Maybe you were honest and did the right thing but I can confidently say that not everyone visited their assigned muster station or watched the video. I have read many people admit that they did not. How is it safer the new way?
Yes, NCL has returned to the in person muster drill. The issue appears to be people weren't doing the virtual one. With the in person muster drill, everyone does it at the same time and there is no way to cheat.
Most cruise lines I sailed required each passenger to tag their key card on a terminal at the muster station individually (and staff made sure the photo matched) and then the staff present reviewed the most important safety details again in that small group setting. I’m sure there are still ways around it, but I’d bet more people absorbed the most important information in that method than in in-person drills. That Disney may have chosen a method that is easier to defeat doesn’t make virtual drills as a whole less effective.
Apparently it was only two reports across the entire fleet, and since then all of their drills have been virtual again. I wouldn’t be surprised if they occasionally need to do an in-person one for staff training purposes.
This is how it was when I sailed on Princess a year ago. Everyone in the stateroom had to go to the muster station and scan our medallions (like magic bands), and then we got a brief 'overview' from one of the crew members at the muster station, and watched a video in our stateroom right after. That way Princess could ensure each person had at least visited the muster station and heard the brief briefing (lol).
Because for some of us, the dislike for the in-person muster drill has nothing (or very little) to do with COVID.
At least everyone shows up at the muster station itself BUT there is no guarantee that every single person on that ship watched that specific video on the TV.
The original poster literally used germs/disease as their complaint against bringing back the in person drill…whose purpose isn’t to entertain you.
Fair point. Others since then have expressed other reasons for disliking the muster drill. Since your comment didn't appear as being a direct reply to the original post, it wasn't clear if you were replying to them or just to the conversation in general.
I understand exactly why—in the virtual muster, they had to post a CM to each muster station on the ship for several hours from embarkation to sailaway to check people in and help those who couldn’t figure out the app. That’s a lot of staff tied down who could be otherwise occupied helping clear tables at cabanas, cleaning the ship between meals or any number of other useful tasks. Now that the cruise ship staff only need to devote one hour to the muster drill, ship operations can be a lot more efficient on embarkation day.
No, we never get there late, just at the last minute
NCL went back to doing the in person muster drills last year. I think other cruise lines have also started doing them but I do not know what ones.
Except then you are listening to the super loud alarm sound they blare into the staterooms and ship common areas for even longer. It’s lose-lose.
It was only the Norwegian Sun, and only for a few sailings. It got a lot of attention because there was a popular vlogger on one of the sailings. They're back to fully virtual drills now, although I wouldn't be surprised if they (and other cruise lines) continue to do in-person drills on occasion for various reasons (e.g. staff training). So far Disney is the only cruise line that I know of that has returned to in-person drills entirely.
