What if dd needs to nap during drill???

[dletz]

If the child were already sleeping, I would pick them up, pick up life vest, and take them to the drill, without intentionally waking the child. Then if I was required to put child in life vest I would. If I recall they had bells, whistles, PA system, etc over the whole ship, if a child could sleep through that in the room, then I would suspect they would sleep through going to the drill. Of course my child never slept at specific times, it was a bit more random, she'd usually fall asleep so many hours after waking, and sleep for at least a certain amount of time, but it was never at exactly such and such a time.

 

[disneyma]

I'm not being harsh! Honest....

But wouldn't you rather go to the drill and know the routine just in the small chance something might happen... I know Disney takes safety very seriously...... I don't care if it my first cruise or my 60th cruise....I would always want my entire family, friends, etc. know where to go, what to wear, and where to stand so that we can all get safely off the boat...

A nap vs. such a potentially life saving 15 minutes...

 

[alexandrew]

Dont give it a 2nd thought....if your child is sleeping, let her sleep in the stateroom....as long as someone in your party is at the drill, you will be ok....

Think about it, in a true emergency, you will probably be holding DD anyway.....

also, in hindsight, I dont recall any "lifesaving" information given out by the CMs during the drill other than how to don the lifevest....the muster station location is printed on the back of the stateroom door....

 

[clh2]

Yes I only have one child and no I am not trying to mess it up for everyone else. This is my first cruise with my child and I see no reason for harsh answers, I was just asking a question that I was unsure about. I am sorry if I offended anyone - geez!!!

To those who answered the question without being rude - thank you very much, I was just curious as I have never done this before and just wanted to know in advance - thanks!!!!

Suzanne74 - that's what I love about these boards - no matter what the question - generally someone knows the answer. I personally didn't "get" what the "only child" comment was referring to, and why would that matter in regards to your question.

While the cast members are trained to be very courteous, ours were not for the drill. And to compound matters (while we were in the hot sun with our life vests on) some cruisers couldn't stop yapping long enough for the CM's to do their thing. This also compounded the time we were out there.

You may want to ask on these boards where your particular room number goes for the lifeboat drill. Those going to Animators Pallate have it quite nice from what I understand.

 

[MickeyB426]

What I'm going to say is harsh.

So, to those who are offended, I say, well, deal with it.

People who think that not going to the lifeboat drill, or that just sending someone from the stateroom to the drill is good enough, are, in my mind, just as rude as the people who save ten deck chairs by the pool or ten chairs at the theater.

 

[alexandrew]

Sorry, I disagree.....its when no one from a particular stateroom shows up that is rude.....when the CMs call a given stateroom over and over again, and no one replies, thats when things get annoying.....I dont think it's necessary to drag my sleeping 3 yr old to the drill just so DCL can protect themselves from potential litigation....

...If this was so important to DCL, why dont they thoroughly enforce this so called rule about it being mandatory to attend....

 

[disneyma]

"I dont think it's necessary to drag my sleeping 3 yr old to the drill just so DCL can protect themselves from potential litigation...."


I can see it now...the same people that think this way WILL be the same people that will sue DCL for all they can......

How can this even be debatable?...it is your own safety. The op said it was her first time...wouldn't she want to know exactly what to do and to make sure that there isn't any life jackets missing or to make sure she knows the route in the event of an emergency?

It is 10 to 15 minutes out of a seven day vacation....

 

[inkkognito]

In 42 Disney cruises, I have attended 42 safety drills, as has my husband. I know exactly where my muster station is, since I am generally in the same stateroom. But it is maritime law, and a rule, and no matter how many cruises that I take, I don't feel that I am above the rules. Sure, I could recite the safety spiel, don a lifejacket, and get to my muster station blindfolded, but if I am required to attend the drill, I will.
I can understand that children might not like it, but think about it this way: What if there was an emergency on board and the child had not attended a dry run? If they have been through it once, at least they know what to expect in a "normal" atmosphere. If they didn't experience it at all, think how terrifying it would be to expect them to do so in an emergency (and there is NO choice then). And don't think it can't happen...ask the passengers on the Magic's "fire cruise" if it can't. They had to get up in the middle of the night/crack of dawn for the real thing.
Sorry to sound harsh, but that's reality. I don't have children, but if I did, they would go to the drill and see what to expect.
Barb

 

[DrCavin]

I agree with AlexAndrew... They only called the stateroom number, did not ask for everyone is the room to say "hear"... In my mind Disney is not following law by not requiring everyone to attend, just someone saying "hear" when the stateroom is called sounds like a bending of the law for convience of the guests.

Should everyone attend?, ABSOLUTLY... it really is not that bad, can get a little hot if your in the sun, but I saw people taking of the lifevest while standing in line. The worst part is all the traffic in the hallways getting there!

Barb, didn't you once get a letter saying you did not attended the drill, even though you did? What did Disney do besides give you a letter? Nothing from what I remember, so really how serious are they about everyone attending when they show someone not going & they just send you a letter? I would think that they would force you to do it, maybe lock out your KTTW card or something until you attend.....

 

[dgaston]

On our 2/19 Magic cruise, we were not even allowed into the muster area until DH caught up with us. He had allowed a large family group to come between us, and the CM wouldn't let us into Animator's Palette until we were all together. Then he checked off our stateroom number.

 

[rsjj]

everyone's entitled to their own opinions & views...

first off, i too was a first time cruiseer, just last year, and had lots questions, big & small! (and believe me, when i said lots of, i mean LOTS of!!!!) and now, i have just one cruise under my belt, but am still no expert...

but here's what i did regarding the drill. traveled with 2 DSs (2 & 4 at the time). they napped around 3 ish...for an hour or so, so naturally, we were concerned about the drill. luckily we got in early, did the eating, exploring, ressie rush, etc. got back to our stateroom. and put our DSs down for their nap early. our older DS woke up before the drill. and when the drill siren sounded, our younger son woke up. it was about time for him to get up anyways, so i guess we lucked out!? our DS2 was very uncomfortable in his life jacket thing. poor thing, it just didn't fit him at all! too big & bulky for him, and he was too big for the little baby one they had.

anyways, when we got to our station, the cm saw how uncomfortable our DS2 looked, he told us we can take it off of him, so we did.

the one thing we did do with our DSs was that we talked to them about the drill before hand, how it's really important, we need to wear this life jacket thing, for safety, etc. and i think that helped our boys go through it a bit easier. (a tip i got from this board!!). oh, and my DH promised them ice cream afterwards! so that also helped!!

 

[flexsmom]

I have two different points to offer:

1) Re: the OPs original question and concern - my DS was 21 months when we last cruised in December and is a faithful nap-taker. He's a hellion without one. As soon as we got into our stateroom, we put him down for a nap, so he slept from about 2-3:45. At 3:45 the announcements started to prepare everyone to go to their stations, and I slowly woke him up. Yes, he was still cranky. I carried him to our station, and we put the jacket on him there so we'd be sure WE would know how to do it (the little one's jackets are a little different than the adults). The CM told us that we could then take it off. Once he got it off, he was fine the rest of the drill, and we were ALL assured we knew where to go in the event of an emergency.

2) I think it's shortsighted to say that if ONE person from a stateroom goes, then that's good enough. Sure, maybe it's good enough to get by the CMs if they are only taking a stateroom roll call, but hey folks, that's not the point. There were MANY times on the cruise that DH and I weren't together, and we both knew where to go, since we both went through the drill (on two cruises). Even though the muster info is on the stateroom door, why do you think you'll be in your stateroom to look at it when an emergency occurs? You're just as likely to be at the pool. The point here isn't to comply at the high level with getting your name checked off - it's so that all the responsible adults know what to do in an emergency. Repetition saves lives, so it's pretty nice that you as a vacationer only have to do this drill once. Cruisers (vacationers) aren't often on ships - even the crew regularly participate in drills....over & over & over....just like in the Navy. Sorry if I'm preaching here, but after 12 years in the Marine Corps, I got very frustrated with my counterparts working in the Navy Annex by the Pentagon who always wanted to blow off the fire and emergency drills. As the security officer, it was my job to check all of the offices off and direct them to particular locations....someone was ALWAYS special and didn't want to comply. And then on 9/11, it was pure chaos. Took 3 days to locate some of the civilian workers because they took off for home without going to the appropriate muster station.....they thought something like that could never happen, so they didn't go where they were supposed to go.

I'd also like to say to the OP that #2 isn't directed at you - you simply asked a reasonable question, but rather at the number of people who believe it's acceptable for everyone not to go, because the CMs won't notice or don't seem to take note.

Is this a big leap....yes....but the principle is the same. Please go to the drill. It makes it faster for everyone, and you may remember where to go in an emergency when you are probably going to be nervous about alarms and such.....it's happened on DCL before (remember the fire?)

Sorry for preaching.

 

[depomas]

Could not have said it better than above... Well spoken...

 

[DrCavin]

I know I have seen this answered before, but I don't remember the answer. What do you and/or the CM's do if you have kids checked into a club and an emergency occurs? Do you go get them? Can't imagine they take each child to their designated muster station, maybe a special station for the club?

I know I would have to ask a CM where my station is located, because I really didn't remember how I got there. Being unfamiliar with the ship & where your at when you walk down the stairs, which way did we turn, etc. no way I could make it to the correct station without help, I think it was on deck 5 starboard side or was it port ;-).. They did have a bunch of CM's pointing which direction to go.....

 

[ivanova]

I know I have seen this answered before, but I don't remember the answer. What do you and/or the CM's do if you have kids checked into a club and an emergency occurs? Do you go get them? Can't imagine they take each child to their designated muster station, maybe a special station for the club?

I know I would have to ask a CM where my station is located, because I really didn't remember how I got there. Being unfamiliar with the ship & where your at when you walk down the stairs, which way did we turn, etc. no way I could make it to the correct station without help, I think it was on deck 5 starboard side or was it port ;-).. They did have a bunch of CM's pointing which direction to go.....

Good question.

I was on Carnival last week and all the kids had to wear special paper wristbands with their muster info on it. In case of emergency parents were to grab the kid's lifejacket from the stateroom & take it directly to the muster station. The kids' club counselors would then get the kids directly to their proper muster station.

I have no clue how DCL does this - and this is a good thing to know!!!

 

[ivanova]

Those going to Animators Pallate have it quite nice from what I understand.

This is one of the deciding factors when we pick our rooms - we tend to shoot for deck 5 or deck 6 AFT so that AP is our muster station

 

[inkkognito]

Yes, we got a letter when we were not marked off as attending the drill. The irony was that in all our cruises, that was the only time that we actually took a photo at the safety drill! We had meant to for ages and finally got around to it on that trip.
Barb

 

[lbgraves]

Regarding the kids in the club, in 2003 the kid's wrist bands had a bar code and alot of info on them including the muster station letter. On our 2004 cruise the wrist bands just had their name. I remember having to take the room key with us to check them in & out but never thought about this potential problem. It would be nice to know the answer.

 

[TammyC]

This is one of the deciding factors when we pick our rooms - we tend to shoot for deck 5 or deck 6 AFT so that AP is our muster station

Anyone have the rundown on which cabins go where?

 

[cristit14]

Anyone have the rundown on which cabins go where?

I don't have the rundown, but I can tell you we were on deck 2 as far aft as you can get and ours was in AP. It was great being inside.