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Masks during the whole cruise? Vaccines Required? Limited Ports/Excursions? What would be too much?


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2 hours ago, jticarruthers said:

Disney waterparks though are different than Disney regular parks ?

There are double standards everywhere. I’m not an anti masker but I don’t get the logic behind a great deal of it. Wearing a mask into a restaurant and then being permitted to remove it at the table seems a bit much. 

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My husband and I did not even get to go on a cruise at all last year. Our cruise was scheduled for April on Oasis of the Seas which was canceled.  We also had a 12 night Australian cruise on Ovation of the Seas in November which I canceled after seeing just how serious COVID was and after the Australian Government completely shut down Australia. Even though the original plan was to re-open Australia on October 1, 2020 I had a gut feeling that wasn't going to happen and just canceled our cruise out right.  We also had a second November 2020 cruise on the books a 7 night cruise on Symphony of the Seas which RCG canceled. The last time our feet stepped off a cruise ship was the Sunday before Thanksgiving 2019. 

We have two cruises booked this year one on Symphony of the Seas, their Halloween cruise (I love being on a cruise ship on Halloween for some people its Christmas or Thanksgiving for me its Halloween, it is so much fun). After that cruise our next cruise is in November on Odyssey of the Seas for 9 nights.

Fingers crossed the CDC allows cruising to resume and toes and legs crossed there are enough vaccine in widespread distribution with people vaccinated that we can at least have some semblance of a normal cruise.  

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17 hours ago, Matt said:

Disney World, outdoors or not, requires a mask.

Beech Mountain ski resort in NC requires masks outdoors.

Ski mountains in VT require masks outdoors.

I could go on, but you get the picture. I think @HeWhoWaits means in your hometown? Yes, that's true.  But in terms of vacation, there are absolutely many vacation places requiring masks outdoors as well.

Yes, to date I have not gone anywhere that I am required to wear a mask outdoors. Makes me curious about those who have posted things like "I have to wear a mask to walk across an empty parking lot at 3:00 a.m." and such. I have to put on a mask when I enter the building next to the parking lot and can take it off as soon as I exit said building. Not just in my hometown - throughout the state and in other states I have visited.

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14 hours ago, tonyfsu21 said:

There are double standards everywhere. I’m not an anti masker but I don’t get the logic behind a great deal of it. Wearing a mask into a restaurant and then being permitted to remove it at the table seems a bit much. 

I agree with your sentiment on that but the logic is that in walking to your table you will likely be within the (arbitrarily defined) six feet of multiple people. On the other hand, once I am seated, my server will be exposed within six feet of me several times during the meal, so logic is clearly not part of the equation.

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17 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

The idea behind that is if you are outdoors and standing close to someone, you can still breathe in their respiratory secretions. I can see that same logic being applied to the pool deck of a ship as well. 

I have no problem with masking outdoors for the protection of others when I am in a situation where I am unable to maintain a distance of six feet (American) or two meters (everybody else). The pool deck during the afternoon on a sea day meets this criterion.

My issue would be the requirement to wear a mask when I am one of a dozen (or fewer) people walking around on the deck an hour prior to sunrise or at midnight. I've spent hours on deck without being "close" to anybody else for more than a couple seconds. 

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1 hour ago, HeWhoWaits said:

Yes, to date I have not gone anywhere that I am required to wear a mask outdoors. Makes me curious about those who have posted things like "I have to wear a mask to walk across an empty parking lot at 3:00 a.m." and such. I have to put on a mask when I enter the building next to the parking lot and can take it off as soon as I exit said building. Not just in my hometown - throughout the state and in other states I have visited.

Ohhh...cool...I enjoy passive-aggressive internet call outs.  Next time just ask me directly to explain why I have to do it.

 

Since you're so curious, here ya go.

 

-First, the State of Maine requires masks in all public places regardless of social distancing with common sense decision making when doing things like hunting and fishing.  You will see people walking down the street wearing masks here.

https://www.necn.com/news/local/maine-gov-mills-announces-new-stricter-face-mask-order/2344155/

-Second, the current policy of the company I work for requires a mask to be worn at all times when on company property unless in a vehicle or in the break room actively eating or drinking.  Since they pay me, I follow their rules when on their property.

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1 hour ago, HeWhoWaits said:

I have no problem with masking outdoors for the protection of others when I am in a situation where I am unable to maintain a distance of six feet (American) or two meters (everybody else). The pool deck during the afternoon on a sea day meets this criterion.

My issue would be the requirement to wear a mask when I am one of a dozen (or fewer) people walking around on the deck an hour prior to sunrise or at midnight. I've spent hours on deck without being "close" to anybody else for more than a couple seconds. 

That makes total sense, but how do you write rules for that? 

Short of a flow chart, you really can't.  Nor can you trust that everyone will know to do the right thing, all the time. Sometimes it's ignorance ("Oops, didn't see those people behind me") and sometimes it's malice ("No one will know if I keep the mask off! Muhahaha"). 

Regardless, the cruise lines have to err on the side of caution and I know exactly the feeling you have of being alone on deck 12 with a giant breeze and wearing a mask to protect no one within a few dozen feet. Just the world we live in.

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48 minutes ago, teddy said:

Ohhh...cool...I enjoy passive-aggressive internet call outs.  Next time just ask me directly to explain why I have to do it.

Nothing passive-aggressive about my comment. I remembered somebody posting something like what I "quoted" but didn't care enough to go back and find out who (or what was the exact quote).

Thank you for the clarification the both your state and your company require you to do so. Most states do not have such a mandate (most suggest it but don't make it mandatory).

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31 minutes ago, Matt said:

That makes total sense, but how do you write rules for that? 

Short of a flow chart, you really can't.  Nor can you trust that everyone will know to do the right thing, all the time. Sometimes it's ignorance ("Oops, didn't see those people behind me") and sometimes it's malice ("No one will know if I keep the mask off! Muhahaha"). 

^^^This right here^^^

The situation would be impossible to "police" so I understand why it would have to be a blanket rule for all.

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Sitting on a balcony if the neighbor forward of you is also sitting on their balcony likely means you are breathing some of their air.  

When neighbors light up a cigarette it's very evident even at cruise speed.  If I can smell the smoke they exhale, could I not inhale the odorless virus they exhale?

Is being maskless on your own balcony a risk or not?  Interior and OV cabins don't sound so bad after all.

Ugh.  Vaccines for everyone.  

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4 hours ago, twangster said:

Sitting on a balcony if the neighbor forward of you is also sitting on their balcony likely means you are breathing some of their air.  

When neighbors light up a cigarette it's very evident even at cruise speed.  If I can smell the smoke they exhale, could I not inhale the odorless virus they exhale?

Is being maskless on your own balcony a risk or not?  Interior and OV cabins don't sound so bad after all.

Ugh.  Vaccines for everyone.  

One of my neighbors was worried about Covid on his boat because he was told that passing by another boat with people could transmit COVID19. At some point the insanity needs to get checked. We have been on our boat 100 times since the pandemic with no issues and this particular neighbor finally gave in last weekend and took his first trip out. I am 100% in favor of promoting safety but at some point a line needs to be marked in the sand and people need to try and enjoy life. 

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Everybody can do whatever they like. To me is not even important where we are going on cruise. I just love to cruise. At this point Royal have 2 private islands :Labadee and Coco Cay ,why not to go cruise to this islands. I miss cruise and none of other vacation will get me excided as much as cruise. Maybe they need to make mandatory vaccine and then will be much easier .  

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8 hours ago, Cile said:

Everybody can do whatever they like. To me is not even important where we are going on cruise. I just love to cruise. At this point Royal have 2 private islands :Labadee and Coco Cay ,why not to go cruise to this islands. I miss cruise and none of other vacation will get me excided as much as cruise. Maybe they need to make mandatory vaccine and then will be much easier .  

Go to Labadee and Coco Cay - AND WEAR A MASK? 

That's even worse than on deck.

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From the Disney earnings call yesterday: 

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/disney-world-likely-to-require-masks-through-2021-ceo-says

ORLANDO, Fla. - It looks like guests at Walt Disney World theme parks will have to wear face masks for the rest of the year. 

So it seems masks on land may be a requirement in some areas.

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1 hour ago, twangster said:

From the Disney earnings call yesterday: 

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/disney-world-likely-to-require-masks-through-2021-ceo-says

ORLANDO, Fla. - It looks like guests at Walt Disney World theme parks will have to wear face masks for the rest of the year. 

So it seems masks on land may be a requirement in some areas.

I did this ? when I read that Disney is considering moving some of its California operations to Florida due to difficulty in reopening its theme parks in California. Disney is our happy place. We have celebrated so many memories with Disney; my in laws 50th and 55th anniversary were at Disneyland along with so many others. We had to miss their 60th at Disneyland due to Covid. Sure hope we can all get back there soon.  

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2 hours ago, twangster said:

From the Disney earnings call yesterday: 

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/disney-world-likely-to-require-masks-through-2021-ceo-says

ORLANDO, Fla. - It looks like guests at Walt Disney World theme parks will have to wear face masks for the rest of the year. 

So it seems masks on land may be a requirement in some areas.

I'm hopeful that if we make it to next fall without another major spike in cases that may not be the case. Who knows though. We'll be making a trip to Canaveral to either watch some rockets launch and pay homage to the mouse, or to get onboard our ship in November. Either way, we've got more than enough masks to make it work.

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On 2/8/2021 at 1:06 PM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Feb 7 was a terrible anniversary for us.  It was the date of our last cruise (Anthem Feb 7, 2020).  Of course, that is the cruise that ended up being delayed by 3 days due to an erroneous COVID scare...so the true anniversary of our last boarding will be on Wednesday(Feb 10).  Hard to believe it's been a whole year.  This truly sucks.

We were on this one with you!   Not sure how you guys felt but we actually ended up enjoying the trip even with all the delays and changes, with Anthem being only half full, plus the compensation Royal gave us made it pretty nice!  Also opened us up to Bermuda to the point where that’s the next cruise we’re booking to try it out during their normal season.

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13 minutes ago, Geoff P said:

We were on this one with you!   Not sure how you guys felt but we actually ended up enjoying the trip even with all the delays and changes, with Anthem being only half full, plus the compensation Royal gave us made it pretty nice!  Also opened us up to Bermuda to the point where that’s the next cruise we’re booking to try it out during their normal season.

YES !  We felt the same way about this cruise once we finally got under way.  Sitting around in Bayonne for 2 days sucked big time but the cruise itself was wonderful.  I loved that they let us get on the ship the night before we sailed so that we didn't have to endure another night in that dreadful hotel.  By some bizarre Royal Caribbean math, we actually ended up making money on that cruise !  Our OBC + FCC was more than the total that we paid for the cruise.  Go figure.  ...and those FCC's have been around !  I think they've already been applied and re-applied 3 times !  Since this was the first COVID-related FCCs that were issued, they were very generous.  Not so much after this one....

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41 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

YES !  We felt the same way about this cruise once we finally got under way.  Sitting around in Bayonne for 2 days sucked big time but the cruise itself was wonderful.  I loved that they let us get on the ship the night before we sailed so that we didn't have to endure another night in that dreadful hotel.  By some bizarre Royal Caribbean math, we actually ended up making money on that cruise !  Our OBC + FCC was more than the total that we paid for the cruise.  Go figure.  ...and those FCC's have been around !  I think they've already been applied and re-applied 3 times !  Since this was the first COVID-related FCCs that were issued, they were very generous.  Not so much after this one....

That’s awesome!  We didn’t make money on it but with the OBC and FCC we essentially went on that one for free.  Plus having a FCC hanging around makes it much easier for me to convince my wife to book another cruise, can’t let those credits go to waste haha! 

I definitely agree, not in any rush to say over in Bayonne again anytime soon after that, although our hotel was in Brooklyn, still wasn’t great for sure.

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On 2/21/2021 at 3:22 AM, S0nny said:

Me too!! I wear a mask every day anyways... Wearing it on a cruise ship means I just get a better view! haha

I have cruise July 11-th. And I am hopping it will happened. Somebody is saying in the beginning it will be boring?! I say , nothing is boring for me on cruise . It is better then staying in any resort. 

  

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  • 2 months later...

We are looking to cruise again in February of 2022.  However, I am not going to even think about having to wear that stupid mask while sitting in the sun on deck.  Can you imagine what kind of a tan line that would make and how uncomfortable the heat of the sun would be under that mask?  The whole purpose of the cruise is complete relaxation in the sun and fresh air and that won't be possible under a mask.  The entire thought process behind this makes no sense...we can sit in an enclosed dining area WITHOUT masks as we eat, breathing the entire time.  We are not supposed to wear them in the pool, where we will be in close proximity to others, breathing the entire time.  We are not supposed to wear them when doing anything strenuous, where we will be more laborously breathing the entire time.  Yet, we must wear them on the deck, even if we are the only ones there.  There is no intelligent process of thought to this entire mandate.  And why do we need them if we are all fully vaccinated??  It's about control, folks...not safety anymore.  This is completely out of hand. 

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Just about everything discussed in this thread regarding mitigation measures we may or may not see on board cruise ships and in the terminals during boarding is addressed in this piece (linked below) by Charles Cook who writes for National Review and lives in FL. The take away from the article is that what is happening now is a result of "COVID Zealotry."

Charles Cook (I've edited his post to make it less political): 

I do not believe that the initial panic over the coronavirus was driven primarily by cynicism or by expedience. But I do think that there is something both cynical and expedient about the glacial pace at which this country is being permitted to return to normal. ....... (some seem) to wildly misjudge how dangerous the virus really is — the chance that somebody with COVID must be hospitalized is between 1 and 5 percent, and yet (some groups) believe that the number is more than 20 percent, and 41 percent believe that it is more than 50 percent — and you have a recipe for disaster. That recipe is still being followed . . . well, well past the point of being overdone.

 I think this describes the CDC and how they have clung needlessly to their "rampant safetyism." regarding the pandemic and, without any question, their approach to cruise ships. So, we have to put up with it for now and I think the only thing that is going to realistically kick them off their position is a Federal Judge ruling the CSO is unlawful ..... their entire house of cards comes crashing down if that happens and I'm pretty sure they know it. 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/enough-with-the-covid-zealots/ 

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Can someone let me know when cruising resume with NO masks required. Nothing cruise wise matters for me till then.

 

Hopefully by then(if and when it ever happens) I will be allowed to leave my country and not be sent to a Covid camp upon return and fined thousands.

 

But seriously, I cant keep track of all the changes and rules. So when things are back to normal for the Royal and the cruise industry..there should be something pinned to the top of this site to let everyone know and to cut back and prevent on going questions and what ifs!

 

 

 

 

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On 5/4/2021 at 12:48 PM, monctonguy said:

Can someone let me know when cruising resume with NO masks required. Nothing cruise wise matters for me till then.

 

Hopefully by then(if and when it ever happens) I will be allowed to leave my country and not be sent to a Covid camp upon return and fined thousands.

 

But seriously, I cant keep track of all the changes and rules. So when things are back to normal for the Royal and the cruise industry..there should be something pinned to the top of this site to let everyone know and to cut back and prevent on going questions and what ifs!

 

 

 

 

What’s your latest prediction for the restart? I’m at March 2022. 

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We have cruised 35 times, favorite and ONLY vacation since 1996. Masks and vaccines - absolutely will NOT be cruising. Actually we have one booked on CCL, RCL and NCL we are getting ready to asks for refunds.  Masks in 90 degrees what idiot thinks that is okay, experimental vaccines NOT approved by the FDA (only approved for emergency use) nothing okay with that either,  the CDC is just trying to shut cruising down permanently. But yet people are in Vegas gambling in casinos and as we know they are allowed to smoke in the buildings, but that is okay because the US benefits from that directly.  Go to any restaurant and no one is sitting and taking and bit and putting a mask back on. It is ridiculous what they are requiring.  My heart breaks that this is being done the cruise lines, I believe so much in them I also hold the stock.  That could be the next thing to go.  I certainly hope enough cruisers speak up to help the cruise lines fight this fight!

 

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13 hours ago, tonyfsu21 said:

What’s your latest prediction for the restart? I’m at March 2022. 

I have to be honest..I have stopped watching and reading and looking.

 

Doesn't matter to me now when it re-starts as wearing masks is a no-go for me. I would say my Nov cruise will be a lost cause for sure.

 

If we need 95% of cruises vaccinated with TWO doses and we still have to wear a mask....that's just insane.

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