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Muster 2.0


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I think Royal deserves a lot of credit for advancing this and getting maritime regulators on board with the changes.  That's no small undertaking.   

It's interesting they are licensing the program but allowed NCL in through their participation in the safety panel.  Carnival has long "not played well with others" in the industry and there has been a strong rivalry or combativeness with their tactics at the corporate or executive level.  With the patent and license it forces Carnival's hand.  They can't copy without facing potential infringement but the temporary licensing waiver all but forces them to acknowledge and buy into the program which will cost them licensing fees later on.  Well played Richard.

Prepare for a lot of names being called on the PA prior to sailing.  Experienced cruisers will know not to mess with this and to get it done.  New to cruise won't appreciate the improvement or the significance of what this accomplishes and they will need to chase a lot of them down before departure.

  • After reviewing safety information individually, guests will complete the drill by visiting their assigned assembly station, where a crew member will verify that all steps have been completed and answer questions. Each of the steps will need to be completed prior to the ship's departure, as required by international maritime law.
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1 minute ago, twangster said:

I think Royal deserves a lot of credit for advancing this and getting maritime regulators on board with the changes.  That's no small undertaking.   

It's interesting they are licensing the program but allowed NCL in through their participation in the safety panel.  Carnival has long "not played well with others" in the industry and there has been a strong rivalry or combativeness with their tactics at the corporate or executive level.  With the patent and license it forces Carnival's hand.  They can't copy without facing potential infringement but the temporary licensing waiver all but forces them to acknowledge and buy into the program which will cost them licensing fees later on.  Well played Richard.

Prepare for a lot of names being called on the PA prior to sailing.  Experienced cruisers will know not to mess with this and to get it done.  New to cruise won't appreciate the improvement or what this accomplishes and they will need to chase a lot of them down before departure.

  • After reviewing safety information individually, guests will complete the drill by visiting their assigned assembly station, where a crew member will verify that all steps have been completed and answer questions. Each of the steps will need to be completed prior to the ship's departure, as required by international maritime law.

There's an easy fix for that though ....

Passenger attempts to buy drink ... ding ... i'm sorry sir the computer says you haven't completed the EMuster so your charge privileges have been deactivated, please follow these instructions to reactivate your account.

 

 

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What has interrupted bar service at 3:30 in the afternoon on the first day of sailing for over 30 years?  Mustering.  Now there is going to be a new format.

 

https://presscenter.rclcorporate.com/press-release/106/royal-caribbean-group-reinvents-cruise-industryrsquos-safety-drill/

This should hopefully allow those who like having a constant cocktail or adult beverage in their hand on the first day some relief.

But beware, you still need to remain coherent during the process as you either gather the rules on the app from your phone or in the stateroom TV and then you will still need to report to a crew member at your muster station (location found on the back of your stateroom door) prior to the ship leaving the port.

Hopefully this will satisfy at least one aspect of the requirements set forth and regulated by the CDC.

At this rate, we might be back to sailing in (?), who knows.

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46 minutes ago, SandyW said:

What has interrupted bar service at 3:30 in the afternoon on the first day of sailing for over 30 years?  Mustering. 

Right? It's like those weddings where they stop bar service at dinner because they only get 4 hours of bar and 5 hours of party... WHY! Cut the last hour out, no one stays the entire time!

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1 hour ago, jticarruthers said:

There's an easy fix for that though ....

Passenger attempts to buy drink ... ding ... i'm sorry sir the computer says you haven't completed the EMuster so your charge privileges have been deactivated, please follow these instructions to reactivate your account.

 

 

Better yet, deactivate the seapass card entirely, so on ships with RFID doors you couldn’t get into your room, forcing a visit to guest services. 

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I actually like this idea. I'm a bit claustrophobic and when I had to do it on my honeymoon it was all I could do to stay calm. Being packed like Vienna sausages isn't my idea of a good time. This also lets a person read at their own pace when they could easily miss something during the talk. I hope they keep this.

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I love this so much! Great work Royal. Now for compliance. 

 

I also stand corrected. I said this would never happen because of how strict maritime laws can be. We all know that the party can not go on without everyone attending and paying attention to the muster drill. I am happy the industry is allowing adaptability to compliance.

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I'm super excited about this...no disruption in my beverage package service ? ?

But, I do worry about older cruisers who are less tech savvy...I'm technologically "functional" at best, and when I've had to help my mom (who does enjoy cruising with her best friend) figure out anything tech related, it makes me want to beat my head against the wall. Please dear Lord sweet baby Jesus have some crew dedicated to helping out the less tech savvy and senior citizens!

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5 minutes ago, krhardy said:

I'm super excited about this...no disruption in my beverage package service ? ?

But, I do worry about older cruisers who are less tech savvy...I'm technologically "functional" at best, and when I've had to help my mom (who does enjoy cruising with her best friend) figure out anything tech related, it makes me want to beat my head against the wall. Please dear Lord sweet baby Jesus have some crew dedicated to helping out the less tech savvy and senior citizens!

Yes! Hopefully those who aren't tech savvy can either figure out the TV or just go through it with crew directly at the Muster Station.

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After reviewing safety information individually, guests will complete the drill by visiting their assigned assembly station, where a crew member will verify that all steps have been completed and answer questions. 

 

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I'll actually miss the old muster drill. It was symbolic of the beginning of a cruise for me. It's like tradition.

Everything has to be done by tech now which sucks, I'm just not as enchanted by it as everyone else. And before someone accuses me of being old fashioned, I'm possibly one of (if not) the youngest members of this forum.

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I hate crowds and the muster drill was always my waking nightmare. It always seemed like I was crowded by the people who took early advantage of their drinks packages, so I could never really hear anything. This way I will be able to understand everything and not have to ask where we meet after everything is over. Some change is good.

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2 hours ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

Yes! Hopefully those who aren't tech savvy can either figure out the TV or just go through it with crew directly at the Muster Station.

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This will be an option some people will take. I like the idea of deactivating the sea pass. It will get their attention. Only thing it will make guest services even crazier than it always is at sail away. I wonder if you could do the video in the terminal on your device and then check in at the muster station? I do like the improvements made with musters, like not having to stand out side in the sun or rain always waiting for the stragglers to show up. Lets all hope that things go really smooth and we can remember old musters as anecdotes of the past.

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The problem is they are not supposed to sail or leave port until muster is complete.  Deactivating a seapass card takes too long for people to notice and do something.  

I suspect we'll be inundated with instructions during check in.  "You MUST do e-Muster before 4pm"... "If you don't do e-Muster by 4pm this horrible thing will happen".

Then there will be paging announcements every 20 minutes from 1pm onward "Guests are reminded they must complete e-Muster before the ship will be allowed to sail".

There will be notices in the staterooms and cabin attendants will remind guests.  

It will be hard to miss.

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2 hours ago, Joe01 said:

I'll actually miss the old muster drill. It was symbolic of the beginning of a cruise for me. It's like tradition.

Everything has to be done by tech now which sucks, I'm just not as enchanted by it as everyone else. And before someone accuses me of being old fashioned, I'm possibly one of (if not) the youngest members of this forum.

No judgement! We all have the things that we feel kick off our vacation!

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1 hour ago, twangster said:

The problem is they are not supposed to sail or leave port until muster is complete.  Deactivating a seapass card takes too long for people to notice and do something.  

I suspect we'll be inundated with instructions during check in.  "You MUST do e-Muster before 4pm"... "If you don't do e-Muster by 4pm this horrible thing will happen".

Then there will be paging announcements every 20 minutes from 1pm onward "Guests are reminded they must complete e-Muster before the ship will be allowed to sail".

There will be notices in the staterooms and cabin attendants will remind guests.  

It will be hard to miss.

Maybe they can re-assign the drink package/dining package peddlers to eMuster reminder duties. Those people are literally everywhere! 

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On 7/24/2020 at 1:44 PM, twangster said:

The problem is they are not supposed to sail or leave port until muster is complete.  Deactivating a seapass card takes too long for people to notice and do something.  

I suspect we'll be inundated with instructions during check in.  "You MUST do e-Muster before 4pm"... "If you don't do e-Muster by 4pm this horrible thing will happen".

Then there will be paging announcements every 20 minutes from 1pm onward "Guests are reminded they must complete e-Muster before the ship will be allowed to sail".

There will be notices in the staterooms and cabin attendants will remind guests.  

It will be hard to miss.

This brings up another point. Now that it is electronic, can you do it say right when you get onboard, or not long after, just to get it out of the way?

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1 hour ago, lovecruising!!! said:

This brings up another point. Now that it is electronic, can you do it say right when you get onboard, or not long after, just to get it out of the way?

It sounds like you can do all of the electronic part at any time (maybe even while still in the terminal ?) but I think the personal visit to the muster area itself may have a specific timeframe. I guess we’ll have to see how they work it.  We would definitely be ones to do it as quickly as possible to get it over with.

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2 hours ago, lovecruising!!! said:

This brings up another point. Now that it is electronic, can you do it say right when you get onboard, or not long after, just to get it out of the way?

From what Matt wrote on the blog, looks like you could do it as soon as you can get on the ships wi-fi, or if you can get into your room right away. Still have to visit the actual muster station after that though. I like to explore (and film) as much of the ship as I can before sail away, (dinner's first seating which we get is usually shortly after that) so we'll be taking care of it as soon as we can.

P.S 

(Knock on wood) Sure hope the ships wi-fi is capable of handling all of this happening at once and doesn't decide to go out.

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49 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

We would definitely be ones to do it as quickly as possible to get it over with.

Same.  This seems like a perfect lunch activity.  Watch/do the interactive portion on my phone with the family while eating, stop by the muster station after we're done eating, enjoy cruise.

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1 hour ago, USFFrank said:

From what Matt wrote on the blog, looks like you could do it as soon as you can get on the ships wi-fi, or if you can get into your room right away. Still have to visit the actual muster station after that though. I like to explore (and film) as much of the ship as I can before sail away, (dinner's first seating which we get is usually shortly after that) so we'll be taking care of it as soon as we can.

P.S 

(Knock on wood) Sure hope the ships wi-fi is capable of handling all of this happening at once and doesn't decide to go out.

Thanks ! yes it seems promising !

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If they place the muster content on ship servers then a satellite internet outage won't affect the ability of completing eMuster.  The ship has a number of servers already, that's where the portal to sign into Voom is stored.  The eMuster content will vary by ship class so it makes sense to store it on board.

That's a long way of saying I don't think eMuster will clog the ship wifi or be impacted if satellite coverage is marginal like in Alaska.  

The content will be available on stateroom TVs which don't rely on Voom.  That's how folks with no phone,  a broken phone or someone who can't figure out how to turn their phone on will be accommodated.  I have elderly family that would fall into the category of not being able to figure out how to connect to Voom and watch eMuster on a phone but can grab a TV remote and use it.

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39 minutes ago, jticarruthers said:

Lets be honest for most people its going to be the same process as every other "legal requirement" .. scroll through the pages as fast as possible, hit "accept" and run to the muster station to get it recorded so you can get on with your day.

Brings up the point ... Will people watch and pay attention? Is it just a CYA for Royal Caribbean at this point? How many will just let the video play in the background so they can mark complete? All they'll know is (if they remember) where their muster station is located.

Honestly, the interactive video we watched on last two cruises ... I wasn't even paying attention.

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3 hours ago, Jill said:

If this is on the App, why couldn’t you do it before you even board? We can check in on the App without ships wifi. Make it active on the App 24 hours prior to embark. That way the ship’s WiFi doesn’t get overloaded. 

It's an interesting idea. Perhaps there's some sort of regulation that requires you to be physically aboard the ship?

 

3 minutes ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

Brings up the point ... Will people watch and pay attention? Is it just a CYA for Royal Caribbean at this point? How many will just let the video play in the background so they can mark complete? All they'll know is (if they remember) where their muster station is located.

Honestly, the interactive video we watched on last two cruises ... I wasn't even paying attention.

Well, we don't know if they will ask difficult questions. Maybe they'll just ask if you watched the video. Maybe they'll make you memorize five words and repeat them a few minutes later.

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Logic would dictate the content be stored on servers on the ship so that there is no reliance on an internet connection at any time in the process. They wouldn't want to be dependent on their satellite internet provider before they could set sail. 

If that is the case, you'll need to be on the ship connected to the ship wifi or in a stateroom to watch it on the cabin TV.  

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16 minutes ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

Honestly, the interactive video we watched on last two cruises ... I wasn't even paying attention.

Airlines face the same challenge hence the wild and crazy safety briefing videos and the reason for the Royal Caribbean spy version of the safety briefing.  

Many people stand at muster on their phones or talking amongst themselves despite instructions not to.  They aren't paying attention either.  

Come emergency time you may regret that choice.

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7 minutes ago, KWong said:

Well, we don't know if they will ask difficult questions. Maybe they'll just ask if you watched the video. Maybe they'll make you memorize five words and repeat them a few minutes later.

That was my thinking, maybe ask a few questions. I think it'll know if you watched the video or not.

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4 minutes ago, twangster said:

Airlines face the same challenge hence the wild and crazy safety briefing videos and the reason for the Royal Caribbean spy version of the safety briefing.  

Many people stand at muster on their phones or talking amongst themselves despite instructions not to.  They aren't paying attention either.  

Come emergency time you may regret that choice.

With day 1 indulging, I wasn't in the frame of mind to comprehend 100%. Heck the first time I didn't even have a clear view of the TV. Luckily I've been on enough cruises to know the drill (pun intended) and did watch it again waiting for the wife to get ready the next day. Second time it was the same video and had it memorized at that point.

I like the video approach but always felt the direct instructions were better. Direct and to the point. 

I agree, no matter what people aren't going to pay attention.

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