jticarruthers

You're welcome ...... it is near impossible to remain positive about an end to or reasonable control of the pandemic being bombarded with the fear and dire consequences media narrative.
I posted elsewhere about this as related to what I consider an irresponsibly unnecessary announcement about the likely need for boosters by the Biden administration. 
COVID data, IMO, is uniformly unreliable for the purpose of both assessing and formulating PH policy when this is being done by amateurs at our level, including the media.  Epidemiology and virology are immensely complicated fields where absolutes rarely exist. 
I do think the CDC has data and hard working people who interpret it. The problem is that policy formulation has been corrupted by a number of factors, one being politics. Another is incompetence in both interpreting what hard working people who do know stuff are telling the deciders and the decider incompetently turning that into policy and messaging. 

As far as the casitas go, there are so few and people snag them so early and then hang onto them all day anyway, so I'd never be able get one to begin with (a la 'chair hog mode').  The casita hogs might as well pay for the privilege of shade. ?

I have no issue with anyone that wants to wear a mask. My personal belief that its largely theater doesnt mean that you dont have the right to wear one undisturbed and if you are right and its effective, good for you.

This one I'm definitely in on, sent in a request to MEI.

You won't ever have to worry about being quarantined as a close contact?

I've been trying to get away from responsible behavior as part of my "mid life redirection" (not a crisis) ... is there an irresponsible version of booking that i can sign up for please ?

This one I'm definitely in on, sent in a request to MEI.

This one I'm definitely in on, sent in a request to MEI.

As in all COVID mitigation measures, considering benefit is frequently ignored on the assumption that doing something is better than doing nothing (the optics) ..... and in many cases the cost of a given measure is also ignored. Masks don't cost much other than being an inconvenience, but that's not the issue for me.
There is only limited evidence that masks actually produce meaningful PH benefit. That position is debateable but I don't wish to debate it. Moving on from that is the larger issue of governments telling us what to do and not do. Right, the feds via the CDC aren't mandating masks or are they?
Carnival is mandating masks, a lawful action, undertaken by a business to create a safe environment for employees and patrons. Do they really want to do this? I doubt it. Does carnival need to add additional layers of protection for a fully vaccinated vessel when it is already unpopular among the folks and might, just might reduce bookings? I doubt that it really needs to do that.
Even considering the specious argument that they are effective in preventing the spread of SARS2, Carnival is being coerced by the threat of civil liability to mandate them. That is because the CDC - an agency with zero credibility at the moment - is "recommending" them. 
I have a problem with this, not on the basis of the argument that masks work or don't work, although that they don't in the case of SARS2 is a viable hypothesis, but rather on the basis that an executive agent of the federal government is, for all intent and purpose, telling Carnival their guests have to mask.
I think we've already seen what two courts think about government telling us what to do - overreaching their Congressionally authorized authority -  under the guise of a PHE.     
 

Is this really your final answer you want to stick with? People not getting vaccinated are inept? You need to check vaccination stats of all people groups in this country and then realize how you sound. 
I would go so far to say that masks can be counter productive because they have given people a false sense of security and they dont practice social distancing or think they can be in a crowded indoor space and be protected when in reality that cloth mask allows in aerosolized particles or they are too "inept" to properly wear a mask over their eyes AND nose (we wont mention how you can get Covid through your eyes as well) especially now with the more transmissible Delta variant. Cloth Masks are theater. Social Distancing is not when one is unvaccinated. 
I would agree with your stance but then we would both be wrong. 
back to cruising. I understand why the Cruise Lines are requiring indoor masking right now even with the vaccinated. Optics and the CDC. But what is the logic in wearing a mask to the main dining room and then removing it for 2 hours with 100s of people in the dining room. Why even wear a mask to your table? 
  

I have no issue with anyone that wants to wear a mask. My personal belief that its largely theater doesnt mean that you dont have the right to wear one undisturbed and if you are right and its effective, good for you.

Really? Are you looking for those articles or are they massive banner headlines like every cruise related one ?

I have no issue with anyone that wants to wear a mask. My personal belief that its largely theater doesnt mean that you dont have the right to wear one undisturbed and if you are right and its effective, good for you.

I agree the mask requirements are going to take away from the cruise experience. 
I'm a bit more optimistic about masks going away though.  People are already getting fed up with them.  Every day that goes by, the more resistance to masks grows. You can see it in the fight between masked and unmasked students in school.  You could see it when Sen. Rand Paul asked the CDC for scientific studies showing masks are effective, and the CDC refused to produce the studies saying they were "confidential" and not peer reviewed.
That said, we'll be wearing masks on cruise ships for at least the next several months.  Therefore, each of us has to decide if that's something we are willing to do in order to be on a ship or not.  No judgment here.  Everyone has to make their own choices and this is one of them.

Me too

You have absolute control, if you arent comfortable out in the environment ... stay in your house.

That's what Carnival said so I booked it.   Then a week after their first cruises they implemented a mask mandate.   
I'm fairly certain the same will happen if I book NCL.  
Don't book based on protocols, they change daily in some cases.

Yes, I understand the overblown fear climate we are in now. As stated, I am just hoping the cruise lines will drop mask use for vaccinated after the Delta variant wanes and definitely after the end of the current CSO on October 31st. 

I think we’re not too far off from being on same page here. I guess the only caveat for me is that I have small kids who can’t get vaccinated yet. Once the vaccine is approved for all then I’m more likely to be more comfortable ignoring what others are or aren’t doing.  Thanks for the dialogue - it’s still possible to have a good dialogue even if you don’t 100% agree!! 
back to cruise talk!
I’m hoping royals protocols continue to work and we don’t see widespread cases on royal ships. My wife and I are booked to sail on Independence at the end of September and each time these headlines come out our families (who are going to be sitting our kids if we go) give us a hard time.  Fingers crossed!!
 
 

I went without on my recent Freedom cruise.
As a beer drinker who isn't interested in juices or coffees its borderline if i can make the value work, throw in 4 freebies a day and it doesn't make sense financially. I might do it for convenience depending who i am with but its a tough sell.

For me if I buy the package it comes out at about 10 beers per day to break even ... but if I get 4 free a day its now 14 a day ... every day.
I could do it ... but it doesn't leave much time for anything except staggering back and forth between the bar and the restroom.
 
If im with a group though so i might mix in some cocktails than i usually do it "just in case".

You have absolute control, if you arent comfortable out in the environment ... stay in your house.

You have absolute control, if you arent comfortable out in the environment ... stay in your house.

When we get in a car, we don’t have control over others? Should we all stop driving cause others speed and are reckless and kill others even though we have done everything in our control to stay safe when driving? 
 
by the same token, I don’t have control over drunk drivers when I drive. Should we ban alcohol? 
 
should we suspend school during flu season? 
 
We could go on and on about things in our society that pose a risk to us that are beyond our control. We don’t live in a zero risk society and we shouldn’t set policy on a single issue esp with a virus with an over 99% survival rate. 
 
Everyone who is 12 and older has access to the vaccine now. People can do their own risk mitigation and that comes to cruising as well.
I’m vaccinated and have cruises planned for Nov and Dec. I understand the risk of cruising during these times. I don’t agree with every step Royal has taken or policies they have but I think they have done a great job with their protocols when a case of Covid is identified. I just hope some passengers don’t become victims of false positives. I think Carnival has fallen behind Royal in regards to his cases have been handled. People tend to forget there are other contagious illnesses that people board cruise ships with now and in the past. Some more harmful to children than Covid. 
 

Oh I fully agree and never would I suggest cruise lines stop all mitigation methods but I would implore that they evaluate what is and isn’t effective vs this virus especially among the vaccinated passengers.