River Cruise Anatomy - Safety First

At the conclusion of our last post, Anatomy of a River Cruise, you were relaxing in your cabin before dinner.  You checked out the schedule in more detail while you were relaxing in your cabin.   We continue our anatomy lesson with what happened next.

 

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Schedule at a Glance

Besides the printed schedule that was on your bed in the cabin, the computer monitor in the lobby had the day's events posted. You could also pull up the schedule, as well as other information, on the TV in your cabin.

It is very easy to find out about the schedule.

Safety Exercise

All passengers assembled on the sky deck at 6:15 PM where they were provided with a life jacket. Unlike large ocean cruise ships, the life jackets are stored in compartments on the open top deck. Instructions were given on how to put on the vests and after everyone was accounted for, we returned them and headed to the lounge for the actual safety briefing.

Our Cruise Director (CD), Mark, introduced the First Captain who welcomed us onboard and introduced the rest of the crew.  Mark then took over and provided the safety briefing.   In the event of an emergency, we would assemble on the sky deck where we'd be given life preservers like we were in the exercise.


Port Talk

Prior to dinner every evening, our CD held a briefing about the next day's activities.  On this first evening, he gave an overview of the first few days by showing us a presentation.   Most days started with an included excursion in the morning, followed by lunch, and one or more optional excursions in the afternoon.  There were some days where we'd have an afternoon sailing to our next destination.  Some days included overnight stays, where we could explore on our own in the evening if desired.

Following the talk, there were sign-up sheets for those passengers that had pre-booked included and optional excursions or for those that might have changed their minds after hearing more about the ports.  

​We hope you are hungry - it's time for the Embarkation Dinner, which deserves it's own post.

By now you should see some similarities and differences between ocean and river cruising.

 

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