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AAA Adopts First Cruise Safety Policy

21 April 1999

AAA Adopts First Cruise Safety Policy

    SAN DIEGO, April 21 -- AAA today recommended that the cruise
industry meet 11 requirements to help ensure the safety and security of its
passengers.
    Noting the strong growth of cruise travelers and ships homeporting in the
United States, delegates to AAA's 96th Annual Meeting here called upon the
cruise industry to ensure that:
    --  All ship's officers and crew who come into contact with passengers
speak English.
    --  There is a trained fire-fighting team aboard each ship.
    --  All ships include a fire-extinguishing sprinkler system in all
passenger spaces.
    --  All ships include a supply of personal flotation devices equal to at
least 125 percent of the number of PFDs necessary to supply each passenger --
in the event that some passengers are unable to reach their cabin where their
individual PFDs are located.
    --  All ships have a policy regarding lifeboat drills that requires
passengers to muster at lifeboat stations wearing their PFDs and verify
attendance there.
    --  All ships have an emergency protocol with specific crew-member
assignments for the handling of passengers in the event of emergency at sea or
at port.
    --  All ships report any health problems identified by the U.S. Public
Health Service over the last 24 months attributable to any of the following:
food or food handling, ventilation, or sanitation.
    --  All ships have a physician aboard.
    --  All ships have emergency medical evacuation procedures in place for
instances where the ship is within short air range of land-based medical
facilities.
    --  All ships report the number of times in the last 24 months they have
had to return to port for emergency reasons, other than individual medical
emergencies.
    --  All reasonable means are implemented to protect cruise passengers
against criminal behavior while aboard ship.
    --  While the cruise industry's safety record is good, AAA said the
potential for safety violations remains.  Travelers should expect the same
high safety standards for cruise lines that they expect from other travel
industries.
    --  AAA is a not-for-profit federation of 91 clubs with 1,100 offices
providing its nearly 42 million members in the United States and Canada with
travel, financial, insurance and auto-related services.