When you are on vacation the last thing you expect is to have to deal with a fire on board a ship, but being mentally and physically prepared could help avoid damage. Most cruise ships are very safe and emergencies are quite rare, but they do happen as we have all learned with the fire onboard the Carnival Splendor.[1] Cruise ships today can carry thousands of passengers, so many in fact they are very much like moving hotels. Their physical layouts with very long corridors with huge numbers of identical or similar rooms on different floors are conditions one needs to be aware of during a fire in order to avoid injury or death.
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Participate fully in any muster drill. This is an exercise designed for passengers to practice moving safely and quickly during an emergency to prevent injury and save lives. Passengers learn how to use life vests and about escape routes on their ships. Muster drills are required by international law and for good reason. While they may seem like a nuisance during a vacation they are done for your own safety and well-being. (Some people just try to hide out in their cabins, but their attitude is likely to increase their risk of injury.) Rehearsing your movements and safety precautions before an actual emergency could prove to be the difference between life and death. Imagine the chaos of thousands of panicking people. The muster drill is your chance to practice the things that could save your life.
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Seek out all fire/emergency information available on the ship for passengers, such as pamphlets, brochures, or maps. You can also inquire about the availability of presentations from ship staff about what to do during a fire or other emergency. Accurate information you can read, or view in a video or listen to in a presentation should help prepare you in case you need to move rapidly away from smoke or fire.
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Walk the routes from your cabin door to fire exits, or other access to open air. Make mental notes about the location of your cabin and the paths you will travel in order to get to fresh air. Then note the possibility a fire might begin at night and you might have to move in darkness from your cabin to the fire exits. If you are aware of this possibility and imagine it, there is less chance of panicking, and panicking generally causes people to make poor decisions and lose their ability to think clearly in an emergency. Make sure you have at least one back-up route from your cabin away from smoke or fire in case your first pathway is blocked.
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Pack a flashlight or two with extra batteries in your luggage, in case the ship’s interior lights are not working during a fire and your room and corridor are dark. Cabin doors and corridors on ships look very similar and the experience of being of being on a very large cruise ship can be like walking in a large maze where it is easy to become confused and disoriented, even with normal lighting.
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Consider the fact if a large amount of smoke is present in the hallway when you open your cabin door, you will have to crawl on the floor because smoke rises, and there should be better air quality at floor level. Also carbon monoxide could be in the air[2], and staying low helps to avoid it. It should be avoided because breathing will cause a person to pass out, and it is odorless so it isn’t easily detected.
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If no instruction has been given about where to go during an emergency for leaving the ship, inquire about how you can learn this information. Or if it has been given, but you were not paying attention, or unclear on some points, then ask for instruction again. Also, make sure you don’t blow off such safety training for a trip to the buffet or entertainments, because it could save your life.
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Pack some food in your luggage that does not need to be refrigerated. If power is lost on the ship, food that requires refrigeration will spoil quickly and you may have nothing to eat if the ship’s food supply also is spoiled and there is no way to cook properly. If you pack prepared foods such as crackers, cookies, granola bars, or dry cereal at least you will have safe food to get you through the ordeal. Having a reliable source of safe food can be very emotionally reassuring during a time of high stress.In addition you may want to bring some bottled water just in case drinking water is not available.
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Maintain calm by doing whatever coping activities you have learned which reduce your stress, such as deep breathing (if the air is clean) stretching, holding a positive attitude, being observant, listening rather than talking, and not panicking.
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