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#261036 - 05/30/13 01:51 PM Re: Passenger's Emergency Bag for a Cruise Ship [Re: hikermor]
Dagny Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/25/08
Posts: 1918
Loc: Washington, DC
Originally Posted By: hikermor
Provided there is room, why would anyone object to additional resources being brought aboard? Bear in mind that lifeboats are required to stock food, water, solar stills, etc. for their anticipated capacity.

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to inquire of the cruise company as to the equipment that is carried aboard their lifeboats. This would be of great help in deciding what you might bring aboard. A fine Merlot or Chablis would be wonderful after a few days of nothing but bread and water.



But in a crisis atmosphere resulting in the launching of lifeboats, the time pressure will be intense, there won't be time to screen packages to ensure that the contents are for the common good and not someone's panicked urge to grab their personal unedible, undrinkable, unusable valuables such as a laptop, jewelry, etc..

The person making the decisions for that lifeboat is some worker on the boat who may or may not have the latitude and capacity to make judgment calls on the spot.

I would not count on them letting any bag on board the lifeboat. Have a jacket of some sort whose pockets are stuffed with essentials. Be ready to sacrifice the bag to the dictates of the lifeboat manager.

.

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#261037 - 05/30/13 02:13 PM Re: Passenger's Emergency Bag for a Cruise Ship [Re: NuggetHoarder]
Glock-A-Roo Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 04/16/03
Posts: 1076
Regarding whether or not a personal bag would be allowed on the lifeboat, I think that's another reason to adopt the 1st/2nd/3rd line principle. Keep the absolute essentials (that will fit) in your pockets and in your small waistpack. If you've retrieved the emergency backpack try to bring it on the lifeboat. But if the mob overrules you and the bag is taken, you've at least got the essentials on your person along with the hat, sunglasses, and light jacket you should have with you at the time.

Regarding GMRS, I doubt anyone's going to be checking the freqs/bands on your dinky walkie talkies... cool

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#261038 - 05/30/13 02:35 PM Re: Passenger's Emergency Bag for a Cruise Ship [Re: Glock-A-Roo]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
All of this highlights the significance of an earlier comment -pay attention during the lifeboat drills The information might come in handy during an actual emergency.
_________________________
Geezer in Chief

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#261040 - 05/30/13 03:15 PM Re: Passenger's Emergency Bag for a Cruise Ship [Re: hikermor]
Am_Fear_Liath_Mor Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/03/07
Posts: 3078

The design of most of the these sea going floating hotel barges would indicate that if they get into distress they will begin to list quite badly and quite rapidly. It might be better to do a little research into the list angle before they capsize (could rotate fully and capsize within seconds to minutes i.e. going..going...gone) and consequently getting to the lifeboat muster station in time could prove problematic. Also the list angle will dictate whether the main lifeboats could even be deployed. A compass with a clinometer might be useful to take with you.

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#261041 - 05/30/13 03:46 PM Re: Passenger's Emergency Bag for a Cruise Ship [Re: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor]
JerryFountain Offline
Addict

Registered: 12/06/07
Posts: 418
Loc: St. Petersburg, Florida
Originally Posted By: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor

The design of most of the these sea going floating hotel barges would indicate that if they get into distress they will begin to list quite badly and quite rapidly. It might be better to do a little research into the list angle before they capsize (could rotate fully and capsize within seconds to minutes i.e. going..going...gone) and consequently getting to the lifeboat muster station in time could prove problematic. Also the list angle will dictate whether the main lifeboats could even be deployed. A compass with a clinometer might be useful to take with you.



Please note the number of Cruise Liners from European and American Ports that have capsized over the last decade or so. That one took several hours and probably some poor seamanship to turn over. Capsize is at the bottom of the list of probable difficulties in a relatively safe technology. The biggest problems are discomfort and, way on top, poor sanitation. These are the problems you should be worrying about. What help would a Sat Phone have given (other that 15 min on CNN) on any of the recent at sea problems (even the Concordia)? I may be wrong in my evaluation, and it certainly is your hide, but I think the availability of sunscreen and hand sanitizer, as well as some private stores of food, are the most important parts of your at survival kit. I have been on only one cruise, but I have spent lots of time at sea. I carry some signaling devices in my flotation coat in case I fall overboard (working on a low deck at night and in foul weather introduces that possibility) and I carried those on the cruise. Not that it was a high probablilty, but because I had them and the coat was ideal for SE Alaska in the summer.

Respectfully,

Jerry

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#261042 - 05/30/13 04:48 PM Re: Passenger's Emergency Bag for a Cruise Ship [Re: NuggetHoarder]
TeacherRO Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 03/11/05
Posts: 2574
Less bag and more planning. Look at your ships registry, captain and recent inspections. Some cruise lines have good safety records...others not so much

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#261043 - 05/30/13 05:32 PM Re: Passenger's Emergency Bag for a Cruise Ship [Re: Glock-A-Roo]
Arney Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/15/05
Posts: 2485
Loc: California
Originally Posted By: Glock-A-Roo
Regarding GMRS, I doubt anyone's going to be checking the freqs/bands on your dinky walkie talkies... cool

I have heard some cruise lines do not allow onboard walkie talkie use, so best to check. But many do sell the bubblepack FRS/GMRS radios in their gift shops. Legally, unlicensed people should stick to the Family Radio Service channels (channels 1-14) but I doubt one out of a hundred people even realize that the other channels require a license.

But if you get dumped in some foreign port, I would hesitate to use the radio (actually, it would be illegal in most cases) because those frequencies could be allocated to, for example, police or military use in other countries. Wouldn't want to annoy those folks with radio chatter about how you're running out of diapers.

Depending on how many other passengers or crew are using similar radios, the airwaves could be so busy that they are basically unusable in some incident, so plan accordingly. At least pick a meeting point--maybe one near your assigned lifeboat in case of evacuation, and for all other situations that prevent you from going back to your particular cabin, pick another meeting place someplace comfortable, like your favorite bar, or the cabin of friends, fi they are away from yours.

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#261044 - 05/30/13 06:08 PM Re: Passenger's Emergency Bag for a Cruise Ship [Re: NuggetHoarder]
Arney Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/15/05
Posts: 2485
Loc: California
Originally Posted By: NuggetHoarder
Thanks for the suggestions so far... Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Sounds like a very comprehensive kit. I don't know practical it would be to carry all that around, all the time.

It doesn't sound like you need any prescription meds, but I'd add that to the list since it doesn't seem to fall under your "common meds" term.

For your drink mix, you might consider getting an electrolyte mix instead of something like Kool-aid, in case you're ill and need to stay hydrated.

I don't know if I'd bother with the Datrex bars. If you're going to go to the trouble of packing normal food, I'd much rather munch on that, unless you actually LIKE Daterex bars. A lot of folks don't have healthy diets and they suffer blood sugar crashes if they don't eat sugar every few hours and become lightheaded or ravenous. Those are the types that really need to pack some snacks, since the recent cruise ship incidents demonstrated that food service can be painfully slow during some of these incidents, like when main power is knocked out. Otherwise, I would classify food as more of a comfort item in such a kit.

Under documents, I would put aside a credit card just for the kit, separate from whatever is in your wallet. Just some redundancy in case you don't have your wallet or your kit with you. You're going to the Caribbean, not behind enemy lines, so using plastic should not be an issue for important things like buying your own plane tickets home in case the cruise ship line leaves you in the lurch, so to speak. Also pen and notepad, maybe with waterproof paper.

Personally, for a cruise ship emergency kit that is small enough to comfortably keep on me all the time, I think I would stick with the most urgent basics. A long-lasting, waterproof light, preferably with some spare batteries. A headlamp would be most practical but a handheld light is fine. You don't need much light in the pitch dark hallways of a cruise ship without power. If you're a situation with dense smoke, I'm not sure how much more useful a bigger, more powerful light will be than your headlamp.

Then smoke protection. The Safe Escape is an excellent choice, but on the bulky side. The Xcaper mask would be a more compact option that still provides good respiratory protection against stuff like carbon monoxide. Enough to get you to safety.

Maybe a whistle for good measure. That would be my absolute minimum, I think, for a true emergency kit.

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#261045 - 05/30/13 06:36 PM Re: Passenger's Emergency Bag for a Cruise Ship [Re: NuggetHoarder]
NuggetHoarder Offline
Member

Registered: 07/01/11
Posts: 145
Loc: Appalachians
I'm thinking of getting the Scottevest Pack Windbreaker as the jacket to carry stuff in. Light enough for summer use and it has a ton of pockets and it comes in light colors other than black. http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/nylon-windbreaker-packable-jacket.shtml

Each of us will have our main kit stored in a simple 18"x10" barrel duffel bag that we'll keep in the room and each sub-kit like first aid, food, etc will be in separate dry sacks. I can store valuables in the room safe.

We like to swim and lay out in the sun and participate in a lot of activities on the ship. We're not going to lug the entire kits around the ship all day and night. Half the time we'll be in bathing suits and there will probably be a few dinners where we wear coat and tie / dinner dress.

Most of our planning is for comfort if the ship loses power and to have money resources if we get dumped on an island. If it goes beyond that, and we have to get in lifeboats, we'll load up our jackets with as much gear as possible. The underlying philosophy we're adopting is that we'll have enough time to go to the room no matter the emergency. This may be a flawed philosophy but the main idea is to have fun and we're willing to risk it. If I have clothing with pockets on I may EDC a pocket knife, keychain flashlight, and money/credit cards but beyond that, everything will stay in the duffel bag in the room or in the room safe.

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#261046 - 05/30/13 07:31 PM Re: Passenger's Emergency Bag for a Cruise Ship [Re: NuggetHoarder]
Russ Offline
Geezer

Registered: 06/02/06
Posts: 5357
Loc: SOCAL
Wow, didn't realize Scottevest came in other than black. The flourescent yellow would definitely get some attention at sea, but I'll probably order the olive.

I'm thinking though that even the Scottevest windbreaker might be a tad warm for the Caribbean even at night. It would be a good place to stash those yellow dimes, but I'd still go with the RailRiders VersaTac Ultra Light pants .

The roomy pockets in the RailRider pants would make a great tier-1 and the Scottevest windbreaker would be a great tier-2 (referring to the "1st/2nd/3rd line of gear" concept).
For the drills and any possible incidents involving lifeboats, I'd leave the bag with your tier-3 in your room. It will get in your way and there are better ways to carry stuff for those occasions.

Lifeboat drills and things going exactly as planned aside, I always looked at abandon ship evolutions with the possibility of having to swim -- YMMV

$.02

I wonder if they'd let me bring my own flotation vest...
_________________________
Better is the Enemy of Good Enough.
Okay, what’s your point??

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