NCL to return to E Muster Drills April 1

[Habitatnal]

Don's Family Vacations and La Lida Loca have been very vocal in their opposition to the return to the in person muster drill.

I was saying that cruise lines/cruise vloggers have not had problems with e muster. The other person you are debating with said the same thing. What I mean by e muster is you show up at your muster station and they scan your card and you walk away. You don’t have to show up at a certain time and wait for everyone to start the drill like Disney is doing now. La Lido Loca/Don’s Family Vacations loves e muster. Disney didn’t make everyone show up at the muster station but other cruise lines do.

What LLL/Don’s don’t like is what NCL/Disney is now doing where everyone has to show up at the same time and you have to wait for everyone to decide to show up.

 

[tvguy]

I was saying that cruise lines/cruise vloggers have not had problems with e muster. The other person you are debating with said the same thing. What I mean by e muster is you show up at your muster station and they scan your card and you walk away. You don’t have to show up at a certain time and wait for everyone to start the drill like Disney is doing now. La Lido Loca/Don’s Family Vacations loves e muster. Disney didn’t make everyone show up at the muster station but other cruise lines do.

What LLL/Don’s don’t like is what NCL/Disney is now doing where everyone has to show up at the same time and you have to wait for everyone to decide to show up.

Correct. The issue has been with compliance which the Coast Guard has noted.

 

[Kwami]

I'd have no problem with a system where everyone had to scan their key at the station, guests weren't directed to the stations until later in the afternoon instead of upon boarding, and Disney had a way to verify that everyone actually watched the video. That last one is hard.

 

[holula]

This seems to be a problem isolated to DCL. Royal Caribbean has publicly stated that their virtual drills have a) a higher compliance rate, and b) better retention of important info. On my sailings on Celebrity and MSC, everyone in the stateroom had to tag their key card at the muster station. Clearly NCL seems to feel like the compromises land in favor of virtual drills too.

DCL continues to stand alone on physical muster drills.

Maybe they should make you watch that video on embarkation day before you board and only once you have that can you board the ship. Like, when you do the health questionnaire.

 

[Uncwmark]

Correct. The issue has been with compliance which the Coast Guard has noted.

Can you provide any reference to the Coast Guard notice you speak of? I've seen nothing stating non-compliance is an issue and that wouldn't make sense anyway given all the other major lines now offer e-muster option.

Disney is the ONLY major cruise line now requiring in-person muster. Many suspect the reason for the change was financial/staffing-related (having to allocate CMs to man individual muster stations for multiple hours while guests 'checked in').

I assure you the change back had nothing to do with passenger satisfaction as I've yet to talk to anybody who prefers the "old" way of mustering to the new way that's now been adopted by Disney's competitors.

Passengers pay a premium to sail on Disney. Disney needs to figure out how to bring back the simplified muster process or they'll risk losing passengers to other lines. Period.

 

[tvguy]

Can you provide any reference to the Coast Guard notice you speak of? I've seen nothing stating non-compliance is an issue and that wouldn't make sense anyway given all the other major lines now offer e-muster option.

Disney is the ONLY major cruise line now requiring in-person muster. Many suspect the reason for the change was financial/staffing-related (having to allocate CMs to man individual muster stations for multiple hours while guests 'checked in').

I assure you the change back had nothing to do with passenger satisfaction as I've yet to talk to anybody who prefers the "old" way of mustering to the new way that's now been adopted by Disney's competitors.

Passengers pay a premium to sail on Disney. Disney needs to figure out how to bring back the simplified muster process or they'll risk losing passengers to other lines. Period.

Just what the Vloggers have reported.

 

[brentm77]

Wouldn't it be great if Disney did this as well? I am cruising in about 6 weeks and really not looking forward to the massive crowds trying to go up the stairs at the end of the drill.

On the plus side, I swear Disney has shortened their drills since they went back to live. I have a memory of them waiting forever to start as they confirmed everyone was there, and then using a blowhorn for instructions or something like that. You could get a long winded cast member who took forever. I remember it being long and hot.

On the Fantasy recently, it seemed like they started shortly after the schedule time (as if they weren't waiting for stragglers anymore), and they had an automated pre-recorded presentation over the intercom that was short and sweet. The live employee just demonstrated with it, like a flight attendant does on some airlines now. All I know is that it seemed much better than my memory of past experiences.

But yes, the crowds in the stairwells after are always a pain.

 

[Kwami]

I assure you the change back had nothing to do with passenger satisfaction as I've yet to talk to anybody who prefers the "old" way of mustering to the new way that's now been adopted by Disney's competitors.

Passengers pay a premium to sail on Disney. Disney needs to figure out how to bring back the simplified muster process or they'll risk losing passengers to other lines. Period.

I prefer the old drills. Not because I like the old drills, but because the new drills are useless.

And I really, really doubt that anyone is canceling Disney cruises because of the muster drills.

 

[Uncwmark]

I prefer the old drills. Not because I like the old drills, but because the new drills are useless.

And I really, really doubt that anyone is canceling Disney cruises because of the muster drill

So... you found standing among hundreds of passengers in the heat MORE useful? Ok...

Nobody is cancelling a booked cruise over it, no... however, when Carnival provides a better passenger muster experience... and you're paying triple Carnival prices to sail on Disney... you EXPECT better.

 

[Sykes]

I prefer the old drills. Not because I like the old drills, but because the new drills are useless.

What data do you have that suggests that virtual drills are useless? Clearly if they are then the Coast Guard isn't doing its job, and Royal Caribbean is outright lying when they say that compliance and information retention is improved with their version of the virtual drills. If you're going to make such broad accusations, show your work.

 

[Kwami]

So... you found standing among hundreds of passengers in the heat MORE useful? Ok...

Yes. I was able to hear what the crew member had to say during the drill and I knew how to get from my stateroom to the muster station. Also, it comforted me to know that at least most other passengers also knew what to do. With the virtual drills, none of that applies. Most people never bothered to visit their muster station because Disney didn't require them to. Most people didn't watch the video because Disney didn't require them to. The virtual drills are entirely useless.

Nobody is cancelling a booked cruise over it, no... however, when Carnival provides a better passenger muster experience... and you're paying triple Carnival prices to sail on Disney... you EXPECT better.

Eh. The must drill is about 30 minutes. Compared to the rest of the cruise, it's nothing. Besides, I don't think that the virtual drill is a "better" experience. I think it's a useless experience. You're looking at this from the angle of comfort and convenience rather than safety. I'll take slightly uncomfortable and safe over comfy and unsafe any day.

 

[Kwami]

What data do you have that suggests that virtual drills are useless? Clearly if they are then the Coast Guard isn't doing its job, and Royal Caribbean is outright lying when they say that compliance and information retention is improved with their version of the virtual drills. If you're going to make such broad accusations, show your work.

RCL's drills might have been different from Disney's. I don't know the details of RCL's drills. I do know that Disney's system of requiring only one person to take a photo of the muster station sign right after boarding the ship and then asking us to pretty please watch a video is a fairly useless system.

 

[Uncwmark]

Kwami, with all due respect, if you think the majority of folks standing in those muster groups are paying any attention to what's being said and that leads to a "safer" trip, then... well... I've got some oceanfront land in Arizona to sell you...

Similar to how everyone listens intently to the safety briefing at the beginning of every flight, right?

But, good for you, I'm glad you prefer the "old" way of mustering. I think it's safe to assume that you're in the small minority of folks who feel that way, but that's fine if you feel you need to champion the cause... you do you!

 

[anjuan]

Can you provide any reference to the Coast Guard notice you speak of? I've seen nothing stating non-compliance is an issue and that wouldn't make sense anyway given all the other major lines now offer e-muster option.

Disney is the ONLY major cruise line now requiring in-person muster. Many suspect the reason for the change was financial/staffing-related (having to allocate CMs to man individual muster stations for multiple hours while guests 'checked in').

I assure you the change back had nothing to do with passenger satisfaction as I've yet to talk to anybody who prefers the "old" way of mustering to the new way that's now been adopted by Disney's competitors.

Passengers pay a premium to sail on Disney. Disney needs to figure out how to bring back the simplified muster process or they'll risk losing passengers to other lines. Period.

I would rather do the muster drill in person and have the twice a day room cleaning that DCL has than to have the room cleaning reduced to once a day along with paying higher service fees but have E muster drills like NCL has done. When I booked NCL for May there were several things included that have been reduced or eliminated since I booked whereas I haven't seen this with DCL. I have yet to sail NCL so I'll save my final opinon until then but again, it seems like other lines have reduced a lot of services or increased costs for things which impacts what cruise line I book more.

 

[Kwami]

Kwami, with all due respect, if you think the majority of folks standing in those muster groups are paying any attention to what's being said and that leads to a "safer" trip, then... well... I've got some oceanfront land in Arizona to sell you...

Similar to how everyone listens intently to the safety briefing at the beginning of every flight, right?

But, good for you, I'm glad you prefer the "old" way of mustering. I think it's safe to assume that you're in the small minority of folks who feel that way, but that's fine if you feel you need to champion the cause... you do you!

Will do!

At the very least, everyone made it to the muster station once. That's still an improvement over the virtual drills.

 

[Darren1969]

I'd love to see the virtual muster come back. It's doable so that if you watch it on your stateroom TV or app, it is recorded. Still doesn't guarantee it's been watch but still.
With the physical muster, time to introduce a zero tolerance approach for non-attendance? Held before departure and if your whole party does not attend, you're all off-loaded.

 

[Mango7100]

While I would like the e muster drill to come back, the inperson drill is not that big of a deal. Last week it took maybe 30 minutes on the Dream. We were in Evolution—I’m not sure any station was outside. You don’t have to have your life jacket. i don’t get people acting like this one thing is such a big deal to significantly impact their vacation by spending time on it. You spend a lot of wasted time on a cruise—you stand in line to eat, to disembark at ports, to ride the Aqua Duck, to get a drink, to meet characters, etc.

 

[lscrivan18]

In person or E-muster will make no difference to those that aren't paying attention anyway. For my family, I am the one who listens to every detail and knows exactly where we're going and what's going on. Ask my husband the next day where our muster station is and what they said, and he has absolutely no idea. The clueless will remain clueless and the type A will still know all the details.

 

[Kwami]

We were in Evolution—I’m not sure any station was outside.

Many muster stations are outside on the Dream and on all of the other ships.

 

[Carohs]

On the Wonder, they waited for everyone to show up before they started. It probably took an hour standing in the glaring sun. Yup, it was timed just as the sun was setting so not only could I not hear a single word, I couldn't see jack either. The only thing I got out of that was how to shift to the left every five minutes and we continued to shift and squish to make room for stragglers. Not only does e-muster mean I can get back to my vacation sooner, I am also better informed.

With going back to e-muster, NCL includes the safety video as part of the check in process for every guest. But no matter how the information is presented, those that want to pay attention will, and those that don't won't.