1. Preparation: Familiarize yourself with the emergency instructions.

Located on the inside of your cabin door.

2. Make sure you have the proper number of life jackets (one per adult) in your cabin.

Ask your attendant for children/infant life jackets if necessary.

3. The Passenger Safety Drill is to help you familiarize with routine emergency procedures.

So pay attention!

4. In The Event Of An Emergency: Don’t Panic.

And don’t rush. People get injured when there is chaos and panic.

5. When the emergency signal is sounded, go to your cabin and get your life jacket.

Put on warm clothing, a hat, comfortable shoes and bring a blanket, and any medication you are using. Don’t try to pack your bags as it won’t be allowed on the life boat!

6. Go to your designated Muster station*.

If you can’t make it to your cabin beforehand, proceed directly to your Muster station, where a life-jacket will be given to you. If you have children and they were with Youth counselors at the time of the emergency, they will be escorted by the staff to their Muster station.

7. Once at the Muster Station, give your name to a crew member taking attendance.

Then find a seat, stay calm and wait for further instructions and information from the Muster Station leader. Clearly everyone will have lots of questions but the best thing you can do is to sit tight and let the crew members do their job.

More information:

*Muster Station: The location where groups of passengers are asked to report in the event of an emergency at sea (or, as during a Muster Drill). Usually, muster stations are either interior public rooms or open deck or promenade spaces familiar to passengers, not a life boat. Every passenger is assigned a muster station. The location and fastest route to that location is posted within every cabin.

Here is a good article explaining why modern-day ship evacuations are slow. Basically, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea have safety precautions mandated eg. water-tight doors, which prevents a ship from sinking as fast as the Titanic did. This gives us all more time for a safer evacuation.