How do passengers find out about cruise ship safety procedures?
 A sign located on the door of a stateroom on Princess Cruises' Crown Princess explaining emergency procedures and showing how to wear a life jacket.
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International maritime regulations require a cruise ship to conduct a passenger safety drill within 24 hours of leaving port after embarking passengers. All passengers who embarked in that port are required to attend.
In practice, cruise ships, at least the ones from the major cruise lines, sailing from the United States and Great Britain conduct the safety drill before the ship leaves its berth. Any guest who fails to attend is sent a notice and required to attend a subsequent drill. During the drill, passengers assemble at their “muster stations”. Each passenger is assigned to a specific muster station. This is the place where he or she is to go if the ship sounds the emergency signal - - seven short blasts and one long blast on the ship’s whistle. Muster stations are usually in one of the ship’s public rooms or on the ship’s outdoor promenade. They are typically near the ship’s life boats. Once everyone has assembled at the muster stations, the captain or a senior officer gives a talk over the public address system about safety and emergency procedures. After that, the members of the crew who are assigned to each muster station demonstrate how to put on a life jacket. Some cruise lines require passengers to bring their lifejackets with them to the drill and to actually put on the life jackets following the demonstration. In addition to the drill, each stateroom has a sign on the interior side of the door with illustrated instructions for putting on a life jacket. Each sign also indicates the muster station for the guests staying in that stateroom as well as a map showing the route that the guests should take from that stateroom in case of emergency and an alternative route. The major lines also have safety procedures videos that play continuously at the beginning or a cruise on the in-cabin television. On Cunard Line ships, for example, the stateroom attendant usually leaves the television turned on and tuned to the relevant station on embarkation day so that the video is playing when the passengers arrive at the stateroom for the first time. |
Cruise ship FAQs - - How do passengers find out about cruise ship safety procedures?