The crew and muster drills

[Eph60]

Everyone knows that the passengers do a muster drill at the start of a cruise. For the crew it is different. The crew does the passenger muster drill but they also must do several other drills every week. The crew usually does at least three drills a week. The crew is allowed to miss one drill a month to keep areas on the ship staffed for passengers. Some of the crew muster drills actually do have the crew completely leave the ship, these are not as often.

When a crewmember boards the ship for the first time most crewmembers are assigned a specific area and job for the drills. There are more crew then needed in specific areas so the remainder of the crew are assigned as fill in personel. The fill in personel go to a specific area and as some areas are now short handed due to crewmembers working or in the case of an emergancy, unable to work their station, they are pulled to fill in the short handed area. The extra crew are also used for assisting handicaped passengers to get to their muster stations.

Some crew have volunteered to be on the fire staff, even though all crew members have been trained in basic fire fighting. Some crew have volunteered to be first responder medical team. These crewmembers do get a lot of additional training. These crew members also do not get as much time off the ship as other crew because they must be on the ship in case of an emergancy does come up at anytime.

Passengers basically take a look at the sign on their room door and go to their muster station once. The crew must fill out paperwork and learn multiple ways to get to the muster stations from their stateroom and work areas. They are also expected to be able to get to their muster station from anywhere on the ship. They must figure out multiple ways incase there normal pass is blocked.

Now like any business some of the crew do not take the muster drill or job seriously but the vast majority of crew do take it very seriously. The majority of crew know how important the drills are and they will take it very seriously.

[KeithnRita]

Thank you for the very interesting information!

[WeCruiseToo]

Thanks Paul – very interesting! It sounds like the crew’s work is never done!

[DebbieandJerry]

We have had a number of times when our room steward would tell us that he/she had to leave for a muster drill.

Great information from you!