Why is DCL the last line doing the old fashioned Muster Drills?

xiphoid76

DIS Veteran
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Jul 6, 2011
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I loved during Covid they went to more of a virtual Muster Drill. I don't know why Disney went back to the in-person mass chaos that is their Muster Drill. The assembly stations are a mess, you can't hear much of the announcements and then there is a mass stampede once it is done. They tell people to be off their phones but many are still on them during the exercise. It just makes no sense.

It would be much better to change this up as every other cruise line has done. Watch a safety video before hand, then each member in your party has to go to the assigned muster station to check in and confirm you watched the video and get 1-2 minute safety instructions from the crew. This would be allow for a smoother experience, enhance the vacation instead of interrupting it with the muster drill and provide for more safety ask there is one-on-one instructions given to each member as they need to check in at the station some time before the ship sets sail. Safety and comfort wise this makes so much sense. I don't understand why DCL does not change.
 
Simple, the passengers.

I cant remember the exact report, but the reason Disney switched back to the in person Muster was because of the large % of non compliance of passengers doing the E Muster on embarkation day. The Muster is a legal requirement and the coastguards reports showed that too many people were not doing the E Muster. So Disney had no choice, they had to switch back to in person Muster, to make sure they hit the legal requirement.
 
I think everyone should have to show up at the muster station to at least know where it is. Do you have to listen to the safety instructions as a big mass then try to all go up to deck 11 for sail away party? I would be ok watching it in the stateroom and having a window where you all have to check in at physical location but not stay there.
 

I think everyone should have to show up at the muster station to at least know where it is. Do you have to listen to the safety instructions as a big mass then try to all go up to deck 11 for sail away party? I would be ok watching it in the stateroom and having a window where you all have to check in at physical location but not stay there.
Thats what Disney were doing in 2022 and 2023. But people could not even do that. My first cruise was in September 2022 on The Magic from Dover, England. After the Welcome On Board Announcement, everyone was supposed to go straight to the Muster Station and get their PAT form scanned by the CM and THEN go for food. But what ended up happening was all the repeat cruisers didnt bother, as "we have cruised before, we know where our Muster Station is"

The safety video was played in the stateroom and on Funnel Vision and on The APP.
 
Most people don’t even know that you are supposed to go from your cabin to your muster station in order to find out how to get there in an emergency. The instructions for emergency are to go to cabin, get warm clothes, medication and your life jacket and then head to muster from there, often through some non public staircase. It makes sense to test out that route at the muster drill. And if you listen to the video on the TV, they tell you that this is what you should do, but it’s easy to miss, so loads of people actually go from wherever they are to the muster drill.
 
Seabourn uses a virtual one. You watch the video in your room and your assigned muster station is listed on your keycard. By X time you are to then check in at your muster station. They just tell you you have to complete the video and check in by the certain time. It leaves it up to the passenger to go get food, get a welcome from their suite host, get their luggage delivered (depending on how busy embarkation is), etc before or after checking in at their assigned muster station.

Both times on our cruise our room host that came by to introduce themselves would verbally remind us make sure to do the video and go check in at your station.

There's pros and cons to no matter what method you do.

As far as the coast guard directive that seems to be something that was regurgitated a lot for long time but never seemed to be proven that was the cause much less that the coast guard required a return to physical muster for Disney. Disney themselves may have seen a pattern of non-compliance but it's never been documented that it was the coast guard who made them.
 
you can't hear much of the announcements
That's part of the con there. Safety goes both ways, if there can be inattentiveness in watching a video in your stateroom there can also be one in person and most especially if there are too many people, kids talking/crying, etc and you can't hear what is supposed to be critical safety information.
 
This has been discussed in the past.
This a link to that post.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/will-the-muster-drill-process-ever-change.3935882/

This is some of what I posted back then.
This would have been back around December 2023.

I posted this back in March and still believe it to be true.


It was unofficially reported the the main reason Disney went back to the old style drills was because of lack of sufficient participation on the part of the guest. So I guess some may have ruined it for others.

Remember this also gives the crew, especially new crew a chance to also train. These are the people who are going to help save your life in an emergency while people are running around panicking because they do not know where their muster station is.

In an emergency even if people are only half paying attention at the in person muster drill they got some of the information and at least know where to go. If the guest can't remember where to go than thats their fault not the cruise lines. they did their part.

If only one person had to check in at the staging area and no one from the party bothered to watched the in room video because it took up to much time from their cruise this is a problem.
In an emergency especially, if the rest of the party is separate from the person who went to their muster area they might not know where to go.

On our last cruise on the Fantasy in November 2022 from the time the horn blew to start the drill till the time we were released from our muster station it was exactly 20 minutes. And our muster station was on the Starboard side of the ship in the sun.
If there are people who cant stand in the sun for 20 minutes they should find out from the cruise line if there is an alternative place they can meet.

I do not think 20 minutes is a lot to ask from people to help protect their safety in an emergency. this was on a cruise that was 142 hours long so 20 minutes is not a lot to ask..

I posted this in June
One of the things I read was that if a room had four people in it one person would gather all the Key to The World cards and go to the muster station to check in. That meant that potentially three people did not know where the muster station was. Potentially, during an emergency if every one from the room was not together some people did no know where to go.
It may have been apparent to Disney, guest either not knowing what to do or intentionally, possibly not doing what Disney wanted them to due may caused Disney to go back to the old muster drill. This is all of course just speculation as that Disney has never as far as I know put out an official statement.


This is also part of what I posted in 2023

I still think the in person muster drill is the best way to make sure everyone has been shown what is expected of them in an emergency.

Of all the times I have sailed Disney (14 times) I have not thought the in person muster drill was an inconvenience.
For my wife and I 20 minutes is not a lot to ask of us to ensure we have been told what to do and where to be in an emergency.

I have also said in the past, maybe Disney has not heard from a significant number of it's guest that they would like to go to a different kind of muster drill other than the in person drill.
 
I feel like it’s better for kids to do the in person drill. If there is an emergency they’ve actually practiced it before which makes it a little less scary, like fire drills at school.

I also like the practice (we go from our room to make sure we know the route), but I also watch the safety talk on every flight I take and read the guide. 🤷‍♀️ It’s such a short amount of time versus if something did happen and no one knew what to do.

I swear there was a video during Covid on one of the ships where the alarm was going off and people had no idea what to do. That may have played into it.
 
It does feel to me like recently DCL has gotten better at shortening the time of the in-person muster drills. That has been terrific. Ours on the Wish recently was no more than 12 minutes. That is a huge help.

Given the complexities of sailing, I do think that repeat cruisers, even Gold, Pearl, and Platinum should have to go to a muster experience every time they sail. Your station varies on your exact cabin, and you may or may not have been in that room, or that class of ship before.

I think they could easily solve the lack of compliance with the muster stations if they wanted to continue with the virtual drills. Disney is very good at managing crowds and making them do what they want. My suspicion is that it has more to do with staff/crew schedules - they feel it is not an efficient use of the crew's time to make them just stand around all afternoon while people check in at the stations. They also probably enjoy the fact it gives them some quiet time on the deck to prepare the sail away party and control the start to that energy up there a little better.

I personally think the in person review is excessive and wish they would go the way of other cruise lines. We typically do 3 night sailings, so maybe my feeling would be different if we typically did 7 or 10 night sailings. Friday night already feels very compressed and stressful, and the muster drill is just one more thing that has to be taken care of before the fun can begin.
 
I think all cruise lines should be doing it the Disney way. Unfortunately people lose it in a real emergency & need a mindset of safety & security. I do feel it should be a shorter event with most of the procedures covered in other ways prior. (Perhaps during the online check in process). With Disney though I have started to look into picking a cabin by muster station. Our last cruise was more fun sitting in Animators Palette than the prior, standing in mass on port side deck.
 
It does feel to me like recently DCL has gotten better at shortening the time of the in-person muster drills. That has been terrific. Ours on the Wish recently was no more than 12 minutes. That is a huge help.

Unfortunately, how long you are forced to stand out on the promenade deck for the drill often depends on the other passengers, not DCL. If a stateroom is late (or attempting to not show up at all) and the crew has to try to track them down...you end up out there longer. Of course, it's not nearly as bad if your muster station is in the theater where you're sitting in the a/c.
 
I feel like it’s better for kids to do the in person drill. If there is an emergency they’ve actually practiced it before which makes it a little less scary, like fire drills at school.
Exactly this.

Able-bodied adults who watch a video and take a leisurely walk to their muster station would probably be OK in an emergency when they had to move more quickly.

A family with 2 or 3 kids, one of whom may be sleeping in a room with grandparents, would have more challenges if an alarm went off in the middle of the night and they had not previously experienced the loud alarm, the crowded hallways (with doors open that aren't normally open), and the need to keep track of everyone within the crowd (especially if kids aren't great at walking by themselves yet).

There's more to the drill than simply knowing what to bring with you and where your muster station is (information that could be conveyed in a video). By doing a drill with the whole ship at once, passengers can see what difficulties their travel group may encounter that wouldn't be apparent if they simply stopped by Deck 4 or the theater on the way to lunch. If someone has trouble staying in one place for 20 minutes, that will be a problem in an emergency, so people can think about how they could manage the situation.

As others have mentioned, the drill is also valuable for the crew, who also need to know how to get to their assigned stations, how to direct large numbers of passengers to their stations, and how to deal with unexpected issues.

It would feel more like "I have to do this to get to the fun" if I had to remember and make time for watching a video and going to my assembly station while there are other fun things to do. When the entire ship focuses on the drill, I'm not missing anything beyond unpacking my luggage, because other areas onboard are closed.
 
If someone has trouble staying in one place for 20 minutes, that will be a problem in an emergency, so people can think about how they could manage the situation.
Truthfully this above doesn't make sense. I'm pretty sure that if a person (and assumedly you're really talking about kids) has issues with staying in one place for 20mins they've done ALL the thinking about this long before they opted to go on a cruise.

I'm not saying that an environment of a cruise couldn't be new to someone just this concept that an in-person muster drill is somehow going to actually be the first time or the catalyst for someone (and again presumably you're talking about kids so we're meaning the parent) to think about what to do in the event of an emergency if they are unable to be in a place for X amount of time.

Parents know this about this kids and those who have children with more issues than the average response from kids are going pretty much going to know already what to do with that.

But in the event of an actual emergency inattentiveness from a child is the least of one's concerns. The problem at the onset of trying to get kids to listen to instructions from the muster drill or parents to get their kids to listen or the parents themselves to concentrate on the muster drill as opposed to getting their antsy kids to calm down enough is that they may not be able to intake the information well enough which is very dangerous if the adult in the party couldn't hear the instructions.

I do agree for some kids it can make an actual event potentially less scary but it really needs the adults responsible (or teens too because it's not just young kids that can be antsy during the drill) to fully be present and there is a good cause for an argument against in person when it comes to that aspect. A quieter, in room, with less distractions of the ship, people, etc would be best if you're talking about potential issues with kids. Also it really doesn't help if people have to wait for the late comers for in person on this one, it could make things worse for a child who is already nervous.

Again pros/cons to each way.
As others have mentioned, the drill is also valuable for the crew, who also need to know how to get to their assigned stations, how to direct large numbers of passengers to their stations, and how to deal with unexpected issues.
Crew do drills during cruises where they go through ALL of this. I've not been on the ship when they've done this as both of our cruises we've been on excursions during the day when they do this but the time for the crew to do this isn't really done during the muster drill on embarkation. It's when the entire ship goes through a practice, with the warning sounds going off and all. That's when they also warn that crew and/or experiences/places may be unavailable while the crew is doing their drill (at least my Seabourn cruises have been that way). I don't have the exact info for our first cruise in 2023 with Seabourn but for our second one back in March/April the Team Member Safety Drill occurred on the 2nd day (first actual full day of the cruise as the day before was embarkation) in the morning.
 
I always enjoy this topic discussion.
Disney guests are notoriously difficult when asked to follow instructions. Muster drill will always be a thing because guests don't pay attention and aren't tested. In addition, some guests will always be late causing a delay to everyone's day because they are the worst.
 
Considering how hard it was to get guests to show up for the issue on the Wish with the suspected man overboard, I think an in person Muster Drill is sadly a good thing- for both guests and crew.

A crew drill on other lines does not often involve needing to herd the entire ship to certain locations at the same time. DCL's system does give them that practice and help guests with muscle memory. What makes the drill drag on is fellow guests. When everyone shows up on time, checks in correctly, it is a pretty quick process. Be thoughtful and do not stroll up 10 minutes late carrying a drink in hand while others wait on you.
 



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