Lifeboat drill

Clad in our orange life jackets, we file out of the Suite and follow the signs in the corridor to the forward stairs – no elevators during the drill, except for those with mobility issues – and begin our descent to Deck 4, where all of the assembly stations are. We are assigned to Assembly Station D, out the forward stairwell door on the port side and to the left.

It is indeed still very chilly and windy, and we are surprised to find our crew member “station captain” wearing shorts. She’s cheerful but admits that she is cold.

We are instructed to line up coming out from the wall, a single line per stateroom. It dawns on me that we are one of only four cabins on the ship that may have six or more people in our line, as just the Category 1 and Category 2 suites – two each – sleep seven people.

We line up with the tallest in the back, shortest in the front. Brandon is jubilant that he is behind his mom for the first time. Poor Benjamin is at the front, exposed the most to the cold, while I am doing great snuggled in at the back behind Bob. As other cruisers arrive and fill in to our right, I am downright cozy. The dad to my right comments about how comfortable we are with our families blocking us from the cold. I agree and toss out a “Thanks, Bob!” to my father-in-law. (Funny, but his "You're so welcome" seems just a tad sarcastic!)

The lifeboat drill proceeds as it always does – once we’re in place, we just stand and listen until we’re dismissed. There are instructions over the PA system, telling us about the emergency horn signal and that we’re to do just what we’ve done now if we hear it, that is, go to our cabins, dress quickly for the weather, get our life preservers and come line up at our stations. Then the signal is sounded – seven short blasts of the horn followed by one long blast. No “When You Wish Upon a Star” on the horn in an emergency, folks… though it occurs to me that they could always just play “Poor Unfortunate Souls” instead.

Our station captain gives a roll call of the few cabins that she hasn’t spotted, and then we are dismissed. The whole drill takes only about ten minutes once we’re in place, and then we can go back inside to warm up. The “work” part of the cruise is over, and now the fun part can begin in earnest!

Wait, I spoke too soon. While the elevators are in use again, they are packed with everyone returning at once, so the stairs are the faster option. But that means four decks' worths of stairs to climb on my still theme-park-weary feet!