the  trough to the crest off the waive was over 100'?    

 

When considering a single wave, affirmative that is the definition of wave height - trough to crest.

 

However, if referring to significant wave height, it averages the height of the highest 1/3 of the waves.

[lahlah57]

On 1/28/2024 at 10:53 AM, Aquahound said:

When I read the thread title, I thought it was for disciplinary measures.  😁

I know....I thought someone was naughty 🫣

[JRG]

On 2/2/2024 at 6:05 PM, JVes said:

Can you imagine attempting to manage sanitation issues with that many people together?
And would you ever be able to get the smell out of the room?

 

There is a chemical product called "Puke Up",  that claims to be an "Absorbente de Vomito", and comes in Cherry Fragrance, stays soft, is carpet-safe,  and best of all,  comes in a re-sealable container.

 

There is also a video floating around on the interwebernet which shows exactly what a passenger might encounter in dangerous situations.   

 

Viking cruise ship evacuation draws investigation by Norway over decision for Viking Sky to sail amid storm warnings - CBS News

 

It looks like passengers were sent to their muster stations,  as the video shows from the Piano lounge.  I fully expected the Piano to break loose from its moorings but it held fast.   Can't say the same for the furniture or the passengers who were on-board.

 

The Master must have taken some heat in this case,  as Norwegian investigators questioned why the ship had even sailed in stormy weather to begin.  Not sure how that panned out.

 

Relatively speaking,  we are cruising lightweights with only 27 cruises in 35 years (55 if you count the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland),  and we have never seen anything like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bonsai3s]

On 1/31/2024 at 3:49 AM, Honolulu Blue said:

Thanks everyone.  It seems the answer is "rare" but not "unprecedented".  I'll add it to my cruise story repertoire to impress the n00bs and fill in dead space among cruising veterans.

 

Last year, we were onboard the Quantum of the Seas, trans-pacific, between Tahiti and Hawaii...when "Oscar, Oscar, Oscar" was announced. (It meant man overboard)

 

It was at night and the Captain wanted to make sure that someone, actually jumped or had fallen, overboard. He announced and instructed all passengers to go back in their cabins...to find out if anyone was missing.

 

It was subsequently determined that a passenger jumped overboard...a search was conducted...the person wasn't found. Out of respect for the family, the person was not identified.

 

* A few days later, reports and news from Australia provided some details. Our sailing started in Brisbane.

[*Miss G*]

That is so sad.  😢

[JVes]

My home city (Brisbane) is hovering in my mind. It's like I'm trying to figure out which part of the city he's from. And I don't even know if he is from Brisbane anyway!

 

My sympathies to his friends and family.

And if he was driven to it by depression, psychosis or other mental horrors, my most sincere sympathies to the poor person who fell.