Jump to content

Surprise! Carnival started testing AND masks. Are masks next for Royal?


Recommended Posts

14 minutes ago, CrznTxn said:

Hope they wait until next week to implement. That way we are already on our ship and can enjoy the last week of freedom. If not, oh well, we are still on a cruise and it beats having to stay at home locked down for a vacation anytime.

You should see the fits people are throwing over at the place where people like to criticize cruising.  It's actually pretty funny.  You can almost see them stomping their feet and holding their breath.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, MrMarc said:

DO you think Royal will follow Carnival and reinstate masking indoors?

Unfortunately I think there is a real possibility mask will temporarily be required while indoors on Royal as well.  Hopefully by end of October thing will have calmed down but if they haven't I'm still getting on the Symphony of the Seas.  Wearing a mask indoors on a cruise beats not being able to take a cruise any day of the week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RCG has mask indoors but.......I doubt until capacity is somewhere what CCL is doing, they will do 100% masking indoors.

CCL is sailing at 75-80% capacity. RCG is currently at or around 35% with plans to increase it 10% a month after Aug. I believe on some sailings they will have more and more mask-less offerings because of port restrictions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Other than Nassau Royal Caribbean has required masks indoors and the testing requirement was announced days ago.

Carnival restarted with 95% vax and 75% capacity but that was it.  They had no protocols on board.  It's a free for all on Mardi Gras right now, like the old days of cruising with 4,000 passengers and 1,400 crew on board jammed into bars and comedy clubs to capacity.  Combine the guest count across all Royal ships sailing this week and that's lower than the number on one Carnival ship.  

MSC is a lot closer to Royal when they restarted this week with 100% testing at check in, vax or no vax and they require masks indoors.

If anything Carnival is falling in line with where the rest of the industry has already arrived.  

Interesting tactic.  Offer mask free cruises while others were saying masks and tests, then today tell booked guests, sorry, masks and testing will be required.  

I'm booked on a Carnival and Princess cruise and the FB groups are lighting like a bad thunderstorm.  Naturally there are claims of "bait and switch".  Many claiming to cancel.  Guess my cruise may not be as full as Carnival thought it would be.  If those are vax passengers cancelling they'll likely be forced to cancel unvax kids they have just granted exemptions to in order to maintain the 95% quota.  That'll go over well days before a cruise.  

No one, including myself, liked it when Royal announced masks indoors early July.  I even cancelled an Odyssey cruise.  Yet here we are, pretty much all cruise lines now requiring masks indoors, even the holdouts like Carnival and Princess.

What can we do?  People didn't get vaccinated and numbers soared.  While largely now an unvaccinated pandemic it is spilling over into a small number of vaccinated.  That's okay on land where it's hardly reported but on a ship the media has a parade every time a case is announced on a ship.  Cruise lines gotta go into into heavy protocols mode to protect the industry.  

It is what it is, but I do think Carnival was a little sleazy in the way they reached where they are today.  But, it is what is needed right now and I'll board my Carnival cruise feeling a little better for it.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wonder if we'll start seeing booking and rule fatigue?  A point where most good natured cruise enthusiasts will just say - "we're waiting until the craziness ends to rebook".    Lots of disappointed folks with the wave of recent cancellations and the uncertainties with port requirements.     (We bit the bullet and got the jabs, but the ever changing requirements with port visits, masks on/off/on, and pre-tests is killing the vacation buzz.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, cruisellama said:

Wonder if we'll start seeing booking and rule fatigue?  A point where most good natured cruise enthusiasts will just say - "we're waiting until the craziness ends to rebook".    Lots of disappointed folks with the wave of recent cancellations and the uncertainties with port requirements.     (We bit the bullet and got the jabs, but the ever changing requirements with port visits, masks on/off/on, and pre-tests is killing the vacation buzz.)

This is my family for sure. Waiting for some sense of normalcy which seems a long time away. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Royal has had masks inside for several weeks now. 
 

Honestly I’m surprised (well not really) that Carnival went full steam right out of the gate. So help me if there’s some major outbreak because of them, I’ll be really ?. It was their transferring of crew from infected west coast cruises to east coast ships that was reckless last year. I can’t really fault them for the whole Princess thing as no one knew what they were dealing with initially.

You’d think though with all the crap that happened to that line, they’d be super cautious with their re-start. Obviously not. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Jill said:

You’d think though with all the crap that happened to that line, they’d be super cautious with their re-start. Obviously not. 

The last time they showed caution it was to cancel a major ship design and build in 2008. (I think it was called project pinnacle). Resulted in royal owning the giant cruise ship market for more than a decade.

Since then they've thrown caution to the wind. The result has been a lot of the covid debacle plus Carnival triumph, Costa Concordia and a few more.

I sometimes wonder how they are received at industry meetings. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, steverk said:

The last time they showed caution it was to cancel a major ship design and build in 2008. (I think it was called project pinnacle). Resulted in royal owning the giant cruise ship market for more than a decade.

Since then they've thrown caution to the wind. The result has been a lot of the covid debacle plus Carnival triumph, Costa Concordia and a few more.

I sometimes wonder how they are received at industry meetings. 

Likely why Royal and NCL joined up for Healthy Sail. I have a feeling Carnival isn’t well liked. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

13 minutes ago, steverk said:

I sometimes wonder how they are received at industry meetings. 

When you are an 800 pound Gorilla does it matter? 

Gotta give em credit for their LNG ship initiative.  It was something watching Mardi Gras "steam" out of port without a spec of smoke in the sky.  

All cruise lines have a few skeletons in the closet.

10 minutes ago, Jill said:

Likely why Royal and NCL joined up for Healthy Sail. I have a feeling Carnival isn’t well liked. 

Let's just say Carnival isn't known for playing nice with others in the sandbox.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For european sailings, masks are mandatory everywhere on RC. Only exeption is when actively eating/drinking or at the pool. So if you wanna enjoy a show or visit the casino, better bring your mask.

We are booked for sep on Harmony from Barcelona, but we are seriously concidering canceling and taking a Norweigian cruise insted (same sailing date, same port). They have 100% vac requirement, so no restrictions at all once onboard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, twangster said:

Other than Nassau Royal Caribbean has required masks indoors and the testing requirement was announced days ago.

Carnival restarted with 95% vax and 75% capacity but that was it.  They had no protocols on board.  It's a free for all on Mardi Gras right now, like the old days of cruising with 4,000 passengers and 1,400 crew on board jammed into bars and comedy clubs to capacity.  Combine the guest count across all Royal ships sailing this week and that's lower than the number on one Carnival ship.  

MSC is a lot closer to Royal when they restarted this week with 100% testing at check in, vax or no vax and they require masks indoors.

If anything Carnival is falling in line with where the rest of the industry has already arrived.  

Interesting tactic.  Offer mask free cruises while others were saying masks and tests, then today tell booked guests, sorry, masks and testing will be required.  

I'm booked on a Carnival and Princess cruise and the FB groups are lighting like a bad thunderstorm.  Naturally there are claims of "bait and switch".  Many claiming to cancel.  Guess my cruise may not be as full as Carnival thought it would be.  If those are vax passengers cancelling they'll likely be forced to cancel unvax kids they have just granted exemptions to in order to maintain the 95% quota.  That'll go over well days before a cruise.  

No one, including myself, liked it when Royal announced masks indoors early July.  I even cancelled an Odyssey cruise.  Yet here we are, pretty much all cruise lines now requiring masks indoors, even the holdouts like Carnival and Princess.

What can we do?  People didn't get vaccinated and numbers soared.  While largely now an unvaccinated pandemic it is spilling over into a small number of vaccinated.  That's okay on land where it's hardly reported but on a ship the media has a parade every time a case is announced on a ship.  Cruise lines gotta go into into heavy protocols mode to protect the industry.  

It is what it is, but I do think Carnival was a little sleazy in the way they reached where they are today.  But, it is what is needed right now and I'll board my Carnival cruise feeling a little better for it.  

 

What boat are you going on with Carnival?  I am booked on the Mardi Gras in Oct....enticed by the no mask policy for the vaccinated.  I was super irritated by the policy change yesterday (they didn't even offer to allow cancellations like RCCL did when they changed rules) but I keep telling myself (just like when I went on the Freedom last month) a cruise is better than no cruise!!  Trying to stay positive!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, CruiseDiva said:

 

What boat are you going on with Carnival?  I am booked on the Mardi Gras in Oct....enticed by the no mask policy for the vaccinated.  I was super irritated by the policy change yesterday (they didn't even offer to allow cancellations like RCCL did when they changed rules) but I keep telling myself (just like when I went on the Freedom last month) a cruise is better than no cruise!!  Trying to stay positive!!!

Mardi Gras.  But it's not a boat ? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, CruiseDiva said:

 

What boat are you going on with Carnival?  I am booked on the Mardi Gras in Oct....enticed by the no mask policy for the vaccinated.  I was super irritated by the policy change yesterday (they didn't even offer to allow cancellations like RCCL did when they changed rules) but I keep telling myself (just like when I went on the Freedom last month) a cruise is better than no cruise!!  Trying to stay positive!!!

I am on Dream in September and Mardi Gras in January.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Jill said:

Royal has had masks inside for several weeks now. 
 

Honestly I’m surprised (well not really) that Carnival went full steam right out of the gate. So help me if there’s some major outbreak because of them, I’ll be really ?. It was their transferring of crew from infected west coast cruises to east coast ships that was reckless last year. I can’t really fault them for the whole Princess thing as no one knew what they were dealing with initially.

You’d think though with all the crap that happened to that line, they’d be super cautious with their re-start. Obviously not. 

A thread on CC says that 10 people on a Carnival Horizon facebook group have tested positive since returning home.  Carnival confirms there is a "small number" of cases on the Vista.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

And down goes Adventure (or, up go masks on Adventure)

 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/08/05/royal-caribbean-expands-mask-requirement-adventure-of-the-seas-sailings

 

I sailed on her at the perfect time.

I feel the same way about sneaking in my weekend on Freedom before the restrictions started piling up again.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

And down goes Adventure (or, up go masks on Adventure)

 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/08/05/royal-caribbean-expands-mask-requirement-adventure-of-the-seas-sailings

 

I sailed on her at the perfect time.

Well xxxx ?

We sail in 30 days.  Hopefully it doesn’t carry over into September. 
 

Not gonna cancel, but we were looking forward to having them off onboard.    Fingers crossed even more for a successful GS Royal Up. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, tonyfsu21 said:

What am I missing here? Masks are already required indoors on RC. You can only take them off while dining, outdoors on in your stateroom. 

They were optional for vaccinated individuals in several areas on freedom a few weeks ago, not really scrutinizing the details at the moment but I think that changed.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, jticarruthers said:

They were optional for vaccinated individuals in several areas on freedom a few weeks ago, not really scrutinizing the details at the moment but I think that changed.

 

I believe masks are still optional in the vaccinated only venues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Morten Anderson, which Norwegian ship are you considering out of Barcelona?  We are booked on the Harmony in Oct but as Royal keeps putting more and more restrictions on their ships, we might want to switch to Norwegian to a 100% vaccinated ship  Originally Royal stated the cruises on the Harmony would be for vaccinated passengers only!  Then they threw out the exception for kids, now masks required??? Really isn’t fair to guests that booked feeling secure due to the protocols at the time of their booking.  
 

Royal must stop trying to please everyone and trying to cover every possible scenario   

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Anthem is a 100% vaccinated ship (for over 18s anyway) and masks are still mandatory indoors unless eating or drinking.  Wearing them wasn't a problem at all for us, happy to contribute to the overall good health of the passengers and crew.  What was more impactful was the social distancing and not being able to socialise easily with fellow passengers in any of the venues (plus side to this - half empty ship meant no crowds or queues!)

Regards

 

Neil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, BrianB said:

Was Anthem 100% or just those eligible to receive vaccines? Norwegian is doing true 100% vaccinated which means no children. At least for now.

It's 100% of those eligible (i.e. everyone over 18). In the UK, they have only just announced vaccination of 16+ and no children younger than that have yet been vaccinated. All passengers (including unvaccinated children) have to present a negative PCR test to board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Personally I just want to get on a ship.  We have not been able to cruise since 2017.  I do not want to wear a mask all on the ship.  I know its just from point A to B.  However, I am willing to deal with the restrictions so we can finally get back on a ship.  Eventually all restrictions will be lifted and these kinds of discussions will be moot.  

Everyone has their thoughts on covid and they are entitled to their opinions.  Personally, I believe the faster we as whole get used to the idea it will never go away we will get back to "normal".  The vaccine, air filters, extra cleaning, etc. only help to mitigate the virus.  I am not trying to downplay anyone's experience with covid.  I had it, some of my family has had it.  It sucks, but unfortunately its here to stay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...