Emergency clothing for Pacific cruising

[Moondog55]

We are taking a well deserved and Covid interrupted holiday.
The advisory for our cruise with Cunard says we should pack a set of warm and waterproof clothing, including a brightly coloured beanie or hat, in case we have to abandon ship.
Which is why I bought a couple of the Rainbird Pack-Away jackets when the went to clearance last month.
Cecile says I overthink this and abandoning ship is most unlikely but I came back with "Costa Concordia"
Am I the only person who thinks that taking a ditch kit on a luxury cruise ; as-per the ticket advisory; is taking too many precautions?
Anybody else here ever cruised and had similar advisory notes in their ticketing information?
Interested in knowing

[Son of a Beach]

I have done one cruise about 10 years ago. I didn't notice anything about that amongst the information that we received, so I don't know if it was there or not.

I expect that if an abandon-ship emergency occurred, they would be ordering people to head to their muster stations IMMEDIATELY(!) and do not go back to your cabin first. Just guessing, of course. So you may have to wear (or carry it) all day every day for it to be (potentially) useful?

[Moondog55]

The instructions are to head to your cabin and put on life jackets and then head to your designated lifeboat station when instructed to do so.
I've seen pix of the cabins and the PFDs hang in a cupboard just inside the cabin. I would take the waterproofs and place the waterproofs inside the life jacket and leave them there for the duration of the voyage.
I'm impressed with the information emailed to us after booking. My sisters go cruising every year and they say they have never seen this advice on other lines

[Son of a Beach]

Huh... interesting. I can't remember there being any life jackets in the cabin on our cruise. Like you say, different liners may do it differently.

(My memory is also rather terrible.)

[Moondog55]

Here's the cut and paste from the online information about emergency procedures

The general emergency signal is used to call passengers to their muster station, which is an area of the ship designated as an official assembly point, in the event of an emergency. Your muster station is shown on the safety notice on the back of your cabin door. The general emergency signal consists of seven or more short rings followed by one long ring on the ship’s alarms. It is accompanied by the same signal on the ship’s whistle.

If you hear this signal, whether the ship is at sea or in port, please return to your room immediately and collect your life jacket, warm clothing, head covering, sensible footwear and any medication that you may require, before proceeding to your muster station. Lifts should not be used, as you may become trapped if there is a power failure. Don’t put your life jacket on until you reach your muster station and are instructed to do so, and try not to allow your life jacket belt to trail on the floor.

The Hi-Vis waterproofs will be useful after the trip so not wasted money, they can live in the car and replace the dark blue ones I have, Hi-Vis being much safer for changing a wheel & tyre or putting snow chains on.

[johnw]

We've done seven cruises in recent years. We're only back a week or so from 6 nights cruising within Australia. I have never seen that advice before, not even cruising the Alaskan Inside Passage, Glacier Bay etc. Recent advice was not to return to cabin for any reason (unless instructed otherwise). Go straight to your muster station and crew will provide lifejackets. Obviously if already in your cabin put on lifejackets then proceed to your muster station. Doesn't do any harm to take waterproofs etc, but I suspect you would have a higher chance of a major lottery win. I recently watched a documentary about the Costa Concordia. A tragic event but extremely unlikely these days. And yes lifejackets are always stored in your cabin in my experience.

[Moondog55]

We would like to win the lottery.
Cecile posted on the Facebook Cunard page and it seems I am the only person who seems to have actually read this passage. I even bought her a disgustingly lurid Smurf blue beanie at the Op-Shop, cost me a whole fifty cents too.

[ChrisJHC]

Hi, Doggie,

FYI in my spare time I’m a sailing instructor and occasional offshore racer.

In the incredibly unlikely chance you’d have to abandon ship, the most useful things would be:
1. Phone (for making calls and all your contacts / personal details),
2. Passport (as you’ll be recovered to a foreign country), and
3. Credit card

If you want to be really prepared, you could throw in a PLB for each of you.

These would all easily fit inside a bum bag with appropriate waterproofing - snap lock bags are your friend.

Given your heading talks about Pacific cruising, you’ll be faced with relatively warm water and air.
Consequently, I personally wouldn’t worry too much about warm clothing.
Similarly, high-visibility clothing won’t make a big difference when you’re in the water as most of it will be in the water. Hat yes, but it’s not something I would personally worry about.
Your PFD should have a light and whistle - these will be more useful for attracting attention than your clothing.

Hope that helps.

[Moondog55]

Interestingly; or not; Cunard do not allow you to take a personal locator with you, but I can perhaps download an app for my phone if I thought I'd need one. The Boss is on a Facebook page where a lot of Cunard passengers give comments and advice and somebody who used to be crew and now takes trips as a passenger says that they always bring a ditch-kit with them, also a personal first-aid and OTC medicines pack because the on-board pharmacy is a known rip-off. They comment that the ditch-kit is simple tho; just the Hi-Vis jacket and cap plus a torch and whistle with a warm base layer in a plastic bag in a pocket.
We shall see.
If I had the time I might sew some SOLAS tape or better to the hoods of the jackets but we seem to have run out of time, not to do the sewing but I seem to have run out of stitch on tape

[johnw]

OTC medicines pack because the on-board pharmacy is a known rip-off.

That's true of all cruise lines. Yes absolutely take all forms of medication you know you need or may need (with documentation for prescription meds in case of questions in foreign ports).
Cover common OTC things like painkillers, Diarrhoea medication, antihistamines, nasal spray, nausea/seasickness tablets to name a few.
On some ships you can get these things in the gift shop but at many times higher than our prices, and often (mostly) everything purchased on board is in USD.
True of our recent cruise, I was very sparing when ordering drinks or anything else that isn't included in the fare.
Also if you need medical attention on board, it is not covered by Medicare or private health insurance (even for domestic cruises).
I'm assuming you already have travel insurance to cover such eventualities either on board or in foreign countries?

[Moondog55]

We have travel insurance, and paid the OldFarts premium too because I'm over 70YO. Cecile is practically teetotal and I don't drink much at all these days, so a couple of Negronis and maybe a couple of beers will see us through. I will take on board the single bottle of wine we seem to be allowed and I'll make sure it's one of my good ones.
We will visit out local chemist before we leave and restock with stuff. Not going to buy anything in Sydney if we can help it

[EGM]

Enjoy your cruise MD.

you may be over prepared but that's part of the fun.

And you're absolutely right. Some type of hi vis jacket is a great safety item in your car, incase you need to stand on the side of the road for any reason.

[johnw]

If you do have to buy any OTC meds in Sydney, there's a Chemist Warehouse in Pitt Street on the left, about 15 mins walk from Circular Quay (assuming your ship berths there).
Prices should be the same there as any other location. Just avoid buying anything around the Quay area itself, a mega tourist trap.
Or get the train to Town Hall, Woolies and Big W are above the station. Generally a four minute trip.
Yes, enjoying yourself should be the priority once on board, having done all of the necessary preparation well ahead of time.
Hint: Be nice to your cabin steward, most of them will go out of their way to ensure your comfort.

[Moondog55]

Cecile always has trouble buying wet weather gear, but taking on an idea from an American forum that I also belong to we've made an extension piece for the cheap WP jacket. Bout an 800mm toothed zipper from Lincraft and made an adaptor panel, the zippers are compatible.
This would be simple to pack for if it was Carnival, all I would need to pack could be covered by a selection of bad taste Hawaiian shirts; but with several formal dinner nights plus the gala nites I seem to have amassed two dinner jackets [ single breasted and double breasted], a long-line formal coat with three waiscoatsand a couple of LW linen sports coats and a selection of bright neckties to pack. No fancy dress night on this cruise or I'd have even more stuff, I wanted to dress as a pirate but apparently that only happens on the much longer cruises

[johnw]

I use a trick to avoid buying a lot of special gear for formal nights, that I may rarely wear again.
Use black zip off hiking pants with a white long sleeve fishing/hiking shirt. I already have those.
They're washable, quick drying and can double as general travel wear.
I just add a fancy clip on bow tie and a very cheap LW Chinese jacket that looks the part, bought online.
Some people will go over the top for theme nights, some don't bother at all, the rest somewhere in between.
For a challenge try dressing for a 70s disco night, as per our our recent trip .
I found a safari looking collared shirt in my wardrobe and teamed it with a pair of sand coloured hiking pants.
Just wore the shirt partially unbuttoned, with a fancy platinum chain necklace. Couldn't find one of those bad taste gold ones.
I think it sort of worked.

[Moondog55]

After I stopped cooking I worked in Menswear for a while, so I wore the long line at Myer while trying to get fired and collect a package fr unfair dismissal and the double breasted dinner jacket was a $5- Op-Shop find.
Cecile makes the waistcoats using Op-Shop fabrics.
Not bushwalking but we may do a trip report and post pix in a month

[Biggles]

Fanciful and grossly overthought. It also doesn't work that way.
In the event of an actual abandon ship, you won't be taking anything with you but the clothes on your back — everything is left behind. The orders from the people managing the emergency take precedence over your desires to take something to seemingly afford a better chance of survival, or to provide comfort. You will certainly look the part with lifejackets on!

Costa Concordia was the result of careless, cavalier navigation, a showy display of affection toward the shoreline that went pear-shaped through inattention of where the ship was drifting — straight for a reef.

I toured Canada with APT for a month in 2012. We attended emergency drills 2 weeks before the trip. As the tour went on (and on and on), emergency briefings were regular occurrences for shoreline excursions (e.g. Park Glacier).

Similar to this — https://www.aptouring.com.au/trips/cana ... 24-oct2024

but I had the Rocky Mountaineer, Inside Passage, Ketchigan, Park Glacier...many other places...

( I was the youngest person on that tour! Everybody else was 80-90 and could hardly see for cataracts! )

Once the cruise gets underway (you're going with Cunard!? Pack a noyce suit or two!) there will be cruise briefings before the actual departure, not necessarily on the ship, but in their, or associates' offices, like APT do.

In a nutshell, when things get topsy-turvy, you are best just leaving everything in the hands of the ship; grabbing things to take only complicates and slows evacuation (apart from going against prevailing regulations) and elevates an already stressful situation for the crew managing the emergency.

Cruise ships are veritable petri dishes for bacteria. I had a gut ache from something mixed with seafood. As recent history demonstrates, COVID is and will remain a bigger threat to personal health than a ship toppling over. Once that gets going in a ship, you're stuffed. True dinks.

[Moondog55]

While I acknowledge what you say is true, the packing list for the trip and the instructions provided are what we are doing.
I'm guessing that the instructions are there to stop people panicking. I'd not be trying to repack and take our suitcases or the cameras but the bumbag has my emergency medications in it and is usually around my waist and I'd not be stopping to take it off to put on the jacket, if I'm wearing a dinner suit at the time I might take off the suit jacket and tie tho. Things like a small torch we always take because country pubs and cheap motels are not always as well lit as home, Cecile always has one in her city handbag and another in her work handbag for instance and I never go anywhere without one. Got caught in a total blackout once and never again have I been without a small torch. That's simply SOP for us
Two suitcases and a carry on. the ditch kit takes up a few litres and weighs less than a kilo and while it may be overkill the peace of mind is what counts; and I've now conversed with a lot of experienced cruisers who do the same, mainly because of the rip-off prices on OTC medications and band-aids.
We have family in New York who have done that trip or similar and they say it was money very well spent and loved it. Much younger than Cecile and I too and luckily neither of us have cataracts LOL
If there was an incident the most likely would be a collision with a submerged rogue shipping container, that has happened before; but probably wouldn't necessitate a major evack, just a slow trip to the closest major port and a plane ride home.
Several nice suits in fact. Even bought a new shirt.

[Moondog55]

We are back. Sorry fellers the ship didn't sink so no heroic survival stories.
I did talk to several of the crew tho and those I spoke to all agreed that some gear should be carried, pretty much what my wife and I packed. What was amazing was that the lifeboat captain [ a seaman who was the bloke who would do the real boat driving and the feller who was in charge of getting passengers to the boats] in both cases they told me I was the first and only person who actually asked anything about procedures and protocols and were very happy to talk my through things, a very interesting discussion while the crew were doing a trial EVAC drill] Wife enjoyed the cruise; me not so much.
If I do it again I'd take similar gear. We needed the warm stuff and the spray jackets cos when we got back to Melbourne it was one of our sudden Southerly changes and it was *&%$#! cold and windy while we waited for out transport