Chris Owen Has Just Posted the Following:


Earlier this week a passenger on Holland America Line‘s Westerdam got kicked off for “non-compliance” during a mandatory muster drill, a first as far as we know and a sign of the times after the Concordia grounding that has put a spotlight on cruise ship safety procedures. Rightfully so; safety has always been a big priority on cruise ships and cruise lines had been cracking down on those who tried to skip the muster drill for quite some time.
Bouyed by a nearly accident-free history (Titanic was a movie right?) and a business-as-usual vote of confidence (cruising was all about fun, that’s all, nothing else), passengers most often considered the mandatory muster drill more of an annoyance than information they might need that could save their life.# Cruise lines were always very serious about it (crew members rarely cracked a smile during the drill) but cruise passengers were most commonly impatient, often crammed together on outside decks in the hot afternoon sun before sailaway.
Now, post-Concordia, passengers are paying a bit more (or a whole lot more) attention and cruise lines continue their pre-existing focus on# the seriousness of it all.# Appropriate.## Muster-skipping passengers getting kicked off?# That’s new.# That’s because of the Concordia grounding.
“It used to be that the only time you saw any news about a cruise or a cruise ship was, well, practically never.” says the Mobile Tribune.# “There was nothing to report. People just took cruises to get away from it all and to enjoy the splendor of travelling in slow motion over deep blue and green seas, making calls in exotic foreign ports and enjoying all the amenities on board, most especially the fine cuisine.”
Indeed, recent reports of hundreds being stricken with the Norovirus, that nasty bug that loves the closed environment a cruise ship provides, causing the delay of ships departing this weekend from Florida.
“Noroviruses are no cause for hysteria, but they’re far from pleasant, causing vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps,” says the Los Angeles Times in an article titled#2 Florida cruise ships riddled with norovirus. Anyone surprised? “They can also cause a low fever, headaches and muscle aches, but for folks cooped up in tiny cabins, aches are the least of their troubles.”
So cruise lines clean and clean and clean some more to get things ship shape for the next batch of passengers who come aboard.# Week after week they do this with few problems.# Look for more than a cursory# “Are you sick or have you been in contact with anyone who is sick?” questionnaire (the one only stupid people check “yes” on) prior to boarding really fast.# Also appropriate.
Somebody who had an instant, cheap, non-invasive blood test that would indicate carriers of something that could harm everybody else on a cruise ship could probably find a buyer.
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