Published 8/12/20
One of the most unpopular, yet crucially important elements of cruising is the muster drill. As experienced cruisers know, this is the mandatory safety exercise that takes place at the beginning of your sailing where crew members demonstrate and educate passengers where to assemble in the unlikely event of an emergency.
Guests learn where your assigned muster station is, how to get there, and how to properly put your life jacket on. This typically happens in the first 24 hours of your sailing.
The Royal Caribbean Group has reinvented this long-standing safety drill with the revamped, Muster 2.0TM. This is an entirely new approach that is faster and avoids having to gather in large groups of people.
‘The health and safety of our guests and crew are our number one priority, and the development of this new muster process is an elegant solution to an outdated, unpopular process,' said Richard Fain, chairman and CEO, Royal Caribbean Group. 'The fact that this will also save guests time and allow the ship to operate without pause means that we can increase health, safety and guest satisfaction simultaneously.’
The Muster 2.0TM will present all the safety information that guests need to them individually with new patented technology, eMusterTM. Through this technology guests will have the safety information available to them through their mobile phones and interactive stateroom TVs and will be able to review the instructions at their own pace before setting sail.
After completing the steps on their phones and in-cabin TVs, cruisers will visit their assigned muster station, where a crew member will be there to verify the completion of all the assigned steps and to answer any questions they may have.
‘Muster 2.0 represents a natural extension of our mission to improve our guests’ vacation experiences by removing points of friction,’ said Jay Schneider, Royal Caribbean Group’s senior vice president of digital. ‘In this instance, what’s most convenient for our guests is also the safest option in light of needing to reimagine social spaces in the wake of COVID-19.’
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