Cruise ships are one of the safest forms of travel, with injuries, sickness and deaths being far less frequent than on land. But that doesn’t mean injuries don’t still happen – they just occur much less frequently than otherwise.
All cruisers should attend a safety meeting on the first day of any trip, usually held on the day after starting their voyage. These meetings cover everything from how to act in an emergency situation to muster drill procedures. Remember that safety is expected by all people now, not just those on luxury cruises.
Safety Training
Cruise ships are modern marvels of engineering and design, offering passengers unforgettable experiences. But beneath their glamorous veneer lies an intricate set of measures, regulations, and equipment intended to prevent accidents, respond quickly to emergencies, and uphold overall safety.
Cruise ship safety is carefully regulated by international maritime organizations. This ensures that cruise ships comply with stringent standards, undergo regular inspections and often go above and beyond what is required of them.
Training is of utmost importance when it comes to cruise safety, with crew members receiving extensive instruction in safety procedures and how to use life-saving equipment. See universalsafety.co.uk for more safety guidelines. Furthermore, guests take part in a muster drill at the beginning of every cruise so they know where and what they should do should any emergency arise; this drill serves an invaluable function as it builds trust between crew and passenger alike.
Lifejackets
As part of your cruise safety regimen, it is imperative that all passengers wear their lifejacket at all times. Many cruise lines offer various styles to choose from and may allow you to try on some prior to departure to ensure they fit appropriately. You should also attend all mandatory muster drills in order to become familiar with evacuation procedures and lifejacket usage.
Life jackets are measured by their Newton buoyancy rating, usually from 50 to 150; offshore use and those wearing heavy clothing that could impact self-righting capacity may require Level 275 lifejackets for optimal self-righting capacity. Many newer lifejackets feature haptic navigation features to direct passengers towards nearby lifeboats or shorelines in case they become disoriented.
Hapttic navigation is an example of how smart technology can enhance cruise safety by adding new functionality to existing devices. Alongside the haptic navigation features, researchers employed an open real-time operating system kernel [29] on an MCU that integrated multiple sensors and performed sensor fusion on-chip for reduced load on its microcontroller.
Mandatory Muster Drills
Cruise lines have increasingly turned to electronic muster drills as a response to Covid, with passengers watching video presentations and performing the drill on their own time, either before embarking or once aboard. These less cumbersome forms of mustering drills have proven popular with cruisers who appreciate less hassle when embarking on voyages.
An E-muster Drill typically takes place via the cruise line app or stateroom TV and covers basic safety information like where life jackets can be found, how to put one on and evacuation protocols. Some cruise lines even provide prompts where guests can click off to confirm they understand the demonstration; and others have ways of verifying whether guests actually watched it all.
If you plan to join an e-muster drill, make sure that your phone is set on silent and you are prepared to head over to your muster station at the appointed time. Otherwise, the crew may page you over the intercom; so it is always better to arrive early than be late!
Emergency Communications
Cruise ships are designed with passenger safety in mind. Like mini-cities, they must abide by an impressive array of international rules ranging from fire prevention regulations and maritime security provisions, all the way through to health protocols in place onboard and food-borne illnesses being rare due to stringent hygiene standards.
Cruise has been working to increase its AVs’ ability to identify emergency scenes more quickly with improved siren detection, so they can quickly exit them without becoming caught behind double-parked ambulances or other emergency vehicles.
Geolocation tracking systems are utilized by the company for training and performance analysis. This technology identifies areas for improvement within training onboard as well as heightening passenger awareness of emergency procedures. Furthermore, accountability during evacuation drills increases to ensure passengers are familiar with escape routes while crew members have received adequate training.
