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Muster Signal set off -system error


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On Anthem last week the Emergency signal sounded, for quite some time, in the middle of a sea day.   It took a bit for someone to come over the speaker and announce disregard. (Only once and it was barely audible over the sound of the alarm).   In the meanwhile kids were panicking on where to go, staff had different reactions, some ran to what I assume were their stations, others stayed where they were, continuing their work. Someone in the spa reported to the clients it must be an error because “there’s nothing on the computer”. Guests were saying “it’s only a drill” (I guess they are unaware drills occur on port days). I happened to be near my muster station so stepped over to it.  
my takeaway: a lot of people were unaware of what they should be doing and staff failed to communicate clearly, leaving people panicked. 
the following day at the Captains corner it was mentioned there was a malfunction and had it been a real emergency there would have been additional announcements.

I hope this helps anyone who finds themselves on a ship with a muster signal mishap. 
 

BTW, I overheard that the staff at Adventure Ocean was extremely professional, reassuring the children and prepping them to move to their muster station prior to the “false alarm” announcement.  kudos to them!

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WOW, no matter what, drill, false alarm or real thing, crew, ALL OF THEM, should react as trained, no exception.  That makes me wonder just how well they are trained.  

As an old career Army Sergeant who spent his whole career training soldiers to survive in combat, I would not accept that kind of reaction by the crew,  drill, false alarm, or not.  Supervisor's and manager's heads would rolled.  I don't know if they did or didn't.  I'm just saying that is how I feel about it.  Lives are on the line.  What if the freak'in PA system was compromised?  Saying that additional announcements would have followed isn't sufficient and a cop-out.  Is the crew trained to react to the auditable alarms or the announcements?  I'm hoping they are trained to respond to the alarms, period.  Additional announcements are for follow-up information, not to verify the initial alarm.  The crew should react instantaneously, even if it is for just a couple of seconds until there was an announcement that it was a false alarm, until the announcement is made, REACT to the alarm.  

Damn this gets me going.  As we said in the Army, "train as you fight, fight as you train".  

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@Pattycruise  I was just getting ready to leave the Solarium when the General Alarm (7 short 1 long) went off on Friday afternoon.  Very quickly and without any panic many people gathered there personal items and started to leave.  Without a quick official announcement I grabbed my towels and returned them to to the towel station.  No panic by anyone - all while the blasting alarm was still going off.  Next I walked over to the soft serve machine and was able to get my vanilla cone w/o any problem.  As I walked away the Anthem Captain personally announced that the alarm was due to a malfunction and it could be ignored.  My understanding is that the reason it took a couple minutes before the announcement is that all systems needed to be checked and they needed to make sure no crew member called in the alarm before the Captain could announce all clear.  Got this info at dinner in the Coastal Kitchen.

Yes, I agree.  It was nice to see everyone remain calm until the issue was sorted out.

And I did see some of the crew, who I guess were part of the Emergency Response Team (ERT) moving deliberately off the decks and into the crew only passageways.  My guess is that not all crew members are instructed to leave their posts until told to do so.

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We had the same general alarm false alarm on Adventure of the Seas in June 2020. It was a bit tense until we got the all clear, and I'll admit a bit scary at the onset.

11 hours ago, jay1021 said:

WOW, no matter what, drill, false alarm or real thing, crew, ALL OF THEM, should react as trained, no exception.  That makes me wonder just how well they are trained.  

After it happened to us, I asked crew members about this.  Their training is always based on the alarm going off, and then immediately an announcement from the bridge about what's happening.

Since there was no announcement on Adventure (or Anthem from the sounds of it) and just the alarm repeating, it wasn't what crew were expecting.

In my situation, I was in the pub. After the alarm went to a second round, crew told us to go to our muster station. We got there before some of the crew, but right before alarm turned off and we got the all clear, there were crew members on their way to the stations.

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7 minutes ago, bobroo said:

Unfortunately the the e-muster system has devalued the call to muster to complete insignificance. :0(

As someone who's been on an airplane when the masks come down from the ceiling during flight, I can tell you from experience passengers forget quickly what to do.

It's really the crew that direct the show.

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23 minutes ago, bobroo said:

Unfortunately the the e-muster system has devalued the call to muster to complete insignificance. :0(

Not sure I understand the point.  We experienced a false system (no known origin) General Alarm on the Anthem.  What does that have to do with e-Muster?  I suppose you could argue that any false alarm could devaluate that alarm in some way.  Maybe that is what you mean?

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Whoa...that sounds pretty scary. I remember seeing a video on a Disney ship some years back when the same thing happened. In the video, the person recording was trying to figure out if they should (1) go back to their rooms to get their life jackets, (2) telling someone off camera that their kid would be taken to the station, and (3) trying to get help from members of the crew, some of who seemed to be just as confused.

I know mistakes can happen, but judging by the story here and from that video I think somethings might need to be further expanded/fixed overall in the muster drill capacity.

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9 minutes ago, YOLO said:

Not sure I understand the point.  We experienced a false system (no known origin) General Alarm on the Anthem.  What does that have to do with e-Muster?  I suppose you could argue that any false alarm could devaluate that alarm in some way.  Maybe that is what you mean?

I think they're trying to say that with the casual-ness of the e-muster people aren't taking the instruction as seriously and therefore are prone to becoming more confused, flustered and panicked during an alarm.

 

I disagree though. I watched people at the old muster procedures and I saw people whispering to their companions, playing in their phones, looking around bored, looking around trying but failing to see, mumbling about not being able to understand an accent etc etc. Fact is, much like air travel or anything else, people don't think it's really important to really listen because the thing they're being warned of will never happen to them!

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10 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

I know mistakes can happen, but judging by the story here and from that video I think somethings might need to be further expanded/fixed overall in the muster drill capacity.

Yeah, I did wonder for a brief moment if this could have been an actual drill involving passengers.  The ship was about 3/5ths capacity and almost everyone in the Solarium at the time calmly got up and started to walk out.  I was impressed.  But I also agree to your point on some expanded training - like maybe an actual (limited passenger) drill - but with advanced notice/warning to prevent any mishaps.

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44 minutes ago, Matt said:

As someone who's been on an airplane when the masks come down from the ceiling during flight, I can tell you from experience passengers forget quickly what to do.

It's really the crew that direct the show.

I've never experienced a false alarm on a cruise ship but I have experienced the mask dropping on an aircraft and making an emergency descent and you are absolutely correct people panic in that moment some don't put the mask on, while others put the mask on but they only covered their mouths when they are supposed to cover their nose and mouth. When I first met my husband he would always tease me about why I would always pay attention during the emergency brief and I would tell him you never know when you might need it and the ability to follow simple instructions in an emergency could be the difference between life and death.  Something as simple as putting on an oxygen mask properly could make all the difference and yet I think I read somewhere that over 75% of passengers on aircraft don't pay attention to the emergency briefing.

I like the new e-muster but passengers have to: A) take it upon themselves to actually watch and pay attention to the video, B) take the required time to familiarize themselves with where they are supposed to go in the event of an emergency, and C) how to use the emergency equipment.

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I'm sure EVERY crew member has a job to do, no matter how minuscule, it may be to just go to a door and point the way to muster stations, just stand around and reassure passengers that everything will be Okay (calming frantic persons), whatever.  But, I bet one of the jobs isn't to sit at your usual works station/location, look at a computer/tablet screen and wait for it to indicate what is going on.  Once again, it is/should be to react to the first alarm, no matter how that alarm is received, without hesitation and continue to do whatever their emergency function is UNTIL the "all Clear" is given, and only from an authorized source.  

We can all come up with excuses or explanations for this, that, and the other thing.  But, if ONE crew member isn't doing what is expected of him/her, that crew member may be the weakest link in the chain of what could/should be an orchestrated response.  

 

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It’s happened to me several times where the emergency alarm would sound due to a malfunction. Once was the general alarm (7+1) and once the evacuation alarm (1 long). It is unnerving to say the least, and the reactions of the passengers around me at the time were just as confusing. Each time, after a few moments of uncertainty, an announcement came over to disregard. During a Captain’s Corner, he explained why the crew would be hesitant to react by immediately directing passengers to their muster stations. The crew has experienced malfunctioning alarms. They know it is highly unlikely for an emergency alarm to sound without a previous code announcement…ie; Bravo or Kilo. The priority would be the crew responding to the emergency itself prior to a decision regarding the need for passengers mustering. Also, an evacuation signal (abandon ship) is the last signal to sound after passengers have been mustered at their stations. 
As he said, this doesn’t mean the crew should have ignored the alarm. But, it is reasonably understandable why many of them delayed their decision to begin a full scale emergency passenger mustering operation realizing it was likely another malfunction…and waiting a few moments for clarification from the Emergency Operations Center. Malfunctions happen…but maybe there should be a better way to minimize the time between the false alarm, and the time of the announcement.

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@jtown74  Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog!

I am sure the crew have varying levels of jobs to do during an emergency and varying levels of triggers to begin doing those jobs.  Like @BrianBwrote, I doubt those triggers to transition to their emergency duties include hearing the General Alarm only.  Maybe for some, like an Emergency Response Team, but not all crew members.  Checks and Balances are part of any thought out emergency plan.  I was in the Solarium when the alarm went off on Friday afternoon.  I left and did a few things as I headed for my room, all the while waiting for confirmation of a real emergency.  And the confirmation of a false alarm came by the Captain's announcement before I left the 14th floor!

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