Guess I've missed out on some good topics, eh? Well I'm here now to put in my two cents. My first couple of cruises they didn't even have Muster Drills. I think it was my 3rd cruise when the Muster Drills started for Cruise Lines. And even then on my 3rd cruise my cousin and I were out wandering around the ship alone. And when they announced the Muster Drill we didn't have a clue what to do or what was going on. We just kept walking around and watching people, finally when we realized what was going on, we went to our cabin and by the time we go there, we're like okay this drill must be half over by now because there was like nobody in the halls or anything it was so quiet LOL so we're like lets not go. And so we didn't, we just sat on our beds and stayed quiet, a few minutes later, my dad walked in. LOL we're like oh crap. He saw us and said you guys didn't go to the drill either? we're like uh nope we didn't know what was going on until we thought it was too late. So the three of us stayed there until the drill was over. Oops LOL. But the next cruise I went, and we were one of the first ones there with our life Vests ON.... and NEVER AGAIN! Now whenever we go on a cruise, we carry our Life Vests, we take our time getting there and try to be one of the last ones there... (but not so late that we hold things up. There's always plenty of people coming in after we're already there) And we wait until we get there to put our Life Vests on! Out of all the Carnival Cruises i've been on and had the Muster Drill, not one of them did a roll call/attendance check. However on the Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas in 2000, they did do a roll call and marked who was in attendance.
I really have no opinion on whether or not it should be MANDATORY. I guess for First time Cruisers it may be a good idea, just so they know where to find their Muster Station. On my first cruise( of course I was young) I had no idea what a Muster Station even was, but then again maybe my dad did. But now that I've been on several cruises. I know to check the door on my cabin to find where my Muster Station is, and always check to make sure we have enough and the right size Life Vests. Call me silly, but I even check to see if the light is there and the whistle is there. Once I had no whistle on my vest so I asked for a different one LOL.
*Kim*
Happy Cruising!=whiteflag
07/30/95 - Fantasy
12/19/97 - Ecstasy
07/26/99 - Imagination
04/01/00 - Grandeur of the Seas
04/01/01 - Carnival Victory
03/29/03 - Carnival Triumph
11/11/04 - Sensation