Captains and maritime experts at the Simulation, Training, Assessment and Research Center in Dania Beach who train on how to get passengers into a lifeboat from a sinking ship said the recent Costa Concordia disaster hits close to home.

The Italian ship's chaotic fate may have been thousands of miles from South Florida, but Capt. Tim Scanlon, who trains for STAR, said it's all too real. 

VIDEO: Watch cruise training from the bridge of ship simulator.

"It's just awful," Scanlon said. 

Inside STAR, a simulator prepares captains to pilot enormous cruise ships and cargo liners using a wraparound screen that generates true-to-life images and movement. The simulator can also recreate a situation similar to the Concordia's; video shows what could happen when a ship runs aground. 

PHOTOS: Italian cruise ship disaster

PHOTOS: Cruise ship disasters

One enclosed lifeboat used in the simulation is smaller and typically used on cargo ships, not cruise ships. But, according to Scanlon, the fundamentals of getting everyone in safely are the same.

Scanlon said crews follow a strict safety checklist. Once an order to abandon ship is given by the vessel's captain, passengers ideally should be in their lifeboats and away from the ship within 30 minutes.

"The captain says: 'This is the lifeboat you're assigned to. We're going to get you out of here in a nice, orderly fashion,'" Scanlon said.

Once everyone is inside a lifeboat, the crew member in charge pulls a cord to release the lifeboat into the ocean.

In Italy, a 30-minute evacuation did not happen. A safety drill to prepare passengers for the worst may not have happened, either.

Under maritime rules, safety drills, called muster drills, have to be done within the first 24 hours of departure. Ships of different countries of origin may choose to have their drill any time within those parameters.

At Port Miami, muster drills typically occur before a cruise ship disembarks. Local 10 cameras spotted passengers performing a muster drill onboard the Majesty of the Sea Monday afternoon.

Passengers on the Costa Concordia reported never having a muster drill; the disaster in happened shortly after they left port.

 "Unfortunately, a lot of the safety rules are written as a result of accidents and incidents," Capt. Phil Shullo at the STAR center said. "And I'm sure everybody will take another look at their procedures and policies here and decide whether or not that's still the right way to do it."