Saw an "open" Lifeboat last week on Fantasy

[Uncleromulus]

Looks a lot better than the lifeboats on titanic. At least they won't have to call for women and children only!

Yeah--I believe I read somewhere that actually more men were saved than women passengers who were down in steerage. Titanic had not enough lifeboats, no lifeboat drill-so no one knew where to go. Plus many lifeboats were lowered when they weren't nearly full.

 

[preciouspups]

What happens when people have to poop?

I'm guessing the hope is people will be rescued before then. Of course all the angst would really mess with my stomach!

 

[ksucats]

What happens when people have to poop?

They go to the poop deck, of course.

 

[Expatriat]

Does anyone (Tonka's Skipper?) know the passenger size used to determine the number of people the lifeboats hold? Let's face it, while some cruisers are slim and fit, it often seems the majority are not. Looking down at the atrium from above, on some cruises it seems far too many would require two full airline seats and carry the weight of at least two "average" size people. While size and weight are a personal issue, I bring this up only because if 30% or more on any cruise are extremely obese and would fill two or more of those black dots, is this factored in to the number of lifeboats required? Maybe on sailings with a lot of kids things would even out, but certain times of year the number of children can be quite low, so you can't rely on that. No offense is intended. I pose the question because everyone, no matter their size, is entitled to their space on a lifeboat if needed, so I am wondering what formula they use to determine that there are enough lifeboats. Tonka's Skipper, would you happen to know?

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

This one looks fun.

Oh heck no. On the idea in general but that kind of a ride specifically. You'd be cleaning my food off everyone around me.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Does anyone (Tonka's Skipper?) know the passenger size used to determine the number of people the lifeboats hold? Let's face it, while some cruisers are slim and fit, it often seems the majority are not. Looking down at the atrium from above, on some cruises it seems far too many would require two full airline seats and carry the weight of at least two "average" size people. While size and weight are a personal issue, I bring this up only because if 30% or more on any cruise are extremely obese and would fill two or more of those black dots, is this factored in to the number of lifeboats required? Maybe on sailings with a lot of kids things would even out, but certain times of year the number of children can be quite low, so you can't rely on that. No offense is intended. I pose the question because everyone, no matter their size, is entitled to their space on a lifeboat if needed, so I am wondering what formula they use to determine that there are enough lifeboats. Tonka's Skipper, would you happen to know?

Looking at the number of the lifeboats--just 16 of them--and their size holding 270 each--and considering the # of crew and passengers--my guess is that passenger "size" was just some educated guess at what the average passenger might look like. But your point is a valid one--many passengers who are a bit "overweight" would probably take up more than one black dot's worth of space.

 

[Mark D.]

Looking at the number of the lifeboats--just 16 of them--and their size holding 270 each--and considering the # of crew and passengers--my guess is that passenger "size" didn't enter the equation at all.

There are only 16 life boats, but there are barrels on deck 4 that hold additional inflatable life rafts. I'm certainly no expert but from what I can tell online, it looks like the regulation is that each side of the ship must have a combination of life boats and life rafts that are able to hold 100% of the crew and passengers (at least 50% in boats, and at least 50% in rafts), just in case one side of the ship is inaccessible in an emergency. So if every boat and raft on both sides were launched, there should be enough seats to support 200% of the ship's capacity.

I would guess that the priority would be to fit everyone into the life boats if possible since the rafts are not powered and probably don't have any food and water provisions.

Edit: The percentages I posted were apparently for cargo ships, and not passenger ships. There is a post further down with passenger ship information.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Who would determine who gets the "inflatable raft"?? Perhaps just the crew???


If my math is correct 16 lifeboats x 270 persons each is 4,220. According to Passporter, the ships crew is 1,500 and max passenger is 4,000. IF true that leaves about 1,300 UNABLE to get in a Lifeboat.



My curiosity is now aroused as I was mistakenly under the impression there were enough LIFEBOATS for all--apparently not exactly true.

 

[preciouspups]

Does anyone (Tonka's Skipper?) know the passenger size used to determine the number of people the lifeboats hold? Let's face it, while some cruisers are slim and fit, it often seems the majority are not. Looking down at the atrium from above, on some cruises it seems far too many would require two full airline seats and carry the weight of at least two "average" size people. While size and weight are a personal issue, I bring this up only because if 30% or more on any cruise are extremely obese and would fill two or more of those black dots, is this factored in to the number of lifeboats required? Maybe on sailings with a lot of kids things would even out, but certain times of year the number of children can be quite low, so you can't rely on that. No offense is intended. I pose the question because everyone, no matter their size, is entitled to their space on a lifeboat if needed, so I am wondering what formula they use to determine that there are enough lifeboats. Tonka's Skipper, would you happen to know?

I was wondering this too but you asked in a much more tactful way than what I could come up with.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My curiosity is now aroused as I was mistakenly under the impression there were enough LIFEBOATS for all--apparently not exactly true.

There are enough lifeboats. Just not all the life boats are the rigid, covered type hanging on the sides of the ship. There are canisters of inflatable liferafts that also count into the "lifeboats for everyone" count.

 

[Expatriat]

I was wondering this too but you asked in a much more tactful way than what I could come up with.

Thank you! I think I probably re-read it 25 times before posting, in the hope that it would be as tactful as possible. It is a delicate issue, but an important one. Although highly unlikely, we can never assume that we'll never need to use the lifeboats, so it is natural to wonder how the situation would be handled.

 

[cgolf]

This one looks fun.

I so want to do that That looks like a lot more fun then the aquadunk That said you may need a Hans device like race car drivers wear to not end up with a very sore neck.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

Or a broken neck if you get one that does flips.

 

[jlynch924]

All the little black spots are individual seats (so those on the lower level are basically looking at the feet on the people on the row above). It's "cozy".
View attachment 134513
View attachment 134514

Sweet Lord I hope I never have to use any of those things! Looking at those little black butt spots... it was clearly designed for 270 physically fit people! I suspect you would put kids on the floor since they are probably going to be clinging to the legs of the parents anyway.

I was totally thinking... those 270 butts better be "just so."

 

[IrishCowboy]

What happens when people have to poop?

The real issue is what happens when one person gets an 'upset' stomach and gets sicks. In such close quarters, the vomit dominoes will start to fall..... yuck!!

 

[Kara T]

The real issue is what happens when one person gets an 'upset' stomach and gets sicks. In such close quarters, the vomit dominoes will start to fall..... yuck!!

Haha, IBS is just as bad because they can't STOP pooping... vomit and diarrhea everywhere...omgah jump ship! haha

 

[Uncleromulus]

There are enough lifeboats. Just not all the life boats are the rigid, covered type hanging on the sides of the ship. There are canisters of inflatable liferafts that also count into the "lifeboats for everyone" count.

But my question still stands--who gets the rubber inflatables?? Can't bring myself to call a rubber raft inflatable a "lifeboat".

The crew one would hope---

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

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

 

[Capt_BJ]

if you really want to know, look up SOLAS RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LIFE BOATS ON CRUSE SHIPS
{in the US, most SOLAS regulations are incorporated into the US Code of Regulations, enforced by USCG}

SOLAS has been revised and updated many times and now comes under the auspices of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). It has fairly extensive rules about the all aspects of lifesaving equipment including the location, number and size of lifeboats to be carried on a ship and how quickly the passengers should be able to be evacuated from the ship. The 1983 amendments to SOLAS required all lifeboats on passenger ships to be totally or partially enclosed equipped with an engine rather than the traditional open lifeboats manual propelled by oars.

Modern passenger ships engaged on international voyages, which are not short must carry partially or totally enclosed lifeboats on each side to accommodate not less than 50% of the total number of persons on board (in other words, the two sides together must equal at least 100%. Some lifeboats can be substituted by liferafts. In addition, inflatable or rigid liferafts to accommodate at least 25% of the total number of persons on board. Sufficient lifeboats and life rafts of such capacity as to accommodate 125% of the total number of people on board.

Passenger ships on short international voyages must carry partially or totally enclosed lifeboats for at least 30% of persons on board, plus inflatable or rigid liferafts to make a total capacity of 100% with the lifeboats. In addition, they must carry inflatable or rigid lifeboats for 25% of total number of persons on board.

There are also regulations on how long the actual lifeboat embarkation should take and how long it should take to prepare and launch all the lifeboats and liferafts once the passengers have been assembled and the abondoned ship signal has been given. There are also now IMO guidelines (MSC Circ 1033 and 1283) on the total passenger ship evacuation times including assembling the passengers at their muster stations.

The recent philosophy of the passenger ship design has now returned to the idea of regarded the ship as its own best lifeboat capable of providing a “safe area” for passengers until “return to port” or adequate rescue services arrive. IMO has set out Safe Return to Port requirement in the 2009 International SOLAS treaty, which are applicable to passenger ships built on or after the 1st July 2010. These new requirement were prompted by the increasing size of passenger ships. The more passengers a vessel has the longer it takes to evacuate. The requirement defines minimum limits on how long the vessel should remain safe for evacuation. It defines threshold where ships should be able to return to port without requiring passengers to evacuate.

http://www.rina.org.uk/lifeboats.html

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

 

[Expatriat]

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.