Saw an "open" Lifeboat last week on Fantasy

[Expatriat]

I have see discussion in professional publications about revising the 'average weight' used to compute lifeboat capacity

Perhaps I am overlooking it, but I see no reference to passenger weight in the linked article. What IS the current passenger "average weight" used to compute lifeboat capacity?

 

[Mark D.]

Sufficient lifeboats and life rafts of such capacity as to accommodate 125% of the total number of people on board.

Thanks for the correct information. I went back and looked at my source, and it appears that the numbers I posted were for cargo ships and wouldn't apply to cruise ships.

 

[melissa0927]

On the cruise I was on last week they said to dress warm, bring bottled water and medication - that boat will hardly fit people let alone any extras. lol

 

[Uncleromulus]

I have this unpleasant vision that all those who have their lifeboat drill on deck at their lifeboat stations would be assigned a regular, rigid, fully enclosed lifeboat. Then everyone who does their lifeboat drill in the comfort of a theatre or restaurant would be relegated to an inflatable. This is hopefully not fact, but my imagination on a rampage. I've always wondered about being assigned to a theatre or restaurant to head to if the ship was sinking. I shall be very happy to never experience what might occur under those circumstances.

I share the same concern. IN my mind there is a great deal of difference between an enclosed, rigid life BOAT with propulsion, and a rubber raft rolled up in a barrel on deck. I'll wager most folks believe they'll be in one of the real lifeboats--but such does not seem to be the case----

 

[Uncleromulus]

The life rafts are very well engineered and have all the equipment the lifeboats have. In some emergency situations/sea conditions are safer then the lifeboats.....on line videos of the life rafts are quite. impressive.

Considering the limited lifeboat space and under certain sea and weather conditions, I would very possibly go for the rafts over a lifeboat.


AKK

What propulsion do they have? They are certainly not enclosed, so my guess is any sort of a rough sea might mean a wet ride....

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

They are certainly not enclosed, so my guess is any sort of a rough sea might mean a wet ride....

I've never actually seen one of DCL's but they do make inflatables with covers.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Wondering how an "inflatable" is gotten out of the barrel, filled with people (children as well?) and then lowered to the water---

 

[Uncleromulus]

Saw videos on Youtube--showed the barrel lowered into a SWIMMING POOL and then suddenly inflating. How that would work on the Ocean and how passengers might get in was left to the imagination.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

Wondering how an "inflatable" is gotten out of the barrel, filled with people (children as well?) and then lowered to the water---

I tried to find a video of an actual real world scenario deployment but couldn't. I'm sure one of the seadogs on the forum could explain. I always figured it worked like a depth charge and just launched clear of the vessel and auto-deployed. I don't think there is any way to load one in the air and then lower it to the sea.

 

[lilouisianagal]

I've done a full drop to the water drill in one of the hard sided lifeboats before (different ship, non cruise). It is tight, small, hot, and with no airflow, but you are safe. If I remember right, they have puke bags similar to airplanes. For the initial part of the real deal you are probably so stressed and "on" that you would not be able to poop, even if you wanted to, but I'm sure you could use a barf bag if need be. Disney stays on very well traveled shipping lanes, so it probably wouldn't take very long to be picked up.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I tried to find a video of an actual real world scenario deployment but couldn't. I'm sure one of the seadogs on the forum could explain. I always figured it worked like a depth charge and just launched clear of the vessel and auto-deployed. I don't think there is any way to load one in the air and then lower it to the sea.

Which still leaves me wondering how folks would get in???

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Which still leaves me wondering how folks would get in???

I believe they load up with those persons who are in the water. It's my understanding that crewmembers are trained to actually "step off" the ship into the water. And, undoubtedly there will be other people who think jumping off the ship is easier than waiting to load the lifeboats.

 

[wdrl]

There are different types and sizes of life rafts on cruise ships these days. On the Royal Princess, there are two large rectangular shaped life rafts that can hold 632 passengers each. Each life raft is stored in a small container that is a third the size of a full sized lifeboat. I have circled the container in this photo, which gives you an idea of the container relative to a lifeboat:

The life raft is deployed from the side of the ship. Once it hits the water, it deploys into a square or rectangular ship craft. Passengers board the life raft by sliding down a corkscrew slide. Here are the "simple" 7-part instructions on deploying the life raft:

My wife found a You-Tube video that shows one of these types of life rafts being deployed and passengers sliding into the craft:

Not as exciting as Bear3412's video, but definitely still an "E" ticket in my opinion!

Edited to add: Give proper credit to Bear3412 for the prior video.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I tried to find a video of an actual real world scenario deployment but couldn't. I'm sure one of the seadogs on the forum could explain. I always figured it worked like a depth charge and just launched clear of the vessel and auto-deployed. I don't think there is any way to load one in the air and then lower it to the sea.

Inflatable cylinder rafts

The raft can be manually thrown over board with the tether line still attached. When the raft reaches the end of the tether line, it pulls the co2 cylinder valve open and the raft inflates. A alternative way to launch the raft is to leave it in the racks and as the vessel sinks it will float free and at the end of the tether, the line will again pulls open the co2 cylinder valve and inflate the raft. Some also have a pressure activated switch which does the same thing to open the CO2 cylinder.

Your right DDD, it is kinda like a depth charge!.............LOL

The idea then is of course to swim off the vessel as she sinks and climb into the life raft.

What makes the cylinder inflatable life rafts so desirable is that no one needs to do anything to launch them, they launch themselves.

AKK

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Which still leaves me wondering how folks would get in???

The raft have a full inflatable cover with 1 or 2 open flaps where as Shmoo pointed out, people can swim up to the raft and climb in and when full, the flaps secured/ closed usually by zipped closed.



AKK

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

There are different types and sizes of life rafts on cruise ships these days. On the Royal Princess, there are two large rectangular shaped life rafts that can hold 632 passengers each. Each life raft is stored in a small container that is a third the size of a full sized lifeboat. I have circled the container in this photo, which gives you an idea of the container relative to a lifeboat:

The life raft is deployed from the side of the ship. Once it hits the water, it deploys into a square or rectangular ship craft. Passengers board the life raft by sliding down a corkscrew slide. Here are the "simple" 7-part instructions on deploying the life raft:

My wife found a You-Tube video that shows one of these types of life rafts being deployed and passengers sliding into the craft:

Not as exciting as Bear3412's video, but definitely still an "E" ticket in my opinion!

Edited to add: Give proper credit to Bear3412 for the prior video.

I have never worked with a raft like this one......it looks really intriguing. I have seen shutes like this on buildings before as emergency exit systems.

AKK

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

This is the type of lifeboat I had, back in the 70's and 80's. open top, sheet metal hull and gravity davits.

This photo is from one of the American President Lines vessels, I would guess built in the 50's or early 60's.


AKK

 

[janiebubble]

Last summer we saw inside a Magic lifeboat ...

 

[C6PT7]

Inflatable cylinder rafts

The raft can be manually thrown over board with the tether line still attached. When the raft reaches the end of the tether line, it pulls the co2 cylinder valve open and the raft inflates. A alternative way to launch the raft is to leave it in the racks and as the vessel sinks it will float free and at the end of the tether, the line will again pulls open the co2 cylinder valve and inflate the raft. Some also have a pressure activated switch which does the same thing to open the CO2 cylinder.

Your right DDD, it is kinda like a depth charge!.............LOL

The idea then is of course to swim off the vessel as she sinks and climb into the life raft.

What makes the cylinder inflatable life rafts so desirable is that no one needs to do anything to launch them, they launch themselves.

AKK

They also have life rafts that are lowered using a davit.The raft inflate at deck level, the pax or crew board and then it it lowered from the deck down.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Well--I can see how passengers--especially children--can board one of the 16 life BOATS on the Fantasy. But I envision problems seeing passengers--especially children--SWIMMING to a life RAFT that isn't even inflated until it hits the water.

From all this I bet most passengers believe there are enough life BOATS to go around--

And again--who determines who gets the real boats and who has to swim for a raft???