dream class ships safety/lifeboats

[mistyandbenjamin]

Not to sound negative but I am concerned about the number of passengers per life boat on the new ships. 16 lifeboats just does not seem adequate. Someone please explain how big the lifeboats are and how they would pack us in. Also, given an emergency would we be able to got our children from thekids club and take them to the muster station or do we just pray and search the ship for them until the ocean swallows us (because I would not get on a lifeboat without them)? What is the safest part of the ship? I assume midship because of the lifeboat placement! Hmmmm, my aft veranda is looking suspect. I don't know why all of a sudden this is bothering me. I just hope disney didn,t sacrifice safety for quantity! Flame away!

 

[KS929]

I thought about that too… but I didn't really worry… I imagine that the lifeboats on the Dream/Fantasy are longer and wider than those on the Magic/Wonder…

 

[jdybnsn]

I'm sure there isn't a parent in the world who doesn't share your fears but....

Firstly, no ship can set sail without meeting all the strictest of martime law requirements...which since the sinking of the Titantic, have always paid special attention to emergency evacuation and lifeboats.

Secondly, evacuation procedures are well rehearsed by the crew (and rehearsed by your family when you board). Panic and failure are normally born out of failing to plan (as the old addage goes).

Thirdly, as technology grows over time, it follows that the risk of accidents diminish, and the chances of successful rescue increase.
Of course that's not to say accidents an incidents can never happen (sadly that was the downfall of the Titanic) but what I am saying is we are ever more equipped to avoid, and to deal with them.

Lastly, you are dealing with a major American company to whom the safety of their guests is paramount.

You are quite right to think about the dangers, and consider how you personally might deal with such an event, but then you should not let these thoughts dominate and spoil your holiday.....sadly you have a far greater chance of a major incident before you leave home and/ or fly/drive to the port, than actually on board that ship... so you should try to retain a sense of PERSPECTIVE about the chances of a major incident aboard a cruise.

Hope this helps

 

[msmayor]

I've been on ships where each lifeboat hanging on the deck can carry 150 or more passengers.

In addition, realize that on most ships there are life boats you cannot actually 'see'...they are inflatables that are stored in large drums stacked right near the rails.

There is most definitely MORE than enough capacity in the lifeboats on board for all passengers and crew.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

As previosly stated, all passenger ships today have room for everyone onboard.....In addition to lifeboats, there are many inflatable liferafts around the vessel that in the very unlikely (but possible ) event of the vessel sinking these automaticaly release from the vessel and float to the surface and inflat.
I of course do not know the capacity of the Dreams liferafts, but they are built to carry up to 50 people each.

All questions regarding how to get your kids and mustering will be answered at the boat drill prior to sailing PC. Now that said..........New regulations say the passingers do not have to wear life jackets to mustter drills.My family will always put on their life jackets and go to muster, its is very important to know how to get into the jackets and the time of a emergency is NOT the time to figure it out.

I spent years at sea.........no need to worry about safety at sea.I would be more concerned about flying!


AKK

 

[TinkerbelleMom]

The previous posters have given you lots of good info, I just wanted to add that though the lifeboats don't look big enough to be sufficient, they are. It's not a pleasure cruise at this point, and the passengers will be packed in like sardines probably. With Dream being a newer, larger ship, the boats will probably have a higher capacity. Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas boats will hold 300+ passengers...I peeked into an open boat on our cruise, and from what I saw its hard to believe it could manage that many guests. As for the kids...I've not cruised DCL, but I imagine the routine is the same, and will be discussed at muster, but you are instructed to go to your lifeboat station and your kids will be brought to you. This is one of the reasons for the ID bands all the kids are supposed to be wearing while onboard.

So, relax, and enjoy your cruise planning. And when you do go to the muster drill, it is mandatory to take a silly pic of your whole family wearing the lifejackets. It means you're officially on your way! I've got a whole collection of those, and we get a laugh out of every one. We were almost disappointed when Royal Caribbean stopped requiring the jackets at drill (they're all now stored at the boats for faster access) as it meant one less fun photo op for us!

 

[georgeat]

Only 16 lifeboats you can see, as the pp said, but liferafts are there. Count the passengers on the Magic or Wonder and divide by the number of lifeboats and that doesn't work either. Todays ship have a conveyance of some type for all passengers, be it boat or raft. There is a mandatory boat drill (Coast Guard) everyone must attended before the ship leaves port. Enjoy your cruise and "Don't worry, Be happy"

 

[HallsofVA]

We docked next to the Norwegien Epic in St. Maarten and we were surprised to see the lifeboat capacity on that ship to be 267 people per boat, as listed on the lifeboat itself. And those boats look larger than the ones on the Disney ships.

 

[tvguy]

Well, the maximum capacity of the Dream (passengers and crew) is 5007.
5007 divided by 16 means to be legal, each live boat would have to have a capcity of 313.

 

[tk101]

each lifeBOAT carries 320, There are 16, so total is 5120, and there are quite a few more inflatable liferafts visible on decks right now

 

[DisneyCruiser83]

I just wanted to add that munster stations are designated by your room location, not everyone is midship. If you are aft, you will have an aft munster station. All munster stations are on the 4th deck (at least on the Wonder and Magic). Don't worry, not only is safety paramount, but Disney has but over a billion dollars into the Dream, and they will do everything to protect their investment. Relax and enjoy your cruise!

 

[insureman]

From what I understand , the only crew in the "hard shell hull" lifeboats are the the ones operating the lifeboat itself. The rest of the crew are in the inflatables, which can be released manually or automatically . If you have been to Castaway Cay they usually have a inflatable boat drill , so the crew knows how to inflate and board properly.

 

[remorse]

The Dream's lifeboats will have a capacity of 270 people per boat so 4320. Enough for the passengers and a number of crew. The rest of the crew will likely use a Marine Evacuation System (or MES for short) you can see one in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUMYRVSA7TQ&feature=related (if you ever get a change to have a go on one then do so... they're great fun... in training conditions anyway).

As well as all of this the ship will have sufficient capacity for everyone on board in smaller liferafts which can be deployed automatically in case the excrement really hits the fan too quickly for the regular lifeboats to be used.

As you can see in some youtube videos of the Dream posted today at least some of her life boats were tested in the shipyard's harbour earlier on with no apparent problems (or at least they were all back in place again later).

I hope that all of this helps put your mind at ease, as others have said the best thing to do is just relax and look forward to your cruise... and pay attention to the safety briefing when you get on board.

 

[insureman]

. The rest of the crew will likely use a Marine Evacuation System (or MES for short)

Looking at the new photos I don't see that system on the Dream and I have never seen the MES on the Magic or Wonder. I think the MES is best suited on stationary marine platforms such as offshore drilling rigs.

 

[remorse]

Looking at the new photos I don't see that system on the Dream and I have never seen the MES on the Magic or Wonder. I think the MES is best suited on stationary marine platforms such as offshore drilling rigs.

I have seen them on ships as well, especially the larger cruise ships. Will say that I have no idea if the Dream actually has one fitted or not though, just from my personal experience I thought it was likely.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

The Disney Dream wouldn't even be allowed to sail without meeting the strictest of maritime requirements and safety regulations. A company like Disney isn't going to sacrifice safety for quantity. The ship was designed to hold a certain capacity that would be safe and that they could safely evacuate and provide enough lifeboats for.

 

[Belle091507]

When i did a tour of another boat it was explained to me that each side of the ship has enough lifeboats( hard hull or inflattable) for all the passengers and crew in case something happens on one side of the ship and everyone would have to evacuate from only one side....they also said thgat maritime law requiers twice as many spots as there are passengers and crew ever since the Titanic sank. Not sure how accurate this info was but it sounded very likely and the person had no reason to lie...

 

[kcashner]

In the unlikely event of a real emergency, you are to go to your stateroom, get your life vest, and go to your muster station. There are procedures where the CMs will evacuate the kids from the Club/Lab, etc. to their muster stations and there are extra life vests at the station. Unless specifically instructed to do so, parents are not supposed to claim their kids at the club/lab.

There MUST be adequate lifeboats for all guests and crew in order to meet Coast Guard requirements.

DCL takes safety very seriously and as one PP said, they do lifeboat drills at almost every Castaway stop. And it all paid off a little over a year ago when a passenger jumped overboard from a Carnival ship. Carnival couldn't lower their lifeboat (it got tangled in the rigging), couldn't locate the passenger, had inferior searchlights, etc. The Disney Wonder under the direction of Captain John and Staff Captain Guus located the man, lowered a lifeboat, and brought him onboard the Wonder. The best reports were from the Carnival passengers--they clearly recognized the superiority of the DCL crew.

 

[Brandis]

Looking at the dream, it seems she doesn't have the MES. However, RCL's Radiance class ships, also from Meyer, have it.

The current Marine Ark 632 can hold either 632, 474 or 316 passengers and there is usually one deployment station on each side of the ship.

 

[JJsmama]

In the unlikely event of a real emergency, you are to go to your stateroom, get your life vest, and go to your muster station. There are procedures where the CMs will evacuate the kids from the Club/Lab, etc. to their muster stations and there are extra life vests at the station. Unless specifically instructed to do so, parents are not supposed to claim their kids at the club/lab.

There MUST be adequate lifeboats for all guests and crew in order to meet Coast Guard requirements.

DCL takes safety very seriously and as one PP said, they do lifeboat drills at almost every Castaway stop. And it all paid off a little over a year ago when a passenger jumped overboard from a Carnival ship. Carnival couldn't lower their lifeboat (it got tangled in the rigging), couldn't locate the passenger, had inferior searchlights, etc. The Disney Wonder under the direction of Captain John and Staff Captain Guus located the man, lowered a lifeboat, and brought him onboard the Wonder. The best reports were from the Carnival passengers--they clearly recognized the superiority of the DCL crew.

I would be interested in reading an account of that day, if anyone knows where one is. I will try google too.